ALDS Games 4 Chat

3:31
Ben Clemens: Hey everyone, welcome to our ALDS chat for the day.

3:31
Ben Clemens: The A’s and Astros are about to get started, with Oakland’s metaphorical back against the metaphorical wall

3:32
Ben Clemens: Liam Hendriks threw roughly 8 trillion pitches yesterday (I didn’t count) but will probably be available today

3:32
Paul Sporer: What’s up, y’all?

3:32
scott: KEEP HOPING AND DREAMING AND YOU…..WILL…..SOOOAAARRRR

3:32
Ben Clemens: We’ll also talk about the NL games b/c why not

3:32
Paul Sporer: We want strikeouts, base hits, double plaaaays

3:33
Paul Sporer: Hard to put too much on one inning, especially so early, but it feels like Miami HAD to score there w/the bases loaded

3:33
Ben Clemens: This is gonna be the last 4-game day of the year it looks like.

3:33
Ben Clemens: Sorry Miami

3:33
Ben: Yankees pitching choices in game 2 – overplaying your hand? Too much influence from the analytics team?

3:33
Ben Clemens: I don’t really think so, I’m curious what Paul thinks.

3:33
Paul Sporer: No, Happ just didn’t perform. The hand wringing and pretty lame attitude from Happ himself is a joke, IMO

3:34
Ben Clemens: It’s not ‘analytics’ to fool the other team with a lefty/righty swap

3:34
Paul Sporer: He’d been arguably their second best SP and TB loves to run platoons so it was a calculated move. He needs to be ready to go whenever his number is called.

3:34
Ben Clemens: It’s an old baseball-y baseball man move

3:34
Josh R: Braves/Marlins series a great example of why we should not let 16 teams into the playoffs. You get a joke of a series with a team that absolutely should not be in the playoffs.

3:34
Ben Clemens: And it’s not like they were sitting Peak Pedro to bring in Happ

3:34
Paul Sporer: LOL, no.

3:35
Euclid: Does Sixto miss enough bats to be a top of the rotation starter? It seems baffling to me with the stuff he has that he doesn’t miss more bats.

3:35
Ben Clemens: Right now he doesn’t.

3:35
Paul Sporer: As if great teams never get rolled in the playoffs. Not saying Miami was one, but them getting swept (if they don’t comeback) says literally nothing about the 16 team thing

3:35
Ben Clemens: The top-of-the-rotation form of Sixto has harnessed his secondaries a little bit better; they’re already good enough to miss bats with

3:36
Paul Sporer: I happen to agree that we shouldn’t have 16 tms once we go back to a full season, but it has absolutely ZERO to do with Miami

3:36
Ben Clemens: I think you could argue that if a team who got outscored by 41 runs in the regular season makes the playoffs, your playoffs are too wide

3:36
Ben Clemens: But how they perform in a postseason series isn’t the relevant thing here, it’s how trash they were in the regular season

3:37
Paul Sporer: Meh, I just didn’t have an issue w/the 16 tms in a 2-month season

3:37
Ben Clemens: That I agree with

3:37
Ben Clemens: This year is whatever, total write off

3:37
Paul Sporer: Houston made it sub-.500 and they’re going to win the World Series

3:37
Ben Clemens: They could have put all 30 teams in the playoffs for all I care this year

3:37
Paul Sporer: Exactly

3:37
Guest: Is there anything I as a fan can do to not see any more Yankees/Astros ALCS matchups?  Or really either of those teams individually?  I just hate them so much.

3:38
Paul Sporer: Go A’s!

3:38
Ben Clemens: You could stand outside Dodgers stadium with a trash can near where the Astros bus arrives, though it’s already too late for that

3:38
Ben Clemens: My dog is a big A’s fan, so you could join her

3:38
Ben Clemens: We got her a cutout at the Coliseum, it’s chepa!

3:39
Paul Sporer: Montas v. compromised Greinke gives them a real shot. Hell, they’ve had a lead every game. They just gotta hold and get it 2-2

3:39
Ben Clemens: Or, it was

3:39
Paul Sporer: That’s awesome. Jen & I discussed getting one of Char somewhere

3:39
3:39
Ben Clemens: There she is

3:40
Paul Sporer: Awww

3:40
Jkim: Where would you rank Bellinger’s play last night in terms of amazing defensive highlights in the postseason?

Endy Chavez still gets no 1 but it’s still a top 5 moment right?

3:40
Ben Clemens: Willie Mays would like a word.

3:40
Paul Sporer: I’d want to see a ranking, but Mays is 1

3:40
Paul Sporer: Jinx!

3:40
Ben Clemens: Endy’s catch is seared into my brain because I was watching it live and I’m a Cards fan

3:40
Ben Clemens: But even then, I don’t think you can argue with Mays

3:41
Ben Clemens: You’ve got the overrated but still great Jeter flip

3:41
Paul Sporer: Massively overrated

3:41
Paul Sporer: Good, but insanely overrated

3:41
ed s: Greinke is the only astro’s pitcher that shakes off Maldonado

3:41
Ben Clemens: I wonder what catching Greinke would be like

3:42
Ben Clemens: This is one of those ‘Will Greinke going to the Astros make him a god because he’s so good at processing information, or do nothing because he already knows the info?’

3:42
YardGoat: non-playoff question: Is Ke’Bryan Hayes eligible for ROY this year or was there a minimum PA threshold? I can’t seem to find clarity on that anywhere

3:42
Ben Clemens: It might be great to catch him b/c he can help you out, but it might be frustrating because he’ll ignore your opinion

3:43
Paul Sporer: Pretty sure he is… hell Edinson Volquez got votes when he wasn’t a rookie so who knows?!

3:43
Ben Clemens: There’s no minimum threshold

3:43
Guest: So I guess Pinder/Lamb isn’t a straight platoon, I honestly like both but it’s interesting

3:43
Paul Sporer: Wonder if they’re going a little hot hand w/Swipe Right

3:43
Ben Clemens: The A’s definitely like Pinder more than the average baseball community does I think

3:44
Ben Clemens: They treat him like he’s one of their best hitters

3:44
Paul Sporer: I love Pinder, lol

3:44
Paul Sporer: I have his jersey

3:44
Ben Clemens: Oh nice

3:44
Paul Sporer: He was markedly better vR and plays strong defense

3:44
Ben Clemens: Also underrated reason: Lamb isn’t good

3:44
Paul Sporer: Samples were small vR and vL this year, but he was better vR

3:44
Paul Sporer: Now you shut your mouth… I have his jersey, too lol

3:44
Paul Sporer: I’m here for the Lambaissance

3:45
Ben Clemens: Haha yeah I’m really not

3:45
Ben Clemens: I never even understood why he was good in the first place

3:45
Paul Sporer: Whattya mean?

