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Welcome to the (mostly) final month of the 2015 MLB regular season! Because of the late start, we'll see a few regular season games in October and possibly some November World Series games. Regardless, we should see the remaining storylines neatly wrapped up this month. And it's been a pretty exciting month! In August, we saw (in no particular order): 1.) The Toronto Blue Jays go all-in, acquiring Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, surging out to a slim lead over a surprisingly-resilient Yankees club. The Jays pitching is still pretty bad, but they're scoring absurd numbers of runs. And Tulo hasn't even really been hitting! The damage is all from Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Bats, and Josh Donaldson. That offense will probably get better, especially if Devon Travis manages to come back before the season ends. 2.) The New York Mets trade, then not trade Wilmer Flores for Carlos Gomez. Then they went from laughingstocks to a legitimate World Series contender when they acquired Yoenis Cespedes and the rest of the lineup all went bonkers. Wilmer Flores is now something of a folk hero, and BAH GAWD IS THAT DAVID WRIGHT'S MUSIC? (Wright has looked pretty bad at 3b, but the bat still plays, and the more viable bats the Mets have on their bench, the fewer crucial at bats are taken by like...Eric Campbell and poo poo. Meanwhile, Matt Williams threw the gauntlet down at Mattingly and Matheny, staking the claim of MLB's dumbest manager. The Nationals have Drew Storen and Jon Papelbon, and inexplicably refuse to deploy either of them except in strict "setup" and "closer" situations, leading to a sweep at the hands of the Mets. And another loss at the hands of the Cardinals to close August. The Mets now have a comfortable lead in the East! 3.) Hisashi Iwakuma threw a no-hitter! Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter! Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter! 4.) Speaking of Jake Arrieta, he was ludicrously good last month, and is a big part of the reason why the Cubs have a near lock for the a wildcard berth. That's important because the Cubs now have a monster hammer to drop on either the Cardinals or the Pirates in the one-game play-in. 5.) The Pirates and Cardinals keep winning, and it's gonna be a shame when one of those teams wins somewhere around 100 games and then has to play a 1-game play-in for the right to play whoever wins the Central. 6.) The Phillies unloaded most of their movable assets, including Cole Hamels to a resurgent Texas Rangers team. The Rangers may well take down the second wildcard spot in the AL, which probably nobody expected when they were left for dead a couple months back. 7.) Curt Schilling aired his lovely opinions on Facebook and got suspended for a telecast of Sunday Night Baseball. Sadly, ESPN fails to recognize that Schilling's idiocy isn't even the worst thing about Schilling broadcasts--the dude's an idiot and a terrible commentator, but that doesn't stop them from employing both him and Kruk next to a hapless Dan Shulman. 8.) All of the Giants are dead. RIP. The gods of Even Year Bullshit demand sacrifice. 9.) Jack Z got fired! It won't matter that much, but it was a long-time coming. 10.) It looked like Shoeless Joe Jackson was gonna get reinstated, but apparently he isn't.     Storylines for September, NL 1.) Who will win the NL Central? The two best teams (perhaps the 3 best teams) are all in the Central, and only 1 of them will make it to the NLCS. Which seems a shame. 2.) Can the Mets avoid collapse? How bad do they even need to avoid collapse given that the Nationals can't get out of their own way? 3.) Can the Dodgers hold off the Giants despite only having 2 consistent starting pitchers (to be fair, those 2 starting pitchers are REALLY GOOD). 4.) Can Giancarlo Stanton, fresh off a weeks-long DL stint, reclaim the NL homer crown? Storylines for September, AL 1.) The Yankees are running on fumes, but can they catch the surging Blue Jays? Can anything stop the Blue Jays from slugging their way to a title? 2.) How much better are the Royals going to be when Alex Gordon comes back? 3.) Can the Rangers hold on to the wildcard? ...can the Astros hold onto the division? 4.) I don't know; I don't follow the AL that much other than occasionally turning on 5 minutes of Blue Jays games because I want to see a home run. Happy September baseball! Enjoy your 40-man rosters, and may they be full of young dudes who have promise for better things in 2016!
