2012 MLB Winter Meetings and Offseason

[mrbadxampl]

AL playoff teams are just about decided now, looks like:

Yankees/Orioles (one will win the East, the other will be a wild card)
Rangers/A's (same deal as the East)
Tigers unless they totally fall apart and Chicago sweeps Cleveland over the next 3 days (second part seems a lot more likely than the first part)

haven't paid too much attention the the NL, but it looks likely to be:

Braves/Natinals (heh, had to do it) Washington likely wins the division, Atl. as one of the wild cards
Reds win the Central easily
Giants no contest in the West
Cardinals/Dodgers for the second wild card slot looks like the only race left over there

so, who do y'all think is going all the way? I'll go out on a limb a tad and say Orioles vs. Reds for the World Series, Reds in 6 games

[belfpala]

The biggest story is Miguel Cabrera, I think.

[koodledrum]

Rays are not statistically out of it, however they need to play the O's who are in must win mode along with the Yankees

[belfpala]

So we're going into the last series of the season... and there are only 7 points between the top 5 for the AL batting title: Cabrera, Mauer, Trout, Beltre, and Jeter.

I'm kind of divided. Trout gets RoY, Cabrera gets MVP. I want Mauer to win the batting title... but it would also be cool to have a triple crown in Cabrera.

[draynay]

4 for 5 with a HR, somebody wants it bad

[koodledrum]

Well looks like the Rays are finally out of contention, but they sure as hell did their job last night by beating Baltimore giving the Yanks a 1 game lead atop the division - would have been good to see them in there until the bitter end again but Joe Maddon will be back next year desperate to topple someone, but he knows he's got a chance to have a real say in the playoff picture so I think they'll play hard tonight & tomorrow. Gotta say I really felt sorry for Bobby V last night, it was painfull watching him out there!

[muto]

At the beginning of the year I would have never guessed the Orioles, and Athletics would have made the playoffs. Heck even Cincinnati, and Washington making the playoffs is a bit of a surprise.

---------- Post added 2012-10-02 at 06:55 AM ----------

so, who do y'all think is going all the way? I'll go out on a limb a tad and say Orioles vs. Reds for the World Series, Reds in 6 games

Judging by who usually plays best in October, I would have to say the Rangers versus the Cardinals,... or Giants, if the Cards don't get the WC. I think the Rangers finally win it this year after being so close the past 2 times. The teams I would like to see in there, my wishful picks would be the Orioles versus the Cardinals. Even though I'm a Cards fan, losing to the Orioles, or Athletics in the World Series wouldn't be too bad, because neither team has won it in ages.

[conscript]

Well looks like the Rays are finally out of contention, but they sure as hell did their job last night by beating Baltimore giving the Yanks a 1 game lead atop the division - would have been good to see them in there until the bitter end again but Joe Maddon will be back next year desperate to topple someone, but he knows he's got a chance to have a real say in the playoff picture so I think they'll play hard tonight & tomorrow. Gotta say I really felt sorry for Bobby V last night, it was painfull watching him out there!

The Sox last night had a combined payroll of $12 million for the guys who played. $12 million. The Yankees have individual guys who make 2-3x that amount. Red Sox have just completely fallen apart as an organization and a team.

Glad the Tigers clinched. I was going to be incredibly disappointed if they didn't make it in the playoffs this year. The rotation is finally pitching like it should. If fucking Big Potato can get his head in the game and stop threatening to blow every game they put him in to close they have a chance of being a quality team in the playoffs. I will take a 3 man rotation of Verlander, Scherzer, and Fister against anyone.

[Amsden]

Hoping Texas take the win today so we can clinch the division. Would suck to have 1st place all season long to have the A's come in and take it on the last game...

[sheffield]

It's raining right now here in NY with 3 hours to game time.. I really hope they can get this game in tonight, but it's not looking good.. it's been raining all day

[Skarsguard]

Hoping Texas take the win today so we can clinch the division. Would suck to have 1st place all season long to have the A's come in and take it on the last game...

