2012 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[Falcon]

I await your ridicule.

And you receive my undying praise and support.

I for one hope your prediction comes true.

I would usually make a comment now about my disdain for both the DH and Interleague play but I'll refrain instead and focus my attention on rooting for all AL pitchers who are being given the opportunity to be baseball players during this time of novelty scheduling.

[tim_m]

I await your ridicule.

And you receive my undying praise and support.

I for one hope your prediction comes true.

I would usually make a comment now about my disdain for both the DH and Interleague play but I'll refrain instead and focus my attention on rooting for all AL pitchers who are being given the opportunity to be baseball players during this time of novelty scheduling.

Hey Falcon, i don't think i've ever asked you this. Why do you have such a big issue with the interleague play? I mean its present in every other sport.

[Falcon]

I await your ridicule.

And you receive my undying praise and support.

I for one hope your prediction comes true.

I would usually make a comment now about my disdain for both the DH and Interleague play but I'll refrain instead and focus my attention on rooting for all AL pitchers who are being given the opportunity to be baseball players during this time of novelty scheduling.

Hey Falcon, i don't think i've ever asked you this. Why do you have such a big issue with the interleague play? I mean its present in every other sport.

It takes away from the mystique of the Fall Classic for me, that's it - pure and simple.

Beyond that..

Manufactured "rivalries", horrifically jacked up scheduling and a distinct advantage for the National League.

It's just not generally well thought out.

[tim_m]

I await your ridicule.

And you receive my undying praise and support.

I for one hope your prediction comes true.

I would usually make a comment now about my disdain for both the DH and Interleague play but I'll refrain instead and focus my attention on rooting for all AL pitchers who are being given the opportunity to be baseball players during this time of novelty scheduling.

Hey Falcon, i don't think i've ever asked you this. Why do you have such a big issue with the interleague play? I mean its present in every other sport.

It takes away from the mystique of the Fall Classic for me, that's it - pure and simple.

Beyond that..

Manufactured "rivalries", horrifically jacked up scheduling and a distinct advantage for the National League.

It's just not generally well thought out.

I'm curious to see if any of that changes next year when the Astros move to the AL west. Perhaps a much more balanced schedule will resolve some of the issues you have with it.

[Falcon]

I'm curious to see if any of that changes next year when the Astros move to the AL west. Perhaps a much more balanced schedule will resolve some of the issues you have with it.

Early reports have the interleague schedule making a bit more sense and the intraleague schedules leaning towards more games within your division, which I'm all for.

Meanwhile Im being subjected to watching the Cards/White Sox...

[tim_m]

I'm curious to see if any of that changes next year when the Astros move to the AL west. Perhaps a much more balanced schedule will resolve some of the issues you have with it.

Early reports have the interleague schedule making a bit more sense and the intraleague schedules leaning towards more games within your division, which I'm all for.

Meanwhile Im being subjected to watching the Cards/White Sox...

I'm just curious if it will be a completely balanced schedule or not.

I'm watching the Yanks/Braves game and they just came back on an A-Rod grand slam tying Lou Gehrig for the most grand slams in history. Now, Swisher just hit a 2 run home run and we take the lead!

[Falcon]

I'm just curious if it will be a completely balanced schedule or not.

It's (allegedly) going to be more unbalanced, 19 games with each team in the division.

 

[tim_m]

I'm just curious if it will be a completely balanced schedule or not.

It's (allegedly) going to be more unbalanced, 19 games with each team in the division.

 

I find that kind of odd. Wasn't a more balanced schedule the point of moving the Astros in the first place?

[Falcon]

I'm just curious if it will be a completely balanced schedule or not.

It's (allegedly) going to be more unbalanced, 19 games with each team in the division.

I find that kind of odd. Wasn't a more balanced schedule the point of moving the Astros in the first place?

Nope.

Purely a move to balance the divisions at 5 each and leagues at 15 a piece - too many teams in the NL Central and too few in the AL West.

[pilferk]

In the proposal I just read (italked about in an article that's only a couple weeks old), it sounds like they're looking at a more balanced schedule and an interleague game almost EVERY day.

Every division member would play an identical schedule EXCEPT one of their 3 game interleague series (ie: Yanks and Sox would play identical scheds, except the Yanks might play the Reds for a 3 game series while the Sox might play the Marlins for their "matching" series).

Division teams would play each other 16 times (as opposed to 18 or 19 they do now).

Interleague every day.

Trim the season by about 3 days (which helps squeeze in the extra round of the playoffs).

