World Series thread

[tentoes4rings]

Since the JBJ thread has devolved into a discussion about cities I’m starting this. I thoroughly enjoyed being at Game 1, one of the best nights of my life. Here are some notes from that night and the series:

Went back and forth with my friend all day on which section tickets to buy. Late in the day driving up, prices started running wild. We went to Johnnie’s, had a drink and checked Stub Hub again. Saw tickets in section 11 for less than $500 plus fees, had to pounce on them.

Lineup introductions were nice to see, particularly how big the ovations for Price and Pedey were.

While it felt special to be at a World Series game, I was surprised by how few WS decorations there were. The park looked much the same as it does during the season.

It got really cold out there, this in my opinion gave the Sox a huge advantage.

Beers were their normal prices, was happy they didn’t gouge people extra for the WS.

After the game, in the concourse media members and Dave Roberts in full uniform walked right past us on the way to the press room. Heidi Watney looked really hot in person.

Had fun on the street after the game, watching Papi and the guys on Fox recap the game. Huge cheers for Papi and many Arod Sucks chants. I actually felt bad for the guy but the producers were encouraging it!

The Sox are extremely confident, possibly playing their best ball of the year with the bullpen being thus nasty. They remind me of the 13 team in the way they refuse to lose.

Buehler is nasty, I think he gives the Dodgers a good chance in Game 3 but I think the Sox outfield speed will shine in LA, and if they can get Buehler out by the 5th, this could easily be 3-0.

I definitely plan on going to the parade, if there is one. Would be fun to meet other BYarders if anyone plans on going.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I don't know if it's Dave Roberts or Andrew Friedman but somebody is overthinking things with these lineups. That being said - and I know as a Sox fan that as soon as I say this they'll lose 4 straight - it really feels like the two best teams just played in the ALCS. I have a feeling LA is going to light up Porcello tomorrow night but Boston is just a better squad.

Happy for Price too. Hard to feel bad for a guy with one of the biggest tickets in professional sports, but it's nice to see him get that post-season monkey off his back.

 

[Huskybass]

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the entire Sox playoff run. So many guys have stepped up, and Cora is doing an unreal job for a first year manager. Glad you enjoyed the live experience.

 

[the Q]

I don't know if it's Dave Roberts or Andrew Friedman but somebody is overthinking things with these lineups. That being said - and I know as a Sox fan that as soon as I say this they'll lose 4 straight - it really feels like the two best teams just played in the ALCS. I have a feeling LA is going to light up Porcello tomorrow night but Boston is just a better squad.

Happy for Price too. Hard to feel bad for a guy with one of the biggest tickets in professional sports, but it's nice to see him get that post-season monkey off his back.

The move that didn’t make sense was Muncy.

The rest you can defend since they were doing it the whole time and they struggle with lefties.

Muncys ops against lefties was like just under 900 iirc.

 

[the Q]

Since the JBJ thread has devolved into a discussion about cities I’m starting this. I thoroughly enjoyed being at Game 1, one of the best nights of my life. Here are some notes from that night and the series:

Went back and forth with my friend all day on which section tickets to buy. Late in the day driving up, prices started running wild. We went to Johnnie’s, had a drink and checked Stub Hub again. Saw tickets in section 11 for less than $500 plus fees, had to pounce on them.

Lineup introductions were nice to see, particularly how big the ovations for Price and Pedey were.

While it felt special to be at a World Series game, I was surprised by how few WS decorations there were. The park looked much the same as it does during the season.

It got really cold out there, this in my opinion gave the Sox a huge advantage.

Beers were their normal prices, was happy they didn’t gouge people extra for the WS.

After the game, in the concourse media members and Dave Roberts in full uniform walked right past us on the way to the press room. Heidi Watney looked really hot in person.

Had fun on the street after the game, watching Papi and the guys on Fox recap the game. Huge cheers for Papi and many Arod Sucks chants. I actually felt bad for the guy but the producers were encouraging it!

The Sox are extremely confident, possibly playing their best ball of the year with the bullpen being thus nasty. They remind me of the 13 team in the way they refuse to lose.

Buehler is nasty, I think he gives the Dodgers a good chance in Game 3 but I think the Sox outfield speed will shine in LA, and if they can get Buehler out by the 5th, this could easily be 3-0.

I definitely plan on going to the parade, if there is one. Would be fun to meet other BYarders if anyone plans on going.

- I love arod the analyst. But not surprised he gets head in Boston.

