2017 MLB Thread

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Aren't there still manager selections? That's a thing right?

HR Derby bracket is out:

Not a Yankees fan, but a Sanchez vs. Judge finale would be fun. I imagine we will see Stanton, Sano, Bellinger & Judge advance. Stanton over Sano, Judge over Bellinger. Then Stanton repeats.

[The Buscher]

43 minutes ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

Aren't there still manager selections? That's a thing right?

It turns out they took them away this year.  The bulk of the roster is decided the same way (fans elect starters, players elect a backup at each spot, 5 starting pitchers, and 3 relievers)....but after that it's now the league office that fills the rest of the roster instead of the manager.  Wasn't aware of that when I did my predictions.

Also they've apparently reduced the roster size from 34 to 32, moving it from 13 to 12 pitchers and it looks like the extra spot was made up by no longer carrying a 3rd catcher.  Guess it makes sense to cut back since there's no need to go all out with over-managing anymore.

[Your Mom]

Did they take away home field advantage from that now? I don't remember that

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Yeah, I think it was agreed upon in the last player's agreement. 

[Meacon Keaton]

I always hated the home-field advantage thing. It absolutely should be whoever has the best record getting home-field advantage.

[The Buscher]

Yep.  It was always a really dumb idea.  It made what was supposed to be a fun game hyper-stressful in years where your team actually had hopes of contending.  And I could never see the logic in letting the fans vote if something important was at stake as it was invariably going to turn into a popularity contest with a handful of people getting to play who shouldn't have even made the team, let alone get to start.

Ironically, the home field rule goes away and now the fans get the vote exactly right.  Never would have imagined Corey Dickerson being able to outvote Nelson Cruz no matter how deserving the stats said he was.

[Draevyn]

I haven't been keeping up with baseball as much as I had hoped this year. Caught that the Jay's had won last night and figured they had to have finally made it to .500. Looked at the standings and realized it was much worse than I'd thought.  

Some weird results last night as well with Atlanta thrashing Washington and the Blue Jays taking out Houston. I know the Cubs are struggling a bit but it was fun getting a chance to watch Pittsburgh play and win since they're not on my tv much.

[The Buscher]

No Kershaw in the ASG unfortunately as he started Sunday, he's replaced with Alex Wood instead.  Surprisingly that was the only roster move the NL needed to make.

The AL on the other hand needed to make a bunch.  Trout and Starlin Castro are both out with injuries as expected - replaced on the roster with Cano and Justin Upton.

Chris Archer, Roberto Osuna, Brandon Kintzler, and Chris Devenski all have been added to the team replacing Kluber, Darvish, and Fulmer who started Sunday and Keuchel who is still hurt.

[gunnar hendershow]

Lukewarm take: I'd rather a pitcher's derby where we get to watch guys whiff on pitches for 3 hours than a home run derby.

[The Buscher]

Sanchez just beat Stanton 17-16 in the first round.  Incredible display.  I wish the rule about needing to wait for pop ups to land wasn't there, although Stanton kinda abused that rule as is.

[The Buscher]

Judge has got this.  Half of his HRs looked like they were mis-hit off the bat and they still went sailing over.  Crazy power.

[Alex.]

Aaron Judge is Summer 2002 Brock Lesnar

[Meacon Keaton]

48 minutes ago, Busch Strowman said:

Judge has got this.  Half of his HRs looked like they were mis-hit off the bat and they still went sailing over.  Crazy power.

That's kind of been how his regular season home runs are too. Some he hits off the end of the bat or in on his hands, and he's so damn powerful that it goes over the wall anyway. 

[The Buscher]

I almost feel like the Derby can be turned off after the first round because guys naturally tire out after coming in fresh.  By the last round usually one of the finalists is totally gassed.

But then you have a guy like Judge who looked like barely even tried and still hit 11 HR in 16 swings to win it.  He's scary strong.  Makes it look so easy.

Maybe I'll smarten up and become a Yankee fan before Judge breaks Bonds' all time HR record because he's so damn fun to watch. 

[Meacon Keaton]

I had to just shut up a troll on Facebook. 