3:45
Paul Sporer: Seemed like a pretty standard power bat, no?

3:45
Paul Sporer: He was also a god in MLB The Show 17 so my fandom is fueled by that

3:45
Ben Clemens: I guess I always thought he had more swing and miss than his K numbers suggested, and less pop

3:45
Ben Clemens: But maybe that’s ex-post thinking

3:46
Sam: This is fair, I’ll be honest, I bought in a little after Lamb’s 16 and 17 haha

3:46
Paul Sporer: Hard not to, IMO. He looked like a legit power hitter

3:46
Pitchingstan: When will other teams FO’s learn to hang up the phone when the Rays call about their minor league prospects? Arozarena looks like a stud.

3:46
Paul Sporer: Injuries have ravaged, I don’t think it was skill regression

3:47
Paul Sporer: I stand firm that StL was ready to get rid of Arozarena for the Instagram Live thing

3:47
Ben Clemens: As an early member of the Randy fan club, I agree that he’s amazing

3:47
Ben Clemens: I just think the Cards had made up their mind that he wasn’t good enough

3:47
Ben Clemens: Even before the IG live thing, they were playing hot garbage over him in 2019

3:47
Ben Clemens: Even after he obliterated AA and AAA

3:47
Ben Clemens: I think they had just decided he was a fourth outfielder ceiling guy

3:48
Paul Sporer: But they did get Matthew Liberatore in that deal, so it’s not like they were fleeced Pittsburgh-style

3:48
Sam: I raked with Lamb in The Show at like ridiculous levels in 17 lol

3:48
Ben Clemens: And even if you were really bullish on him, were you more bullish on him than on Bader/O’Neill/Carlson?

3:48
Paul Sporer: I’m still trying to get the devs to release a 2017 flashback card of him, Sam

3:48
Ben Clemens: It was a trade from a glut into a weakness kinda deal for both teams, I don’t hate it even in retrospect

3:48
Paul Sporer: O’Neill, yes. I get he’s got raw tools, but they are so incredibly raw that I’m not sure he deserves the hype

3:49
Ben Clemens: Yeah, I would not play him over O’Neill, but it’s clear the team is pretty high on O’Neill, they went out and got him and keep giving him tons of chances

3:49
Paul Sporer: And Bader can’t really hit. At any rate, I can’t pretend to have known much about Arozarena besides seeing him as a 4/5 OF and the IG live thing

3:49
Ben Clemens: The IG live thing was so bad

3:49
Josh R: Paul, I know no best of 5 says anything about anything really, but the Marlins are completely non-competitive here. Teams like that ideally would not be in the playoffs. If they played 162 they would probably end up 70-92.

3:50
Ben Clemens: Yeah Paul and I are both against 16 team playoffs in a 162 game season

3:50
Paul Sporer: They were quite competitive in gms 1 and 2, I’m just not seeing it your way here

3:51
ed s: I think Melvin’s distinction on lamb/pinder is hard throwing soft throwing righthander. (although Pinder was left in v james). I certainly didn’t think jake would go hamb* like he did when he signed

3:51
Ben Clemens: This is something I believe in more when it comes to platoon splits

3:51
Paul Sporer: One bad inning in game 1 and one swing away multiple times in game 2.

3:51
Ben Clemens: That some batters are weak against specific pitch types

3:52
Ben Clemens: There’s a reason that pitcher platoon splits stabilize faster than hitters; it’s because they get to throw their weird platoon-y pitches

3:52
Paul Sporer: I think pitch type platoons could be a lot better than handedness ones

3:52
Paul Sporer: the data says handedness ones are almost never statistically viable

3:52
Ben Clemens: Yeah if you call a guy a lefty masher, and I say he’s 6% better against lefties than righties, I’m way more likely to be right going forward

3:52
Paul Sporer: Though there are plenty of guys who crush one side that I just don’t buy the notion that we shouldn’t give that dominance any credence

3:53
Ben Clemens: That’s not to say that there aren’ true-talent lefty mashers. It simply means that ‘but he mashes lefties’ isn’t a sufficient reason for me to believe it

3:53
Ben Clemens: If you have specific reasons a guy hits lefties way better, I’ll at least listen. But ‘look at his results’ is not a specific reason

3:54
Paul Sporer: Ya the overall baseball community puts too much stock into platoon splits, that’s for sure

3:54
Geoff Williams: would you rather be a 1st base coach or a 3rd base coach?

3:55
Paul Sporer: I’d probably send guys too often and lose my job at 3rd, so I’ll go 1B

3:55
Ben Clemens: 1b coach is a much safer job, that’s for sure

3:55
Paul Sporer: More players get to 1B, too, so get to chat it up more during dead time

3:56
Paul Sporer: Matty O beats the shift, that handsome devil

3:57
Ben Clemens: Interesting to see how much THE ohio state university is advertising at a game between TX and CA teams in CA

3:57
Paul Sporer: F OSU

3:58
ed s: Do you have to pay out of state tuition for on line classes?

3:58
Ben Clemens: If so, VPN stock should go through the ROOF

3:58
Ben Clemens: But I don’t know

3:58
Moose_Bolton: One of my favorite things about playoff baseball are the pitching changes and moves teams make when they are on the cusp of being eliminated. Do you guys have any favorite moves that teams wouldn’t normally make but did because they were desperate?

3:59
Paul Sporer: I just love the use of SPs out of the pen. I still remember a hyped Scherzer relief app. v. OAK for the Tigers back in ’13. He was so amped, it was awesome. And this was before everyone was doing it

4:00
Also Ben: I find the team about to be eliminated’s closer pitching while they’re down by a lot in the 9th quite sad

4:00
Ben Clemens: That’s a classic

4:00
Paul Sporer: He even sputtered a bit, but the 2 Ks after loading the bases in the 8th were amazing https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET201310080.shtml

4:01
Ben Clemens: There’s also the classic ‘cycle through everyone until you get to Ubaldo’

4:01
Paul Sporer: LAUREANOOOOOOOOOOO

4:01
Ben Clemens: Adios pelota

4:01
Sam: Moonshot

4:02
Ben Clemens: This series is just all homers all the time

4:03
Ben: Ke’Bryan Hayes led all MLB rookies in bWAR this year, but didn’t exhaust his rookie eligibility. If he wins Rookie of the Year, can he still win it next year too?

4:03
Ben Clemens: Sadly not

4:03
Ben Clemens: 2. Both Rookies of the Year for 2020, as selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, will be ineligible to repeat as winners in 2021, even if they otherwise qualify for consideration.

4:04
Cat Latos: Why on earth would Grienke signal for a curve and then throw it?

4:04
Guest: I would’ve thrown Laureano a different pitch. My two cents.

4:05
Joe: Anyone who thinks baseball games are too short should love watching Greinke today.

