Other League Division Series Games: LA/ATL, BOS/NYY, HOU/CLE

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Well there likely goes any chance of home field in the WS. Houston just took a 4-2 lead and are threatening for more.

 

Not surprising. Besides Lindor and Ramirez, that lineup the Indians are trotting out there is pretty underwhelming.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm not going to say BOS/NYY don't have ridiculous lineups, but Boston was 31-7 against Toronto and Baltimore.

[KeithStone53151]

I'm not going to say BOS/NYY don't have ridiculous lineups, but Boston was 31-7 against Toronto and Baltimore.

 

That means they were 77-47 against everyone else. Which is still over 60% wins and extrapolated over 162 games is still better than any NL team. For me, it's hard to point to one of the likely remaining 3 teams and say "I definitely want to face this team of the three". All 3 are stacked and we'll be an underdog against any of them...assuming we can get past the dodgers.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yes, but that puts them around 97 wins, so a very good team any way you slice it, but within the same galaxy as everybody else unlike 108. They are probably still the best team on paper, but Houston can't compete with them? I don't believe that at all.

 

In any event, it is baseball. If the Brewers get there, and that's a big if, they have a good chance.

[young guns]

With how many bad teams there were in the al it makes it difficult to judge the al on record. Honestly I would put the bad al teams as being bad as opposed to the 5 good teams being great teams.

[tmwiese55]

I think the issue bringing Houston over them is that Sale has been hurt and Price not so good. So all of a sudden Boston's pitching doesn't look like it did while getting those 108 wins. Whereas houston basically had pieces of their offense hurt all year, but now all are back while still having the best starting P of the 3 teams. Of course there's no right answer here, but I guess I could swing back the other way if Sale pitches like himself in his next 3 starts before the WS.

[NievesNoNO]

I don't really have a preference on who I'd rather have the Brewers face with regard to talent/match-ups. Actually, typing this feels like jinxing them . I guess mark me down for Houston since that would leave the east coast bias where it's at right now, on the east coast. Also, would be nice to not see guys freezing on the field.

[tmwiese55]

Good point, of the teams I'd least mind losing to it would definitely be Houston. And since we're probably talking about small %s changes in win likelihood I might as well root for Houston.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Um, anyone that wants to play Houston over NY and Bos is fooling themselves - they have the best all around roster and it sure seems like some of their key guys are getting going offensively. Even if they struggle to score, they have the starting pitching to just shut teams down and a deep bullpen. The Yankees and Red Sox have various questions between rotation and bullpen.

 

Honestly I'd take any of the AL teams on, as that would mean the Brewers reached the world series. In all honesty, they'd be underdogs against anyone from the AL - and that's just fine.

[TJH123]

 

The Yankees have some health issues, but that offense is frightening. I'm not frightened of the Astros offense.

 

Altuve, Bregman, Springer don’t scare you? Did you not see what they did in the playoffs last year? Pretty sure Springer has homered in like 7 of his last 8 playoff games including today. Altuve would be better than anyone in our lineup not named Yelich (maybe even better than him), and Bregman put up a borderline MVP season this year. I’m terrified of their lineup.

 

Edit: forgot about Correa too, he had a down season but it’s clear how deadly he can be.

 

Eh, you can't cobble together players' best seasons, or if you do then we get 2011 Braun, 2017 Schoop, etc. The Astros are mediocre defensively and Bregman is their only superstar offensive player this season. Aside from Bregman and Altuve (having a down year) everyone else on that team in 2018 was worse than Travis Shaw.

 

Altuve is not better than Lorenzo Cain or Yelich even factoring in that he plays 2B...

 

*Edit* To be clear, I'm not underestimating these AL teams, we'd be the underdog against any of them. I just don't think the Astros can compete against the 2018 Red Sox or Yankees.

 

You’re right that I’m basing some of my opinion off of past performance. I disagree about Altuve and defense aside (which he is still solid at) there is probably no hitter in the entire MLB that I would rather have over Altuve. Look at the 4 guys I named from today’s game alone:

 

Springer - 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Altuve - 2-5, RBI, 2 R

Bregman - 1-2, 2 BB, 2 R

Correa - 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB

 

You can’t tell me that lineup doesn’t scare you to go along with their pitching.

