Brian
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Post by Brian on Mar 27, 2018 23:00:42 GMT -8
Welcome to the tenth annual baseball thread on the Montrose Peace Vigil message board. Guests are always welcome to post -- you do not have to log in or register to reply to any thread, or to start a new one.
Every year, I predict the National League division winners with little success. This season, I pick the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, hoping that I might jinx them. As constituted today, those players are certainly good enough to lead the West, the best division in all of baseball. Perhaps the Colorado Rockies as well. Almost everybody else says the Los Angeles Dodgers, of course. But I'm worried about the depth of their starting pitching. I also have to wonder: Are the Dodgers hungry enough for a championship in 2018 after falling apart in September and then in Games 5 and 7 of the last World Series? And are the Diamondbacks and Rockies truly starving -- and more deserving?
Rounding out the division, the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants both improved their rosters in the off season. I think it's possible that the NL West could have five teams that finish near .500 and above.
I have to go with the seemingly inevitable Chicago Cubs in the NL Central Division and the long denied Washington Nationals in the East, by far the class of their divisions. The rest of the teams range from hopeless to mediocre, although the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Mets and maybe the Milwaukee Brewers could break through.
It's a 162 game season, filled with every kind of injury, slumping veterans, surprising rookies and blockbuster trades in July and August. Daily drama with plenty of laughs along the way. Here in Los Angeles, the season opens Thursday with the Giants verses the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine, as God intended.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Apr 24, 2018 23:00:34 GMT -8
Four weeks into the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers own a .500 record, thanks to a winning streak that pulled them out of a brief residency in last place in the National League West. It seems early to look at the standings unless you consider that the Dodgers have only faced other losing teams -- that is, except for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won 11 regular seasons games in a row dating back to last season before the Dodgers finally took one. The starting pitching has been excellent, but the Dodgers aren't hitting and the bullpen is blowing lots of leads.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks have the best record in the National League with 16 wins and only 6 losses. They also started strong last year, falling behind when the Dodgers had their unprecedented string of victories last summer, then hanging tough during the Dodgers' epic inexplicable losing streak in September. The Diamondbacks emerged as the Wild Card team but were swept by the Dodgers in the Division Series. They have suffered five years in a row watching the Dodgers win the National League West.
I've enjoyed seeing the Diamondbacks play the Dodgers six times so far, and they've got five more games in early May. Then the teams won't meet again until the end of August. The schedule always sucks, mostly because of interleague play. I'll have to follow the Diamondbacks on the Internet instead of cable TV for four months.
I still root for the Dodgers, of course, but I take pride in picking the Diamondbacks to win the pennant.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on May 19, 2018 23:00:05 GMT -8
I feel better tonight after the Dodgers swept a doubleheader with the Nationals in Washington, but more than one quarter of the season has been played and those were only their 18th and 19th wins. To reach 90 victories, a mark that might achieve a wild card, the Dodgers need to win 60 percent of their remaining games. They would have to resemble past Dodger teams that put on breath taking winning streaks in the summer. This team looks like the one that lost 16 of 17 games last September.
So far, I've been proven wrong about the National League West being the best division in the major leagues. The once hot Diamondbacks, who have lost nine of their last ten games, still lead the West. But six teams in the Central and East Divisions have better records. Who would have guessed in March that the young Atlanta Braves would have the best record in the National League, with the Philadelphia Phillies only half a game behind? Needless to say, if not nobody, certainly not me.
Then I look at the NL West standings and see that Giants are only three games out of first place, and my doubleheader buzz is gone. Everything that I saw, read and heard when I was up north last week gives me reasons to be scared of them again.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jun 18, 2018 23:00:21 GMT -8
In my last post, it sounded like I gave up on the Dodgers for the season. But they didn't give up -- and the rest of the National League West started playing like the Dodgers had for the first seven weeks. Since May 17, the Dodgers have won 22 games and lost only 6. They're in second place, two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Still, the Dodgers are only four games above .500, and the San Francisco Giants are uncomfortably close: just three and a half games back in third place. Even the last place San Diego Padres are only seven games out of first, closer than the Dodgers were at their nadir. The NL West, which had the three best teams in baseball last summer, kind of sucks this year.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Aug 8, 2018 23:00:19 GMT -8
On this date last year, the Los Angeles Dodgers had won more than 70 percent of their games, and they led the last place San Francisco Giants by an astounding 35-1/2 games. I wrote: All this winning is a little unsettling. The natural rhythms and curses of a major league baseball season don't seem to apply to these Dodgers. Only 50 games remain. In the beautiful National League West, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies are six games ahead of every other National League team in the wild card race -- yet they are 15 games behind the Dodgers. Tonight, the Dodgers slipped into second place, a half game behind the Diamondbacks. The Rockies are third, three games back, and the Dodgers lead the fourth place Giants by only six games, not enough for me with 47 games remaining in the season. The Diamondbacks lead the division with a winning percentage of a mere 55 percent.
I picked the Diamondbacks to win the NL West. In April, I thought that the Dodgers would be denied their sixth consecutive division title because the starting pitching wasn't deep. Instead, the rest of the bullpen that precedes closer Kenley Jansen has become their real problem. But, with the great batters that they acquired before the trade deadline, the Dodgers have the potential to run away from the other four teams, like they did last summer.
This season, no National League team currently has a winning record above 58 percent, which I find unusual. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves -- who almost nobody picked before the season -- top the East. The Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers are contending for the Central Division, just like last year.
