MLB 2023

[KCCubano]

Royals season done after week one. That was expected given current roster. I am looking forward to post season coming up. Would like to see Toronto come out of AL and Dodgers in NL. 

[Ford2112]

I'll root for anyone other than LA.

[JohnS]

19 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Update: my team is a complete dumpster fire. Fired Kapler. Now what? We went from 17 games over .500 to complete non contenders. 

What if you followed the Mets? 😂

Seriously, I have to laugh otherwise I'd cry. This season compared to last season is scarcely believable. No surprises that the new GM, David Stearns wanted to move on from Buck Showalter.

At least we have a few young players coming through for next year and beyond.

[Ford2112]

7 hours ago, JohnS said:

What if you followed the Mets? 😂

Seriously, I have to laugh otherwise I'd cry. This season compared to last season is scarcely believable. No surprises that the new GM, David Stearns wanted to move on from Buck Showalter.

At least we have a few young players coming through for next year and beyond.

I mean. Padres or Angels have it worse. And the A's are the saddest story right now. I'll die before I abandon my Giants. 

[JohnS]

The 2023 Playoff Picture...

 

AL Wild Card Series (starts Tuesday)
Orioles (1) and Astros (2) have byes
Best-of-three format (all games at higher seed)

Blue Jays (6) at Twins (3)
Game 1, Tue., 4:38 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2, Wed., 4:38 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 3 (if necessary), Thu., 4:38 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Rangers (5) at Rays (4)
Game 1, Tue., 3:08 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2, Wed., 3:08 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 3 (if necessary), Thu., 3:08 p.m. ET (ABC)

NL Wild Card Series (starts Tuesday)
Braves (1) and Dodgers (2) have byes
Best-of-three format (all games at higher seed)

D-backs (6) at Brewers (3)
Game 1, Tue., 7:08 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Game 2, Wed., 7:08 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Game 3 (if necessary), Thu., 7:08 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Marlins (5) at Phillies (4)
Game 1, Tue., 8:08 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2, Wed., 8:08 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 3 (if necessary), Thu., 8:08 p.m. ET (ESPN)

AL Division Series (starts Saturday)
Best-of-five format
Rays/Rangers at Orioles
Twins/Blue Jays at Astros

NL Division Series (starts Saturday)
Best-of-five format
Phillies/Marlins at Braves
Brewers/D-backs at Dodgers

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-playoff-picture-and-bracket-2023

[Ford2112]

I will be rooting for Bochy to go deep. 

[FireDigger]

22 hours ago, KCCubano said:

Royals season done after week one. That was expected given current roster. I am looking forward to post season coming up. Would like to see Toronto come out of AL and Dodgers in NL. 

Despite everything else, I think Royals fans have to be happy with the progression of Bobby Witt and getting Cole Ragans from the Rangers at the trade deadline.

[KCCubano]

11 hours ago, FireDigger said:

Despite everything else, I think Royals fans have to be happy with the progression of Bobby Witt and getting Cole Ragans from the Rangers at the trade deadline.

Witt Jr and Ragans were the only two bright spots. 

[Capn_Jackson]

I haven’t put much on here lately. It’s been a frustrating couple of months for Rangers fans, minus a hot streak mixed in there. The season is 162 games, though, and they had a marvelous one. Many highlights, both for individual players, and the team as a whole. I’ve been annoyed with a lot of so-called fans, on Facebook groups, and even at the games themselves, who don’t seem to understand the incredible season they just enjoyed. Some were calling for the Rangers to fire Bruce Bochy, or saying he should go back into retirement because he doesn’t understand the game anymore… Ludicrous! In 162 games, every team is going to lose a bunch of games. The Rangers have been one of the best, as a whole, at forgetting the previous game, and moving on to the business at hand. I credit Bochy for that, and I think he even had these players over-performing offensively at times this season. The defense has been a bright spot, and they showed it yesterday.

Now, it’s a new season, and the Rangers are undefeated.

[Ford2112]

3 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

I haven’t put much on here lately. It’s been a frustrating couple of months for Rangers fans, minus a hot streak mixed in there. The season is 162 games, though, and they had a marvelous one. Many highlights, both for individual players, and the team as a whole. I’ve been annoyed with a lot of so-called fans, on Facebook groups, and even at the games themselves, who don’t seem to understand the incredible season they just enjoyed. Some were calling for the Rangers to fire Bruce Bochy, or saying he should go back into retirement because he doesn’t understand the game anymore… Ludicrous! In 162 games, every team is going to lose a bunch of games. The Rangers have been one of the best, as a whole, at forgetting the previous game, and moving on to the business at hand. I credit Bochy for that, and I think he even had these players over-performing offensively at times this season. The defense has been a bright spot, and they showed it yesterday.

Now, it’s a new season, and the Rangers are undefeated.

Bochy is qualified to manage in the post season lol. I am rooting for him. Watched all the games yesterday. 

[Ford2112]

Dbacks are a sleeper team. They are playing to win. I think they have the pitching to go deep. 

Blue Jays look lost. 

Texas will be one to watch in the WC race here.

No one cares about Philly. But I think they roll. Bryce Harper has a slappable face.

[Capn_Jackson]

23 minutes ago, Ford2112 said:

Bochy is qualified to manage in the post season lol. I am rooting for him. Watched all the games yesterday. 

In Bochy we trust.

[Ford2112]

I miss him. Those post game interviews are always good for a laugh. " well uhh,he pitched a good game and uhh,our bats came through and uhhh".

He looks like he's healthy and slimmed down. 

[Capn_Jackson]

PD4 for today’s Rangers-Rays game.

[MoeFOH]

4 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Bryce Harper has a slappable face.

