Chapman missed a mandatory workout and has been left off of the Yankees' ALDS roster.
-
-
In the wake of the Jays' embarrassing showing Cathal Kelly rails against Toronto's Sport scene. He's not wrong (link is behind a paywall I think. So partially c&p'd here)
"Every Toronto team does win one thing every season – the Forbes list.
Ten years ago, Forbes valued the Raptors at US$380-million. Today, the same outlet pegs them at just short of US$2.5-billion.
The 2019 championship helped, but it isn’t the reason why the team doubles in value every other year. On-court/field/ice performance has become untethered from the sports business. Get eyeballs on your team and you are winning in the only way that counts. Toronto does that better than just about any market in the world. We love a happy loser.
The buildings are full. The merch is getting hoovered off shelves. The bulk of sports media is owned by the teams, so the conversation about them is omnipresent. Even when the teams are bad, they’re creating a virtuous circle of content.
The owners of the three major local teams are a co-mingled corporate entity. Like any corporation, they make measured decisions. So measured that they avoid making decisions at all. It’s easier to let a failed coach or GM stay in the job than it is to call the board meeting necessary to replace him.
Corporations can be roused to rash action by competition within their own markets, but there is none of that in Toronto. If the Raptors win, Rogers wins. Is it really going to be upset if the Jays don’t win, too? If nobody wins then everyone’s equal. How can any publicly traded parent choose between their many beautiful, profitable children?
In fact, from a purely business perspective, having all your teams win at once is a bad thing. Why oversaturate the market? Better to let each team have its moment to shine."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...it-so-lightly/
Comment
-
Blimey, baseballs are like rocks. No wonder you have to wear a glove.
My mate nabbed a couple from batting practice and brought me one back. First time I've ever held a baseball. It feels way more solid than a cricket ball.Comment
-
That is interesting to me, because I find them to be very similar.
If anything, new red cricket balls are harder because of the lacquer.
I wonder if the batting practice balls are not game standard. It used to be that official balls that had been used but discarded because of scuffs or cuts or corralled by ball boys or girls in foul territory were used for batting practice, but those are now almost always given to fans.Comment
-
Raptors winning in 2019 doesn't create a lot of sympathy for a gap in titles, but I do get the general point abut corporate owned teams not winning anything. As I've expressed from time to time, after that nutty Leafs owner wouldn't let the Kings do a pre-game skate, the Leafs have been on my hated list so I love it when they go up 3-0 and then lose.
The shift to 3 game wild card games came with a reward for the team with the better record. So, part of the one location only is about limiting travel and getting to the next round but part is that the team with the better record deserves some serious advantage.
After watching these games, I can't say that I love these 3 game wild card series. I get that it keeps more fan bases in the mix and there were some exciting games, but I do enjoy the one and done energy for the wild card.Comment
-
Why do number five Padres play number one Dodgers, but number six Phillies play number two Braves?
Keeping it within divisions? Save some bucks on travel?Last edited by Cal Alamein; 11-10-2022, 03:30.Comment
-
Because baseball is willing to make some changes but not actually think through things like re-seeding. I complained about this before, although I am happy the Dodgers don't have to travel far. And if the Dodgers are going to lose, losing to the Padres is better than any of the other options going forward. If we lose to the cheating Astros, that will suck.Originally posted by Cal Alamein View PostComment
-
Dodgers seem to have beaten the Padres throughout the season so I'm not optimistic about a 5 game series against them.
The Toronto thing was interesting and has parallels across other sports where committed fanbases will keep buying merch despite intermittent success.Comment
-
Because they set the bracket up early. Top seed Doggers would theoretically play Fourth seed Mets; Second seed Braves would theoretically play Third seed Cards.Originally posted by Cal Alamein View Post
It’s only because 3 lost to 6 and 4 lost to 5 that we have this situation. It seems reasonable enough to me.
