2020 ALCS: Good vs Evil

Ale Xander

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MLB bust be praying the Astros don't win. One the stealing sign scandal and 2...they have a losing record. MLB will truly be embarrassed.
Dallas/Arlington/State Treasurer on the other hand will be rooting for the Astros.
 

VORP Speed

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Pitching is going to be really interesting in this 7 games straight series, especially for Rays coming off the all hands on deck elimination game. Helped a lot to not need to use Snell tonight.

I’m guessing they go Snell, Morton, Opener/Yarbrough, Glasnow, Opener/Bullpen
 

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Pitching is going to be really interesting in this 7 games straight series, especially for Rays coming off the all hands on deck elimination game. Helped a lot to not need to use Snell tonight.

I’m guessing they go Snell, Morton, Opener/Yarbrough, Glasnow, Opener/Bullpen
Why don't they just start Yarbrough? They seem to like him after an opener for some reason.
 

VORP Speed

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Why don't they just start Yarbrough? They seem to like him after an opener for some reason.
He got promoted to a true starter for most of the season, but they seem to think he is still below that quality cut-off level where you are better off having your appearances optimized with an opener, especially in playoffs where bullpen usage is going to be more aggressive.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

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He got promoted to a true starter for most of the season, but they seem to think he is still below that quality cut-off level where you are better off having your appearances optimized with an opener, especially in playoffs where bullpen usage is going to be more aggressive.
Thanks. He looks pretty damn good to me.
 

scottyno

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MLB bust be praying the Astros don't win. One the stealing sign scandal and 2...they have a losing record. MLB will truly be embarrassed.
The losing record part is kind of irrelevant, everyone should know by now that in a playoff series no good team is that much of a favorite over another good team, especially when one of those teams hit much worse than expected over a shortened season. The true talent rays really aren't that much better than the astros right now.
 

InsideTheParker

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Is there any question about the more likeable team? Geaux, Rays! Unfortunately, the Rays aren't hitting that much lately. Their pitching will have to carry them, as the Astros seem to be hot.
 

Oppo

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As much as I want to root against the Astros, I hope they win it all and MLB abandons the everyone makes the playoffs model
 

joe dokes

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The losing record part is kind of irrelevant, everyone should know by now that in a playoff series no good team is that much of a favorite over another good team, especially when one of those teams hit much worse than expected over a shortened season. The true talent rays really aren't that much better than the astros right now.
We know that here, but mlb doesn't want "losing team wins WS" headline.
 

bankshot1

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The Rays did their job and eliminated the MFYs.

Part of me would like to see the Astro's and their losing regular season win it all to accentuate

MLB's 2020* season

Projecting a bit- the bad blood between the LAD (if they get there) and Astro's might be fun
 

terrynever

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Tampa just won the Stanley Cup. Why not the World Series?

Sadly, Brady does not seem to have another Super Bowl season in him.
 

InsideTheParker

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This "cheapskates" stuff amuses me. Why throw money around if you can build a team without it? That's like saying that people who hire caterers are superior to people who cook inexpensive but delicious dinner parties themselves.
 

jon abbey

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This "cheapskates" stuff amuses me. Why throw money around if you can build a team without it? That's like saying that people who hire caterers are superior to people who cook inexpensive but delicious dinner parties themselves.
And I can't say it enough (although I say it a lot), spending money impacts a team's roster flexibility. For instance, right now 8 of 9 relievers in the TB bullpen have options, so if they suck, TB can send them down. If Adam Ottavino (for instance) sucks, nothing NY can do except a fake injury stint.
 

54thMA

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This "cheapskates" stuff amuses me. Why throw money around if you can build a team without it? That's like saying that people who hire caterers are superior to people who cook inexpensive but delicious dinner parties themselves.
People who hire caterers aren't "superior" to anyone, they have the money to do it, doesn't mean they lack the ability.