It's still too early for me to pay much attention to the American League. I'll just say that four teams in the junior circuit, where the pitchers never bat, have better records than any team in the National League, including the lowly Oakland Athletics, who beat the Dodgers tonight, 3-2.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Sept 29, 2018 23:00:56 GMT -8
Saturday was a perfect day for the Dodgers. Not only did they win, the Rockies lost, so the Dodgers are now tied with them for the National League West championship. And with the Cardinals losing their game against the Cubs, the Dodgers are now guaranteed a wild card game and a chance to play in a Division Series.
Today is the last day of the regular baseball season. But the Dodgers could face the Rockies in Game 163 on Monday in Dodger Stadium to decide the NL West if they both either win or lose their games on Sunday. The Dodgers need to sweep the Giants in San Francisco to have a shot.
What a wacky end to a season. The Dodgers won the last five division titles handily. This year, they're squeaking into the postseason. Maybe this way is better. Lots of teams have won the World Series as a wild card, and Dodgers have been hot lately.
The NL Central Division is also tied by the Cubs and the Brewers. Just like the NL West, either of them could be forced into a tie breaker game. The Braves long ago won the NL East by a wide margin -- and they have the same record as the Dodgers and the Rockies, 90 wins and 71 losses.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 14, 2018 23:00:11 GMT -8
Since my last post, the Dodgers tied the Colorado Rockies for the National League West on the last day of the season, then defeated the Rockies in Game 163 the next day in Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers went to on best the Atlanta Braves handily in their National League Division Series. Now the Dodgers are tied with the Milwaukee Brewers at one game apiece in the National League Championship Series. Both teams are in Los Angeles for at least three more games starting Monday. I have tickets to Game 5 Wednesday afternoon.
I'm feeling good about the Dodgers reaching the World Series after watching the Brewers in the first two games. They won 12 games in a row, the last one against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS. But since the eighth inning of that game, the Dodgers seem to be the hot team. And now they're home.
I'm finally paying attention to the American League, just in time for the ALCS. The Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros are also tied 1-1, headed to Houston tonight. I thought I had no preference yet I find myself rooting for the Red Sox and their first year manager Alex Cora, who was one of my favorite Dodger second basemen of all time.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 17, 2018 23:10:30 GMT -8
I watched the Dodgers defeat the Brewers Wednesday at Dodger Stadium in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. It was glorious. They fly back to Milwaukee today needing just one more victory to win the pennant.
The last NLCS game I attended in Chavez Ravine was Game 7 against the Mets in 1988. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series. And that was the last time the Dodgers were world champions.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 21, 2018 23:00:16 GMT -8
Back on September 25, when the Dodgers were half a game ahead of the Rockies in the National League West with only four (or five!) games left in the season, I was in Las Vegas on business. During the evenings, I spent some time in the sports book, watching an inning or two of an interesting game on a big screen in a comfortable lounge chair. I also bet $10 each on the Dodgers and the Rockies to win the World Series. The Rockies had the longest odds of all the teams still in contention, 18 to 1, and the Dodgers the shortest odds, 9 to 2.
The Dodgers didn't win every game they should have this year, but they won every game that they needed to. Unlike last season, they don't have a record like the Red Sox, the best team in baseball with 108 victories, but the Dodgers had the best record in 2017 and they lost the World Series. In 2018, six teams had better records than the Dodgers, who won 92 games. It's a cliché, but I'll say it anyway: Season records don't matter in the postseason. I'm predicting that the Dodgers will win in six games. Luckily, the sports book allows winning tickets to be mailed in, so I won't need to go back to Nevada to claim my $45.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora was the greatest Dodger second baseman of my life, and I was sad when he left the team as a free agent after the 2004 season. If the Red Sox prevail, his accomplishment will be my sole consolation. Hey, I've got more invested emotionally in this World Series than the last one, which the Astros deserved to win.
Alex also played on the Red Sox team that won the 2007 World Championship. They have three World Series victories in this century. Enough already. The Dodgers haven't won since 1988. Let's do this thing while Tommy Lasorda can still enjoy it with us.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 30, 2018 23:00:15 GMT -8
The Dodgers lost the World Series to the Red Sox in just five games. I don't feel like writing about it, even two days later, but I won't leave this thread hanging.
Looking back at this season, when I was discouraged by facts and reason, the Dodgers went on to prove me wrong. So I gave in to superstition and wishful thinking in the postseason, getting wacky enough to invoke Tommy Lasorda, as if that would help their chances. He was manager when the Dodgers lost two World Series in 1977 and 1978, but he stayed hopeful, leading the World Championship team in 1981.
There, I did it again.
The Dodgers own six consecutive National League West titles, a remarkable achievement. But this season, I've watched the pitchers who made that possible -- Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen -- lose the velocity and control that made them so brilliant for years. Clearly, if the Dodgers are going to win the division in 2019, they will need new aces. Looks like Walker Buehler and Julio Urias could be them.
Corey Seager will return as shortstop next season, after his season ending Tommy John surgery last spring. Can't help wondering if the Dodgers would have won this year if he had been healthy. Good riddance to his rented replacement, All Star Manny Machado, who played dirty -- he earned a fine for kicking the Brewers' first baseman on one of the few occasions that he hit the ball fair and decided it was worth his effort to actually run from home plate.
Best of all, I won't have to watch the Fox network again until next year. By Game 4, Anni and I turned down the sound on the TV and listened to the game on the Dodgers Radio Network with Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday. The radio was 30 seconds ahead of the television broadcast, so we heard the bad news before most people.
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