2018 Standings and Playoff Race Discussion

[dlk9s]

Schoop granny plus Godgers gimpy comeback. Today was a good day.

 

 

unless Godgers' injury is worse than it seems

 

[Ennder]

The a.l. playoff races suck this year. That is all.

 

Tampa Bay has the same record as the NL West leading Colorado Rockies. They are 18.5 games back.

 

I saw Tampa's record today and couldn't believe how well they were doing. That's the quietest 14 over .500 ever. I don't even know who is on that team.

 

It is a product of the AL being the weakest it has ever been outside of the playoff teams. I think a typical .500 team would win 90 games in the AL this year.

[Eye Black]

The NL Central standings with 20 days remaining in September...

 

[dlk9s]

Realistically, the only teams to scoreboard watch for the Wild Card are the Cards, Rockies, and Dodgers at this point. If Arizona or Philly catch us, we'll have collapsed so hard that we'll get passed by the rest, anyway.

 

It's basically down to the two teams that don't win the Central and the second place team from the West for the two Wild Card spots.

[brewcrewdue80]

Another 2gms off magic# 14 with 17gms to go.

[MrTPlush]

And honestly the only reason to watch the Dodgers is to see if they A can even make the postseason and B how.

 

If they overtake us I probably would stop watching any scoreboard by then. They need wins fast and for us to lose fast. Can’t really afford to stay 4+ back much longer.

[jjfanec]

And honestly the only reason to watch the Dodgers is to see if they A can even make the postseason and B how.

 

If they overtake us I probably would stop watching any scoreboard by then. They need wins fast and for us to lose fast. Can’t really afford to stay 4+ back much longer.

 

And if the dodgers catch us it will probably be because they take at least 5 maybe 6 from the Cards (4 games) and Rockies (3 games) which means those two teams likely struggle. If the Brewers split these next two and even take 1 against the cards you would have to think they would be sitting good. But I am greedy and want the division and the best record in the NL

 

Also just looked at the cards remaining schedule. That is brutal. Dodgers, Braves, Brewers, Cubs ouch

[82brewcrew82]

I think the Dodgers ultimately take the West with the Rockies getting the second WC and heading to either Milwaukee or Chicago for the WC game. St. Luis will fade and Arizona is on life support at this point. Division or bust for them I think.

[JohnBriggs12]

The a.l. playoff races suck this year. That is all.

 

Tampa Bay has the same record as the NL West leading Colorado Rockies. They are 18.5 games back.

 

I saw Tampa's record today and couldn't believe how well they were doing. That's the quietest 14 over .500 ever. I don't even know who is on that team.

 

Ji-Man (the He Man) Choi has been raking for the Rays to the tune of a .916 OPS since the ill advised move to deal him for Brad Miller. Last night he hit a walk off. Not sure I wouldn't rather still have Choi than Thames.

[tmwiese55]

I know we're prone to automatically hating the Cards and rooting against them, but LAD have the most talent and have a true Ace pitcher (though Kershaw is diminished this year). We actually should be rooting for STL to get in over LAD. The Cards really aren't that good, just got hot at the right time. Doesn't mean they can't get hot again and drill us in the playoffs, as we all know too well, but chances are better vs them than LAD.

 

Also, before any Brewers fans get too upset if/when they move that Nats game to Wrigley on Thursday instead. Just remember we got 3 extra home games from the Marlins during the hurricanes last year. The precedent is set and it was in our favor just last year.

[long ball]

I don't really care where they play that Cubs Nats game on Thursday as long as they have to play it and don't make it an "if needed" on 10/1

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't really care where they play that Cubs Nats game on Thursday as long as they have to play it and don't make it an "if needed" on 10/1

 

I'm with you. Play it at Miller Park. Sure the Cubs would have a large number of fans, but if the price is right, I could see plenty of Brewer fans showing up to root for the Nats.

[tdcarney22]

I don't really care where they play that Cubs Nats game on Thursday as long as they have to play it and don't make it an "if needed" on 10/1

 

I'm with you. Play it at Miller Park. Sure the Cubs would have a large number of fans, but if the price is right, I could see plenty of Brewer fans showing up to root for the Nats.

 

 

Play it at MP, purely to make the Cubs deal with "some" travel issues, even if it is a 90 minute bus ride. Thats better than Wrigley.

