Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s chat! Thankfully the technical snarls that knocked last week’s chat off the table aren’t an issue today; apologies to those who showed up to that one or waited around for it to materialize to no avail.

Jay Jaffe: As I’m on recap duty for Game 3 tonight, I did not write for today but did a piece about Eddie Rosario’s hot streak yesterday https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/despite-a-rough-night-eddie-rosario-ha… and spoke to Kevin Goldstein about Dusty Baker https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-kris-bubic-chats-changeups… and my recent piece on his managerial evolution and Hall of Fame case https://blogs.fangraphs.com/dusty-baker-job-security-and-the-hall-of-f…

Joe: How would you explain to the less analytically inclined why we care so much about pitcher K% but not nearly as much about hitter K%?

Jay Jaffe: Pitcher strikeouts strongly correlate with run prevention and future success, but the relationship doesn’t work the same way for hitters, in that a lot of high strikeout hitters have good power and generally strong production.

Dick Allen is a Hall of Famer: This year only 5 hitters with 400 or more PA matched or exceeded Mr. Allen’s career wRC+.  It’s a similar number every year.  Dick Allen is a Hall of Famer.

Jay Jaffe: Dick Allen should be a Hall of Famer. Dick Allen is not yet a Hall of Famer. Hopefully on December 5, that status changes (see here for more about this year’s Era Committee schedule https://blogs.fangraphs.com/with-experts-on-the-negro-leagues-involved…)

Dan Szymborski: G’evening!

Alex Sonty: Happy World Series Day, y’alls!

David Laurila: Greetings, all. About to move a load of laundry, then back to chat.

Dan Szymborski: And to you Alex! Though sadly, it signals the end of baseball!

Dreamin: The two NL West heavyweights we all expected all along

Dan Szymborski: I guaranteed I did NOT project two NL West teams in the World Series!

Dan Szymborski: Good evening!

Dan Szymborski: For a day of events of a baseball nature.

Dan Szymborski: Well an evening

Guest: How can hundreds of Fenway seats be unsold?

Dan Szymborski: Dunno, price?

Dan Szymborski: How many are unsold?

Kevin Goldstein: Hi everyone! I’m here. Dan is here. The most hyped game of the season is here. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations. We’ll be here all night talking about the game, making dumb and not so dumb polls, and answering any other fun questions that end up in the queue. Thanks so much for joining us!

Kevin Goldstein:

Kevin Goldstein: So far, the results of the poll show there might not be a right/wrong answer.

Mike Y: What’s the optimum lineup strategy for the Giants, with Knebel starting?

Kevin Goldstein: Personally, I’d go with my vs. Urias lineup.

Joseph: The Giants have obviously been the biggest surprise as in outperforming team this year. What part is luck and what part is good management/strategy by their FO?

Kevin Goldstein: Hi everyone! Ben Clemens and I are here to provide ‘insight’, take your questions and provide some entertainment as we all watch game 4 of the ALDS between the White Sox and the Astros. Thanks so much for joining us. We’ve had a lot of fun doing these and it’s always great to spend time with our fantastic audience.

Ben Clemens: Kevin on my sheet it says you’re here for insight and me for whimsy

Kevin Goldstein: Hmmmmm, I have it reversed. I’ll call Meg.

Ben Clemens: Though it might be hard to match David Ortiz trying and failing to pour a briefcase full of money onto Frank Thomas

Ben Clemens: when it comes to forced whimsy

darkness88: A few days ago I leadned about the rings rule at Tropicana Field. Any other quirky ground rules you might know?

Kevin Goldstein: Hi everyone. Let’s get weird.

Kevin Goldstein: Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We love doing these, and they’ve been a big hit this week.

Luke Hooper: Now that Young Sheldon is over, the real fun can begin!

Nicklaus Gaut: Welcome, everyone!

Kevin Goldstein: I’m here with Luke Hooper and we will be watching Dodgers/Giants and the rest of this wacky game in Tampa. We will provide insight, hopefully some laughs, weird polls, and of course, you can ask us . . . well anything!

Nicklaus Gaut: I’m all jacked up on expresso and am ready to start.

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to our AL Division Series Game 1 chat! We’ll be starting things off shortly

Jon Becker: Hi everybody! So glad you could be here with us for some afternoon ball.

Luke Hooper: What’s up! Excited for a good day of ball to get started.

David Laurila: Greetings, all.

Luke Hooper: ZiPS has this as the closest series of the opening round. 50.1 to 49.9 in favor of Houston.

David Laurila: Not worth a poll, but today’s Lance matchup begs a question: Who is the best-ever baseball Lance? Berkman and Parrish are presumably the top candidates?