MLB 2019

[The Buscher]

The Nats bullpen is so bad I have to assume they're going to align their pitching staff in the next few days to ensure that Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin are the only pitchers who will be used in the Wild Card game.

[GhostMachine]

I've wanted the Nats to make it to the Series for a few years (though not over the Dodgers, my parents' team), but I don't think they'll win if they make it. Busch has a point about their bullpen.

 

[DMN in the House]

7 hours ago, Meacon said:

Yeah I feel like literally any team in the NL playoffs can get to the Series this year.

K.

No St. Louis = Dodger pennant.

[Meacon Keaton]

You're not going to win the Pennant every year for the rest of time!

[gunnar hendershow]

They're like the old Brooklyn Dodgers who always made the World Series and then lost.

[The Buscher]

Mets book-ended their year-long 1969 celebrations with the surprise announcement that they'll be retiring Jerry Koosman's #36 jersey next year. Met fan Evan Roberts went ballistic about it on WFAN today because #36 has been given out to 27 guys since he left and it was never removed from circulation, including Mickey Callaway wearing it up until yesterday.

His gripe is that them waiting 40+ years only to now decide it should be retired makes it look like a PR move rather than actually wanting to honor him, especially after the organization has been very stingy about retiring numbers. 4 numbers have been retired but 2 (Stengel and Hodges) were for off-field reasons. The only 2 player numbers retired were Seaver and Piazza who are the only 2 guys in the HOF as Mets which has seemed to be the unofficial policy on how high their standards were for number retirement.  So to retire Koosman's number cheapens it.

I understand Roberts' gripe, but they were always going to make an exception to that policy for David Wright anyway, so it's a sensible time to re-assess the policy as a whole. Every team has legends that are important to the history of the franchise without having HOF careers. Besides, it's not like this will open up pandora's box with a massive queue of numbers. They already had Gary Carter's #8 and Keith Hernandez' #17 out of circulation which has always felt half-assed, now they can actually commit to it. Between them, Wright, and Koosman that'd be 6 player numbers retired for a 60 year old franchise. Hardly feels egregious.

The Mets have caught a ton of flack from fans for failing to acknowledge their history or waiting too long to honor their legends. It took them five years to add any sort of Mets imagery in their own ballpark or to paint the outfield wall blue or make it feel like home. They didn't commit to retiring Carter's number and now he's gone. They're finally building a Seaver statue but he'll never get to see it because he has dementia and has retired from public life.

So yeah I won't deny that it does help the PR, but it's still the right thing to do. Koosman is the best lefty in team history and second to Seaver in most of the team pitching records. They don't win the 1969 World Series without him. His number never should've been circulated as it has, but that makes him no less deserving. And he'll be 77 next year. Give him the honor while he can enjoy it.

[Meacon Keaton]

Zack Greinke is three outs away from a no-no. #sahyderhasablog

[RoHitman Reigns]

Glad to see that it was Philly fans who were the classier bunch. Apparently some Nationals fans were bringing in Harpers wife and kid when heckling him.

[DMN in the House]

17 hours ago, Meacon said:

You're not going to win the Pennant every year for the rest of time!

Only because the Cardinals can't stay down forever!

14 hours ago, damsher hatfield said:

They're like the old Brooklyn Dodgers who always made the World Series and then lost.

This.

[The Buscher]

11 times in the Wild Card era, a team has had two of the three major individual award winners in the same year (MVP, Cy, ROTY).  All of those teams made the playoffs.

With their elimination last night it seems like the Mets are about to break that streak  Alonso is a shoo-in for ROTY and I think deGrom locked down his second straight Cy last night punctuated by a 23 inning scoreless streak.  To not make the playoffs with two incredible seasons like that is a disgrace.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah Ryu got hurt late and that probably knocked him out of winning the Cy Young. deGrom's September has been phenomenal.

AL Cy Young is interesting between Verlander and Cole. I think objectively Verlander has had the better year. But Cole's averaging almost 14ks per 9 which is obscene. Maybe they'll both split votes and Mike Minor will sneak in with the backing of the nerdiest analytics people.

