Major League Baseball 2010

[Hailtothechimp]

I bet not a soul in the world would have picked this match-up for the World Series.

That being said, Rangers in 6

[gunnar hendershow]

Rangers in 5, they'll redo the ALCS celebration after they win.

This World Series is thoroughly unexpected, and only the fourth since 1996 without one of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, or St. Louis Cardinals involved. It's a good day!

[Panni]

I think Brian Wilson should have MVP of the NLCS. He was shaky at times, but he closed out all his games.

As far as the World Series goes...should be interesting. Rangers have a huge hitting advantage, and I'd say the Giants have a significant pitching advantage (even though the Rangers have Lee). People say pitching beats hitting, but not this Rangers lineup. I just don't think Giants loveable batch of mediocre veterans (Uribe/Huff/Renteria/Ross/Sanchez/Burrell) will be able to keep up with the firepower of the Texas lineup.

I say Rangers in 6.

[HailtotheYo]

Lee is every bit as good as Lincecum ...

I really don't see any other Giants pitcher being any better than any other Rangers pitcher. I said it before, the Rangers are here because they have the pitching they haven't in years past when they've trotted out a sick lineup like this.

Rangers in 5.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Pleased and pleasantly surprised that we're getting Giants/Rangers. I said a few pages back that it would be my ideal WS, but I really underestimated both teams when I said it'd probably be another fucking Yankees/Phillies ordeal.

Rangers in 7.

What're the odds at right now, though?

[Trey]

Rangers are -130 while the Giants are +110 for the series.

[Panni]

Rangers have great pitching don't get me wrong. Cliff Lee is even better than Tim Lincecum right now. There are probably only two pitchers in baseball that are better than Lee and that's Hallady & King Felix. What's great about that is we are probably going to see that marquee pitching match-up in Games 1,4, & 7 if necessary. However, I think Jonathan Sanchez is better than CJ Wilson and Matt Cain is much better than Colby Lewis. So I give the rotation advantage to the Giants. SF also has an advantage in middle relief while Texas has the better closer.

While SF does have the pitching advantage I just don't think they'll have the hitting to match-up with Texas who is a more well-rounded team.

[Meacon Keaton]

Ok. I'll be the only one to say it, I think the Giants are going to win it all. I'm rooting for the Rangers, only because of the whole "Well, we can say we lost to the champions..." thing, but I think Giants in seven.

[gunnar hendershow]

http://deadspin.com/5673896/is-brian-wilson-into-fetish-porn-or-something-a-video-investigation

He's probably just working the crowd, but way to maintain kayfabe Brian.

Edited October 27, 2010 by damshow

[HailtotheYo]

Wow, so Ax is now doing work as gayfetishsex guy ?

eh, gotta make ends I guess.

[naiwf]

I have a feeling that the Giants may win this one because Vladdy's going to have to play RF in San Francisco and the NL parks always provide an advantage to the NL team since they don't lose their DH. That one move weakens Texas' defense, and if it's close late he may end up getting replaced if he isn't due for another inning or two. When they travel to Texas you'd have to figure San Fran has someone who hits better than their pitchers, but considering their offense that may not be true

If Texas wins tonight (and I think they will), then they'll win in 6. However if Lincecum takes the opener, I'm going Giants in 7 because the Rangers may lose their mojo if Lee gets knocked off in Game 1.

[HailtotheYo]

Eh, I see that to a point, but during the season Lee didn't exactly set the AL on fire and Texas managed just fine:

Link

[naiwf]

Eh, I see that to a point, but during the season Lee didn't exactly set the AL on fire and Texas managed just fine:

Link

Considering that Texas dominated the Yankees, I think If Lee beats Lincecum in SF tonight the Rangers would put a chokehold on the series. If Lee loses though, then he probably only pitches one more game and I don't know if the Rangers can rely on the non-Lee starters to win 3 games in a short series again, especially since the Giants have better pitching than the Yankees did. I still expect Texas to win tonight/the series. I just wonder what would happen if they lose when Lee pitches, or how they'd react if Lee got lit up. They didn't sweat losing two games at home to Tampa Bay because they knew they still had him in Game 5, just like they didn't worry about being even against the Yankees because he turned the series in their favor in Game 3.

[HailtotheYo]

That's a fair take.

My take just happens to be a bit different. The Rangers (it seems) have gotten over the old stigma that those great lineups had in the late 90's. In 6 games, the Yankees only shut them down ONCE. The Rays did it twice in the five games. This lineup is looking at 8 of 11 games in the playoffs in which they didn't produce.

Flip that, and they held the Rays to 1, 0, and 1 runs in the three wins (yeah two were Lee) ... but Colby Lewis held the Yankees to 2 runs ... the bullpen held the Yankees in game 4, and Lewis dominated them again to clinch the series.

I still don't think that people see the quality of the entire staff the Rangers have. There's also the fact that this will be the weakest of the 3 lineups they've faced.

[gunnar hendershow]

The one knock on the Rangers' pitching is between their starters and closer. This could be an 09 Phillies situation where that costs them a pivotal game at some point in the series. This is the easily the weakest offense they face, but it's also easily the best pitching they face.

I'm going to end up having work for the first 3 games of the Series unfortunately. Just my luck.

[naiwf]

It feels so good to know that the game where Cliff Lee was "due" happened against San Fran and not the Yankees

[gunnar hendershow]

I was kinda hoping it happened once he was a Yankee.

[HailtotheYo]

It feels so good to know that the game where Cliff Lee was "due" happened against San Fran and not the Yankees

Agreed 100%

Wasn't expecting that at all and while the Giants won the game, they can't be feeling good about the fact that the Rangers roughed up Timmy Baseball. The Rangers faced the Giants Ace and were spot on their offensive production ... the Giants results on offense were an anomoly.

While it sucks to have Lee shelled like that I'm not worried yet. Should the Giants find a way to put up 7+ again ? Ok yeah, Dire Straits for the Rangers.

[naiwf]

I still don't think that people see the quality of the entire staff the Rangers have. There's also the fact that this will be the weakest of the 3 lineups they've faced.

Oops

[gunnar hendershow]

Hey guys, remember that guy who said Rangers would win in 5 and Giants had no chance? What was his name? Damshow or something? Man, WHAT AN IDIOT!