Major League Baseball: Playoffs Starting Now!

DJ Eebs

So the playoffs are set in the National League, and 3/4 of the American League playoff picture is set. So here are the matchups:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Milwaukee Brewers (90-72) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)

Game One: Wednesday, October 1st (3:00 EST): Brewers (Gallardo 0-0) at Phillies (Hamels 14-10)
Game Two: Thursday, October 2nd (6:00 EST): Brewers (Sabbathia 17-10) at Phillies (Myers 10-13)
Game Three: Saturday, October 4th (6:30 EST): Phillies (Moyer 16-7) at Brewers (Bush 9-10)
Game Four (if necessary): Sunday, October 5th: Phillies (TBD) at Brewers (Suppan 10-10)
Game Five (if necessary): Tuesday, October 6th: Brewers (Sabbathia 17-10) at Phillies (TBD)

Los Angeles Dodgers (84-78) vs. Chicago Cubs (97-64)

Game One: Wednesday, October 1st (6:30 EST): Dodgers (Lowe 14-6) at Cubs (Dempster 17-6)
Game Two: Thursday, October 2nd (9:30 EST): Dodgers (Billingsley 16-6) at Cubs (Zambrano 14-6)
Game Three: Saturday, October 4th (10:00 EST): Cubs (Harden 10-2) at Dodgers (Kuroda 9-10)
Game Four (if necessary): Sunday, October 5th: Cubs (Lilly 17-9) at Dodgers (TBD)
Game Five (if necessary): Tuesday, October 7th: Dodgers (TBD) at Cubs (TBD)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Boston Red Sox (95-67) vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (100-62)

Game One: Wednesday, October 1st (10:00 EST): Red Sox (Lester 16-5) at Angels (Lackey 12-5)
Game Two: Friday, October 3rd (9:30 EST) Red Sox (Matsuzaka 18-7) at Angels (Santana 16-7)
Game Three: Sunday, October 5th: Angels (Saunders 17-10) at Red Sox (Beckett 12-10)
Game Four (if necessary): Monday, October 6th: Angels (Lackey 12-5) at Red Sox (TBD)
Game Five (if necessary): Wedensday, Ocober 7th: Red Sox (TBD) at Angels(TBD)

Chicago White Sox (89-74) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)

Game One: Thursday, October 2nd (2:30 EST): White Sox (Vasquez 12-16) at Rays (Shieds 14-8)
Game Two: Friday, October 3rd (6:00 EST): White Sox (Buehrle 15-12) at Rays (Kazmir 12-8)
Game Three: Sunday, October 5th: Rays (Garza 11-9) at White Sox (TBD)
Game Four (if necessary): Monday, October 6th: Rays (Sonnanstine 13-9) at White Sox (TBD)
Game Five (if necessary): Wednesday, October 8th: White Sox (TBD) at Rays (TBD)

Butters

Fucking Indians. We'll probably have another Cy Young award though.

NotASenator

GO NATS GO

Dely Apple

I have been a Cubs fan since conception (tiny cubs hat on the fetus)

Please do not fuck up Cubs pls

Dr.Funkenstein

Woooooo Lincecum pitching today

Agent Cooper

Dely Apple wrote: »

I have been a Cubs fan since conception (tiny cubs hat on the fetus)

Please do not fuck up Cubs pls

They'll win the division, but drop a game 5 or 7.

I mean, come on, this is old stuff by now Dely.

tugga

the twins have been fantastic this year

just the white sox have been fantastic as well

Butters

tugga wrote: »

the twins have been fantastic this year

just the white sox have been fantastic as well

The Indians and Tigers sucking has helped them out a lot.

Polago

Agent Cooper wrote: »

Dely Apple wrote: »

I have been a Cubs fan since conception (tiny cubs hat on the fetus)

Please do not fuck up Cubs pls

They'll win the division, but drop a game 5 or 7.

I mean, come on, this is old stuff by now Dely.

See: Red Sox in '04.

FortyTwo

The Orioles young pitching had a few key injuries and just never gelled. Third best offense in the majors though.

That is the damndest thing about this team.

They will finish in last, but they could easily be a 73-76 win last place team. That just shows you how difficult the East has been this year.

The O's have a strong crop of young pitchers that have a chance to make the rotation next year. Tillman, Arrietta, Matusz, Bergsen. Combine that with Matt Wieters (switch-power-hitting catcher who is TEARING through the minors this year) 2009 is looking better for the O's.

Butters

O's are worse than the Indians.

Bergy

Cardinals aren't going to make the playoffs. Its been quite a long time.

Sweeney Tom

Fuck the rest, the Nationals are the best!

Fiz

I believe in the Padres

Like, I believe they exist

FortyTwo

Butters wrote: »

O's are worse than the Indians.

Fuck you Butters, we didn't get to play the failures that are the Royals and Tigers 32 times a year.

The indians are 1.5 games better than the Orioles, look at the Orioles last nine games four against Boston and 3 against each of Boston, New York and Chicago. The Indians meanwhile three each against KC, TEX and DET.

