October in America

[Loki]

Yankees. That is all.

The Blue Jays have a truly ridiculous lineup. I don't see them losing, except maybe to St. Louis. Not sure how they finally put things together this season, but they certainly did. Did you see the Runs For and Runs Against?

[wiggin]

There is a lack of Halloween in your post about October.

Oh, if you insist.

It'll be spooooky when the Cubs win the World Series. For Halloween, I'm going to dress up as the devil in a snowsuit.

Yankees. That is all.

The Blue Jays have a truly ridiculous lineup. I don't see them losing, except maybe to St. Louis. Not sure how they finally put things together this season, but they certainly did. Did you see the Runs For and Runs Against?

The Yankees were always at best an outside chance this year anyways. Their performance in the WC playoff was pretty lackluster, and I'm frankly not that surprised.

Agreed that the Blue Jays look good for winning the pennant, but I think either the Cubs or Cards would be a real challenge for them. They haven't had a particularly tough division to fight in this year, and they have precious little experience going up against either of these teams. And at least Busch is very pitcher friendly, so the Cards would have a real leg up in cutting down that run differential. I don't deny that the Blue Jays have been a pleasant surprise this year, in a season full of pleasant surprises. But they don't have enough practice playing against the big boys to really succeed in the playoffs.

I was really disappointed with their performance tonight - the Rangers really walked all over them, despite the crazy-good home field advantage Toronto has enjoyed. Given that Cole Hamels is up for Game 2, it's entirely possible they might be going to Texas in an 0-2 hole. At least it doesn't look like any of the injury scares will end up changing the rosters much. Too much rest for Price, maybe?

Also surprised at the Astros' great performance tonight. Things are not looking good for the top AL seeds; these pitchers are surrendering far too many homers when their offenses should ostensibly be walking all over the competition.

Looking at the Cubs/Cards, I think Cubs have a bit of an edge due to health and starting pitching, but the Cards have great bullpen depth and still have a lot of offensive power, and they only have to play Arrieta once. I'm still leaning towards a Cubs win in 4 or 5, though - they're peaking at just the right time while the Cards are looking a bit shaky. Should be a great series, though.

I think Dodgers/Mets is up in the air, we'll get a better feel after Game 1. Kinda rooting for the Mets, though, just to see a Cubs-Mets NLCS. They'll have to face Kershaw twice, though, which is going to be a substantial challenge.

American sports competitions are confusing. Leagues, divisions, conferences, series, playoffs, nlcs, nlds, al, nl.. I tried looking it up but it's confusing.

You asked for it!

Major League Baseball is split into two leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL). They follow roughly the same rules with some minor changes, but during the regular season (162 games) most games are played against opponents within your own league. Each league is currently split into three divisions of about 5 teams each. Again, teams play against other teams in their division more than other teams in their league or in all of baseball.

At the end of the season, the three teams in each league that had the best record in their division advance to the playoffs. In addition, the teams with the next two best records in the league get into the playoffs by dint of their 'wild card' status. Only one team can advance to the quarterfinal series (need an even number of teams), so the two wild card teams in each league play a one-game 'win or go home' game to determine who actually continues onto the rest of the playoffs. This can cause unusual outcomes, such as this year when the NL Central division had three teams sporting the best win-loss records in all of baseball, but teams 2 and 3 had to play a single elimination game to see who could continue in the playoffs, despite much weaker teams entering the playoffs by dint of winning their division. Hence my argument to moving to a 'conference' system like in hockey (hockey also has two groups of teams like the leagues in baseball, but they call them conferences), where the best records overall advance to the playoffs and are seeded by conference-wide rankings.

Okay, so now you have four teams per league in the playoffs - three division winners and the wild card playoff winner. These teams are ranked, and the top seed plays the bottom seed and so on for a best-of-five game series called the divisional series (hence, the American League Divisional Series, or ALDS, and the National League Divisional Series, or NLDS). The teams that advance then move to the semi-final series, called the League Championship Series (NLCS and ALCS for the National and American Leagues, respectively). This is a best-of-seven series, and the winners from each league then advance to the final, called the World Series. The WS is a best-of-seven series between the winners of the NL and AL.

Fairly straightforward, really.

[littlelolligagged]

Oh, if you insist.

It'll be spooooky when the Cubs win the World Series. For Halloween, I'm going to dress up as the devil in a snowsuit.

