So, Baseball.

Arrieta didn't hit the Pirates batters on purpose because there was no reason to hit the Pirates' batters. Simple as that. All risk, no reward.

That said, baseball is baseball. You hit two of their guys, intentionally or not, I have no problem with them throwing at you as long as it's not toward the head or anything. Arrieta even said he expected as much to happen.

I guess maybe the Pirates are becoming the Braves of this decade...first round fodder almost every year for a decade or more after winning the division by a mile, while having a pitching staff that was the envy of the major leagues.

Well... except they were second in the division. And by "First Round Fodder" you mean "Ridiculous Coin-Flip BullE36 M3 Unnecessary Play-In Game Against A Team They've Already Proved Themselves Better Than", then yes.

LainfordExpress wrote: Well... except they were second in the division. And by "First Round Fodder" you mean "Ridiculous Coin-Flip BullE36 M3 Unnecessary Play-In Game Against A Team They've Already Proved Themselves Better Than", then yes.

except when they aren't

LainfordExpress wrote: Well... except they were second in the division. And by "First Round Fodder" you mean "Ridiculous Coin-Flip BullE36 M3 Unnecessary Play-In Game Against A Team They've Already Proved Themselves Better Than", then yes.

Except in head to head contests, season long

Hmm, seems the Cubs needed an extra game to get to 98 wins.

LainfordExpress wrote: Hmm, seems the Cubs needed an extra game to get to 98 wins.

Yeah, but those are the rules--I frankly like them. It adds an extra incentive to win the division.

But my point on the Cubs was that they were better than the Pirates, head to head. They were 20-8 against them including the play-in game. If you take out Arrieta, then they weren't better, they were .500 against them (Arrieta had a loss against the Bucs earlier in the season). But you can't take out Arrieta as he is part of the team.

Edit: 12-8, not 20-8. Added up the total for some reason.

There is no crying in baseball.

I had a bit of fun at work yesterday. A friend in maintenance is a Dodgers fan, but has admitted previously that they choke post season. He seemed to forget that when I offered up a bit of a ribbing about game 1 being that night.

What a game it was.

I think maybe we can stop paying attention to the Jays...

I almost want the Cubs to win, just because of BTTF2.

Predictions, just for giggles: ALCS is Texas and Houston, Texas wins in 6. NLCS is Cards and Mets, Cards win in 5. Texas and Cards, Cards sweep.

In reply to Streetwiseguy: I hate to say it, but it sounds about right.

Mets over the Dodgers in 4. The pennant will be the games for me to watch. Although if the Mets can win the pennant, they will take the world series.

Man, Cubs are looking good.

Appleseed wrote: Man, Cubs are looking good.

Cardinals really took a dump, Cubs took advantage of the opportunity for sure.

Going downtown tomorrow. Maybe pick up a scalper ticket for cheap after a few innings. If not, just hang around and have a good time outside of Wrigley.

Arrieta will decimate all.

Made it to the bleachers, right field, center, ROW 1!

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

Appleseed wrote: Made it to the bleachers, right field, center, ROW 1! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

Was it really windy out there? My wife and I were trying to figure out why there were so many homers in the game, I figured wind might have been helping them out of the park.

Appleseed wrote: Made it to the bleachers, right field, center, ROW 1! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

Way jealous. I wanted to do the same thing, but there was just too much to do around the house. How much did you end up paying?

rcutclif wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Made it to the bleachers, right field, center, ROW 1! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

Was it really windy out there? My wife and I were trying to figure out why there were so many homers in the game, I figured wind might have been helping them out of the park.

It was way windy--I'm about 3.5 miles SW of Wrigley (maybe 2 as the crow flies) and we had to close our windows for fear that the mechanism would break. I heard Skilling say that there were 45MPH gusts in the area.

Utley booed out of the game. Good game.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I think maybe we can stop paying attention to the Jays...

You might have posted this too soon.

Good run in Arlington for the Jays. Hopefully they can carry the momentum home!

I wonder if there is a record for the number of home runs in a single day of playoffs? Without watching the KC Houston game, I think I count 12...and I didn't watch to the end of the Mets Dodgers game either.

NGTD wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: I think maybe we can stop paying attention to the Jays...

You might have posted this too soon. Good run in Arlington for the Jays. Hopefully they can carry the momentum home!

I was just looking at my 4 predictions, and I think I have a strong chance of being 100% wrong.

Incidentally, that's not really a new thing for me.

I paid a hundo to a scalper. Dudes were asking $200 for standing room only. Nope. So I waited until the end of the 4th. I played hardball and said I only have $100. The guy caved, and I was in. Once I was in. It dawned on me that it was front row. The ticket face value was $87 before fees, so I don't think I did too bad.

And we're still not talking about the Royals? Come on... either they got insanely lucky yesterday, or you're seeing one killer team.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I wonder if there is a record for the number of home runs in a single day of playoffs? Without watching the KC Houston game, I think I count 12...and I didn't watch to the end of the Mets Dodgers game either.

Turns out, Yes. 21 homeruns in a day is a new playoff record. Used to be 15, also on a 4 game day.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: I wonder if there is a record for the number of home runs in a single day of playoffs? Without watching the KC Houston game, I think I count 12...and I didn't watch to the end of the Mets Dodgers game either.

Turns out, Yes. 21 homeruns in a day is a new playoff record. Used to be 15, also on a 4 game day.

Another fun factoid (not sure of its validity): The last time the Cardinals gave up 5 home runs in a playoff game, Babe Ruth hit 3 of them.