4:05
Ben Clemens: I think he’s still hurt, not exactly a controversial opinion

4:06
Ben Clemens: But he’s laboring out there

4:09
LaserRamon: With only a two tic difference between FB and SL I was sitting back and waiting to pound anything close and that was middle, middle. We’ve been bashing off speed all series.

4:09
Ben Clemens: Greinke’s complete lack of velo differential is delightful

4:09
Ben Clemens: I don’t know how he gets away with it

4:11
Ben Clemens: Do the A’s lead the league in salad? I feel like a ton of them have in-between-length hair

4:13
Geoff Williams: What’s your favourite type of “lucky hit”? A groundball with eyes, a bloop, a duck snort, a checked swing accidental contact or other?

4:13
Ben Clemens: I’m partial to the check swing accidental contact

4:13
Ben Clemens: In most of hte others, the hitter was trying to get a hit, and then they did

4:13
Ben Clemens: The check swing one is just great b/c it’s totally free

4:14
Ben Clemens: They didn’t even want to swing!

4:14
Baseball Eating: the Wrigley Field wind pop fly hit is another good one

4:15
Ben Clemens: Oh yeah, I should add Trop catwalk hits

4:15
Ben Clemens: Ones that work b/c of some weird stadium effect are fun

4:17
v2micca: Kyle Wright is already in line for the win.  Braves have a lot of bullpen arms that could probably use some work.  Any reason for Wright to come back out in the 6th, even with how well he has pitched?

4:18
Ben Clemens: I’d probably just send Wright back out.

4:18
Ben Clemens: Not a lot of downside, and the bullpen work thing is pretty marginal

4:19
Ben Clemens: He’s only in the mid-70s

4:20
Derek: Wright being “in line for the win” will likely not factor into the Braves’ decision-making process in the slightest (I would hope, anyway)

4:20
Ben Clemens: Haha yeah, I don’t think it does

4:20
Ben Clemens: It might still in the regular season, to be honest

4:20
Ben Clemens: Not b/c the team thinks that matters, but b/c they think it matters to the player

4:21
John: Walker Buehler’s uniform always looks super tight and greinke’s today is hanging off him. Do you think that those choices are aesthetically driven or comfort for pitching driven?

4:21
Ben Clemens: I’m pretty sure it’s pitching comfort driven

4:21
Ben Clemens: Or at the very least, that no one is making aesthetic decisions that hurt their pitching comfort

4:21
Ben Clemens: I’m willing to believe that both are just fine comfort wise

4:23
Bill King w/ Angel Wings: If Frankie is back to his 2019 and pre-back injury 2020 form how much does that improve the chance I get to see the first A’s World Series appearance since I was making the calls?

4:23
Ben Clemens: Oh, quite a bit. That’s two extra games of plus starting pitching for them should they make the ALCS, plus it improves their chances of winning today

4:24
Ben Clemens: This is maybe a Dan question, but I’d ballpark it at an extra 2-3 percent odds of making the WS?

4:25
Ben Clemens: We had them at 10% or so before this game

4:25
Derek: Why was Olson even out that far?

4:25
Joe: Yeah, that was Canha’s ball.

4:25
Paul Sporer: Pardon me, Instacart order came early

4:25
Ben Clemens: Not really sure what he was doing there

4:26
rusty: that was a canha corn

4:27
Chamaco: Any chance we see Wander Franco on the field this month?

4:27
Ben Clemens: Yeah, I assume he’d be out there celebrating with the Rays if they won the World Series

4:27
Paul Sporer: LOL ya that’s about it

4:27
Paul Sporer: Are we even sure he plays in ’21 w/the MLB club?

4:28
Paul Sporer: He’s only gonna be 20 somehow

4:28
Darth NateR: Ben with jokes like that (re: Franco on the field) I hope you have kids so they don’t go to waste

4:28
Ben Clemens: My wife likes bad jokes, luckily enough for me

4:30
Derek: I’ve always wondered if baseball uniforms are making players worse, even just slightly… Just seems weird we make athletes wear belts and button-down shirts while asking them to go be athletic!

4:30
Ben Clemens: I agree with you on this

4:31
Darth NateR: If we are starting from scratch, whats the ideal uniform for a baseball player if all we care about is performance on the field?

4:31
Ben Clemens: well you need pants and socks b/c of sliding

4:31
Ben Clemens: maybe like athletic sweapants and a wicking t-shirt?

4:33
Joe: This is why I drafted you Frankie thanks for nothing

4:34
Derek: I think those weird NBA jerseys with sleeves feel about right for a baseball uniform top

4:34
UNI_Formist: Bottom: Tights underneath coordinated chaps made from breathable rip-stop nylon

4:35
Dan: Assuming that was Wright’s last inning, Fried is the only Braves starter to give up a run. Just like we all expected.

4:35
Ben Clemens: Gotta get Jayson Stark in the chat so he can say “Baseball!”

4:36
Stat Plagerist: @darenW: Mark Canha had a 75% catch probability on that ball Matt Olson just dropped. Looks like he never really got into gear.

4:37
Ben Clemens: Sounds about right. Off the bat that never looked like trouble

4:39
Matt: I get player happiness, but I wouldn’t be surprised if front offices subtly encouraged managers to remove shaky starters who are in line for a win to keep the starter-win totals down for arbitration (plus, you know, increase team W expectancy).

4:40
Paul Sporer: I don’t think it’s that nefarious, tbh

4:40
Paul Sporer: HOLY SMOKES REDDICK!!! What a catch!!!

4:40
Ben Clemens: Ehhhh… I don’t think that happens very often. It’s not a huge arb edge, and managers naturally want their players to be happy

4:40
Paul Sporer: Just a laser beam that he hangs onto somehow

4:40
Ben Clemens: Great catch

4:41
Derek: Holy catch!

4:41
Jimi spendthrift: Paul is may starting over urias better or worse for padres tonight?

4:43
Also Ben: A great catch, and yet the ball only had an xBA of .170!

4:43
Paul Sporer: Probably a little better. They were markedly better vR on the season and May allowed almost 2x as many HRs. Small sample analysis to be sure, but they need every little edge to get it tied

4:43
Ben Clemens: Yeah xBA ignores spray angle

4:43
Paul Sporer: What!??! How’s that possible, Also Ben?

4:43
Ben Clemens: A lot of the time, that ball isn’t hit to the wall

4:43
Paul Sporer: That seems to expose xBA as flawed IMO

4:43
Ben Clemens: And if there’s no wall there, a ball of that distance isn’t tough

4:43
Paul Sporer: Ah

4:43
Ben Clemens: xBA is definitely not my favorite stat for that reason

4:43
Ben Clemens: like imagine if that’s into the power alley

4:43
Paul Sporer: xStats in generally are so comically overused

4:43
Ben Clemens: that’s just an easy play

4:44
Paul Sporer: Maybe not even comically, but dangerously so in some cases

4:44
Ben Clemens: Yeah, xwOBA was a really cool development and also people use it wrong all the time

4:44
FannyGraphy: I have a WAR question about pitchers: If a SP and RP both had 100 innings pitched, and the same ERA and peripherals etc (all except appearances); would they have the same WAR? or is there a penalty for being in relief? Let’s assume the RP leverage index is 1.0…Also, does leverage change for Postseason games?