A bit of a difference there.

Especially since your collection of "players" was supposed to compete for the division this year. Meanwhile my team has the third best offense in the majors but never had the pitching gel together.

You had two, TWO, Cy Young candidates on your team at one point and only 1.5 games ahead of a team that Buster Olney said would be lucky to win 56 games this year.

We weren't supposed to be good, what is your excuse?

Fiz

The Padres won today. My family was very confused about this.

Seattle Thread

Man, if the Mariners keep winning they're never going to reach 100 losses.

Butters

FortyTwo wrote: »

Butters wrote: »

O's are worse than the Indians.

Fuck you Butters, we didn't get to play the failures that are the Royals and Tigers 32 times a year.

The indians are 2.5 games better than the Orioles, look at the Orioles last nine games four against Boston and 3 against each of Boston, New York and Chicago. The Indians meanwhile three each against KC, TEX and DET.

A bit of a difference there.

Especially since your collection of "players" was supposed to compete for the division this year. Meanwhile my team has the third best offense in the majors but never had the pitching gel together.

You had two, TWO, Cy Young candidates on your team at one point and only 2.5 games ahead of a team that Buster Olney said would be lucky to win 56 games this year.

We weren't supposed to be good, what is your excuse?

Actually we had 3-4 Cy Young contenders for a bit but we've been devastated by injuries on all fronts. And who gives a shit about a great offense and no pitching? Texas had the best in the AL for how long and they never amounted to shit. You can't win playoff games without pitching depth.

the wook

Fiz wrote: »

The Padres won today. My family was very confused about this.

what's awesome is the Padres swept the D-backs and the Dodgers have been completely unable to capitalize

DJ Eebs

Agent Cooper wrote: »

Dely Apple wrote: »

I have been a Cubs fan since conception (tiny cubs hat on the fetus)

Please do not fuck up Cubs pls

They'll win the division, but drop a game 5 or 7.

I mean, come on, this is old stuff by now Dely.

I'm bracing myself for that possibility yeah

but if they're going to win something, this is the team that's going to do it

FortyTwo

Butters wrote: »

FortyTwo wrote: »

Butters wrote: »

O's are worse than the Indians.

Fuck you Butters, we didn't get to play the failures that are the Royals and Tigers 32 times a year.

The indians are 2.5 games better than the Orioles, look at the Orioles last nine games four against Boston and 3 against each of Boston, New York and Chicago. The Indians meanwhile three each against KC, TEX and DET.

A bit of a difference there.

Especially since your collection of "players" was supposed to compete for the division this year. Meanwhile my team has the third best offense in the majors but never had the pitching gel together.

You had two, TWO, Cy Young candidates on your team at one point and only 2.5 games ahead of a team that Buster Olney said would be lucky to win 56 games this year.

We weren't supposed to be good, what is your excuse?

Actually we had 3-4 Cy Young contenders for a bit but we've been devastated by injuries on all fronts. And who gives a shit about a great offense and no pitching. Texas had the best in the AL for how long and they never amounted to shit.

Give the Orioles Cliff Lee and they are challenging for a playoff spot. Who cares about great pitching and a AA offense?

Outside Grady Sizemore what else do you have? Baltimore has A+ prospects coming up next year. Baseball America ranked the Orioles 13th in their organizational rankings, up from 29(!) in 2007. And since the Orioles drafted Brian Matusz this past draft early reports are that Baltimore will be in the top 10.

Cleveland fell badly from three in 07 to 19th in 08. Doesn't look like they are going up.

Pronk is hurting, Carmona ain't Sabbathia no matter how much you squint and there isn't any help coming.

So enjoy your 1.5 game lead over a team that was supposed to lose 109 games this year. That faint sound you heard in the distance was the indians' window slamming shut.

Tokled

I'm both extremely excited for the awesome season the cubs are having and incredibly sad with the knowledge that they are likely to screw up.

So basically I'm your typical cubs fan.

Butters

FortyTwo wrote: »

Give the Orioles Cliff Lee and they are challenging for a playoff spot. Who cares about great pitching and a AA offense?

Outside Grady Sizemore what else do you have? Baltimore has A+ prospects coming up next year. Baseball America ranked the Orioles 13th in their organizational rankings, up from 29(!) in 2007. And since the Orioles drafted Brian Matusz this past draft early reports are that Baltimore will be in the top 10.

Cleveland fell badly from three in 07 to 19th in 08. Doesn't look like they are going up.

Pronk is hurting, Carmona ain't Sabbathia no matter how much you squint and there isn't any help coming.

So enjoy your 1.5 game lead over a team that was supposed to lose 109 games this year. That faint sound you heard in the distance was the indians' window slamming shut.

Everyone says they have A+ prospects coming up. Stop being dumb. Cleveland had an off year but they're looking better with a 10 game win streak behind them. They'll finish above .500 and we've actually done way better since CC left so if we get Carmona healthy again and Lee keeps his act together we don't need CC. Fucker wants to hit so off to the NL with him.

