2025 MLB Playoffs Thread | Page 9 | The Boneyard

2025 MLB Playoffs Thread

superjohn said:
They're paying a billion more dollars than any other team in deferred contracts. Unless JP Morgan and the like start owning teams, or Elon and Zuck decide to buy teams they will have a wildly unfair advantage over the rest of baseball.
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TBH this is more of a writing on the wall argument, as the Dodgers have just recently exploded in payroll. Usually the World Series is played between top 10 payroll teams. This has more diversity than what CFB has had over the past 30 years.

Is the proper approach to make a $320M Cap and a $150M Floor? That would mean the Orioles at 15th ($162M) are deemed trying, and the Mariners at 16th ($147M) (haha I know!) need to invest more. I just think that the floor of this league is as big of a problem as the top...it's just that it's not as fun for the general public to punch down.
 
Gutter King said:
Is the proper approach to make a $320M Cap and a $150M Floor? That would mean the Orioles at 15th ($162M) are deemed trying, and the Mariners at 16th ($147M) (haha I know!) need to invest more. I just think that the floor of this league is as big of a problem as the top...it's just that it's not as fun for the general public to punch down.
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In theory, a hard cap and floor would allow teams in the bottom the ability to sign one or two superstars. The ability to go over the cap (luxury tax) eliminates that - teams like the Dodgers and Mets, et.al., could continue to collect all the players ithey want if their media deals provide the revenue to allow it. So a floor wouldn't work at all, because then the lower payroll teams would be forced to pay money for mediocre players just because they have to.

There are perhaps 225-250 players who are worth $15/AAV or more at this time. That would average 7.5-8 per team if spread out equitably. However, it won't be equitably because $300M can sign five $30/M guys and still have the entire minimum floor to spend, so they can use that to sign another five $15/M guys and then fill out the roster with pre-arb guys. And most FAs will want to be on teams with the most superstars, making it more difficult for lower payroll teams to sign anyone who's not just a stat compiler or 35 year old with maybe one decent year left.

I just don't see it working without more complete revenue pooling like the other three major sports. If that happens, then you could raise the floor to a point where competitiveness then becomes almost completely on team management.

Just MHO.
 
superjohn said:
They're paying a billion more dollars than any other team in deferred contracts. Unless JP Morgan and the like start owning teams, or Elon and Zuck decide to buy teams they will have a wildly unfair advantage over the rest of baseball.
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They actually care about winning championships that's their number 1 priority unlike the Yankees good for them.
 
IKF has become a truly awful defender.

That DP by Raleigh with the bags loaded was a beauty. Great reflexes.
 
I'm rooting for the Jays (or the Mariners) over the Dodgers. I like plenty of Dodgers individually but rooting for them at this point is gross unless you've loved them since childhood.

I now know as of last week that I know nothing about baseball, per supertoilet, but I still maintain my reasons.
 
Hope Springer isn't out for too long. That heater caught him square on the kneecap. And loudly.

And I say that hoping Seattle makes it to the WS for the first time.
 
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Ouch well at least Springer was able to walk so X-rays should be negative (crossing fingers). Now get that swelling down got an off day tomorrow, doubt we see him in game 6. Maybe available as a ph.
 
I know there's a lot of prisoner of the moment takes and recency bias in a lot of these conversations, but I don't think this one is even a debate. Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player who's ever lived
 
navery12 said:
I know there's a lot of prisoner of the moment takes and recency bias in a lot of these conversations, but I don't think this one is even a debate. Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player who's ever lived
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He is. I think the only competitor is Babe but that was pre-integration.
 
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navery12 said:
I know there's a lot of prisoner of the moment takes and recency bias in a lot of these conversations, but I don't think this one is even a debate. Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player who's ever lived
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He's certainly a unicorn, but let's have this conversation in 10 years. He's been around 8 years so far and Judge still has a higher WAR over that time even when counting pitching. And I don't think anyone would say Judge is the best ever.
 
superjohn said:
He is. I think the only competitor is Babe but that was pre-integration.
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If Ohtani plays till he's 40 and keeps up the same level of production as his first 8 years, he'll be projected to finish his career around 116 WAR (about this same in fWAR). That would be good for 17th all time. If you take out the steroid users (Bonds, Clemens, ARod), and the pre-integration folks, that still leaves him behind Mays, Aaron, Musial and Ted Williams.
 
storrsroars said:
He's certainly a unicorn, but let's have this conversation in 10 years. He's been around 8 years so far and Judge still has a higher WAR over that time even when counting pitching. And I don't think anyone would say Judge is the best ever.
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We can wait 10 years and you bringing up Aaron Judge will look as foolish then as it does now. Judge only has a higher WAR by 3 wins and he's played 128 more games
 
navery12 said:
We can wait 10 years and you bringing up Aaron Judge will look as foolish then as it does now. Judge only has a higher WAR by 3 wins and he's played 128 more games
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I was comparing the eight years 2018-2025, which represents Ohtani's entire MLB career. Ohtani has played 70 more games and had 100 more plate appearances in that time. Yet Judge leads him 52.9 to 36 in hitting/fielding fWAR.