[SRB]

Springer - 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Altuve - 2-5, RBI, 2 R

Bregman - 1-2, 2 BB, 2 R

Correa - 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB

 

You can’t tell me that lineup doesn’t scare you to go along with their pitching.

 

It doesn't really. Is that top-4 that much different than Blackmon/LeMahieu/Arrenado/Story?

 

Yankees are stacked top to bottom, Boston is more top-heavy but they have the two best hitters (by a substantial margin) in the postseason, and if healthy the best pitcher.

 

Perhaps I'm slightly biased because I find Houston to be the most loathsome organization in baseball for a variety of reasons we don't need to get into here, and would much rather lose to the Yankees (though at the same time thinking Houston gives us the best chance of winning).

 

As somebody noted above though, this is all on paper. Anything can happen if/once we get there.

[TJH123]

Springer - 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Altuve - 2-5, RBI, 2 R

Bregman - 1-2, 2 BB, 2 R

Correa - 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB

 

You can’t tell me that lineup doesn’t scare you to go along with their pitching.

 

It doesn't really. Is that top-4 that much different than Blackmon/LeMahieu/Arrenado/Story?

 

Yankees are stacked top to bottom, Boston is more top-heavy but they have the two best hitters (by a substantial margin) in the postseason, and if healthy the best pitcher.

 

Perhaps I'm slightly biased because I find Houston to be the most loathsome organization in baseball for a variety of reasons we don't need to get into here, and would much rather lose to the Yankees (though at the same time thinking Houston gives us the best chance of winning).

 

As somebody noted above though, this is all on paper. Anything can happen if/once we get there.

 

Colorado’s lineup scared me but I always had the thought that they are postseason inexperienced as well as the fact they would be playing outside of the Colorado air for most of the series. Boston and New York scare me as well in addition to Houston but I still would take Houston over those 2 but that’s just my personal opinion. BOS and NYY have some terrifying hitters as well though. I personally love the Astros and was rooting for them on their run last year. I would love to watch a Brewers-Astros World Series.

[tmwiese55]

ATL doing their part halfway through today. Hopefully the can finish this game off.

[Patrick425]

Listening to the Braves radio broadcast. Always like Jim Powell. However, not sure who the other guy is, but he showed very little excitement in calling a ball hit to Machado that sounded like a DP opportunity to get the Dodgers out of a jam and Machado booted it.

[TJH123]

Well there likely goes any chance of home field in the WS. Houston just took a 4-2 lead and are threatening for more.

 

Not surprising. Besides Lindor and Ramirez, that lineup the Indians are trotting out there is pretty underwhelming.

 

Doesn’t the AL get homefield no matter who makes it because they won the all star game?

[Patrick425]

Well there likely goes any chance of home field in the WS. Houston just took a 4-2 lead and are threatening for more.

 

Not surprising. Besides Lindor and Ramirez, that lineup the Indians are trotting out there is pretty underwhelming.

 

Doesn’t the AL get homefield no matter who makes it because they won the all star game?

 

They did away with that after the 2016 season. It's now the team with the better record gets home field advantage in the WS.

[owbc]

Looks like it's going to be LA.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Bring on the Dodgers. We will be underdogs and will have to hit great pitching. Let's do it!

[TJH123]

Let’s sweep em

[NYChez]

Bring on the Dodgers. We will be underdogs and will have to hit great pitching. Let's do it!

We have home field and finished 4 games higher than them in the standings. It may be closer to even odds.

[nate82]

For a 100 win team the Yankees don't look all that impressive.

[PinaMadness]

Puig says Dodgers in 4.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Wow is Angel Hernandez bad. 3 of 4 challenges on calls he made were over turned.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Puig says Dodgers in 4.

 

Well, Puig is a well-proven idiot, so ...

[Ennder]

For a 100 win team the Yankees don't look all that impressive.

 

 

Keep in mind the bottom tier of the AL is probably the worst it has ever been. Every top tier team probably won a good 5-10 games more than they would in a more normal year.