My oldest sister is currently battling liver cancer; she's a tremendous cook, but she hired a caterer for my nephews youngest daughters Baptism, she didn't have the energy to cook for 50 people.

As far as the Rays; you can't throw around what you don't have, the small market team that they are.

They draft incredibly well and have made some savvy trades.

Good for them, 28th out of 30 teams in total payroll, they pay their entire team about 8 million less than Cole's annual salary.,

Again; good for them.
 

54thMA

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You're comparing apples and oranges here, you are using TB's prorated 2020 salaries ($28M) and Cole's full-season salary ($36M), but TB's actual full season salaries were around $76M.

View: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f7IcjW2zaeekwzASX-s5fFf3DFAZiQAIw-3tbKHCQUY/edit#gid=1520401900
Thanks for the clarification, I read the annual team salaries wrong obviously, my apologies.

So they rank 27th out of 30 teams in salary then, is that correct or am I reading that wrong too?
 

jon abbey

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Their management is top notch, to be that competitive ranked that low in payroll speaks volumes for the organization top to bottom.
It's even better than the current MLB team, they still have the top-ranked farm system in the game and they didn't dip too much into it this year.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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The losing record part is kind of irrelevant, everyone should know by now that in a playoff series no good team is that much of a favorite over another good team, especially when one of those teams hit much worse than expected over a shortened season. The true talent rays really aren't that much better than the astros right now.
Which is known and acknowledged but that's once you get into the playoffs. It's one thing if it happened over a 16 game NFL season (who was it, the Seahawks that were 7-9 and made the NFCCG?). It's another where one of the basic tenets of your sport is the length and grind of 162 games to sort out the rabble. Any sport, no matter how bad a team, can got on a stretch relative to the length of their schedule where their a coincidence of getting hot, getting lucky and going up against the opposite. But that's not equivalent to picking a lotto ball out of a drum and that team getting a shot to have that chance. Which is the supposed to be the point of the regular season.
 

VORP Speed

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Chaim Bloom wasn’t the only boy genius Yalie to get hired away from the Rays front office last winter. Bloom’s colleague at the VP level, James Click, got poached to be the new Astros GM. So the Astros may not have the trash can this year, but they do have the Rays playbook.
 

VORP Speed

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It's even better than the current MLB team, they still have the top-ranked farm system in the game and they didn't dip too much into it this year.
This is the John the Baptist season, getting everyone’s attention before the Chosen One arrives.


It’s Valdez vs Snell tonight at 7:37pm on TBS
 

VORP Speed

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For ALCS, Rays add reliever Alvarado, who’s coming back from injury, and Fleming who is a fifth starter/bulk guy and drop reliever Richards and OF (and very good dancer) Phillips
 

jon abbey

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For ALCS, Rays add reliever Alvarado, who’s coming back from injury, and Fleming who is a fifth starter/bulk guy and drop reliever Richards and OF (and very good dancer) Phillips
Alvarado evidently lost 21 pounds while he was recovering, TB seems to have endless reinforcements.
 

VORP Speed

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Alvarado evidently lost 21 pounds while he was recovering, TB seems to have endless reinforcements.
They had a dozen pitchers on the IL at one point. It was crazy. Some really good arms in there.

It’s amazing what can be achieved when you can develop pitchers.
 

Al Zarilla

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Is this the game thread? No posts through 2 innings. Just want to say that TB will be hard to root for because they don’t hit and I never heard of any of them. I want to though.
 

VORP Speed

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Arozarena laser beam to center ties it at 1. The Natural strikes again.

Blake at 105 pitches thru 5. Going to full counts on almost every batter, but somehow still holding the Stros to 1 run.
 

AMS25

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Arozarena laser beam to center ties it at 1. The Natural strikes again.

Blake at 105 pitches thru 5. Going to full counts on almost every batter, but somehow still holding the Stros to 1 run.
If I remember correctly, the Rays have a pretty good bullpen. If all Blake could give was 5 innings, so be it.