I've seen similar speculation, since around November, but this article was supposedly based off league sources.  It was an AP article...so it's got to be out there somewhere (I read it in our local paper).

I've seen the recent spate of articles "from a top official" saying otherwise (from last week).  I'm not sure I buy it, entirely.  Not given what Selig said when they created the new wild card in his presser.

You could easily do this:

18 games against each member of your division: 72 games
6 games against the other 10 teams in your league: 60 games
6 games against each member of ONE NL division (which you rotate, yearly...so one year it's AL East vs NL East, the next it's AL East vs NL Central, and finally AL East vs NL West..rinse and repeat): 30 games

That gets you to 162 and is PRETTY balanced.  It retains some of the divisional advantages (rivalries and travel benefits).  It's not COMPLETELY balanced (in terms of the fact that the stronger divisions still face a disadvantage in the wild card), but it's better.

[Falcon]

When we're discussing the term "balanced" I was always under the impression that referred to more of an equal amount of games spread out within your league, not division.

As pilf's example above would describe an "unbalanced" schedule to my understanding, heavily weighed to games within your own division with fewer outside your division but still within your league.

Here's a good article from a week or so ago detailing possibilities on the horizon:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/danny-knobler/19280228/mlb-may-go-to-a-more-unbalanced-and-more-unfair-schedule

The idea of realignment -- with the Astros moving from the National League Central to the American League West next year -- was that having six five-team divisions would result in a fairer schedule for everyone.

But what's fair?

The 2013 schedule isn't even done yet, but some teams are already concerned. The reason, according to a high-ranking official of one of those teams: The new schedule will be at least as unbalanced as the current one, and possibly more so.

In fact, the official said, teams may well go from playing 18 games a year against each division opponent to playing 19 a year. In that case, teams would play 47 percent of their games against teams within their own division.

The division races would indeed be fairer, because an effort is being made to have each team within a division play the same number of games against the same opponents.

The problem is with the wild-card races, particularly if the divisions remain as competitively unbalanced as they are this season. As of Thursday morning, every team in the American League East had a winning record, and the AL East as a whole was 23 games over .500 (77-54) against the two other AL divisions.

Remember, with two wild-card teams in each league, four of the 10 teams that make the playoffs will be wild cards.

"I believe that if there's a wild card, the schedule should be balanced," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

As of Thursday, the Yankees were a half-game behind the Orioles and Rays, who were tied for first place in the East. The Yankees' 30-24 record would be good for the second wild-card spot.

But the Yankees have played just 19 of their in-division games. That means that 53 of their remaining 108 games -- about 49 percent -- will be against their four AL East rivals.

If the Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox play as well as they have in the first half of the season, that puts the Yankees (and the other AL East teams) at a competitive disadvantage against AL Central and AL West teams in the wild-card races.

The situation is somewhat similar in the National League, where all but one team in the East is above .500, and the Phillies are just one game under, at 28-29. The NL East is 25 games over .500 (81-66) against the other two divisions.

Like the Yankees, the Nationals and Marlins will play nearly half their remaining games against teams within their own tough division.

Baseball likes the unbalanced schedule, because of how it promotes rivalries, eases travel and gives teams more prime-time television slots.

It's only a problem if you're worried about the fairness of the wild-card races. It's only a problem if one division is much better than the others.

Right now, the AL East is that much better.

"It's tougher this year, and on an annual basis, I think it's going to keep getting tougher," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

As of Thursday, AL East teams held the two wild-card spots. The remaining schedule will make it tough for them to hold on.

The future schedule will make it just as tough.

[tim_m]

I wonder if they would be able to make a balanced schedule where everyone plays everyone? I think it might be too hard for baseball to do that though since they typically have 2-4 game series. Unlike other sports where its one game or a home and home. I would like to see every team every year though.

[Falcon]

I wonder if they would be able to make a balanced schedule where everyone plays everyone? I think it might be too hard for baseball to do that though since they typically have 2-4 game series. Unlike other sports where its one game or a home and home. I would like to see every team every year though.

I think it's eventually go the other way actually, and probably sooner than later.

I fully expect the number of interleague games to decrease as they work the scheduling out over the next year or so,
the mere thought of interleague play everyday next year isn't going over exactly well.

Imagine the outcry if/when the Sox, Yanks and Rays are battling out over the last week of the season with the Yanks/Sox playing each other and the Rays playing the Cubs.

[tim_m]

I wonder if they would be able to make a balanced schedule where everyone plays everyone? I think it might be too hard for baseball to do that though since they typically have 2-4 game series. Unlike other sports where its one game or a home and home. I would like to see every team every year though.

