2014 World Series thread

The 1973 Mets won 82 games and came within a game of winning the World Series.

 

Agree. And with that, what variables do you want included in "true greatness"? Were the '98 (and by extension '99 and '00) Yanks the last "true great" champion? What about the Red Sox sweeping twice in 4 years?

 

Those managers very probably would have won, too.

 

I prefer greatness as well. I think that ship has sailed.

 

Somebody mentioned this right after the game, but for those who haven't seen it, the Chevrolet MVP key handoff was spectacular in its awkwardness. They're gonna need to screen-test those executives to avoid these kinds of panic attacks:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/10/30/sorry-madison-bumgarner-but-chevy-guy-was-the-real-world-series-mvp/

As one of my friends said on Facebook, it was like Matt Foley giving Bumgarner the keys so he could live in a van down by the river.

 

It should be noted that, despite the 965 runs, the '98 Yanks were hardly the poster boys for steroid ball. They didn't have a single player on their roster who hit 30 home runs. They did, however, bat .299 with RISP, with OBP of .380 and OPS of .860, compared to MLB averages of .266, .352 and .768.

 

Still 4th with 207 homers, the top 3 being 234, 221, 214.

 

Solid.

 

I loved this Series. I love baseball.

But don't be ridiculous.

Baseball dwarfed the NFL once.

 

That's because they assembled a collection of 20 HR guys, instead of a couple of Paul Bunyans. Who on that roster do you think exemplifies steroid ball? Bernie Williams? Scott Brosius?

 

I guess it's just a matter of how you measure it.

Does baseball have as much market share as it did at one time? Nope.

Is baseball seen and played by more people than ever? Yes.

Is baseball making more money than ever? Yes.

I'll leave it to you all to decide which one is definitive on "healthy."

 

Not if we go back to the old four-team format, and scrap the current orange-slices-for-everyone configuration.
Playing 2,430 games plus postseason to coronate a team that starts Travis Ishikawa in a corner outfield spot just seems vulgar.