World Series

[amsteel]

Can we all agree that Valverde's 30.38 postseason ERA is the best part of these playoffs?

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by TDog

When the White Sox had five off days before the 2005 World Series, they didn't complain about the layoff. They also swept the Astros. It did, however, take five games for the Whtie Sox to beat the Angels after three off days heading into the ALCS. I actually read a couple of national columns in 2005 that diminished the 11-1 accomplishment of the White Sox because they had the benefit of long layoffs.

The White Sox were also significantly better than the Astros. But come on, the Tigers went from scoring 4 RPG in the ALDS and ALCS to going on a 20-inning shut out streak in the World Series? If you want to believe the Giants were just that dominant on the mound, that's fine, but I think it's pretty clear the lay-off hurt Detroit. Anyone who would argue that a week-long layoff in a sport of such routine like baseball is just completely out of their mind.

Originally Posted by TDog

I thought while watching division and league championship series in both leagues that the National League teams were clearly better than the American League teams. Having seen the Yankees play against the Tigers, I believe the third-best team in the National League would have beaten the best team in the American League this year. I also believe the foruth-best team in the National League would have beaten the best team in the American League if they hadn't lost the NLCS after being up three games to one.

That's fine, except that a baseball season is longer than a week. Sure, it's great that the Cardinals and Giants looked nice last week. There were a couple of weeks this summer when the Sox looked like legitimate contenders in the American League. Unfortunately, a baseball season is a 6-month marathon. It's pretty clear that the Rangers and Yankees were probably the best teams in baseball that just couldn't finish this year; Texas because their injury problems and getting caught by a red hot A's team and the Yankees because they probably ran out of gas from that crazy pennant chase in the East. But that's just baseball, rarely does the best team in the league win the World Series. I think you could replay the 2012 season 100 times and you'd probably end up with at least 5-10 different teams who could win a championship and probably most would win more often than the Giants. Lucky for them this was their year.

I think it's silly to proclaim the era of AL dominance is over when the AL continues to wipe the floor with the NL over the course of interleague play (which may come to an end now that they're giving us their worst team) just because two middle of the road teams in each league played and the one from the NL happened to win the series. Using that logic, you can argue the 55-win Astros were better than the 85-win White Sox because Houston took 2 of 3 from them this year.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by amsteel

Can we all agree that Valverde's 30.38 postseason ERA is the best part of these playoffs?

That's 1(b) to Tiger fans whining about Romo's little dance on the mound. How's it taste, mother****ers?

[harwar]

The tigers sure didn't put up much of a fight .. i am definitely going to start watching more NL ball again like i used to .. i forgot how much fun it can be ..

[Rocky Soprano]

Originally Posted by MtGrnwdSoxFan

A funny aside: Tigers fans on their board are dogging Sergio Romo for his antics on the mound.

Umm, they do know who their closer was for the last couple of years, right? Tigers fans have absolutely zero reason to dog another team for having a closer who hot-dogs a bit.

Share the link, I would love to read that.

[TDog]

Originally Posted by doublem23

The White Sox were also significantly better than the Astros. But come on, the Tigers went from scoring 4 RPG in the ALDS and ALCS to going on a 20-inning shut out streak in the World Series? If you want to believe the Giants were just that dominant on the mound, that's fine, but I think it's pretty clear the lay-off hurt Detroit. Anyone who would argue that a week-long layoff in a sport of such routine like baseball is just completely out of their mind.



That's fine, except that a baseball season is longer than a week. Sure, it's great that the Cardinals and Giants looked nice last week. There were a couple of weeks this summer when the Sox looked like legitimate contenders in the American League. Unfortunately, a baseball season is a 6-month marathon. It's pretty clear that the Rangers and Yankees were probably the best teams in baseball that just couldn't finish this year; Texas because their injury problems and getting caught by a red hot A's team and the Yankees because they probably ran out of gas from that crazy pennant chase in the East. But that's just baseball, rarely does the best team in the league win the World Series. I think you could replay the 2012 season 100 times and you'd probably end up with at least 5-10 different teams who could win a championship and probably most would win more often than the Giants. Lucky for them this was their year.

I think it's silly to proclaim the era of AL dominance is over when the AL continues to wipe the floor with the NL over the course of interleague play (which may come to an end now that they're giving us their worst team) just because two middle of the road teams in each league played and the one from the NL happened to win the series. Using that logic, you can argue the 55-win Astros were better than the 85-win White Sox because Houston took 2 of 3 from them this year.

I believe the Giants were significantly better than the Tigers. I belived that in late August. I believed it in September when the Tigers sadly were barely good enough to beat out the White Sox. I also believed the Tigers were clearly better than the Yankees. Two years ago, I thought the difference between the Giants and the Rangers was closer, but the Giants won that series 4-1, and the Rangers didn't have a long-layoff excuse.