[MadScientist]

I know we're prone to automatically hating the Cards and rooting against them, but LAD have the most talent and have a true Ace pitcher (though Kershaw is diminished this year). We actually should be rooting for STL to get in over LAD. The Cards really aren't that good, just got hot at the right time. Doesn't mean they can't get hot again and drill us in the playoffs, as we all know too well, but chances are better vs them than LAD.

 

Also, before any Brewers fans get too upset if/when they move that Nats game to Wrigley on Thursday instead. Just remember we got 3 extra home games from the Marlins during the hurricanes last year. The precedent is set and it was in our favor just last year.

No, I'll root for the Dodgers to have to burn Kershaw on the final day to get into the playoffs. I hate the Cardinals and never want them to get into the playoffs. They ruin great Brewers seasons, so let them sit at home and watch.

[Mudville9]

I'm hoping the Brewers overtake the Cubs and Chicago and St. Louis in the WC game.....and that game goes 30 innings with a soul crushing loss for either team really...I'm not too picky.

[tmwiese55]

Another thing to note on LAD is that their rotation is heavy lefties. So that would be a bad thing as well in general for MKE. Kershaw, Hill, Wood, possibly Ryu. Also have a great closer (though not as dominant as in the past) whereas the Cards pen is kind of a mess.

[Outlander]

Yeah I remember people rooting for the Cardinals in 2011 against the Phillies so the Brewers would have home field advantage in the NLCS, didn't work out so well.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

In a perfect world, both the Dodgers and Cardinals go into a tailspin and miss the playoffs. That is very unlikely, though.

[tmwiese55]

Odds are odds though. We were better off with home field vs STL rather than playing that loaded Philly team with those Ace pitchers. It's baseball though so anything can happen. We're better off vs the Cards but yea since it's baseball it's not like you go from 90% vs one team to 30% vs another. anything can happen.

[MoreTrife]

The NL Central standings with 20 days remaining in September...

 

 

 

Can someone explain what we should take from the run differential? We have so so offense and very good pitching? We've won a lot of close games and thus have some luck factoring in?

[tmwiese55]

Don't forget the two or three games that we just punted and pitched position players and lost by like 20 in those games. Not sure if the Cubs/Cards did that at all, but it skews our number a bit.

[KeithStone53151]

I know many think the Dodgers end up getting the West. I don't though, the Rockies have won 7 of 9 and are a pretty well built team. They do have a really tough road trip left, but then they pretty much get to coast the final week with home games against philly and the nats...both of which will be ready to pack it in by then. We'll see though. NL is definitely far more exciting than the AL. The only drama over there is AL West for the division and the Yankees trying to hold on to the 1st wildcard spot. The 5 playoff teams have been firmly established for about a month now.

[KeithStone53151]

Don't forget the two or three games that we just punted and pitched position players and lost by like 20 in those games. Not sure if the Cubs/Cards did that at all, but it skews our number a bit.

 

All teams do it a bit, results are unpredictable though. The way teams will use position players or leave struggling pitchers in to eat innings despite getting shelled makes those moot to some degree.

[tmwiese55]

Yea it happens to everyone and I know Rizzo has pitched once or twice. Quick scanning through the Cubs have one 18-5 loss and the rest are normal with the worst being 11-2 type stuff. Cards have a 13-5 and the rest normal 11-2 type stuff. Seems like we willingly took a 3 or 4 schallackings, who knows maybe some of them 11-2 ones were for them as well.

 

Probably slightly skewed for us but nothing major. Specific to the Cubs, they frankly just have a better offense so they've likely just won games by more (we seem to always play close games) which means they're likely a better team than us. Remember our rash of shutouts against us too, that hurts this stat quite a bit. Overall the biggest thing I'd take from the stat I guess is that our offense has been so-so all year so we played a ton of close games and rarely win by a wide margin.

[Dead Simmons]

The NL Central standings with 20 days remaining in September...

 

 

 

Can someone explain what we should take from the run differential? We have so so offense and very good pitching? We've won a lot of close games and thus have some luck factoring in?

I don't make much of the run diff unless it's like over 100. So many factors to take in.

 

It was a forgone conclusion that the Cubs would face the Dodgers in the NLCS and the winner would lose to the Yanks or Stros in the WS. While still possible I, for one, am happy just to still be in the hunt. I never thought the Cards OR Brewers had much of a chance.

 

Watched the highlights last night and Hader looks like the reincarnation of the "Freak", only taller. That guy is gonna be a big factor in your post season.