Dan Szymborski: And we are LIVEISH

Guest: Dan Rather on Twitter: “I have heard others see the world differently, but here are two things you will not find on a Rather dinner table: beans in the chili or garlic in the guacamole.”

Dan Szymborski:

David K: Over or under 60% chance that Steve Cohen is approved by mlb owners?

Dan Szymborski: Over

John S.: Marlins are ice cold. Why are their odds of making the playoff so high?

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to the final week of the 2020 regular season. In connection with that, I have the latest installment of my Team Entropy series here: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/team-entropy-2020-still-on-the-tables/

Jay Jaffe: Yesterday I looked at Justin Verlander’s Tommy John surgery and its impact on the Astros’ postseason rotation as well as his pursuit of some big milestones https://blogs.fangraphs.com/justin-verlanders-tommy-john-surgery-throw…

Jay Jaffe: Meanwhile, not mine but i just finished reading a piece from The Athletic about the mid-’80s White Sox as early pioneers in biomechanics, complete with video of Tom Seaver’s drop-and-drive delivery https://theathletic.com/2079123/2020/09/22/with-tom-seaver-as-a-model-…

Jay Jaffe: OK, on with the show

Cito’s Mustache: If both #8 seeds were to upset the #1 seeds in the 3-game Wild Card series, would that give MLB pause to making the expanded postseason format permanent? A little chaos is good IMO. But too much, and the issue of fairness comes into question.

Jay Jaffe: First, I think it’s important to remember through all of this that the players have a say in any new postseason format. I suspect that they will have it drilled into them that expanded playoffs increasingly reward mediocrity and could hit them in their wallets. Any expansion beyond the pre-2020 format needs to incentivize teams to win their divisions

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning, chat. hope everyone’s well, let’s talk some ball

Mark: Will Ryan Pepiot rise in the prospect rankings for the Dodgers? Reports are of an extremely successful summer camp.

Eric A Longenhagen: Hmm, I’ve already got him stuffed pretty good. He’ll be reconsidered like everyone else during the offseason, but I already considered him a highly-ranked prospect entering the season. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2020-in-season-prospect-…

Guest: Do you think Stiever is more likely to hang on as a starter beyond this season or is his stuff better suited as a reliever?

Eric A Longenhagen: Still probably a starter long term. Tough to see him enjoying enough of a velo bump out of the bullpen to be a late-inning weapon, and unless he’s a late-inning weapon he’d be more valuable as a 4/5th starter than any other kind of reliever

Larry Jones: What’s your opinion on Padres number 8 prospect Yeison Santana? Do you believe his bat will be able to play at the major league level?

Dan Szymborski: Happy playoff expansion day!

Dan Szymborski: Hmm, happy wasn’t the right word choice

Chris: Ok I get that luis Robert is phenomenal. And his defense is great. And his team is fun. But why is he the favorite for the rookie of the year over Kyle Lewis? Lewis leads him in the majority of hitting stats and has the same war because of defense. This would be the first time a hitter wins a major award because of their defense right, when did voters start caring about that stuff?

Dan Szymborski: Well, if two players are playing similarly — and they are — I’m going to choose the player whose success looks more real.

Daniel: With Tatis slumping, has Freeman overtaken him as the NLMVP favorite?

T: Now that Tatis is slumping a bit, everyone’s calling Betts the MVP favorite. Will Freeman ever get the nationwide respect he deserves?

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon and beware the Ides of September. As I wait for the queue to fill up, here’s the first look at MLB’s freshly-announced playoff schedule:

Jay Jaffe:

Jay Jaffe: This might be too much baseball:

Jay Jaffe: Note that after the so-called Wild Card round, which will be played at the sites of each league’s top four seeds, the rest of the games will be at neutral sites, hence no Dodgers in Dodger Stadium, etc.

Jay Jaffe: Because ties will be settled in the most exciting way of all — mathematically — this year’s Team Entropy is a bit less chaotic than the past, but I hope still helpful in explaining how this playoff format works. Here’s the NL picture https://blogs.fangraphs.com/team-entropy-2020-more-like-un-tropy-right…

Jay Jaffe: and the AL: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/team-entropy-2020-the-pecking-order/

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning, let’s dive right into it.

Eric A Longenhagen: ah, let me tweet a link i guess….

Matt: How would you rank: Tatis, Acuna, Bellinger, Soto going forward? Ignoring contracts

Eric A Longenhagen: the way you have them listed.

Philip: I know teams are especially secretive about what’s going on in alternate site but have you heard anything that would make you change a prospects ranking in either direction?

Eric A Longenhagen: Some. I moved up Rafael Marchan based on how he’s looked in camp, but I’ve seen that on video myself which is why I felt comfortable moving him already. Other teams video from the camp wasn’t published like Philly’s has been which means any opinions coming from camp are from the team in question, which should be heavily scrutinized because of their incentive to say their players are good.