MLB 2014 season thread

I'm not sure what they were challenging, that the runner was impeded from being tagged out?

 

I think (although I haven't heard an explanation) Matheny was trying to get a ruling that Bumgarner was in Wong's path before he got the ball. But at that point it's a matter of requesting a review, and not like you're "losing" a right to challenge, so it didn't matter much anyway.

Not a great game for Matheny, though. He made a big error bringing in Gonzales to face one batter in the fifth, with the pitcher's spot due up third in the bottom of the inning. But he wanted to keep Gonzales in for the lefty-heavy Giants lineup in the sixth, so he ended up giving up an out by having his pitcher bunt when they were down 3-0.

 

Well, the good thing is that everybody will forget about it and just think of the winner as a Winner Who Knew How To Win.

 

Isn't it possible that it's true, at least in the Giants' case?

This is three times now they've gone into the postseason at least being perceived as lesser championship material. Their postseason record in that time is 27-10.

 

Probably just variance.

 

Early on in the season (probably first six weeks) the Giants were as good as anyone in baseball, and over the last month they were playing great baseball. They have nothing to be ashamed of. Same thing with the Royals. They did what it took to get where they are. And at points during the season they were playing the best baseball of anyone.

No one plays great over the entire six months. Everyone has hot streaks and skids. The Brewers were in first place for five months. Yet they proved they most definitely did not deserve a playoff spot.

 

I can't tell for sure if you're being serious.

But I do find it highly amusing that the Giants win with strengths in areas like clutch, chemistry and managing; and that they do it with players who would have been spit out long ago by a more sabermetrically inclined team.

We will never know for sure what mysterious lunar alignment has caused Ryan Vogelsong's career postseason ERA of 1.19.

 

I'm like half-serious because I know it's true but there's cognitive biases hard-wired into the human brain that will it impossible for most people to believe, so I don't really care to try to convince anyone.

If Ryan Vogelsong has 5 games with a 1.19 ERA in some random stretch covering May and June, nobody outside of SoCal notices or cares. It doesn't mean he had some magical ability to pitch better in those games. He's just a guy who had five good games.

 

Yeah. That's the hilarity I'm talking about. Everything that happens with the Giants (or in this case the Royals) is just an accident.

Vogelsong, Peavy, Blanco, Ishikawa ... those are players a team like the A's wouldn't have had any use for whatsoever. The A's would have been trading (and did trade!) vital pieces of their lineup to upgrade from a fourth starter like Vogelsong. Billy would have tired of Sandoval's act at least three years ago and would currently have two Triple-A mega-prospects instead.

It's quite hilarious.

 

Accidents never happen. There is no probability in the universe. Everything happens for Reasons.

Winners win.

 

A team can get hot. Sure.

A team goes 27-10 (and counting) over three different postseasons, with the same managerial team and many of the same players? There might be a reason.

There is a real lack of curiosity in exploring what works. "Shit happens," I guess.

 

The Winner of the World Series is the champion of MLB, but tha no longer equates to being the best team for the year