That would be epic if the A's win the division not just because I'm an A's fan but because the Rangers and the Angels payroll is insane compared to the A's and also the A's have a record of 99 games won by rookie pitcher's beating the old record by something like 30 games.

[Amsden]

That would be epic if the A's win the division not just because I'm an A's fan but because the Rangers and the Angels payroll is insane compared to the A's and also the A's have a record of 99 games won by rookie pitcher's beating the old record by something like 30 games.

It would be heart breaking. But then again, I'm used to having my heart broken where is concerns the Rangers...

[koodledrum]

It would be heart breaking. But then again, I'm used to having my heart broken where is concerns the Rangers...

pft, 2 world series defeats & they think they know heartbreak, you're not Boston y'know!

[draynay]

nobody cares what Boston fans think, and two series in a row, the most recent two series, that's hard to top right now

also, I'm sick of all this Trout MVP talk, his team isn't even in the playoffs, and I had to endure that scumbag Braun winning it last year because Kemp wasn't in the playoffs so I'm not gonna tolerate these asshole voters changing their minds all the time

[koodledrum]

Gotta feel sorry for Adam Greenberg, in his first plate appearance he gets beaned with a fastball at the back of the head, 7 years later the Marlins (who accidentally hit him) give him one AB - problem is hai, that guys name is RA Dickey, he's possibly gonna win the Cy Young AND he's a knuckleballer, enjoy your big day dude... Unsurprisingly he struck out, kinda unfair of the Marlins though to chuck him in there against Dickey!!

[Amsden]

Guh I hate California and them making our Ranger games start at 9pm I do like to actually watch them not fall asleep in the 4th inning. :[

---------- Post added 2012-10-03 at 05:41 AM ----------

Jeez what the hell. It's like the Rangers don't even want it any more. That effort tonight was pathetic! This team became to comfortable in the mid season when it had big leads on every one and lost not just games but series to last place teams, now it's biting us in the ass. Ugh I'm so mad right now, I stayed up for that crap and they didn't even bother to show up, now I won't be able to sleep for a few hours.

[koodledrum]

Guh I hate California and them making our Ranger games start at 9pm I do like to actually watch them not fall asleep in the 4th inning. :[

---------- Post added 2012-10-03 at 05:41 AM ----------

Jeez what the hell. It's like the Rangers don't even want it any more. That effort tonight was pathetic! This team became to comfortable in the mid season when it had big leads on every one and lost not just games but series to last place teams, now it's biting us in the ass. Ugh I'm so mad right now, I stayed up for that crap and they didn't even bother to show up, now I won't be able to sleep for a few hours.

That I know - I miss the majority of games because well, it's not easy when the first pitch of the game is after midnight, when they're playing on the West coast first pitch is like 3am, yeah that's not working!

And the Rangers don't really need to worry as well, they fancy their chances over a 1 game situation against anyone and it would be hard placed to argue with that thought!

[sheffield]

.. and thanks to the A's.. the Yanks can now wrap up the best record in the AL with a win tonight and avoid Detroit in a 5 game series.. because we know pretty damn well how that went down..

my perfect scenario would be A's win the west, Baltimore win the one game WC and take my chances against Detroit in a 7 game series, rather than a 5

either way, it's not gonna be an easy road this year..

===

i really hope that this is the only year they go w/ the 2-3 format for the LDS.. anyone else find it terrible?

[koodledrum]

It never is an easy road, but what I do like is the fact that a number of our players seem to be coming into form (Ichiro, Swisher, Cano), Jeter's been in form all year & well, CC has been pitching well as have Kuroda & Andy, only problems I see at the minute are the fact A-rod has little to no power left, Teixiera seemingly couldn't hit water if he fell out a boat & well, Granderson is causing major concern with his case of Strikeoutitis! I'm not saying this will be a championship year, but it's certainly more likely than it was last year.

[Amsden]

I must admit though the As where a nice surprise. No one can say the West is a weak division anymore. Though the Astros will water us down, having Tex, LA, and Oak be power houses makes our division much more interesting than just 2 good teams.