- I’m surprised they didn’t deck out for the ws.

- no surprise on Heidi. She is a goddess.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't know if it's Dave Roberts or Andrew Friedman but somebody is overthinking things with these lineups.

Taking out Baez made no sense. Sometimes you have to look up from your instruments.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Taking out Baez made no sense. Sometimes you have to look up from your instruments.

Agreed. I couldn’t believe he went back to Madson there. Cora has thoroughly outmanaged all of these guys. Whenever he does something that seems to make no sense I just go back to my new favorite phrase, Trust In Cora. Like adding Pomeranz for example, but after 117 wins I’m not going to second guess the guy on anything.

 

[the Q]

Agreed. I couldn’t believe he went back to Madson there. Cora has thoroughly outmanaged all of these guys. Whenever he does something that seems to make no sense I just go back to my new favorite phrase, Trust In Cora. Like adding Pomeranz for example, but after 117 wins I’m not going to second guess the guy on anything.

That’s simply cause of his handedness.

Using Eovaldi like he’s 2014 wade davis has been awesome too.

 

[Scoe]

- I love arod the analyst. But not surprised he gets head in Boston.

- I’m surprised they didn’t deck out for the ws.

- no surprise on Heidi. She is a goddess.

 

[the Q]

That was supposed to say heat. My bad. I really shouldn’t post from my damn phone

 

[HuskyHawk]

It's been a great series of games for Red Sox fans. Not one game has failed to entertain, except the loss to the Yankees.

I don't like how the Dodgers have built their team. There is nothing in baseball more overrated than the Lefty - Righty switch. Good players are good players, and can hit both. Good pitchers are good pitchers and can get either out. Boston rolls out the lineup and rarely makes those adjustments, except at 1B. Platooning is something that should occur only where you don't have anybody good enough to be an every day player. I think that's the Dodgers in a nutshell. Aside from Machado (who I hate), who on that team would start for Boston? And Machado over Bogaerts is fairly close (.905 OPS to .883).

Muncy at 1B. Maybe Turner over Devers, but Devers has more power. Bellinger has more offense than JBJ. But that's it. Not surprisingly Turner is one of the few non platoon players for LA. Muncy should be playing every day.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I was fortunate to be at game 2 the other night. Not great seats, section 2 in the right field grandstand, but a full view of the field without craning my neck. We saw an excellent performance by the Sox pitching staff. And that 3-run, 2-out rally was magic.

There were more than a few puzzling moves by Roberts as the game got late. First, Madsen not Baez to squelch the rally? Then he bats Muncy against Kelly. The big scoreboard gives their head to head stats - 3 plate appearances, 3 K's. After that at-bat it's 4 for 4. Then he takes out Freese for Pederson. Freese has been hitting everyone, their best performer in the playoffs. I think I'd let him get a shot only down 2 runs. I know he loves the left-right matchup thing, but his bench isn't that deep, and the Sox do have a couple of lefties in the bullpen to counter that after he's spent his ammo.

In any event, a great experience. Based on what I am seeing, that's likely the last Fenway game this year.

 

[mauconnfan]

Can we move this to the "Pro Sports" forum this is annoying seeing Red Sox fans all giddy.

 

[UConnStats]

With the Dodgers throwing out these weak lineups vs LHP and Boston throwing Eovaldi twice already, it looks like they're lining up Rodriguez for game 4. I like that move, because LA either keeps the same lineup vs LHP or play their LHB with bad platoon splits.

 

[mauconnfan]

With the Dodgers throwing out these weak lineups vs LHP and Boston throwing Eovaldi twice already, it looks like they're lining up Rodriguez for game 4. I like that move, because LA either keeps the same lineup vs LHP or play their LHB with bad platoon splits.

Real good point and makes a ton of sense. Keep Roberts managing awful baseball or at least 2nd guessing himself and these God awful weak lineups. Is that the way the Sox are going tonight?

 

[Scoe]

That was supposed to say heat. My bad. I really shouldn’t post from my damn phone

I figured as much lol. Auto spell check sucks.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

With the Dodgers throwing out these weak lineups vs LHP and Boston throwing Eovaldi twice already, it looks like they're lining up Rodriguez for game 4. I like that move, because LA either keeps the same lineup vs LHP or play their LHB with bad platoon splits.

It frustrates me to no end that Bellinger is not in the starting lineup. I mean, I get the lefty/righty platoon but the dude was NLCS MVP-- are you kidding?!