4:44
Paul Sporer: Perhaps xBA should have a site-neutral calculation and then a park-dependent one then?

4:45
Ben Clemens: The RP will have less WAR if his LI was 1

4:45
Ben Clemens: We use different replacement levels for relievers and starters

4:45
Ben Clemens: In terms of FIP

4:45
Pitch_Out: How is it that Greinke doesn’t even get excited or show any emotion when his teammate makes a play like that?

4:46
Ben Clemens: Also, we don’t use different LI for postseason games. I believe the Baseball Gauge publishes a championship leverage index, but ours is just in-game LI, so a game is a game

4:46
Paul Sporer: Some guys just don’t have emotions that show like that. It’s not that he’s never been emotional, but a lot of pitchers try to keep an even keel

4:46
Derek: Would an A’s-Rays ALCS be the all-time Penny Pincher Series?

4:46
Paul Sporer: Without a doubt

4:46
Justin Verseaer: what is the way xwoba should be used?

4:47
Ben Clemens: To me, it’s a decent way to bulk up stats early in the year

4:47
Ben Clemens: When someone has given up 8 batted balls and you want to know if they were high-value or low-value

4:47
Ben Clemens: xwOBA will tell you

4:47
Ben Clemens: it’s not particularly predictive, though, and people use it predictively

4:48
Joe: Should I feel weird about the fact that I hate all the AL teams for different reasons, but am especially bothered by the As and Rays because they both have really good teams that could be great if they spent slightly less than nothing on their clubs?

4:48
Ben Clemens: No, totally reasonable perspective

4:49
Ben Clemens: I have mixed feelings about rooting for low-salary teams. It’s fun to see the front office piece together a team under restrictions, but annoying that the owners are so cheap

4:51
Paul Sporer: Yeah, I tend to be able to separate the owner from the FO/players, though

4:51
Paul Sporer: So as a big fan of several Rays & A’s, I can root for them while acknowledging that their owners are full of shit for playing poor

4:51
Ben Clemens: Out toward the Utz girl

4:51
Paul Sporer: Here comes Houston… will OAK blow another lead?!

4:52
Chamaco: While it is a SSS, Arozarena has been incredible.  Then again, Aristedes Aquino looked great end of last year.  What is Arozarena’s true talent level? How would you value him in dynasty leagues?

4:52
Paul Sporer: Curious where Ben comes out on this. Aquino was brought up in a Twitter thread earlier today and I think it’s a great wet blanket to keep Aroz lovers tempered.

4:52
Ben Clemens: I haven’t really thought about him from a fantasy perspective

4:52
Ben Clemens: If I had to make an over/under on his wRC+ next year, i’d go 115, 120?

4:53
Ben Clemens: Something in that range

4:53
Paul Sporer: Gimme a HR/SB count for fantasy

4:53
Ben Clemens: hm

4:53
Ben Clemens: I’m a little worried the Rays will semi-platoon him

4:53
Ben Clemens: Not heavily, just sometimes

4:54
Ben Clemens: so let’s say 500 PA, 18HR, 15SB?

4:54
Ben Clemens: Actually, higher on the SB

4:54
Ben Clemens: 20 SB

4:55
Ben Clemens: with decent average to go along with it, but not amazing

4:56
Quarantino Martinez: To Liam: I know you pitched 3 yesterday. We just need you for another 4 today…

4:56
Joe: hoo boy

4:56
Ben Clemens: I assume the A’s were hoping they could get away with no Hendriks today

4:56
Ben Clemens: So that they could really go wild with him tomorrow

4:56
Ben Clemens: But if it’s close late he’s coming in

4:58
Ben Clemens: Welp

4:58
Ben Clemens: I guess this isn’t 2019 Montas

4:58
Paul Sporer: Ughhhhh

4:59
Trent Hauser: I would like more Matt Olson info. Is he the kind of player who may age extremely well? Gigantic and well rounded (great glove too) with one very obvious not crazy unique flaw

4:59
Ben Clemens: May age extremely well? Sure. Will? I’m not sure I believe much research I’ve seen on which types of players age well

5:00
Derek: The cheating was bad enough, but this whole “nobody believes in us”/revenge narrative nonsense is just too much. Like, who are you getting revenge on? The other people that didn’t obviously and blatantly cheat for an extended period of time?

5:00
Ben Clemens: I realllllly hate “nobody believes in us” as a narrative

5:00
Ben Clemens: But particularly for a team with 87 All Stars

5:01
Paul Sporer: Look, they deserve all the heat they got, but the chip on their shoulder is definitely doing some work in Houston

5:01
Ben Clemens: Bregman is an excellent heel, I think. He does a great job of acting like the villain

5:01
Ben Clemens: Correa’s nonsense just falls flat

5:01
Ben Clemens: I think Bregman’s feels performative

5:01
Ben Clemens: Maybe I’m wrong about Correa, but he just seems aggrieved

5:01
Ben Clemens: And like, what are you aggrieved about?

5:02
kevinthecomic: re: amazing catches — Devon White, Toronto Blue Jays, 1992 WS and the blown triple play call:

5:02
Derek: Honestly I think the overwhelming amount of talent on their roster is doing much more work than a completely fabricated chip on their shoulder

5:02
Paul Sporer: *sigh*, sick take

5:03
Paul Sporer: Like I didn’t realize it was the talent… my eyes have rolled out of my head

5:03
Ben Clemens: What I’m so confused by is, are there even any analysts/commentators saying the Astros are bad now?

5:04
Paul Sporer: Some of y’all are so bent on being anti-narrative that you act like NO outside factors can possibly impact these dudes. It’s so nauseating

5:04
Ben Clemens: Haha I think it probably helps them

5:04
Ben Clemens: I think every team tells themselves that nobody believes in them, though

5:05
Ben Clemens: I don’t follow Houston enough to know what every player there thinks of this

5:05
Jkim: If the Astros win it all this year I don’t think I can stomach watching MLB for a few years

5:05
Paul Sporer: Really?!

5:05
Ben Clemens: But it wouldn’t shock me if half the team is rallying around nobody believes in us and the ones who weren’t there in 2017 are like ‘uh guys what?’