 Right...

If memory serves, didn't Harper leave to the Phillies and the year after that the Nats won it all? Somehow I took some perverse pleasure in that. Maybe I'm recalling it wrong. 

[Ford2112]

When Jonathon Papelbon grabbed him by the goozle in the dugout that one time I cheered out loud hahah

[BigGuns]

8 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Dbacks are a sleeper team. They are playing to win. I think they have the pitching to go deep.

Not TOO deep…but it looks like they may win one round

[Ford2112]

Bochy and the boys advance. Blur Jay's out. Sorry Belt!

[JohnS]

The Wild Card Series proves that momentum is critical in the postseason. It's harder to comeback from a short series when a team has a few things go their way and they take their opportunities. I mean, could you say that the Milwaukee Brewers, who led in both games in the last two days, did not have their chances? And was there that big a chasm between the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays?

Tampa Bay were the hot team of the first two months of the season this year and they're now out in 2 games. Wow...Baseball can hurt. The 2001 Seattle Mariners can tell you that. (They won 116 games that season and lost in the Divisional Series to the New York Yankees).

This all means that what happened in the regular season counts for nothing as that was all about getting to the postseason. What counts is for players to seize their opportunity and initiate some momentum for their team. Sometimes it's future Half of Famers and sometimes it's David Freese or Keith Foulke.

I expect the unexpected in the Divisional Series. Most probably there will be an upset or two whereby the favoured team will not proceed.

[KCCubano]

2 minutes ago, JohnS said:

The Wild Card Series proves that momentum is critical in the postseason. It's harder to comeback from a short series when a team has a few things go their way and they take their opportunities. I mean, could you say that the Milwaukee Brewers, who led in both games in the last two days, did not have their chances? And was there that big a chasm between the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays?

Tampa Bay were the hot team of the first two months of the season this year and they're now out in 2 games. Wow...Baseball can hurt. The 2001 Seattle Mariners can tell you that. (They won 116 games that season and lost in the Divisional Series to the New York Yankees).

This all means that what happened in the regular season counts for nothing as that was all about getting to the postseason. What counts is for players to seize their opportunity and initiate some momentum for their team. Sometimes it's future Half of Famers and sometimes it's David Freese or Keith Foulke.

I expect the unexpected in the Divisional Series. Most probably there will be an upset or two whereby the favoured team will not proceed.

Agree @JohnS. Throw regular season records and stats out the window. Postseason baseball a different animal altogether. Interesting the 4 series all went two games only! Did not expect that to happen! 

[JohnS]

The 2023 Divisional Series...

DIVISION SERIES

Presented by Booking.com

All times ET

Saturday, Oct. 7
TEX @ BAL, Game 1, 1 p.m. (FS1)
MIN @ HOU, Game 1, 4:45 p.m. (FS1)
PHI @ ATL, Game 1, 6 p.m. (TBS)
AZ @ LAD, Game 1, 9:20 p.m. (TBS)

Sunday, Oct. 8
TEX @ BAL, Game 2, 4 p.m. (FS1)
MIN @ HOU, Game 2, 8 p.m. (FS1)

Monday, Oct. 9
PHI @ ATL, Game 2, 6 p.m. (TBS)
AZ @ LAD, Game 2, 9 p.m. (TBS)

Tuesday, Oct. 10
HOU @ MIN, Game 3, 4 p.m. (FOX)
BAL @ TEX, Game 3, 8 p.m. (FOX)

Wednesday, Oct. 11
HOU @ MIN, Game 4 (if necessary), 2 p.m. (FS1)
ATL @ PHI, Game 3, 5 p.m. (TBS)
BAL @ TEX, Game 4 (if necessary), 7 p.m. (FS1)
LAD @ AZ, Game 3, 9 p.m. (TBS)

(If the BAL-TEX ALDS ends by Tuesday, then HOU-MIN Game 4 would move to 7 p.m.)

Thursday, Oct. 12
ATL @ PHI, Game 4 (if necessary), 6 p.m. (TBS)
LAD @ AZ, Game 4 (if necessary), 9 p.m. (TBS)

(If only one NLDS Game 4 remains on Thursday, then the game will be at 8 p.m.)

Friday, Oct. 13
MIN @ HOU, Game 5 (if necessary), 4 p.m. (FS1)
TEX @ BAL, Game 5 (if necessary), 8 p.m. (FS1)

(If only one ALDS Game 5 remains on Oct. 13, then the game will be at 8 p.m.)

Saturday, Oct. 14
PHI @ ATL, Game 5 (if necessary), 6 p.m. (TBS)
AZ @ LAD, Game 5 (if necessary), 9:20 p.m. (TBS)

(If only one NLDS Game 5 remains on Oct. 14, then the game will be at 8 p.m.)

• All TBS games also available on Max

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/2023-mlb-playoff-and-world-series-schedule

[Magnum Dongle]

I live in middle Georgia and I've heard a lot of talk about being worried that Atlanta has been coasting a little, has had a little bit of rest, and the Phillies are coming in red hot with Bryce Harper on a mission and my personal favorite, Kyle "Adam Dunn" Schwarber, as well as a ton of other players taking turns stepping up. All that coupled with it being only a 5 game series, I think it's gonna be a series to watch! I also want the twins to make a run because I'm team chaos while the Big Red Machine reassembles for next year's run. 

[KCCubano]

Dodgers-Diamondbacks score...kind of a shocker so far. 

[Ford2112]

It pleases me to virtually no end to watch LA getting trounced.

[JohnS]

Who could have predicted that the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks would each win their first three postseason games? (That's) The glory of Postseason professional sports!