 

[UConnStats]

Real good point and makes a ton of sense. Keep Roberts managing awful baseball or at least 2nd guessing himself and these God awful weak lineups. Is that the way the Sox are going tonight?

Tonight I feel pretty good about Porcello. On the year his splits are actually better on the road. When he gets hit hard, it's the HRs that kill him, and Dodger Stadium is a bigger ballpark so that should help him. The Ddogers are ice cold, just throw strikes and keep yourself out of trouble, because the Dodgers are struggling to get on base as is.

 

[UConnStats]

It frustrates me to no end that Bellinger is not in the starting lineup. I mean, I get the lefty/righty platoon but the dude was NLCS MVP-- are you kidding?!

True, but he did post a .681 OPS vs LHP this year. Last year he mashed against both LHP and RHP, though.

Muncy had an .891 OPS vs LHP this year. I know he's cold right now, but they really screwed up benching him IMO. Your team isn't stringing together a bunch of hits, so why not put someone out there who may go deep? Puig actually has far worse numbers against LHP than Muncy.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

True, but he did post a .681 OPS vs LHP this year. Last year he mashed against both LHP and RHP, though.

Muncy had an .891 OPS vs LHP this year. I know he's cold right now, but they really screwed up benching him IMO. Your team isn't stringing together a bunch of hits, so why not put someone out there who may go deep? Puig actually has far worse numbers against LHP than Muncy.

Yeah true. One is hot right now, one is not, and one is good historically and one is not. I'd still play both over Hernandez and Freese, maybe even Puig. Freese is tremendous in late innings. Much better PH option

 

[Huskybass]

What has surprised me is that Roberts leaves himself with no bench after the 7th inning. I only watch Sox games so I have no idea what goes on in the NL, but that seems odd to me.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What has surprised me is that Roberts leaves himself with no bench after the 7th inning. I only watch Sox games so I have no idea what goes on in the NL, but that seems odd to me.

That ability to switch out almost ever position on the field helps them with double switches. But I think there is a reason this team underperformed what their run differential suggests.

Meanwhile, Cora announced that Mookie is not playing 2B tonight. I expect Martinez in left and Benintendi has been as good as anybody for Boston, so I am not sure who sits. I'd sit JBJ or play Mookie at 2B and sit Kinsler.

 

[UConnStats]

Yeah true. One is hot right now, one is not, and one is good historically and one is not. I'd still play both over Hernandez and Freese, maybe even Puig. Freese is tremendous in late innings. Much better PH option

Freese kills lefties too, so I get that. But they could have stuck Kemp in front of the monster on D, DesignatedHitter Muncy, kept Freese at 1B, Bellinger in CF, Taylor in RF, and benched Kiké and Puig. I think that would have lengthened their lineup and would have given them power (Joc and Puig) and a Swiss Army knife (Hernandez) off the bench.

Hindsight is 20/20 though

 

[CL82]

That ability to switch out almost ever position on the field helps them with double switches. But I think there is a reason this team underperformed what their run differential suggests.

Meanwhile, Cora announced that Mookie is not playing 2B tonight. I expect Martinez in left and Benintendi has been as good as anybody for Boston, so I am not sure who sits. I'd sit JBJ or play Mookie at 2B and sit Kinsler.

Play Mookie, sit Kinsler.

 

[tentoes4rings]

It's been a great series of games for Red Sox fans. Not one game has failed to entertain, except the loss to the Yankees.

I don't like how the Dodgers have built their team. There is nothing in baseball more overrated than the Lefty - Righty switch. Good players are good players, and can hit both. Good pitchers are good pitchers and can get either out. Boston rolls out the lineup and rarely makes those adjustments, except at 1B. Platooning is something that should occur only where you don't have anybody good enough to be an every day player. I think that's the Dodgers in a nutshell. Aside from Machado (who I hate), who on that team would start for Boston? And Machado over Bogaerts is fairly close (.905 OPS to .883).

Muncy at 1B. Maybe Turner over Devers, but Devers has more power. Bellinger has more offense than JBJ. But that's it. Not surprisingly Turner is one of the few non platoon players for LA. Muncy should be playing every day.

Bellinger plays CF now because he’s a great athlete and it frees Roberts up to play Muncy or Freese at 1B. His best position though is 1B, he’d easily be the Sox 1B if we had him. Roberts has gotten too cute sitting him and Muncy vs lefties the past 2 months, I hope he continues to do that.