5:06
Paul Sporer: No chance I’m giving up my favorite sport just bc an unappealing team wins it

5:06
Oh Say Can You Seager?: The announcer on that Devon White clip made it sound like he caught an easy flyout

5:06
Ben Clemens: I like a good under-sell once in a while but yeah

5:06
Ben Clemens: That wasn’t the time or place

5:07
Steve Nebraska: On a happier note, go braves!

5:07
Steve Nebraska: Unless you’re a marlin’s fan, I suppose

5:08
Ben Clemens: The Marlins are actually the team I was least interested in seeing win the World Series this year

5:08
Ben Clemens: That’s an ownership group that just shouldn’t be rewarded, I don’t think

5:08
Derek: My issue is only that there is no real chip to be on their shoulder. There is no one to get revenge on. Most people believe they could very well win the World Series! There is no external motivation there! Even if they perceive it that way, it apparently didn’t help them in the regular season, so why is it magically making a difference now? The narrative is that some portion of the Astros are whiny and insufferable, not that they are some great underdog Cinderella story or something

5:10
Cat Latos: The Astros are like WWF wrestlers when I was a kid who were the obvious ‘bad guys’. Makes me wonder if it’s an act.

5:10
Cat Latos: Some people root for the empire in star wars movies after all

5:10
Ben Clemens: That’s how I read Bregman’s antics, it’s fun to have villains

5:10
Ben Clemens: That said, he was acting like that even pre-cheating scandal

5:11
Paul Sporer: That’s your opinion, but I really don’t agree w/it. They feel they need to shove it in the faces of the haters, even though they developed the haters themselves. I think you GREATLY overrate how many people believed the Astros could win it this year. Again, your overwhelming desire to cry “NARRATIVE!” leaves you blind to the fact that they are playing w/a chip on their shoulder which is your choice, but I’m not sure what drives your desire here

5:12
Ben Clemens: Interestingly we had the Astros as the second-best team in baseball before the year, but I think we were the high outlet on them

5:12
Ben Clemens: And that’s before Verlander was completely ruled out, Yordan, etc.

5:12
Paul Sporer: From staff picks, it was Min 17, Hou 3 and I think the general baseball fandom was even less confident in them – https://blogs.fangraphs.com/heres-who-is-going-to-win-the-2020-world-s…

5:13
Paul Sporer: Ya I didn’t agree w/that at all, Ben. I had OAK winning the division back in February

5:13
Paul Sporer: Laureanoooo again!

5:13
Ben Clemens: I picked MIN even though I was on HOU to win b/c I wanted MIN to win

5:13
Steve Nebraska: You may not think it’s a chip, but the players seem to, so it is.  It’s like any other bs bulletin board material you hear about… All that matters is that they think they’re aggrieved and are using that as motivation

5:13
Ben Clemens: Yeah, that’s fair Paul. Our model was higher on them than most were

5:13
YardGoat: Laureano trying to win this game with very long home runs

5:13
Ben Clemens: It’s a bold strategy

5:13
Paul Sporer: He’s lobbying Manfred to make em worth more the longer they are!

5:14
Paul Sporer: How is ATL/MIA still going? lol

5:14
Kazu: Correa has it in his mind that world doesnt believe in them, when its really mistaking that just nobody wants them to do well

5:14
Ben Clemens: They took a 20 minute break to have a discussion of whether narratives matter

5:14
YardGoat: I could see Correa being fueled by the internal idea that everyone doubts he’s good because of cheating and needs to prove he is good.

5:14
Paul Sporer: LOL, what was the verdict?

5:14
Ben Clemens: Freddie Freeman realized he hadn’t been paying attention for the last 10 minutes

5:15
Ben Clemens: So he called it off

5:15
Ben Clemens: (much like me)

5:15
Ben Clemens: Did you guys see the Freeman waving to AJ Pierzynski thing, btw

5:15
Paul Sporer: I’m just so tired of people crying narrative and pretending that zero outside factors matter to these players. It’s gotten more tired than those who overly relied on narratives in the first place

5:15
Ben Clemens:

5:17
Derek: Sorry for derailing chat and Marlins-Braves apparently :/

5:17
Paul Sporer: lololol

5:18
Paul Sporer: I love Freefgod

5:18
Paul Sporer: i actually like AJ in the booth, too. Think he’s pretty solid

5:18
Ben Clemens: I was pleasantly surprised by Wainwright

5:18
Ben Clemens: Just goes to show you how truly awful A Rod is

5:18
Paul Sporer: Agreed (re both Waino & Arod)

5:19
Ben Clemens: Most random players who are interested in doing a game are good

5:19
rusty: adam wainwright said half the cardinals are flat earthers apparently. like how does that happen

5:19
Ben Clemens: Wait WHAT?

5:19
Ben Clemens: I missed that

5:19
Paul Sporer: The dumb jock stereotype doesn’t come outta nowhere…..

5:19
Paul Sporer: but ya I didn’t hear that, either

5:19
Stephen: I didn’t like Waino at all: I thought he just spouted cliches

5:19
Ben Clemens: Oh hard disagree

5:19
Ben Clemens: I thought he got into some really interesting discussions about pitching in front of the shift, for one

5:20
Paul Sporer: Ya, I didn’t see it that way at all. Thought he did great for it being his first game. He & AJ played well off one another, too

5:20
YardGoat: well, a baseball field is flat so that must mean the Earth is flat

5:20
rusty: i didn’t actually hear it, but :

Adam Wainwright said half the Cardinals believed the earth is flat.

He said Paul DeJong is a flat earther.

8 Oct 2020
5:20
Paul Sporer: Wait, that’s kind of a great point, I’m in! lol

5:20
Ben Clemens: Ugh, say it ain’t so DeJong

5:20
Ben Clemens: DeJong has a degree in chemistry! He does videos to raise scientific curiosity in kids

5:21
Paul Sporer: A great first name can only do so much for you, DeJong

5:21
Ben Clemens: How can he be a flat earther? That’s so ridiculous

5:21
Also Ben: https://streamable.com/3lc7l4 Hard for me to tell if he was joking or not

5:21
Ben Clemens: Nah this is a joke

5:21
Ben Clemens: I’m almost positive

5:21
Ben Clemens: I think he’s just deadpanning it

5:22
Ben Clemens: Yadi, more of a round earther

5:22
Ben Clemens: Like, what?

5:22
Ben Clemens: round Earther?

5:22
Paul Sporer: Hmm, I lean joke, too

5:22
Ben Clemens: Not a good joke, to be clear.

5:22
Jkim: what’s the correlation between flat earthers and who don’t believe in launch angles?

5:23
Paul Sporer: Waino is def a jokester and even a bit edgy in closed company

5:23
Jkim: FLAT EARTHER  vs FLAT LAUNCH ANGLE BELIEVER

5:23
Ben Clemens: IF YOU HIT THE BALL TOO HIGH IT WILL FALL OFF THE EARTH

5:23
Also Ben: It sounds like a joke tonally

5:23
Matt: I think he was messing with DeJong but, boy, the best jokes have a kernel of truth.