I think it's eventually go the other way actually, and probably sooner than later.

I fully expect the number of interleague games to decrease as they work the scheduling out over the next year or so,
the mere thought of interleague play everyday next year isn't going over exactly well.

Imagine the outcry if/when the Sox, Yanks and Rays are battling out over the last week of the season with the Yanks/Sox playing each other and the Rays playing the Cubs.

I don't see why who they are playing at the end should matter. All the games still count. If one team is playing a good and another a bad one that's just life. Its the way it is in all the other leagues.

[Falcon]

I don't see why who they are playing at the end should matter. All the games still count. If one team is playing a good and another a bad one that's just life. Its the way it is in all the other leagues.

Oh I agree totally, I've never been one who bitches about "strength of schedule" or "Who's playing who" down the stretch - but there are those who are and will no matter if it's within the division, intraleague or interleague.

I personally don't want baseball like the other major sports - granted, baseball is as goofy as it comes in some aspects but it's a unique game with distinct boundary lines, league distinction and rooting allegiances.

[tim_m]

I don't see why who they are playing at the end should matter. All the games still count. If one team is playing a good and another a bad one that's just life. Its the way it is in all the other leagues.

Oh I agree totally, I've never been one who bitches about "strength of schedule" or "Who's playing who" down the stretch - but there are those who are and will no matter if it's within the division, intraleague or interleague.

I personally don't want baseball like the other major sports - granted, baseball is as goofy as it comes in some aspects but it's a unique game with distinct boundary lines, league distinction and rooting allegiances.

Very true, for me personally i still think it would be cool to see every team every year. Unfortunately i don't see it happening cause as i mentioned baseball has obstacles other sports do not having to play a series. With hockey and basketball teams in other conferences only play one or two games a year against the other. If they do it in baseball you'd have to have every team play more than 1/3 interleague games. Something like 45 games unless they were to make them 2 game series. That would still amount to 30. So i don't think that scenario will ever happen. I am excited to see how they implement the year round interleague play next year instead of just isolating it to a series in may then a longer period in june.

[Falcon]

The Mets appealing a call to try and get RA Dickey a no hitter it seems...

Oh the irony...

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8049989/new-york-mets-appeal-ra-dickey-1-hitter-tampa-bay-rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey now owns the longest streak of scoreless innings in franchise history.

The commissioner's office will decide whether he also owns the second no-hitter in franchise history.

Dickey surrendered only one hit in the Mets' 9-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night.

It came on what was scored a two-out infield single in the first inning by B.J. Upton, a ball on which third baseman David Wright was unable to field cleanly with his bare hand.

Terry Collins said afterward the Mets will appeal to Major League Baseball to have the scoring decision changed to an error, although the manager conceded reversing the decision was a long shot. Dickey agreed, calling it a "Hail Mary."

"We're probably not going to win it," Collins said. "David tried to make it. It's B.J. running. But what the heck? What have you got to lose except to have somebody say no? You've got an All-Star third baseman who comes in and tries to make a play."

An MLB committee can reverse an official scorer's decision. A reversal would give the Mets -- who had gone 8,019 games in franchise history without a no-hitter until Johan Santana performed the feat June 1 -- their second this month.

"I tried to make the play. I didn't make it," Wright said. "It's as simple as that. I don't think I could have got him with the glove. I tried to barehand it. It hit the lip and skipped on me. I didn't make the play. If they want to go back and give me an error, they can do that. I guess there's a handful of guys on that team you would have to barehand it and rush it. I wish it would have been somebody a little bit slower, where I could have taken my time and gloved it."

Wright dryly added: "It's the first inning. Had I known that it was going to be a one-hitter, I would have tried a little harder or something."

Dickey now owns the franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings with 32 2/3 after not allowing a run until the ninth Wednesday night. He passed the 31 2/3-inning streak by Jerry Koosman in 1973.

"A Hail Mary is a good analogy," Dickey said about a successful appeal of the ruling. "I don't know. It's up to them. I mean, B.J.'s quick. I've seen David make that play a lot of times with his bare hand. You give him 10 times, he's going to make it eight. It just kicked off his palm a little bit."

[tim_m]

No way in hell that gets changed. If he bobbled it or something then i could see possibly.

[tim_m]

Congrats to the Giants and Matt Cain on a perfect game!

[faldor]

Congrats to the Giants and Matt Cain on a perfect game!

Yeah, just caught the end of that.  Good stuff!

How about R.A. Dickey though?  What a season he's had so far.  Didn't see that one coming.