May 2024 News and Notes

[Max Power]

Why can't we get leagues like that?

I hate the third wild card with the byes and this is just another reason. The old new system with the two wildcards playing a one game playoff got you quicker playoffs, more first round drama, and better teams in the tournament.

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

Sadly, the Astros have won six in a row and have moved into third place.

 

[dynomite]

Why can't we get leagues like that?

I hate the third wild card with the byes and this is just another reason. The old new system with the two wildcards playing a one game playoff got you quicker playoffs, more first round drama, and better teams in the tournament.

Couldn't agree more, even though my memory is we are in the minority here. I wonder whether this has changed, but for years I would argue with people in these threads who wanted a Best-of-3 playoff series for the Wild Card round. It was a little gimmicky, but so is the concept of the Wild Card to me. The one-game Wild Card playoffs were appointment TV for me. The Sox/Yankees Wild Card game in '21 is almost certainly my favorite single Red Sox game since Game 5 of the 2018 WS .

Meanwhile, the addition of the 3rd Wild Card was always going to water down the playoffs, and MLB got what it deserved last season: a World Series matching an 84-win #6 seed with a 90-win #5 seed, and the worst TV ratings for a World Series in history (down ~20% from '21 & '22, and sure you can chalk that up to a smaller TV market in Arizona but the point stands that the team wouldn't have even been in the playoffs prior to 2023).

But I don't see anything changing.

The cat is out of the bag. We're talking about significant revenue and ticket sales from all these extra playoff games, not to mention attendance/revenue in September for teams that are still in contention for the 3rd Wild Card instead of being out of it.

And if it means that a few of these "playoff" games are played at 3pm ET on a weekday (a few of them in front of a half-full stadium), I think the owners are fine with that tradeoff (credit to the crowds in Minnesota, though, who I remember had incredible energy). https://frontofficesports.com/mlb-momentum-takes-hit-from-playoff-ratings-dip-format-debate/#:~:text=The league recorded an 18,year's average of 2.73 million.

The league recorded an 18% decline in average viewership for the wild card round, as the four two-game sweeps on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 collectively averaged 2.25 million viewers, down from last year’s average of 2.73 million.

 

[jon abbey]

So maybe because we have been binging Line of Duty and I suspect everything, but gun to my head, I would bet there is nothing wrong with him and they are just giving him a few weeks. My evidence:

1) He is 23 and threw 163 innings between AAA and MLB last year, so they probably don't want him over 180-185, including any postseason.

2) He threw 101 pitches on Tuesday, only the 2nd time in MLB he has hit 100 pitches (this can be read as evidence pro or con probably).

3) Bradish and Means are both due back this week so they have seven guys for five spots.

Grayson Rodriguez back and starting today, sometimes the conspiracy theory is correct.

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

The expanded Wild Card round got MLB an additional $100 million from ESPN in their tv deal.

 

[jon abbey]

The expanded Wild Card round got MLB an additional $100 million from ESPN in their tv deal.

This probably needs a lot more context, for instance ESPN is paying less for the current deal than they did previously, and still they plan to opt out of it at the end of this season, because they want more for their money.

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/espn-reportedly-leaning-towards-opting-out-of-mlb-contract.html

 

[nattysez]

Sounds like the Jays are pondering starting over.

The Toronto Blue Jays reportedly set "ridiculous" asking prices in trade talks for first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette.
"I don't think they're opposed to it," an executive told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. "They've talked to teams about it. The asks were ridiculous, but I think they're going to try to retool a lot, and using those guys to get pieces may be the way to do it."

 

[DeadlySplitter]

If they keep being this mediocre at the deadline, you absolutely have to consider it. Their core just isn't working out.

 

[SirPsychoSquints]

If they keep being this mediocre at the deadline, you absolutely have to consider it. Their core just isn't working out.

Current Fangraphs playoff odds of 22.8%, ahead of the Sox's 17.2%. If they're still rolling a .450 winning percentage at the end of July, that percentage will be a lot worse.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Hard team to figure out. Bichette has been awful this year. Vlad has been good, but that 2021 looks like a huge outlier. Springer might be cooked.

 

[dynomite]

Hard team to figure out. Bichette has been awful this year. Vlad has been good, but that 2021 looks like a huge outlier. Springer might be cooked.

Yeah it's odd. Their roster is cluttered with guys on the wrong side of 30 (Springer and almost the entire rotation: Berrios, Gausman, Kikuchi, Bassitt) and although Vlad is still only 25 and Bichette is only 26 they're both set to become free agents after '25.

In hindsight it really does seem like they blew it in 2022. They had 7 lineup regulars with an OPS+ of 114 or better, Manoah pitching like a Cy Young candidate and backed up by Gausman, Berrios, and Stripling. But in the Best-of-3 Wild Card series against the Mariners suddenly boom, they lost 2 games (including the 2nd one when they went up 8-1 and had a 98% win expectancy) and that was that.

 

[jon abbey]

Ketel Marte has a 19 game hitting streak going, longest in MLB this season, going back to late April.

But he only has 21 hits total in those 19 games, 21 for 75, and thus his season BA has gone down from .309 to .291 over those 19 games.