5:23
Derek: Blame Kyrie Irving probably

5:23
Stephen: That’s just an absurd thing to make up on the fly as a joke if he didn’t have guys that were flat earthers. Also, unfortunately, there are a lot of dumb people out there.

5:23
Paul Sporer: I kinda think Kyrie was serious and finally came around to how aggressively stupid he was and went the whole “it was a joke” route to save face

5:24
Ben Clemens: Well I read it as, there’s at least one in the flat earth camp on the Cardinals

5:24
Ben Clemens: Wainwright didn’t want to name them

5:24
Ben Clemens: So he just started picking teammates he’s friends with

5:24
Ben Clemens: To mess with them

5:24
Cat Latos: Sporer really pouring it on thick.. I didn’t really have an interest in getting slammed by a writer I admire.. Just like chatting about baseball. Yikes

5:24
Paul Sporer: I’m not trying to slam anybody. Just having a back-n-forth. Pardon me if I’m being seen as mean. I like to debate/argue, it’s not personal

5:25
Paul Sporer: Re: our Laureano trying to get more runs for length of HR disscussion earlier….

5:25
YardGoat: Manfred would probably go for that. 7 inning game with ties broken by who hit the longest home run

5:25
Jkim: We need more EPL style chants for players b/c we definitely need braves fans singing Acuña Matata

5:25
Paul Sporer: Gotta get fans back first but yeah

5:25
Ben Clemens: I wrote an article about making baseball like Mario Kart today and put in a throwaway joke about how Rob Manfred hates long baseball games

5:26
Ben Clemens: And got people commenting that he just hates all baseball

5:26
Ben Clemens: Not a great narrative for the commissioner to have

5:26
Paul Sporer: Speaking of EPL, I like Ted Lasso quite a bit and would recommend it to anyone looking for a light watch they can blitz through pretty quickly

5:26
Paul Sporer: The commish and one of their most prominent national announcers (Smoltz) are widely seen as hating the game… sick

5:27
Jkim: Also: “Luis Avilan” to the tune of “Feliz Navidad”

5:27
Ben Clemens: I mean Smoltz just very clearly hates baseball

5:27
Ben Clemens: He’s DISGUSTED by 75% of the game today

5:27
Ben Clemens: strikeout swings, pitchers who don’t play the right way, bat flips

5:27
Ben Clemens: he’s just so off it

5:27
Paul Sporer: So frustrating bc he was SO good on the desk (similar to Arod) and then was even good initially in the booth, but now listening to his games are a chore

5:27
Ben Clemens: I don’t know why he keeps announcing

5:28
YardGoat: Is there a way to contact people through their fangraphs account? I want to figure out a way to gift a couple of memberships to account holders that don’t have the budget room right now without requiring the public posting of contact info

5:28
Paul Sporer: Maybe just tell them to hit you up on Twitter or something, there is no other way to privately contact someone

5:28
rusty: the name of one of my fantasy teams this year was just “Manfred Hates Baseball” lol

5:28
Paul Sporer: Gah, Stros get the run back

5:29
Ben Clemens: I’m not the first person to say this, but watch any other sport and the annoucners are just floored by how good the players are

5:29
Ben Clemens: Tony Romo thinks every QB is one adjustment away from being Tony Romo

5:29
Paul Sporer: Imagine if we had a Romo in baseball

5:29
Ben Clemens: Every good basketball announcer just loses their mind talking about how good every player is now

5:29
Ben Clemens: And baseball announcers say modern players suck and don’t know how to play

5:29
Ben Clemens: What the hell?

5:30
Paul Sporer: I haaaate the Cowboys with a passion, but loved Romo. He was mistreated by the fans and was a damn fine QB. LOVE him in the booth

5:30
Ben Clemens: Rick Sutclifffe was particularly bad this year

5:30
YardGoat: If they happen, who pitches in Game 5 for the Astros-A’s and Yankees-Rays? My guess is the Yankees-Rays go short rest for Cole and Snell, but have no idea for the Astros/A’s.

5:30
Ben Clemens: I think that’s right for Yankees/Rays. The Rays aren’t really set up to do anything else

5:31
Ben Clemens: They might do semi-bullpen, of course

5:31
Ben Clemens: But with Snell as the capstone

5:31
Paul Sporer: MIA/ATL STILLL going

5:31
Billy G: Brantley was such a good signing for the Astros. I hate it

5:31
Paul Sporer: Just a fantastic hitter

5:31
Ben Clemens: I think that the A’s would go Bassitt?

5:32
Paul Sporer: Always hold Brantley in esteem for his ’14 breakout as I was an early believer so I had him on several teams quite cheaply

5:32
Quarantino Martinez: Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve had enough of the homeruns this post season. It’s too much!

5:32
Chamaco: I can’t listen to Francoeur without thinking of this: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/video-jeff-francoeur-san-diego-padres-el-paso…

5:32
Ben Clemens: Whattttttttt

5:33
Paul Sporer: The three true outcomes in general has grown tired. There just isn’t enough non-HR contact/hits

5:33
Ben Clemens: I think walks are the worst, honestly

5:33
Paul Sporer: OMG I remember that Francouer story

5:33
Jkim: https://streamable.com/259mo

That was the biggest meatball I’ve seen to Brantley

5:34
Paul Sporer: LOL

5:34
Ben Clemens: Haha I did not expect to see that

5:35
Ben Clemens: This is starting to get away from Oakland a little

5:37
Chamaco: Remember when Mike Minor was one of the best pitchers in baseball, way back in…2019?

5:37
Ben Clemens: Or: why ERA and even FIP can deceive you

5:38
Paul Sporer: Or he was just good for that year?

5:38
Paul Sporer: I don’t see how ’20 would invalidate ’19

5:38
Ben Clemens: Yeah, either one

5:39
Ben Clemens: I guess my point is that people use them predictively more than they should?

5:39
Paul Sporer: Without a doubt

5:39
Ben Clemens: No one would dispute that Minor was good last year, he saved a lot of runs!

5:39
Paul Sporer: There’s a reason projection systems use multiple seasons

5:39
Ben Clemens: But I don’t think anyone thought he’d be a a beast in 2020

5:39
Ben Clemens: Yeah

5:39
Ben Clemens: Or, I hope Mike Minor thought he’d be a beast in 2020

5:39
Paul Sporer: Braves win

5:39
Paul Sporer: I thought he’d be solid, but not a beast

5:39
Ben Clemens: But outside of that

5:40
Ben Clemens: I mean he wasn’t clearly worse this year than last year

5:40
Paul Sporer: It seems perhaps his Sept. ’19 HR issue carried over to ’20 bc that’s the only thing that really changed

5:40
Ben Clemens: Yeah

5:40
Phil: What’s the Dodgers pitching plan tonight? May for a few then to Urias?

