Preferred World Series Opponent?

[Warning Track Power]

While the baseball playoffs are far more of an enigma than the NBA or NFL playoffs, I want to have a rooting interest for the American League over the next week and a half. With this in mind and about an hour before Game 4 of the ALDS between the Red Sox and the Yankees, I find myself pulling hard whoever wins this series to win the ALCS. While the length of the Red Sox lineup and the historic power of the Yankee lineup are certainly intimidating, the overall balance of the entire Astro roster scares me. Whereas I think the Brewers, Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees are all about equal in terms of their chances against one another, the Astros are on another level. The idea of facing Verlander and Cole in Game 1 and 2 very much make me fear my prediction of a 4-1 Astro over Brewers WS in the "2018 Postseason Prediction" thread will be quite accurate. I find myself actually pulling for the Yankees, as they don't have the elite TOR the the Red Sox (Sale), Astros (Verlander/Cole) or Dodgers (Kershaw/Buehler) do.

 

Excited and hopeful for the Dodgers series, but keeping an eye toward a potential World Series matchup where I would hope the Brewers would play the Yankees (or Red Sox). Go Crew!

[MrTPlush]

Yankees obviously. Astros/Red Sox are pretty even at that point. It’s the World Series.

[lcbj68c]

Boston. If you are going to win a world series, why not do so against the best. Houston doesn't really excite me as a matchup, I would rather, win or lose, vs a "blue blood".

[dlk9s]

I know I want nothing to do with that Astros starting rotation. They basically have five aces.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I mean, I will be thrilled to be in the WS. I would rather face Boston, though. Other than Sale, I am not all that scared of the Red Sox SP, and the Yankee bullpen is a nightmare matchup for anyone.

[bm1090]

Yankees, Red Sox, Astros.

 

I think that is the order of the teams weakest to strongest. Coincidentally, it's also ordered in the amount of satisfaction I'd get from beating each team.

[B-Train]

I think it would be great if Stearns faced his former team in the World Series. What a story line and what a reunion!

[SRB]

Astros are preferred. They're worse than BOS/NYY

[StearnsFTW]

Houston being worse than the Yankees is frankly laughable to me.

 

Gimme the Yankees easily. Then Boston, then Houston.

[Oxy]

Yankees, Red Sox, Astros.

 

I think that is the order of the teams weakest to strongest. Coincidentally, it's also ordered in the amount of satisfaction I'd get from beating each team.

 

Badda bing badda boom badda bang. While I cannot ever actually cheer for the Yankees, it would be a joy to face them and beat them in the World Series.

[SRB]

Houston being worse than the Yankees is frankly laughable to me.

 

Gimme the Yankees easily. Then Boston, then Houston.

 

Much better offense, better defense, better bullpen, starting rotation closer than most people think. Not really laughable.

[Ennder]

Houston is way better than the Red Sox or Yankees, not even close to the same level.

 

I think I'd want to face the Yankees. Their starting pitching may be even worse than ours and we seem to handle power bats pretty well.

 

Astros have by far the best rotation and they have the best bullpen of those 3 teams. The pitchers the Astros had to leave off their roster are better than what Boston kept. Boston and Houston probably tie for defense with the Yankees falling a good bit behind. Boston gets a big advantage in baserunning over the other teams. The Yankees just fall short everywhere except for power in the lineup.

[StearnsFTW]

Houston being worse than the Yankees is frankly laughable to me.

 

Gimme the Yankees easily. Then Boston, then Houston.

 

Much better offense, better defense, better bullpen, starting rotation closer than most people think. Not really laughable.

 

Astros offense is actually better. As is their defense. As is their bullpen. And everyone on their team other than Cole did this last year. Which doesn't even cover the chasm between the starting roatations.

 

I usually agree with you but I think you're waaaaay off base on this one.

[SRB]

Houston being worse than the Yankees is frankly laughable to me.

 

Gimme the Yankees easily. Then Boston, then Houston.

 

Much better offense, better defense, better bullpen, starting rotation closer than most people think. Not really laughable.

 

Astros offense is actually better. As is their defense. As is their bullpen. And everyone on their team other than Cole did this last year. Which doesn't even cover the chasm between the starting roatations.

 

I usually agree with you but I think you're waaaaay off base on this one.

 

2018 Yankees: batters 29.4 fWAR (+93.4 offense, -14.7 fielding) (4th in MLB), pitchers 26.6 fWAR (2nd in MLB)

 

2018 Astros: batters 24.7 fWAR (+64.2 offense, -26.2 fielding) (11th in MLB), pitchers 30.7 fWAR (1st in MLB)

 

And the Yankees improved the most down the stretch by adding Voit, McCutchen, Happ, etc.

