Go Tigers!

[joepepsi]

Old man Illitch in Detroit spent his heir's money to win a championship. Good for him and Detroit, but bad for the game. It's hard for me to root for his team. If I had to pick a team it'd be the Giants. They have by far the most enjoyable tv broadcast team in all of baseball in Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, so on that basis, I'll go Giants.

 

Just for the record, the Tigers' payroll in 2011 was around $106 million according to Cott's. The Brewers this year was $98 million. Detroit's payroll did balloon up this year to $133 million due to signing Prince. The Giants' payroll in $131 million this year, $118 million in 2011. Cards have been in $109 million in 2011, $111 million in 2012. Texas was $120 million this year.

 

Miquel Cabrera's contract is similar to Braun's. Verlander is in the middle of a 5 year/$80 million contract. I think the Brewers and their fans would have jumped at the chance to sign Greinke for something like that.

 

Detroit's payroll is not out of line with other teams of similar market size. They are no more guilty or innocent of "buying" their team than most any other competitive team in the game.

[monty57]

My 6-year-old is cheering for Detroit because of Prince and Verlander, so I guess I'll go with that. Otherwise, I wouldn't normally root for a team who's city police had to warn the fans to enter the city at their own risk.

 

The options are the Yankees and Cardinals who are two of my top four least favorite teams, and San Francisco, who is by default my runner up, but who I normally root against. I would definitely rather cheer for Cincy, Baltimore, Oakland, Atlanta, Washington or Texas than any of the teams still in it.

 

It could be worse... it could be St Louis vs the Cubs and the Yankees vs the Red Sox.

[burniebrewer]

Was fun to watch Prince wave everybody off for the final out.

[jerichoholicninja]

Someone should tell Mike Illitch he died a couple years ago. I had never seen the guy before tonight. Holy cow does he look bad.

[joepepsi]

My 6-year-old is cheering for Detroit because of Prince and Verlander, so I guess I'll go with that. Otherwise, I wouldn't normally root for a team who's city police had to warn the fans to enter the city at their own risk.

Check out the book, Summer of '68, about the Cards-Tigers World Series. We may have a repeat of that great series this year. While the Tigers were running off a great year and eventual championship, Detroit was on fire, sometimes literally, with riots and protests. The book is sloppily written and desperate for an editor, but the information is fascinating. The entire city was under curfew for the summer. Mickey Lolich was in the National Guard, as were many ballplayers at the time. The Guard patrolled the mean streets of Detroit, so after games he'd often spend the night on patrol.

 

I've always tended to cheer for teams whose cities struggle with turmoil, violence, and disarray. They give the citizens something to cheer for together, if only for a brief time.

[hawing]

Check out the book, Summer of '68, about the Cards-Tigers World Series.

The copy at my library is already in use, but I found another one to request.

[Warning Track Power]

The Giants play a forgotten form of baseball. Pitching and defense with timely hitting. It's fun to watch them. As much as I love Braun, Posey is the MVP. That HR against Cincinnati clinched that.

 

The one that happened in the playoffs, over a week after the MVP votes were made?

 

Yes I understand that...My point was that personally I was on the fence until watching that game. Besides, what did Ryan Braun say last year? My team made the playoffs and Matt Kemp's didn't. Yes Posey is the MVP.

[joepepsi]

A catcher who turns in a .957 OPS is pretty impressive. Especially playing in a home park that is still considered a pitcher's park.

[Ennder]

Not only is that park a Pitcher's park, it is a park that is specifically hard to hit opposite field HR as a RH hitter which hurts Posey more than most of their hitters.

[reillymcshane]

The Giants play a forgotten form of baseball. Pitching and defense with timely hitting. It's fun to watch them. As much as I love Braun, Posey is the MVP. .

I think people over play the 'pitching and defense' thing with SF. They actually hit really well.

 

The Giants play in a park that suppresses offense.

 

If you look at NL teams regular season batting on the road, SF has the most runs scored, the best BA, best OBP, and the best OPS. That's a good offensive team. They aren't a big HR team. But HRs doesn't always equate to good hitting.

 

In SF, the Giants outhit their opponents in almost every major category - runs scored, OPS, BA, SLG, OPS. The only thing they trail in is HRs. Teams hit to a tune of .649 OPS in SF.

 

This doesn't mean they don't have a top notch pitching staff, but I think people seriously underestimate the Giants hitters.

[reillymcshane]

I just have to say I'm happy the Cardinals are out of it. Pujols may be gone. LaRussa may be gone. But they are still annoying. Not quite as annoying as in the past, but better anyone but them.

[Invader3K]

Yep, glad to see the Cardinals and their fans on the end of disappointment for a change.

[torts]

I just have to say I'm happy the Cardinals are out of it. Pujols may be gone. LaRussa may be gone. But they are still annoying. Not quite as annoying as in the past, but better anyone but them.

 

this.

[monty57]

After being really disappointed at the outcome of the last round of the playoffs, I'm really happy with the outcome of this round of playoffs. If I can't cheer for the Brewers in a playoff series, then my next "favorite team" is usually whoever is playing the Yankees and the Cardinals. Seeing them both getting knocked out is nice.

[Warning Track Power]

The Giants play a forgotten form of baseball. Pitching and defense with timely hitting. It's fun to watch them. As much as I love Braun, Posey is the MVP. .

I think people over play the 'pitching and defense' thing with SF. They actually hit really well.

 

The Giants play in a park that suppresses offense.

 

If you look at NL teams regular season batting on the road, SF has the most runs scored, the best BA, best OBP, and the best OPS. That's a good offensive team. They aren't a big HR team. But HRs doesn't always equate to good hitting.

 

In SF, the Giants outhit their opponents in almost every major category - runs scored, OPS, BA, SLG, OPS. The only thing they trail in is HRs. Teams hit to a tune of .649 OPS in SF.

 

This doesn't mean they don't have a top notch pitching staff, but I think people seriously underestimate the Giants hitters.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2012_NLCS.shtml#post_batting_winner::none

 

I agree with you Reilly. They definitely had a good hitting year in the Regular Season.

 

In the playoffs though, they have had some amazingly timely hitting. As a team in the NLDS against the Reds, they hit .194 and won. In the NLCS, the Giants had 3 of the 8 regulars (Scutaro, Sandoval & Belt) have really good series (.500, .310 & .304 respectively). The other 5 hit .242 and lower, with their #4 & #5 hitters (Posey and Pence) hitting .154 & .179. They just find a way to win.

 

I know if I was a Cardinals fan, I'd be looking at our lineup and theirs and wonder how we scored 6, 7 & 8 in 3 of the first 4 games and 1 run in the final 3.

[monty57]

In the playoffs though, they have had some amazingly timely hitting. As a team in the NLDS against the Reds, they hit .194 and won. In the NLCS, the Giants had 3 of the 8 regulars (Scutaro, Sandoval & Belt) have really good series (.500, .310 & .304 respectively). The other 5 hit .242 and lower, with their #4 & #5 hitters (Posey and Pence) hitting .154 & .179. They just find a way to win.

 

The Cardinals did a good job of (literally) throwing away their chances with errors. That helps a team win a series while not hitting all that well. Kind of like how the Brewers fell apart defensively last year, costing them the series against the Cards.