I don't believe there is a big difference between leagues right now in that I don't believe the AL is domant over the NL or the NL has acheived dominamce over the AL. The AL held an edge over the NL in interleague play, but seven of the 14 AL teams were no better than .500 against the NL with a wildly unbalanced interleague schedule.

One difference between the leagues is that I see the top teams in the National League being tougher than the top teams in the American League, although the bottom teams in the American League are far more competitive than the bottom teams in the National League. Granted, the Nationals needed more pitching in the postseason, but the NL postseason had a stronger group of teams. But when I look at the Twins, Indians, Red Sox and Blue Jays, I think they were clearly better this year than the than the Astros, Cubs, Rockies and Marlins.

It isn't that the AL is the major of the two major leagues, as it may have seemed in the middle of the last decade. It's that there are more very good teams in the AL and a much smaller difference between top and bottom, which may be mitigated net year by the NL sending their worst team to the AL's most competitive division.

It is also true that good teams grow during the season. The Giants weren't just a hot team as the Cardinals would have been if they made it to the World Series. The Giants were a team that came together in August, a first-place team that kicked it into high gear when they lost the NL's leading hitter, who was having an outstanding defensive season. If you were following the Giants in April, you would have seen a team with inconsistent pitching that couldn't catch the ball. They committed 25 errors in their first 21 games. But they kept tweaking and improving.

I don't think the Tigers' layoff made any difference. It allowed them to set up their rotation and establish what everyone believed to be superior pitching matchups. And it provided them with an excuse.

[Hitmen77]

The Giants franchise is now tied with the Red Sox for 4th most WS titles (seven). Ahead of them are the A's with 9 titles (5 in Philly and 4 in Oakland), the Cardinals with 11 titles, and of course the NYY$$$ with 27 titles.

[bunkaroo]

Originally Posted by amsteel

Can we all agree that Valverde's 30.38 postseason ERA is the best part of these playoffs?

For me, definitely. SO glad to see that horse's ass get what he deserved.

[VMSNS]

Originally Posted by Rocky Soprano

Share the link, I would love to read that.

+1

I'd really like to see that.

...and as far as I'm concerned, the guy just won the World Series for his team by striking out (looking!) the best hitter in the game with a fastball right down the pipe. He has every right to do whatever dance or celebration he wants in that situation.

[hawkjt]

Well done,Giants!

The Giants did all the little things better than the Tigers,and some big things,like defense and clutch hitting.

Very deserving champion.

I was surprised that the Giants got to Verlander...I think after that game, it was a huge psychological edge for the Giants.
Panda deserved the MVP award ....just for game 1 really...he destroyed the Tigers invincibility in three straight at bats...set the tone,and they kept it going.

Seeya,Tigers!

[slavko]

Originally Posted by russ99

Forget that, 10 days until FAs can start signing.

Love the Hot Stove league. Hopefully Hahn is a little more active than Kenny was the last few seasons.

Also, I gotta love that a bunt helped win the Series. Take that haters!

Ha! Spot on. Bunt followed by situational hitting, good. Bunt followed by home run swings, bad.

The Hot Stove League might be more fun than the Bulls this year.

[Zakath]

Originally Posted by SCCWS

It looks like the AL dominance is over. The NL has now won the World Series 3 years in a row. Certainly the importance of good pitching over hitting showed this year.

The NL has won 4 of the last 5 and 5 of the last 7. AL "dominance" pretty much ended after 2005, and even then, the NL won in 1995, 1997, 2001, and 2003, going back to the strike-cancelled series of 1994.

[Zakath]

Originally Posted by Hitmen77

The Giants franchise is now tied with the Red Sox for 4th most WS titles (seven). Ahead of them are the A's with 9 titles (5 in Philly and 4 in Oakland), the Cardinals with 11 titles, and of course the NYY$$$ with 27 titles.

It's rather telling that the Yankees have actually lost more World Series (13) than anyone else has won, and they didn't appear in their first World Series until 1921. Their longest stretch of consecutive World Series was 5, which they did twice (1949-53, where they won all 5, and 1960-1964, where they went 2-3). From 1936-64 (29 series), they appeared in all but 7 of them (1940, 1944-46, 1948, 1954, 1959).

Their longest drought was 15 years (1981-1996).

In a span of 92 years (91 series), the Yankees appeared 40 times.

[DumpJerry]

Originally Posted by MtGrnwdSoxFan

A funny aside: Tigers fans on their board are dogging Sergio Romo for his antics on the mound.

Umm, they do know who their closer was for the last couple of years, right? Tigers fans have absolutely zero reason to dog another team for having a closer who hot-dogs a bit.

Love is blind.

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by TDog

I believe the Giants were significantly better than the Tigers.

The Giants were the better team. They were the best team. Pitching and defense win championships. Their four starters were unstoppable. I think a lot of people are having a hard time grasping that they won it because of the lack of big names. They were a fun team to watch though.