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Sep 1, 2015 17:21
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:45 |
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I like this thread title more. August is over so hopefully the Angels insane collapse is over too! They went 10-19 last month, with a run differential of -72, which is discounting them getting swept by Houston the last 3 days of July!
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Sep 1, 2015 17:24
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If MorningView hadn't locked my thread, I would have. Long live dingers.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:27
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Coming up in the month of September in the NL Central: The Cardinals and Pirates play 6 games. 3 @ each stadium. The Cubs and Cardinals also play 6 games: 3 @ each stadium. The Pirates and Cubs play 7 games: 3 @ CHI, 4 @ PIT including a doubleheader Sept 15. That's loving awesome.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:28
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A good thread. Go Cubs Go (and then lose the lovely Wild Card game because of course you will)
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Sep 1, 2015 17:28
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Shoeless Joe should be reinstated because he was banned for life. He's dead. Therefore his sentence is served 
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Sep 1, 2015 17:29
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I didn't realize the Cubs @ Pirates doubleheader got scheduled. Nice that it's after an off-day for both teams, but also kind of weird - Cubs are coming from Philly and Pirates are coming from...Pittsburgh.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:29
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Go mets.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:40
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Mister Perky posted:Shoeless Joe should be reinstated because he was banned for life. He's dead. Therefore his sentence is served I think that's a great way to handle it. Imagine how much it'd burn Pete Rose to know he'd be in the Hall of Fame only AFTER he dies.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:42
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I hope the Mets end this season like 2007
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Sep 1, 2015 17:43
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N: Dodgers won last night on and Adrian Gonzalez walkoff in the bottom of the 14th. V: I am a zombie this morning, but it was worth it.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:44
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Pander posted:I think that's a great way to handle it. Imagine how much it'd burn Pete Rose to know he'd be in the Hall of Fame only AFTER he dies. SEPTEMBER 2 - Pete Rose found dead of cognitive dissonance.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:45
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All aboard the Jay-Train. Choo choooooooo My '93 team championship poster shall fly proudly once again (I was five and thought the Jays had the coolest logo/uniforms so they were my team, shut up) They really are the snazziest though.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:47
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Mister Perky posted:Shoeless Joe should be reinstated because he was banned for life. He's dead. Therefore his sentence is served That's why they're going to change it to an afterlife ban.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:49
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bawfuls posted:N: Dodgers won last night on and Adrian Gonzalez walkoff in the bottom of the 14th. Did Kershaw really pinch hit or was that a fever dream
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Sep 1, 2015 17:51
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Box score says Kershaw pinch hit in the 11th. Leads me to a question: I didn't watch the game, but why are you PHing Kershaw instead of Grienke? The pitcher was RH, but are you really playing matchups when you choose a SP for a pinch hitter? Grienke hitting regardless of pitcher handedness has to be better than Kershaw right? It doesn't really matter, but was there a reason?
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Sep 1, 2015 17:56
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Capt. Sticl posted:Coming up in the month of September in the NL Central: If the Pirates can go 4-2 versus the Cards then they have a solid shot at the division, otherwise a Wild Card play-in game would be looming. If that becomes apparent then I'll root hard for the Cubs and Giants to finish tied and force them to use Arrieta/MadBum versus each other before playing Pittsburgh.  Actually I'll root for that scenario regardless of how Pittsburgh does because that'd be a great game.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:56
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Capt. Sticl posted:Box score says Kershaw pinch hit in the 11th. because Greinke is pitching tonight
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Sep 1, 2015 17:59
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Poque posted:because Greinke is pitching tonight Ok. I guess. I get that pitcher's have their routines for their off days, and I'm certainly not a pro athlete, but I can't imagine a single AB would have thrown all that off. And it's not like injury is the concern because Kershaw pitches the day after and obviously you don't want either injured at all. And I refuse to believe that Grienke wouldn't have been up for it.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:02
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Part of me wants to root for the Cubs because they seem like a cool team, the other part of me wants to root for schadenfreude and continue the misery of that franchise.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:04
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Capt. Sticl posted:I get that pitcher's have their routines for their off days, and I'm certainly not a pro athlete, but I can't imagine a single AB would have thrown all that off. And it's not like injury is the concern because Kershaw pitches the day after and obviously you don't want either injured at all. And I refuse to believe that Grienke wouldn't have been up for it. He probably went home to sleep.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:06
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The Blue Jays had an insane August, jesus christ. I love the thread title. More Jay dingers please!