Also what 1.5 game lead over who? Detroit? That's a $300M payroll, son. They had a charge a while ago that was scary but it fizzled and guess why? Lack of pitching.

EDIT: Also fuck Pronk that guy's sucked ass for 2 years running now. Waste of a fucking batting order spot.

DJ Eebs

the most amazing thing about the cubs is that they don't really have a cy young or an mvp candidate

I mean, geovany soto is almost a lock for rookie of the year at the moment, I guess, but still, it's hard to find one guy who has had regular time in the line up that hasn't contributed a clutch hit at some point in this season

Dr.Funkenstein

Fuck the Giants better not give Tim a loss just cause they can't hit for shit

denihilist

Houston isn't in contention and I am sad.

FortyTwo

Butters wrote: »

FortyTwo wrote: »

Give the Orioles Cliff Lee and they are challenging for a playoff spot. Who cares about great pitching and a AA offense?

Outside Grady Sizemore what else do you have? Baltimore has A+ prospects coming up next year. Baseball America ranked the Orioles 13th in their organizational rankings, up from 29(!) in 2007. And since the Orioles drafted Brian Matusz this past draft early reports are that Baltimore will be in the top 10.

Cleveland fell badly from three in 07 to 19th in 08. Doesn't look like they are going up.

Pronk is hurting, Carmona ain't Sabbathia no matter how much you squint and there isn't any help coming.

So enjoy your 1.5 game lead over a team that was supposed to lose 109 games this year. That faint sound you heard in the distance was the indians' window slamming shut.

Everyone says they have A+ prospects coming up. Stop being dumb. Cleveland had an off year but they're looking better with a 10 game win streak behind them. They'll finish above .500 and we've actually done way better since CC left so if we get Carmona healthy again and Lee keeps his act together we don't need CC. Fucker wants to hit so off to the NL with him.

Also what 1.5 game lead over who? Detroit? That's a $300M payroll, son. They had a charge a while ago that was scary but it fizzled and guess why? Lack of pitching.

EDIT: Also fuck Pronk that guy's sucked ass for 2 years running now. Waste of a fucking batting order spot.

You said they were better than the Orioles, Orioles record (64-70) Indians (65-67) More like 2.5 but still, you ain't that much better than the Orioles. And the Orioles A+ prospects are the real deal.

The O's AA team is setting pitching records, Matt Weiters is a top 30 prospect in all of baseball. Brian Matusz scouting reports say he could start on an ML rotation today.

Butters

Yeah yeah yeah let's see if you guys make playoffs before the close of the decade.

FortyTwo

Butters wrote: »

Yeah yeah yeah let's see if you guys make playoffs before the close of the decade.

Hey, all I'm saying is this. Your ten game winning streak came at the hands of some of the weakest teams in the league and the East compared to the Central is like comparing the SEC to the WAC.

DJ Eebs

the al east is not the juggernaut you are making it out to be this year

Butters

We're up on Tampa (swept them for 4 before the all-star break), tied with Baltimore, we just swept Texas who can still hit well, and swept Toronto this month.

The Indians are very quietly playing very good baseball. It's just probably too little too late. We'd need a Colorado-esque charge to make the playoffs and that's not gonna happen.

DJ Eebs

nl central was playing really tough all the way down the line until the trading deadline

houston made a strong push, cincinatti's had some great pitchers, and pittsburgh had a shot at .500 until they traded away their two best players and started to play the cubs again

st. louis exceeded expectations and will probably be around for a while, and milwaukee and chicago are probably the two best teams in the national league at the moment

so I'd say they've probably shed the "comedy central" label this year

thanimations

The Geebs That Is A Mod wrote: »

NL West

This division is easily the worst division in baseball. Easily. But Arizona has fantastic pitching and LA can't hit for shit, so Arizona's probably going to win it.

New York blew a seven-run lead and the division lead to Philadelphia last night. After they blew a seven-game lead last season to the Philies and didn't make the playoffs. If they blow the division this year, the New York media will lose their shit. But this race is far from over.

The Diamondbacks can't hit for shit most of the time and have an extremely inconsistant bullpen. At least the starting pitching is good. Most of the time.

This is a year where in the future I can say "the divison race was really exciting" and hope that they don't look it up to see how laughably bad the two teams were.

Butters

If you want comedy you look on the west coast as the Angels are the only good team in either league.

thanimations

Butters wrote: »

If you want comedy you look on the west coast as the Angels are the only good team in either league.

That's not very good comedy. It is amazing how they are one of the best in either league, yet all of the other teams on both circuits are about the worst.

DJ Eebs

the rangers have scored the most runs in baseball

and have a negative run differential for the season

Whippy

Bergy wrote: »

Cardinals aren't going to make the playoffs. Its been quite a long time.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Bergy

The Astros are still awful!

DJ Eebs

oh hell yes the cardinals beat the brewers and now the cubs are six up on milwaukee

Daimajin

Buh-leted

DJ Eebs

the astros could probably win the nl west