Was this thing Colbert was saying about a goat curse true?

Also yay, warm and cozy costumes I think my first Halloween with a kid I dressed up like someone who had not slept for months. It was highly convincing.

[wiggin]

Wow, talk about a day showcasing offensive power. This was the kind of day I've been expecting, at least from the Blue Jays and Cubs. I'm happy the ALDS series are both going to Game 5 - adds a certain spice to the playoff race, and makes it far more competitive than I expected. KC only squeaked by, but a win's a win. Shame about Arrieta's outing not being up to his normal ridiculously awesome self, but looks like the Cubbies' offense can save the day. Looking forward to a win for Game 4 to close out the series?

The big controversy with the Dodgers/Mets obviously centers around Utley's slide that broke Tejada's leg. There's no question that it was a dirty slide, and I'm shocked the ump didn't call at least interference. I hope his suspension is upheld, and I hope the Dodgers don't advance to the NLCS (also, just because we obviously want the Mets to play the Cubs in the NLCS). MLB already made a rule to minimize collisions at home plate; they definitely need better rules/enforcement to protect middle fielders. Some takeout slides are fine (cf Coghlan's slide in the Pirates game a few weeks back), but even those are dangerous. The like of Utley's shenanigans need to be eliminated.

Was this thing Colbert was saying about a goat curse true?

Also yay, warm and cozy costumes I think my first Halloween with a kid I dressed up like someone who had not slept for months. It was highly convincing.

I didn't see Colbert, but yeah, there's a billy goat curse. All sorts of curses have haunted the Cubs over the years, it's pretty crazy. Look up Leon Durham's grounder in the 1984 NLCS, or the Bartman ball in the 2003 NLCS. The Cubs have had some ridiculously awful luck when it comes to the postseason. But this year? These rookies don't believe in superstition. They're just here to win baseball games.

[littlelolligagged]

I didn't see Colbert, but yeah, there's a billy goat curse. All sorts of curses have haunted the Cubs over the years, it's pretty crazy. Look up Leon Durham's grounder in the 1984 NLCS, or the Bartman ball in the 2003 NLCS. The Cubs have had some ridiculously awful luck when it comes to the postseason. But this year? These rookies don't believe in superstition. They're just here to win baseball games.

The Bartman Wikipedia article is sad.

As of 2013, Bartman still lives in Chicago and works for a financial services consulting company. He still declines interviews and, while he is still a Cubs fan, has never returned to Wrigley.[33]

On Oct. 2, 2015, Cubs fan Keque Escobedo created a GoFundMe campaign seeking $5,000 in donations to send Bartman to the 2015 National League Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the campaign was "more than halfway" finished, Bartman declined the offer. The funds went to the Alzheimer's Association instead.[34]

I think the Cubs should make a point of inviting him to a game with excellent seats.

[wiggin]

Still think the Blue Jays have no chance? This series is basically a recap of their season: terrible start despite good underlying stats and then murder against all opposition. Baseball playoffs are tough for predictions though. There's too much variation from game to game, and even the best teams typically win ~60% of their games.

Regarding the Yankees: I wasn't expecting them to go all the way, but did think some of the teams in the AL are rather weak, and getting to the AL championship series wasn't out of the question.

Hey, I was the person who first suggested Toronto would make the World Series (albeit losing to the Cubs/Cards in 6). I just think their pretty awful offensive performance at home against a good-but-not-great opponent is concerning. I really thought that KC and Toronto had the ALDS sewn up ahead of time, but this has been surprisingly competitive. Much less surprised by the NLDS action.

Happy to see the Mets get some revenge by an emphatic win, but not sure they will be able to win the series - Kershaw is up tonight and they've looked a bit shaky. Cubs/Cards today should be awesome; if the Cubs clinch a trip to the NLCS at home, you can guarantee that the entire North Side will be shaking from the noise.

The Bartman Wikipedia article is sad.



I think the Cubs should make a point of inviting him to a game with excellent seats.

Yeah, poor guy. He was doing what any other dedicated fan would do, and the Cubs lost that game (and series) with no help from him. I think it's just that his catch is emblematic of the many, many times that Cubs fans have come so close to their dreams, only to have them snatched away at the last moment. Here's hoping for this year!


If you want a REAL curse, I think the now-broken curses of both the Red Sox - the curse of the Bambino - and the White Sox - the curse of the Black Sox - are far better deserved. The Cubs are just unlucky.