5:40
Paul Sporer: I’d think so, yeah

5:40
Ben Clemens: I think so as well

5:40
Ben Clemens: They might be flexible with May

5:41
Ben Clemens: Like if he’s shoving, let him keep going

5:42
Ben Clemens: Jeez this series just set a record for homers in a 5-game series

5:42
Ben Clemens: … halfway through G4

5:43
Jkim: Lol just how bad were the Rangers this year if they put up those numbers at *that* ballpark?

5:43
Ben Clemens: I’ll have to look through the numbers again, but I thought Globe Life was a pitcher’s park this year

5:43
Ben Clemens: (obviously needs to be heavily regressed)

5:43
Paul Sporer: I think that’s what he meant re: their non-Lynn pitchers getting smacked in a pitcher-friendly park

5:45
Ben Clemens: Oh

5:45
Ben Clemens: Haha then yes

5:45
Ben Clemens: Terrible

5:46
Ben Clemens: Wow

5:46
Ben Clemens: Love the curveball right down the pipe as a strategy

5:46
Jkim: Yeah meant their pitching

Because I’ve had so many moments where I got up from my seat thinking it’s a homer off the bat only for it to be a warning track fly ball

I feel so bad for Will Smith right now lol he’s had a few of those

5:46
Ben Clemens: Yeah this makes a lot more sense

5:47
Ben Clemens: I’m a little hung up because we still do park factors wrong for Texas specifically

5:47
Ben Clemens: So my mind went there right away

5:50
Also Ben: What could cause Globe Life to play so pitcher friendly? Not just the fence distance, right?

5:50
Ben Clemens: The roof, and I believe they’re using a humidor as well, so that you get cooler but still humid

5:51
Jkim: The dimensions are also very weird w/ lots of corners w/ particularly long distances as well

5:51
Chamaco: Minor went from leading MLB pitchers in war in 2019 (B-Ref) and was top 20 per Fangraphs, to not being able to crack the A’s playoff rotation

5:52
Ben Clemens: B-Ref is definitely not a stable way to judge pitcher talent

5:52
Ben Clemens: The way they handle defense is more or less custom-made to generate extreme numbers

5:52
Paul Sporer: It was a 2-month season

5:52
Ben Clemens: No disrespect to B-Ref, it’s an awesome site, just, that’s not a great measure of pitchers

5:52
Paul Sporer: And I think it shows the extreme flaws in BRef’s pitching WAR if he led

5:52
Ben Clemens: The Aaron Nola year did it for me

5:53
Ben Clemens: Nola out-WAR’ed deGrom in 2018

5:53
Ben Clemens: and uh

5:53
Paul Sporer: Yeah I love BRef, but I didn’t realize Minor was their leader and that’s just bad. I don’t love that ours is entirely based on FIP, either, tbh, but in no world should Minor have led in pitching WAR

5:53
Sam: B-Ref is ERA based and not FIP right?

5:53
Ben Clemens: B-Ref is a modified runs allowed/ERA thing

5:54
Ben Clemens: The big issue that leads to extreme readings is that they account for defense in a weird way

5:54
Paul Sporer: Still wouldn’t make sense for Minor as he had a good-but-not-ELITE 3.25 ERA

5:54
Ben Clemens: They take a team’s overall defense level

5:54
Travis: How about we just give the winner of the NLCS the WS title

5:54
Ben Clemens: As measured by DRS I believe

5:54
Paul Sporer: lolwut?

5:54
Ben Clemens: And then adjust pitcher run prevention based ont hat

5:54
Ben Clemens: In the Nola example, the Phillies defense was quite bad overall, but played really well behind Nola specifically

5:54
Ben Clemens: (more or less at random)

5:54
Ben Clemens: So he got credit for playing behind a terrible defense

5:55
Ben Clemens: Er, in front of

5:55
Ben Clemens: But then the defense didn’t hurt him

5:55
Ben Clemens: So he got nearly a run boost of ERA

5:55
Paul Sporer: Yeah I remember that one, that was wild

5:56
Ben Clemens: That’s not really how it’s supposed to work

5:56
Ben Clemens: I’m not sure what happened with Minor but something like that maybe?

5:56
Ben Clemens: I have a mildly hot take on WAR that we don’t use it correctly

5:56
Ben Clemens: I don’t think WAR necessarily measures who did the most to help their team win that year well

5:56
Ben Clemens: Particularly for pitchers

5:56
Ben Clemens: But hitters too

5:57
Ben Clemens: I think WAR is often better (with modifications) for forecasting

5:57
Paul Sporer: Interesting, I’ve tended to see it more useful for looking back at the season as a whole and not so much for forecasting, particularly w/hitters

5:58
Ben Clemens: I guess more what I mean is, the player who did the most to help their team win

5:58
Ben Clemens: Is not always, or even often, the player with the highest WAR

5:58
Paul Sporer: I’d say our pitching WAR is probably better for forecasting since it’s FIP-based, but I think if ppl are gonna use it for awards, it should focus more on what happened, not what should’ve happened

5:58
Sam: What would that modification be out of curiosity? Or just a way of understanding it?

5:59
Ben Clemens: I think you need to regress defense more heavily than even we do (UZR is already regressed), and care a little bit less about batted ball outcomes

5:59
Ben Clemens: from the hitting side

5:59
Ben Clemens: That’s essentially what projection systems do, in general

5:59
Paul Sporer: I’d agree to that more if it were a forecasting tool

6:00
Paul Sporer: But as an assessment of the season, why wouldn’t you want to focus on what happened?

6:00
Ben Clemens: Right, but then what about a guy who hit a ton of dingers in games they were losing by 10

6:00
Ben Clemens: That’s super helpful for forecasting his future

6:00
Ben Clemens: Because we know that outcomes are distributed somewhat randomly across PAs

6:00
Paul Sporer: Well that goes back to never using WAR or any stat as a catch-all

6:00
Ben Clemens: Yeah exactly

6:00
Ben Clemens: I think people over-use it in MVP debates and stuff

6:01
Paul Sporer: I think it’s a great starting point to pare down the pool of candidates

6:01
Paul Sporer: Rarely if ever do I think someone who is like 3-4 WAR behind a league leader is deserving of the MVP

6:01
Ben Clemens: I agree with that

6:02
Ben Clemens: But 1-2? sure

6:02
Paul Sporer: But when people want to act like there’s precision betweent 6.7 and 5.8, they lose me

6:02
Paul Sporer: The 5.8 guy could be JUST as deserving IMO

6:02
Ben Clemens: This might make me a little ‘old man yells at cloud’ but I kind of bought Bill James’s argument that if a team wins 81 games but has the WAR of a 95-win team

6:02
Ben Clemens: You should discount the WAR on that team for the purposes of award voting

6:02
Ben Clemens: Because clearly players weren’t THAT valuable

6:03
Ben Clemens: if by value you mean winning games

6:03
Paul Sporer: Does that happen with any regularity? (at all?)(

6:03
Ben Clemens: No but it does sometimes

6:03
Ben Clemens: I think his was about Judge vs. Altuve that year

6:03
Sam: Interesting, that makes sense. WAR is context neutral which would make it more useful as a predictor then?