Also on the topic of the Mets retiring numbers. I think an unofficial "must be in the HOF" rule is stupid. I think of Keith Hernandez very quickly when I think of the Mets. Why isn't his number retired? Koosman is one of those guys who fans of the Mets talk about as a hero, silly it took this long to retire his number. There are 99 to go around you can take 1 or 2 out of circulation every decade or so.

On that note it'll be interesting to see if the O's finally retire Mussina's 35 now that he's in the HOF with a blank cap. And I'm interested if they do anything about Jones' #10 since he very much was the franchise player here for a decade half of which the team was actually good for.

[The Buscher]

They definitely should retire Mussina's number, and should've done so no matter what cap he was wearing.  And Jones deserves it too.  Anyone who is a franchise player for that long is worthy of the honor.

And yeah I've never agreed with the Mets being so stringent about it.  I think a big part of their hesitation for retiring Carter and Hernandez' numbers officially is that despite being co-captains on a team that brought a title to Queens they achieved their greatest individual successes on other teams and weren't Mets for all that long.  But Carter specifically requested the HOF committee put him in a Mets cap or a split Mets/Expos cap and they refused and put him in an Expos cap.  Unfortunately for him that was right after the Boggs rule went into effect so they were strict about it.  They've since lightened up and honor the players' preferences as long as it's close.  But you mean to tell me they'd have retired #8 if the committee honored his wish but because they didn't, they can't?  That's dumb.  And Keith's #17 was handed out a lot after he left but it's now been in unofficial retirement for a decade.  Nobody would be happy to see anyone else wearing #8 and #17 so just formally retire them and let the numbers hang in the stadium.

There will probably be a push from a segment of the fanbase to retire Doc and Darryl's numbers too but I can't see that with all of their off-field issues, especially Doc's most recent stuff.  Similarly, Reyes might've gotten #7 retired once the stink of him having one of the worst individual seasons in franchise history last year wore off...but I'm very uncomfortable with putting the number of someone who committed domestic violence up there.

Considering how unfair the fans were to him after striking out looking to end the 2006 NLCS, I'd be fascinated in seeing what the team would do if Beltran went into the HOF as a Met.  If he were going in for a specific team - he played in more games for the Mets than anywhere else and has his best overall numbers there while putting together a few monster seasons.  But he played a similarly long time with the Royals, made All Star teams with the Cardinals and Rangers, had a legendary playoff run in Houston and then returned years later to win a ring there.  He feels like a clear blank cap candidate.

[gunnar hendershow]

Beltran is one of those modern guys who could definitely justify the blank cap. If he goes in with a cap it's gotta be the Mets, but no reason he has to.

[GhostMachine]

What isn't fair is that players don't always have control when it comes to the Hall of Fame. Andre Dawson wanted to go in as a Cub, but they made him go in as an Expo. He played the majority of his career with the Expos and set some records with them, but the Expos treated him like dirt with the way he left the organization. And the Expos' stadium had artificial turf, which messed with his knee problems, which is one of the contributing factors for him leaving the team.

 

 

[The Buscher]

Well that’s because Wade Boggs ruined it by accepting money to go in as a Tampa Bay Devil Ray, that’s when the HOF Committee overrode him and they changed the rules.

Speaking of Rays, Cleveland lost which means the Rays and Athletics are both in the Wild Card game.

[Meacon Keaton]

James Paxton left after one inning tonight with an undisclosed injury, because the universe wants every single person to ever wear a Yankee jersey to go on the IL this year. 

[GhostMachine]

All at the same time!

[Meacon Keaton]

They pretty much have. And they've still won over 100 games. So suck a butt. 

[Your Mom]

Cubbies can at least play spoiler against the Cards. Only problem with that is it also helps the Brewers. So yeah Baseball kinda sucked this year  

[The Buscher]

And another power record falls.  Pete Alonso cracks his 53rd home run of the year to break Aaron Judge’s rookie record.