Major League Baseball 2018 Season Thread

[Scott Taylor]

If he doesn't want to win, then he has no business playing professionally.

True. I believe he wants to win, just hasn't yet figured out that the Angels are not the place where its going to happen. Maybe he figures that out in one more contract with the Angels, then he will go to the Dodgers, Yankees or the like.

[MRP]

CC Sabathia today, in his last regular season start of the year, was ejected 2 innings shy of reaching a hefty incentive bonus for innings pitched. He was cruising along with a 1-hitter at the time, but the game was out of hand and players were being thrown at, warnings were issued and CC plunked a guy right after the warnings were issued, and he was gone.

-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

CC Sabathia today, in his last regular season start of the year, was ejected 2 innings shy of reaching a hefty incentive bonus for innings pitched. He was cruising along with a 1-hitter at the time, but the game was out of hand and players were being thrown at, warnings were issued and CC plunked a guy right after the warnings were issued, and he was gone.

-M

To quote the esteemed Bugs Bunny, wotta maroon!

[DungeonmasterJim]

As a Red Sox fan, it would be nice if they could win a series this play-off. Until they do, it just been a nice regular season.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Stat geeks and nerds (MLB Network’s Brian Kenny immediately comes to mind) from coast to coast are creaming their shorts hoping Jacob deGrom wins NL Cy Young. Sure, he has a sub 2.00 ERA and has lots of other gaudy looking numbers, but, the only number I see that disqualifies him from the award is this....10, as in TEN wins since he’s gotten zero run support from the Mets.

Perhaps I’m too much of an old fool who’s never embraced all that sabermetirc crap, but it offends me that a pitcher with only 10 wins should be up for Cy Young. I know that’s already happened once over in the AL with Felix Hernandez of the Mariners who claimed the award with just 13 wins, and I didn’t like that either. Once argument I’ve heard from the stat crowd for deGrom being in the running despite his paltry record is that wins and losses are meaningless, well, if that’s the case, then why do managers get fired when they don’t win enough games? What’s the difference?

Anyhoo, my vote’s for Max Scherzer to win the award. His numbers have been just as stellar....and he’s won 18 games.

[The Whovian]

Stat geeks and nerds (MLB Network’s Brian Kenny immediately comes to mind) from coast to coast are creaming their shorts hoping Jacob deGrom wins NL Cy Young. Sure, he has a sub 2.00 ERA and has lots of other gaudy looking numbers, but, the only number I see that disqualifies him from the award is this....10, as in TEN wins since he’s gotten zero run support from the Mets.

Perhaps I’m too much of an old fool who’s never embraced all that sabermetirc crap, but it offends me that a pitcher with only 10 wins should be up for Cy Young. I know that’s already happened once over in the AL with Felix Hernandez of the Mariners who claimed the award with just 13 wins, and I didn’t like that either. Once argument I’ve heard from the stat crowd for deGrom being in the running despite his paltry record is that wins and losses are meaningless, well, if that’s the case, then why do managers get fired when they don’t win enough games? What’s the difference?

Anyhoo, my vote’s for Max Scherzer to win the award. His numbers have been just as stellar....and he’s won 18 games.

I couldn't agree more. Yes, deGrom has been outstanding, but so has Scherzer. PLUS, he was the wins on top of the other amazing numbers.

I'm old school and I just believe you have to have the wins to go with all of the other stats too. So my vote goes to Scherzer.

[The Whovian]

Also, Javy Baez better win the MVP in the NL. I'm sick of "experts" saying Yelich should be the MVP. The only thing Yelich beats him in is batting average. Javy leads the NL in rbis, extra base hits, and total bases. He's second in homeruns with 34. Add in his versatility playing 2nd, 3rd and SS and his all star defense, and it's pretty clear to me that Baez should win the MVP.

[Malvolio]

Stat geeks and nerds (MLB Network’s Brian Kenny immediately comes to mind) from coast to coast are creaming their shorts hoping Jacob deGrom wins NL Cy Young. Sure, he has a sub 2.00 ERA and has lots of other gaudy looking numbers, but, the only number I see that disqualifies him from the award is this....10, as in TEN wins since he’s gotten zero run support from the Mets.

Perhaps I’m too much of an old fool who’s never embraced all that sabermetirc crap, but it offends me that a pitcher with only 10 wins should be up for Cy Young. I know that’s already happened once over in the AL with Felix Hernandez of the Mariners who claimed the award with just 13 wins, and I didn’t like that either. Once argument I’ve heard from the stat crowd for deGrom being in the running despite his paltry record is that wins and losses are meaningless, well, if that’s the case, then why do managers get fired when they don’t win enough games? What’s the difference?

Anyhoo, my vote’s for Max Scherzer to win the award. His numbers have been just as stellar....and he’s won 18 games.

The Cy Young Award is awarded for excellence in pitching. DeGrom demonstrated that excellence. He should not be penalized because his teammates didn't come through for him.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Cy Young Award is awarded for excellence in pitching. DeGrom demonstrated that excellence. He should not be penalized because his teammates didn't come through for him.

Then should Scherzer be denied the award since his teammates DID come through for him?

[Malvolio]

Then should Scherzer be denied the award since his teammates DID come through for him?

Um, no. My point is that won-loss record should be on the list of considerations for the Cy Young Award, but it should be at the bottom of the list.

[DungeonmasterJim]

This article is fairly interesting for making the case of the 3 pitchers vying the most for the NL Cy Young:
https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/08/29/ja...cy-young-award

I would have no problem with DeGrom winning it. A 1.47 era vs teams over .500. And scored 1 or 0 runs in 8 of his starts. Yeesh! That's horrible.

I also have no problem with Scherzer winning it either. Nola not so much. Scherzer and DeGrom both have good cases to win the award. I don't hate wins as a measuring stick but I feel they are overrated. DeGrom had 11 no decisions in 27 starts. Sale had this problem at the start of the year and I told a friend it might cost him the Cy Young because of lack of wins. Rick Porcello of the Red Sox is 17-7 but has an ERA of 4.33. I have ZERO confidence in him going into the play-off's. He SHOULD be good with 17 wins but that ERA is just scary. So that's why wins to me are overrated.

[Hiromi]

deGrom doesn't just have a small lead in ERA, he has a .83 point lead over Shcerzer, that's enormous, the difference between first and third is roughly the same as the difference between third and fourteenth on the ERA list

also this old school argument against ERA is nonsense, ERA has been a major stat in pitching since the 1900s, at the end of the day the measure of a pitcher is how many runs does he allow, it's the only thing he has any control over. All the other stats are secondary. And deGrom is doing this averaging near 7 innings a game too, so it's not like he's only throwing for four or five and then exiting, he actually beats Scherzer in innings per start as well, deGrom has also allowed three less baserunners total from walks and hits

during his last start the announcers pointed out that if he had three runs per game his record would be something like 23-1, if he had 4 runs a game it'd be something like 31-0, he hasn't been touched up virtually the entire season, Scherzer on the other hand has, quite simply deGrom has had the better year, wins or no.

[Black Manta]

OK so the Cubs lost which means they play tomorrow and if they win tomorrow they are a WC team, right?

[Malvolio]

No, they're already a wild card team. Tomorrow is the wild card game between the Cubs and the loser of the Dodgers/Rockies game. The winner of tomorrow's game faces Milwaukee in the NLDS while the winner of the Dodgers/Rockies game faces Atlanta.

[Hiromi]

and we finally have our full playoff picture