6:03
Ben Clemens: Yeah

6:05
Ben Clemens: Houston threatening again

6:05
Ben Clemens: 2 on 2 out

6:05
Paul Sporer: Ugh

6:06
rusty: manfred screaming into the void at the length of the playoff games

6:07
Paul Sporer: Complaints about pace of play aren’t exactly misguided. I won’t really slam Manfred for that. I LOOOVE baseball but still find the pace of plenty of games to be absolutely painful. Pace is a bigger issue than time, but they’re mistakenly used interchangeably

6:07
Ben Clemens: Oakland has been playing incredibly long games all playoffs

6:07
Ben Clemens: Yeah totally agree with Paul on this

6:07
Paul Sporer: Another run for HOU

6:07
Ben Clemens: I think the A’s have pace of play issues, as did the White Sox

6:07
Ben Clemens: Astros I’m less sure

6:08
Paul Sporer: Tucker too lit

6:08
Paul Sporer: Anotha one!

6:08
Ben Clemens: The Astros should have been giving Tucker a ton of PT all year and just kept not

6:08
Ben Clemens: Or, in past years rather

6:08
Paul Sporer: Last year was most egregious

6:08
Jkim: Quick Q while we’re on the subject of WAR – has fangraphs been using league avg data w/ 3 divisions basically being its own “league” for this season?

The Run Environment in the Centrals for example has been extra stingy this year

6:09
Ben Clemens: Here’s what the man himself says:
[color: rgba(var(–sk_primary_foreground,29,28,29),1);]dkappelman[/color]  [color: rgba(var(–sk_foreground_max_solid,97,96,97),1);]3:08 PM[/color]
Yep
[color: rgba(var(–sk_foreground_max_solid,97,96,97),1);]3:08[/color]

6:09
Paul Sporer: He’s about to drop a hot 30 HR/20 SB season in ’21

6:09
Ben Clemens: yikes

6:09
Ben Clemens: That’s hard to read

6:09
Ben Clemens: Appelman says: yes

6:09
Paul Sporer: looool what the hell was that

6:09
Ben Clemens: tried to paste in Slack

6:09
Quarantino Martinez: I’m rooting against the Astros, but I will admit to liking Dusty.

6:09
Paul Sporer: Dig him, too

6:09
Ben Clemens: I like Dusty and Brantley and Greinke and Yordan and…

6:10
Paul Sporer: I like Tuck

6:10
Ben Clemens: Yeah him too

6:10
Ben Clemens: Pressly

6:10
Ben Clemens: Love Aledmys

6:11
Ben Clemens: Maybe I’m a sucker, I just have players I like on every team

6:12
Jimmy Wynn’s Toy Cannon: I’m obviously biased, but with Osuna not in there, I think the Astros bullpen is scrappy and likable (with all the rookies)

6:13
Ben Clemens: I’ve enjoyed watching Castellanos pitch this year

6:14
Brandon: Manfred seemingly doesn’t understand the difference between “pace” and “length.”  It’s why he added that stupid extra-inning rule that we might be stuck with next year.

6:14
Ben Clemens: I actually liked the extra inning rule!

6:15
Ben Clemens: I’m glad it’s going away, but I thought knowing it was here just for this year was fun

6:17
Chamaco: Never realized that they instituted a new rule this year where the divisional series matchups had to be between teams from the same division…in all seriousness, looking forward to games between teams we haven’t seen play each other yet.

6:17
Ben Clemens: Yeah what a bad beat?

6:17
Ben Clemens: Or maybe good beat I dunno

6:17
Ben Clemens: Not sure if it’s good for TV

6:19
Paul Sporer: I didn’t mind it

6:19
Paul Sporer: Some built in rivalry

6:19
Kyle Blanks: Just showing up here. Lifelong, diehard A’s fan born in 1994. Let me say: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

6:20
Paul Sporer: If Semien could dial up a three run yak, that’d be kinda hot

6:21
Kyle Blanks: To the earlier discussion, there are zero likable players on the Astros. Dusty is good but the players are all odious

6:21
Paul Sporer: Methinks your A’s fandom has heavy bearing on that notion

6:21
Ben Clemens: The two runs last inning are not feeling great right about now

6:22
Kyle Blanks: As a fangraphs reader I am completely objective

6:22
Ben Clemens: As a FanGraphs writer, I’m certainly not, lol

6:22
Paul Sporer: Hell as a Fangraphs writer, I’m not

6:22
Paul Sporer: BACK

6:22
Paul Sporer: TO THE TRACK

6:22
Paul Sporer: CAUGHTTTT

6:22
Paul Sporer: Ahhhhhhh

6:23
Ben Clemens: ………

6:23
Paul Sporer: What the hell happened to that?!?!??!

6:23
Ben Clemens: Game of inches

6:23
Ben Clemens: I thought that thing was way gone though

6:23
Ben Clemens: Must have been wind, Tucker had a terrible route there

6:23
Ben Clemens: Makes me think it got knocked down while in air

6:23
Paul Sporer: “I thought it was a fine route” -Marcell Ozuna

6:23
Ben Clemens: “Should have gotten on the wall though”

6:24
Paul Sporer: Are these Arby’s ads supposed to make us want to eat their sandwiches? They look like absolute shit.

6:24
Paul Sporer: LOOOOOL, Tucker def could’ve made a sick play on that if he had scaled the wall

6:26
Ben Clemens: Still an all time legendary defensive play

6:26
Ben Clemens: How come we didn’t put that on the list??

6:29
Paul Sporer: LOL, ya we really missed the boat on that one

6:30
Ben Clemens: Getting hit on the foot just seems like the worst

6:33
Section329: Crap evil empire wins

6:34
Paul Sporer: Poop.

6:34
Astros Fan: America’s Team up 7!

6:36
Paul Sporer: Alright y’all, we’re gonna get going. Thanks so much for hanging with us!

6:36
Ben Clemens: Thanks for hanging out for a really really out of hand game





Meg is the managing editor of FanGraphs and the co-host of Effectively Wild. Prior to joining FanGraphs, her work appeared at Baseball Prospectus, Lookout Landing, and Just A Bit Outside. You can follow her on twitter @megrowler.

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DaSaucemember
3 years ago

Why do you keep ending these chats before the Yankees games?