Add in the pitching, you get another 13.7 fWAR for a total of 49.7 for Ohtani.

So yes, Judge leads him by 3.2 fWAR over those eight years, but Ohtani has had more games and PAs, and pitches. And the time frame I've selected doesn't even include Judge's 4th best year. If I included Judge's abbreviated cup of coffee season and his first full year, his fWAR goes up to 61.6,

If you want to use bWAR, Judge is at 62.3 to Ohtani's 51.5. I'd also like to note I'm not a Yankee fan, nor am I a Judge fanboy. All I'm doing here is being objective and using publicly available data.

What Ohtani did today is the second best appearance in the history of playoffs (I still think Larsen is ahead because nobody expected that and it was in the WS). Ohtani will certainly be in the HoF, probably unanimously. There is no question he's great.

I don't know why the conversation about "best ever" even needs to happen. No matter how many games he plays, he's not going to equal Willie Mays, who is #1 by far in the post-integration/no steroids category.
 
Watching Ohtani is what it must have felt like to watch the Babe.

Being able to live in a time to watch Jordan, Brady, Jerry Rice, LT, Ohtani, and Gretzky is pretty cool.
 
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The Brewers had 14 hits in 4 games lol. That’s absolutely pitiful baseball and kind of points to the team they really were more than the team they somehow became. Having said that the bomb Ohtani hit 469 looked even longer than that!
 
mauconnfan said:
The Brewers had 14 hits in 4 games lol. That’s absolutely pitiful baseball and kind of points to the team they really were more than the team they somehow became.
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I find that a bad take. IMO, they simply stopped playing like they had all season and the NLDS. Their K rate went from 20% to 30% vs LAD, chasing more pitches, resulting in fewer walks, fewer runners, less pressure on the defense, and so on. They simply lost their identity because they were pressing.
 
storrsroars said:
I was comparing the eight years 2018-2025, which represents Ohtani's entire MLB career. Ohtani has played 70 more games and had 100 more plate appearances in that time. Yet Judge leads him 52.9 to 36 in hitting/fielding fWAR.

Add in the pitching, you get another 13.7 fWAR for a total of 49.7 for Ohtani.

So yes, Judge leads him by 3.2 fWAR over those eight years, but Ohtani has had more games and PAs, and pitches. And the time frame I've selected doesn't even include Judge's 4th best year. If I included Judge's abbreviated cup of coffee season and his first full year, his fWAR goes up to 61.6,

If you want to use bWAR, Judge is at 62.3 to Ohtani's 51.5. I'd also like to note I'm not a Yankee fan, nor am I a Judge fanboy. All I'm doing here is being objective and using publicly available data.

What Ohtani did today is the second best appearance in the history of playoffs (I still think Larsen is ahead because nobody expected that and it was in the WS). Ohtani will certainly be in the HoF, probably unanimously. There is no question he's great.

I don't know why the conversation about "best ever" even needs to happen. No matter how many games he plays, he's not going to equal Willie Mays, who is #1 by far in the post-integration/no steroids category.
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It's 3 bWAR as well, you're including Judge's full career. But you're right, took out the WAR but not games from Judge's numbers when l looked last night.

But this conversation is just getting crazier. First Aaron Judge, now Willie Mays. You're bringing up people who do not even touch Shohei Ohtani's ability to be both an elite hitter and pitcher at the same time
 
storrsroars said:
I was comparing the eight years 2018-2025, which represents Ohtani's entire MLB career. Ohtani has played 70 more games and had 100 more plate appearances in that time. Yet Judge leads him 52.9 to 36 in hitting/fielding fWAR.

Add in the pitching, you get another 13.7 fWAR for a total of 49.7 for Ohtani.

So yes, Judge leads him by 3.2 fWAR over those eight years, but Ohtani has had more games and PAs, and pitches. And the time frame I've selected doesn't even include Judge's 4th best year. If I included Judge's abbreviated cup of coffee season and his first full year, his fWAR goes up to 61.6,

If you want to use bWAR, Judge is at 62.3 to Ohtani's 51.5. I'd also like to note I'm not a Yankee fan, nor am I a Judge fanboy. All I'm doing here is being objective and using publicly available data.

What Ohtani did today is the second best appearance in the history of playoffs (I still think Larsen is ahead because nobody expected that and it was in the WS). Ohtani will certainly be in the HoF, probably unanimously. There is no question he's great.

I don't know why the conversation about "best ever" even needs to happen. No matter how many games he plays, he's not going to equal Willie Mays, who is #1 by far in the post-integration/no steroids category.
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I'm a Yankees fan and Judge fan boy. Judge is the best hitter of his generation, he's nowhere near as good as Shohei. Ohtani is the best player ever.