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Sep 1, 2015 18:06
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Inspector666, in the last thread, posted:Their bullpen still seems to be mediocre at best though. Dave, correct me. We've got a shutdown closer (Familia), a very good 8th-inning man (Clippard), and a dependable long man (Sean Gilmartin). We've also got a lefty who's been absolute garbage so far (O'Flaherty) though he'll probably be better when he doesn't have to face righties, and a reliever who throws hard but doesn't really know where (Robles). Plus Carlos Torres, who's average-ish and basically unremarkable. Apart from O'Flaherty's struggles the main recent problem has been Bobby Parnell, he came back from TJ having lost 5-6MPH on his fastball, looked OK for a while, started struggling and then gave up the lead in extras in two straight games against the PIrates, then got put on the DL (though whether due to an actual injury or general shittiness no-one really knows). Trading for Addison Reed and calling up Erik Goeddel will also add some more depth. I wouldn't call it the best bullpen in the majors by any stretch, but it should be capable of holding most of the leads the starters get.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:06
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Yeah I had similar thoughts about it last night. Thought maybe he was playing matchups between the two of them (lol), then realized it was probably just because Zack is pitching tonight.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:07
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Ice To Meet You posted:He probably went home to sleep. This makes complete sense, but somehow never occurred to me that starting pitchers would cut out early.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:08
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seiferguy posted:Part of me wants to root for the Cubs because they seem like a cool team, the other part of me wants to root for schadenfreude and continue the misery of that franchise. Even if the Cubs finally break through, we've still got the Cleveland Indians. 1948 and counting. Plus its easy to think they deserve it because of their logo.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:09
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Traxis posted:I hope the Mets end this season like 2007 2000 would work for me. Capt. Sticl posted:This makes complete sense, but somehow never occurred to me that starting pitchers would cut out early. Managers send them home to rest, or at least that's what everybody said during that marathon Yankees/Sox game earlier this year.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:10
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Please let the Astros hold on to the division...
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Sep 1, 2015 18:11
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Inspector_666 posted:2000 would work for me. Correct answer is 2006. An alternate universe 2006 where the Cardinals all gently caress off to outer space the second the ump finishes punching out Beltran.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:21
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Inspector_666 posted:2000 would work for me. I started watching that game at 6pm CST and stopped when it ended at 2am. It was wonderful.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:22
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Hey new thread let's not forget: gently caress the Cardinals gently caress the Angels
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Sep 1, 2015 18:23
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Kirios posted:Please let the Astros hold on to the division... No
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Sep 1, 2015 18:33
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You forgot one of the best storylines in baseball. Can a team win a wildcard spot even though they finished 15+ games behind the division winner?
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Sep 1, 2015 18:40
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DoctaFun posted:You forgot one of the best storylines in baseball. 2001 A's did it finishing 14 behind the M's. With 102 wins. Excuse me while I go cry about the ALCS.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:47
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Tony Phillips posted:2001 A's did it finishing 14 behind the M's. With 102 wins. It was the ALDS but the tears remain slide jeremy slide what are you doing nooooooo e: and then just for funsies they did basically the same thing two years later against the red sox, right down to the inexplicable baserunning miscues in a potential closeout game. MourningView fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Sep 1, 2015 |
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Sep 1, 2015 18:56
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Tony Phillips posted:2001 A's did it finishing 14 behind the M's. With 102 wins. Let me cheer you up with a gif of one of my favorite Lou Piniella managed Mariners:  Rest in peace John Marzano 
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Sep 1, 2015 18:57
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Better luck next commissioner, Joe.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:59
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Abner Assington posted:Better luck next commissioner, Joe. I feel like Joe probably does not mind one way or another at this point
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Sep 1, 2015 19:00
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Ahahaha Pete Rose must be so mad right now
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Sep 1, 2015 19:01
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:45 |
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Tony Phillips posted:2001 A's did it finishing 14 behind the M's. With 102 wins. I still cry about the 2001 postseason. The Mariners' collapse was spectacularly bad.
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Sep 1, 2015 19:02
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