Like Patrick, I find it hard to see the Padres winning this. The Dodgers have consistently had the Padres number. It might make it to game 4, but that’s the most we can reasonably hope for (unless Daniel’s fears of his pitchers ruining themselves have actually come true). This season the series have been, going backwards
LA 2 - 1 SD
LA 2 - 1 SD
LA 2 - 1 SD
LA 3 - 0 SD
LA 3 - 1 SD
LA 2 - 1 SD
The good news is there’s only been one sweep. The bad news is more apparent. I think the Padres would have more of at least a puncher’s chance against any of the other teams left. But there’s some kind of mental grip that LA has right now in this match-up.Comment
-
Big news for Dodgers is that Kimbrel is not on the roster for this series. One heart attack in the making off. Chapman off for the Yankees as well. Teams finally taking a break from inconsistent guys who aren't what they were in the past.
Dodgers have kept a lot of starting pitchers, which concerns me a bit unless they plan to go tandem starters as Houston often does in the playoffs. They left off some relievers who have been very good all season My concern is the one I expressed above: Roberts will default to the same 2-3 guys and they will wear out. The other big news from the Dodgers camp is that Gallo is on the roster. Not ideal for me. Too much swing and miss when contact is needed in the playoffs.Comment
-
So far the Rest v. Rust debate is showing rust as a problem. Phillies beat Atlanta and Seattle is up 6-3 over Houston, although Houston just added to bet to to 3 after a Seattle player ran into an out to end the top of the 4th. There's still a long way to go for a team like Houston to lose this game.Comment
-
Absolutely brutal loss for SeattleComment
-
Yordan Alvarez called game. Seattle blew that.Comment
-
-
Mike Elias has said he's ready to start spending serious money. How much he'll have to spend is another question entirely.Comment
-
-
The Big Hurt: "It seems like every year managers do things during the playoffs they wouldn't do during the regular season and it doesn't work out."
A-Rod: "Cause and effect. These managers are pulling their starters too early, which puts stress on the back end."
No way Ray should be pitching to Alvarez.Comment
-
Donaldson with the very rare Home Run or out at first being reviewed by video
And he is out
Well done to the first base coach for the low five that led him to believe there was no doubt that it was out of the parkComment
-
Donaldson seems like the type to get red-assed when an opponent pimps their hit, so even funnier.Comment
-
At least I won’t be lured into staying up late tonight.Comment
-
Padres with a 3-run 5th and with their most dangerous hitters up in the 6th. Game is not over.Comment
-
The Dodgers hang on and we actually had some rain at Chavez Ravine.Comment
-
I'm not a fan of choosing Heaney over Ferguson. I can see the Dodgers pen wearing out fast at this rate, with one off day. Both pens did the job but I felt like the Dodgers were swinging too freely instead of running up counts. Padres pen was not taxed in this one.
I have to say that I am shocked by how well Martin has turned out. He was not good with the Cubs, or his ERA was not good. Didn't see enough to know if that was a bloated ERA from a few bad outings, but seemed like he needed to get right.
Anyway, I'll take a win but would have preferred smoother. That is often not the case in these Dodgers-Padres matchups, though.Comment
-
Clevinger just looked off, and not quite in tune, right from the first ball - he wasn’t right and probably should have been pulled earlier. Also, I think the Padres decided to feel put out by some ball-and-strike calling around the edges (it looked to me like perhaps there was only one actual bad call early on, otherwise Urias was almost bang on the edges and Clevinger just outside, over and over) and that got in the heads of both bats and pitcher. Was asleep by the 5th so didn't see the Padres score, but up to that point the Dodgers were so dominant that any other result would have felt like a travesty.Comment
-
It isn't unusual for starters of these games to be less than sharp because of the enforced layoff from their usual cycles in the rotation.
Verlander and Fried had one of their worse starts of the year.
The Phillies are confounding. Their fielding remains atrocious and their pitching iffy, but it has yet to matter.Comment
Comment