"Ohtani will certainly be in the Hall of Fame"

Lolz, ya think?
 
storrsroars said:
Ohtani gets to room with his white teammates in every city. Ohtani, TBOMK, doesn't deal with racial taunts in MLB cities.
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You changed my mind, Al Downing is better than Ohtani.
 
Thing is WAR and MVP are related but not the same thing.

Ohtani contributes hitting and pitching as a 2 way, so is twice the value to the Dodgers over their other players.

Judge being a hitter excels, but for the Yankees might be the most valuable but is not as valuable to ‘a’ team as Ohtani is.

And only 1 is still playing this season.
 
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Scoe said:
Ouch well at least Springer was able to walk so X-rays should be negative (crossing fingers). Now get that swelling down got an off day tomorrow, doubt we see him in game 6. Maybe available as a ph.
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Looks like George has a contusion and is not ruled out for Sunday’s game. Schneider says that Springer is one of the toughest guys he knows and will play if he can.
 
storrsroars said:
I find that a bad take. IMO, they simply stopped playing like they had all season and the NLDS. Their K rate went from 20% to 30% vs LAD, chasing more pitches, resulting in fewer walks, fewer runners, less pressure on the defense, and so on. They simply lost their identity because they were pressing.
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I find this a bad take as well. They had many players play over their heads for about a 2 month amazing run. They ended the year awfully losing like 10 or 11 of 14, they were becoming who they actually were and that trend became obvious against even better pitching.
 
mauconnfan said:
I find this a bad take as well. They had many players play over their heads for about a 2 month amazing run. They ended the year awfully losing like 10 or 11 of 14, they were becoming who they actually were and that trend became obvious against even better pitching.
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7-7 their last 14. I think that was more due to them clinching the division so early (they ended up with a 13 game advantage on the Mets). Obviously home field throughout the playoffs was still in play since they only ended up 1 game ahead of the Phillies and 4 ahead of the Dodgers.

I think Milwaukee's biggest problem is they just didn't have established stars. Typically established stars rise to the occasion in the playoffs. Well except the Yankees since they can't seem to get out of their own way 😀. Billy Beane always said he could get the A's to the playoffs with analytics but in the playoffs it didn't work as well since they didn't typically have established stars.
 
storrsroars said:
I was comparing the eight years 2018-2025, which represents Ohtani's entire MLB career. Ohtani has played 70 more games and had 100 more plate appearances in that time. Yet Judge leads him 52.9 to 36 in hitting/fielding fWAR.

Add in the pitching, you get another 13.7 fWAR for a total of 49.7 for Ohtani.

So yes, Judge leads him by 3.2 fWAR over those eight years, but Ohtani has had more games and PAs, and pitches. And the time frame I've selected doesn't even include Judge's 4th best year. If I included Judge's abbreviated cup of coffee season and his first full year, his fWAR goes up to 61.6,

If you want to use bWAR, Judge is at 62.3 to Ohtani's 51.5. I'd also like to note I'm not a Yankee fan, nor am I a Judge fanboy. All I'm doing here is being objective and using publicly available data.

What Ohtani did today is the second best appearance in the history of playoffs (I still think Larsen is ahead because nobody expected that and it was in the WS). Ohtani will certainly be in the HoF, probably unanimously. There is no question he's great.

I don't know why the conversation about "best ever" even needs to happen. No matter how many games he plays, he's not going to equal Willie Mays, who is #1 by far in the post-integration/no steroids category.
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If you asked 30 GM's which player they'd rather have, all 32 would say Ohtani. And they wouldn't flinch.
 
HooperScooper said:
7-7 their last 14. I think that was more due to them clinching the division so early (they ended up with a 13 game advantage on the Mets). Obviously home field throughout the playoffs was still in play since they only ended up 1 game ahead of the Phillies and 4 ahead of the Dodgers.

I think Milwaukee's biggest problem is they just didn't have established stars. Typically established stars rise to the occasion in the playoffs. Well except the Yankees since they can't seem to get out of their own way 😀. Billy Beane always said he could get the A's to the playoffs with analytics but in the playoffs it didn't work as well since they didn't typically have established stars.
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Has nothing to do with losing identity - LAD was just the better team, saved a lot of their juice for the playoffs. LAD SP's gave up 2 ER's in 29 innings. LAD has perfected the science of how to grind through the Regular Season and set themselves up for the post season. Their BP only pitched 7 innings in 4 games, in today's game. That by itself is incredible.

Milwaukee had a bunch of punching judies that lived off a ton of walks in the regular season. 22nd in Homers, lowest of all teams in playoff other than SD (who flamed out fast). You certainly don't want to live off the homer, but you also want that run potential on your roster.

It would have been interesting had Milwaukee found a way to win that first game and if that tilted anything, I honestly don't think so.
 
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