 

The Astros are severely overrated, I guess because they are national media darlings and have been in the WS recently? Their pitching staff was so amazing this year because they had 5 top starters. That's sort of irrelevant in the playoffs, where you can get by with 3 starters and a bullpen. That takes away most of what made the 2018 Astros elite.

[brewcrewdue80]

Read the Dodgers vs Milw thread. There won't be one is my take from there. So any opponent is preferred.

[StearnsFTW]

 

Much better offense, better defense, better bullpen, starting rotation closer than most people think. Not really laughable.

 

Astros offense is actually better. As is their defense. As is their bullpen. And everyone on their team other than Cole did this last year. Which doesn't even cover the chasm between the starting roatations.

 

I usually agree with you but I think you're waaaaay off base on this one.

 

2018 Yankees: batters 29.4 fWAR (+93.4 offense, -14.7 fielding) (4th in MLB), pitchers 26.6 fWAR (2nd in MLB)

 

2018 Astros: batters 24.7 fWAR (+64.2 offense, -26.2 fielding) (11th in MLB), pitchers 30.7 fWAR (1st in MLB)

 

And the Yankees improved the most down the stretch by adding Voit, McCutchen, Happ, etc.

 

The Astros are severely overrated, I guess because they are national media darlings and have been in the WS recently? Their pitching staff was so amazing this year because they had 5 top starters. That's sort of irrelevant in the playoffs, where you can get by with 3 starters and a bullpen. That takes away most of what made the 2018 Astros elite.

 

100 better in run differential. Best bullpen ERA in the league. Better team OPS+ than the Yankees. Better DRS by a fair margin.

 

The fact that Happ, Voit and McCutchen were improvements doesn't actually strengthen your argument either.

 

It's really not close.

[Ennder]

2018 Yankees: batters 29.4 fWAR (+93.4 offense, -14.7 fielding) (4th in MLB), pitchers 26.6 fWAR (2nd in MLB)

 

2018 Astros: batters 24.7 fWAR (+64.2 offense, -26.2 fielding) (11th in MLB), pitchers 30.7 fWAR (1st in MLB)

 

And the Yankees improved the most down the stretch by adding Voit, McCutchen, Happ, etc.

 

The Astros are severely overrated, I guess because they are national media darlings and have been in the WS recently? Their pitching staff was so amazing this year because they had 5 top starters. That's sort of irrelevant in the playoffs, where you can get by with 3 starters and a bullpen. That takes away most of what made the 2018 Astros elite.

 

Astros had a ton more injuries and the Yankees got to face the Orioles like 19 times which pads your stats. It really isn't close, the Yankees are a distant 3rd in this discussion.

[AgTex]

Since you have stated previously that you consider the Astros organization “loathsome” I will chalk much of what you said as bias. They didn’t just reach the WS recently, they won the WS over a Dodger team many picked to win.

And now to say they are “severely overrated” even though they are much better than last year is laughable. I’ll listen to an argument over whether the Red Sox are a better team, but the Yankees aren’t even close in comparison.

Whatever your issues are with the Astros organization, don’t let it cloud your judgement on the talent they have.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

As could be imagined about a Brewers fan in his early 40s, I’ll be happy for the team just to be in the World Series regardless of opponent.

 

That said, I would lean towards wanting to play Boston. Houston seems to be more complete than Boston right now. The Red Sox appear to have some bullpen issues.

 

Having the ability for the Brewers’ power bullpen arms face off against hitters in game temperatures in the 30s-40s also has some appeal. Try hitting off of Woodruff, Burnes, Knebel, Hader, and Jeffress in that situation.

[MadScientist]

As could be imagined about a Brewers fan in his early 40s, I’ll be happy for the team just to be in the World Series regardless of opponent.

 

That said, I would lean towards wanting to play Boston. Houston seems to be more complete than Boston right now. The Red Sox appear to have some bullpen issues.

 

Having the ability for the Brewers’ power bullpen arms face off against hitters in game temperatures in the 30s-40s also has some appeal. Try hitting off of Woodruff, Burnes, Knebel, Hader, and Jeffress in that situation.

 

Houston's starting pitching is more of a problem, so Boston is the better matchup. It is really going to put pressure on other teams to get an early lead, otherwise it's game over by the 5th or 6th. And that pressure is going to get into players heads, making the 'initial out-getters' job a little easier.

 

Also yes, good luck to a batter trying to do anything against those relievers in cold weather.

[stalton]

My two cents. I want Houston because I don't want to deal with the cold weather of Boston. I suppose that's only a penny's worth.