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2016 MLB Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

Robert Crawford

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Of course there was a time when the team with the best record had a 50/50 chance of winning it all but with a playoff system everything is up for grabs.

While the Cubs have benefitted by the Wild Card in the past I'm not a big fan of the WC. There is something to be said for consistently winning over the span of a season. Perhaps they should just make the WC team play nothing but road games in the Divisional series.

As for this year, if I were a betting man I would bet the field against the Cubs because that is the safe bet. Also at least three of the teams that the Cubs could face in the playoffs have winning records again the Cubs this year so the Cubs should be underdogs against these teams.
Good luck in getting those odds. I don't see Vegas making a team that wins over 100 games this season, an underdog despite their records against each other.
 

David_B_K

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Good luck in getting those odds. I don't see Vegas making a team that wins over 100 games this season, an underdog despite their records against each other.

Last year's 100-game winning Cardinals seemed to be the team to beat before they made a hasty exit in the playoffs.
 

Robert Crawford

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Last year's 100-game winning Cardinals seemed to be the team to beat before they made a hasty exit in the playoffs.
You're talking about actual results, I'm talking about Vegas betting odds having the Cubs as underdogs going into their first playoff series this year. As the old adage goes, playoff series are a crap shoot.
 

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Mets rolling tonight. So many injuries but they are hanging in the race. Ya gotta believe!
Let's go mets!
 

Mike Frezon

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How does somebody from NY become a Red Sox fan?

I've probably told this story before in one of these annual threads.

It's pretty simple, really. When I was 9 years old (in 1968), my dad got me my first baseball glove...a beautiful Spaulding glove (which I still have and is in pretty good shape). In the mitt, Yaz's stats from his triple crown year (the last Triple Crown winner until Miggy a couple years ago. 1967, of course, was also the "Impossible Dream" year of the Sox. I have great memories of listening to the '67 (Sox/Cardinals) and '68 (Tigers/Cardinals) World Series on the radio those years. In '69, my 5th grade teacher actually dismissed us early from school so we could run home and watch a WS game on TV that afternoon (Imagine! An afternoon World Series game!!). My teacher--a sports fan--figured since a NY team was playing that year, it was an even more special event than usual!

So that's how my love affair with the Red Sox got started. Something as simple as a baseball glove. Who knows, maybe if I got my glove a year later, I'd be a big Denny McLain/Detroit Tigers fan. :D

And as many people here already know, my son is a Yankee fan. When he came of baseball age (he started playing t-ball at four years old...I helped coach each of his teams up until he reached Legion and high school ball), the Yankees started winning...and winning a lot. And it didn't help/hurt that nearly all the baseball we could see on TV were the Yankees and Mets. Derek Jeter, of course, was his favorite player growing up as Jeter was the common thread over all those years for the Yanks. Even I rooted for the '98 Yankees as they glided to the world championship that year. I've never seen a team execute like that team did. Solid at nearly every position and a well-constructed lineup which featured a formidable group of righties, lefties and switch hitters. And then there was the rotation...

But it's not like any of that overcomes a nine year old boy's first love...the team of his youth. Yaz, Conigliaro, Lonborg, George Scott, Ken Harrelson, Rico Petrocelli, Reggie Smith.

There's actually quite a few Red Sox fans sprinkled throughout upstate NY. Lots of Mets fans on Long Island. But the Yankees pretty much own NYC.
 

Robert Crawford

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I've probably told this story before in one of these annual threads.

It's pretty simple, really. When I was 9 years old (in 1968), my dad got me my first baseball glove...a beautiful Spaulding glove (which I still have and is in pretty good shape). In the mitt, Yaz's stats from his triple crown year (the last Triple Crown winner until Miggy a couple years ago. 1967, of course, was also the "Impossible Dream" year of the Sox. I have great memories of listening to the '67 (Sox/Cardinals) and '68 (Tigers/Cardinals) World Series on the radio those years. In '69, my 5th grade teacher actually dismissed us early from school so we could run home and watch a WS game on TV that afternoon (Imagine! An afternoon World Series game!!). My teacher--a sports fan--figured since a NY team was playing that year, it was an even more special event than usual!

So that's how my love affair with the Red Sox got started. Something as simple as a baseball glove. Who knows, maybe if I got my glove a year later, I'd be a big Denny McLain/Detroit Tigers fan. :D

And as many people here already know, my son is a Yankee fan. When he came of baseball age (he started playing t-ball at four years old...I helped coach each of his teams up until he reached Legion and high school ball), the Yankees started winning...and winning a lot. And it didn't help/hurt that nearly all the baseball we could see on TV were the Yankees and Mets. Derek Jeter, of course, was his favorite player growing up as Jeter was the common thread over all those years for the Yanks. Even I rooted for the '98 Yankees as they glided to the world championship that year. I've never seen a team execute like that team did. Solid at nearly every position and a well-constructed lineup which featured a formidable group of righties, lefties and switch hitters. And then there was the rotation...