"Yeah, he hit it 513 feet. I'd like to see him do that against a 98 mph pitch and not batting practice."

Yeah, like the 496 foot shot he had just last month? Dumb ass.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Bour hit 22 home runs and didn't advance. That's nuts.

Aaron Judge is terrifying.

[The Buscher]

I'm still fully expecting an expansion to 32 teams within the next five or six years.  I have to assume they're going to follow the NFL model and roll with eight divisions of four, because the Astros move to the AL a couple of years ago was done specifically to ensure every team has the same odds of winning their division/league.

Re-alignment would depend on where the new teams are put in but I imagine it'd look something like this:

AL East:
Baltimore
Boston
New York Yankees
Toronto

AL North:
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota

AL South:
Houston
Kansas City
Mexico City
Texas

AL West:
Colorado
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Oakland
Seattle

NL East:
New York Mets
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

NL North:
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
St. Louis

NL South:
Atlanta
Charlotte
Miami
Tampa Bay

NL West:
Arizona
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego
San Francisco


That's just guessing Charlotte and Mexico City but they could be any number of places and you'd just need to shift teams around accordingly.  For instance Montreal would probably slot back into the NL East with I guess Washington getting bumped to the South.

The two things that are a given are that they're definitely going to keep the core rivalries intact (Yanks/Sox, Cubs/Cards, Dodgers/Giants of course) and I think they'll try really hard to avoid having mass league switching.  Colorado and Tampa Bay are good options to flip if needed though because they're still relatively new in terms of league history and they haven't exactly been rattling off pennants in their old leagues.

I'm not in favor of even further expanding the playoffs but I'd be willing to bet they raise it to 12 teams a league with the top two division winners getting byes and the other two division winners hosting wild card play-in games.  MLB is going to want to keep a crazy Wild Card race alive in case the division races end up being blowouts, which is entirely possible.

[gunnar hendershow]

Manfred basically wants to sort out the stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa Bay before doing anything else. Charlotte, Montreal, and Mexico City all probably wind up with teams in the future. I suspect Oakland finds a hail mary deal to stay in the East Bay, that city is losing the Warriors (though they are moving a few miles away) and Raiders in the immediate future. Tampa Bay is an utter mess but I can't envision the league wanting them to stay in the Trop much longer. Especially with eager markets waiting. Canadian dollar and Mexican peso might affect how and when those two cities get teams.

Of course there's always dark horse cities in the mix, I wouldn't blink if Nashville/Memphis, Portland, or San Antonio wound up with a team. It will never happen but a city like Austin or Louisville that doesn't have a pro team in any sport would be really cool, I love kind of those fanbases.

I don't know if baseball is really on board with a 16-team playoff, since it might destroy divisional races. But I have a hard time seeing them pitting 2 divisional winners against the 2 wild card teams in one-game playoffs. Seems like a division win should guarantee you a 5-game series.

As for realignment. I'll just go with my "locks" based on historic rivalries and geography.

AL Div 1 - Baltimore, Boston, New York

AL Div 2 - ChiSox, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota

AL Div 3 - Houston, Texas

AL Div 4 - LA Angels, Seattle

Toronto slots in Div 1 or 2, Oakland if they stay out west are in Div 4. Kansas City can fit in Div 2 or 3. Tampa Bay is way too up in the air to figure out where they wind up. And then there's also expansion.

NL Div 1 - NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

NL Div 2 - Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, St. Louis

NL Div 3 - Atlanta, Miami

NL Div 4 - Arizona, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Fran

NL is tougher because of geography and the possibility of expansion. Colorado has no logical home in any 4-team division, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee are hard to slot in as well. If Montreal is an expansion team they probably go into Div 1, then Pittsburgh to Div 2, and then a wonky Atlanta, Miami, Colorado, Milwaukee Div 3? It's just a very weird league in terms of geography.

[The Buscher]

Conforto has the chance to be the walkoff hero with 2 outs and strikes out to send it to extras.

Cano immediately hits a leadoff HR that will likely win the game in the 10th.

Even in the All Star Game, the baseball gods can't let the 2017 Mets have nice things.

[MalaCloudy Black]

BRING BACK THE EXPOS