But it's not like any of that overcomes a nine year old boy's first love...the team of his youth. Yaz, Conigliaro, Lonborg, George Scott, Ken Harrelson, Rico Petrocelli, Reggie Smith.

There's actually quite a few Red Sox fans sprinkled throughout upstate NY. Lots of Mets fans on Long Island. But the Yankees pretty much own NYC.
There are quite a lot of Yankee fans in upstate NY too with some local radio carrying their games. It's quite ironic about your Red Sox story as that was the year in which my hatred for the Red Sox began as the Sox played the Cardinals in the 1967 WS. Growing up, I was the only Yankee fan in my family, they rooted for the Mets after the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Anyhow, I also rooted for the Cardinals as my favorite player of all-time was Bob Gibson. I actually rooted for the Cardinals against the Yankees in 1964. What can I say, Gibson was my baseball idol back then, it was pre-free agency and I was a kid. As soon as Gibson retired, my fandom for the Cardinals disappeared. Since then, I only had eyes for my Yankees, though, I flirted with the Oakland A's during their WS run as I love those uniforms and Reggie Jackson. As a young teenager, I had a thing for teams from Oakland as I'm a Raiders fan to this day. They had great uniforms too.:)
 
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Mike Frezon

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I'm really just a fan of baseball first and foremost...but Yastrzemski is my hero and the Sox are my team.

It was an amazing thing to be so emotionally vested in the 2003 ALCS and then watch what happened in the post-season in 2004. I know that the rivalry has waxed and waned through the years, but something tells me it'll be pretty tough to match what it was like in the late '90s and early '00s.

The '70s Athletics were certainly a special group. Such a different bunch of players than those staid players on the big red machine. I was always pulling for them, too. But, then, being a Red Sox fan, I always root for the American League whenever appropriate.

And Bob Gibson was one of the most amazing pitchers ever to pick up a baseball--certainly in my lifetime. Hated him as an opponent...but the admiration and respect cannot be denied. I used to hate Pete Rose when I was young, too. I could never understand WHY a guy would ever run to first base when he drew a walk. Now I wish every player would. :D
 

Robert Crawford

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I'm really just a fan of baseball first and foremost...but Yastrzemski is my hero and the Sox are my team.

It was an amazing thing to be so emotionally vested in the 2003 ALCS and then watch what happened in the post-season in 2004. I know that the rivalry has waxed and waned through the years, but something tells me it'll be pretty tough to match what it was like in the late '90s and early '00s.

The '70s Athletics were certainly a special group. Such a different bunch of players than those staid players on the big red machine. I was always pulling for them, too. But, then, being a Red Sox fan, I always root for the American League whenever appropriate.

And Bob Gibson was one of the most amazing pitchers ever to pick up a baseball--certainly in my lifetime. Hated him as an opponent...but the admiration and respect cannot be denied. I used to hate Pete Rose when I was young, too. I could never understand WHY a guy would ever run to first base when he drew a walk. Now I wish every player would. :D
In my opinion, the rivalry was more intense in the mid-70's as the players on each team really hated each other. Now, they're too buddy, buddy as there is no way David Ortiz would be given a celebration at Yankee Stadium or Jeter or Rivera at Fenway.
 

Aaron Silverman

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In my opinion, the rivalry was more intense in the mid-70's as the players on each team really hated each other. Now, they're too buddy, buddy as there is no way David Ortiz would be given a celebration at Yankee Stadium or Jeter or Rivera at Fenway.

Did anyone get that sort of celebration back in those days?

I was all set to "Like" Mike's post until I got to the part where he rooted for the '98 Yankees! :)
 

Mike Frezon

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I was all set to "Like" Mike's post until I got to the part where he rooted for the '98 Yankees! :)

Ouch! Dee-nied!

That is probably going to go down as the best team I'll have ever seen in my lifetime. I cannot deny it. For goodness sake, they won 125 games that year (114 in the regular season)!!

Did anyone get that sort of celebration back in those days?

No. This is another wrong turn in the world of baseball...where players announce well ahead of time their impending retirement at the end of the season. I call these scenarios "farewell tours." They are an embarrassment to the sport and to the individuals within that sport.
 

Patrick_S

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Anyhow, I also rooted for the Cardinals as my favorite player of all-time was Bob Gibson. I actually rooted for the Cardinals against the Yankees in 1964. What can I say, Gibson was my baseball idol back then...
Hey, my previous next door neighbor took on in the ribs from Gibson in a spring training game. He says it hurts to this day. :D
 

Patrick_S

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Did anyone get that sort of celebration back in those days?

No. This is another wrong turn in the world of baseball...where players announce well ahead of time their impending retirement at the end of the season. I call these scenarios "farewell tours." They are an embarrassment to the sport and to the individuals within that sport.
Stan The Man had announced his retire before the season ended and several other teams in the NL did have little tributes and gifts for him.
 

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