Baseball’s postseason: It’s fun, but what does it all mean?
Here they go again: Wild-card Cardinals refuse to lose. (AP/Post-Dispatch photo by Chris Lee)
Time was, the World Series represented and rewarded excellence. At worst, the champion of baseball was the team that finished first in its league over a six-month season. Even when there was a perceived upset, it wasn’t Douglas over Tyson. The 97-win Giants unhorsed the 111-win Indians in 1954, but the Giants had Willie Mays.The Pirates won in 1960 despite being outscored 55-27 by the Yankees, but Pittsburgh had won 95 games to New York’s 97. Heck, the Miracle Mets were 100-game winners.
But the playoffs expanded in 1969, the year those Mets won it all, and baseball’s postseason changed. From 1944 through 1968, the team that had baseball’s best record won the World Series 13 times in 25 years (52 percent). After the two league championship series were added in ‘69, the World Series was won by the team with baseball’s best record seven times in 25 years (28 percent). And then, once the wild card arrived, everything went nuts.
Since 1995, a wild card has won the World Series five times (31.3 percent); the team with baseball’s best record has won three times (18.8 percent). Contrast this with the NBA, which features 16 playoff qualifiers and therefore more variables: Over its past 16 seasons, the NBA team with the best regular-season record has won seven times (43.8 percent).
And now the baseball postseason has grown again, if only just. Beginning this season, a second wild card was added in each league, and baseball’s method of accommodation — actually, “method” might be too kind a word — was to jam the wild cards into a play-in game and see what shook out. Almost inevitably, what happened was that the two wild cards with the lesser record (i.e., the two who wouldn’t have qualified a year ago) won. Sure enough, the wild-card Cardinals surged from six runs behind to eliminate the Nationals, who owned baseball’s best record.
Thus have three of the top four seeds already been dismissed. Presumably this is the way baseball wants it. Wild! Wacky! Great TV! But I’m not sure greatness has much to do with postseason baseball anymore. It isn’t just that the best team doesn’t always win; it’s that the best team almost never wins.
After his 94-68 Braves were eliminated by the 88-74 Cardinals in the play-in game, manager Fredi Gonzalez said: “You’ve got to judge a team over the 162-game season.” And you do, or at least you should. Trouble is, MLB doesn’t hand out a trophy after the 162nd game. The big trophy goes to team that wins 11 (or 12 now, in the case of the wild card) postseason games, and that race to 11 (or 12) is more a function of fortune than skill.
The Oakland general manager Billy Beane, whose success at building good teams on a shoestring was chronicled by Michael Lewis in “Moneyball,” has seen his Oakland A’s reach the playoffs six times. Only once has Beane’s team survived Round 1. Five times it has been eliminated in the fifth game of the best-of-five Division Series, the latest coming Thursday night. As Beane famously said in “Moneyball”: “My [stuff] doesn’t work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is [fickle] luck.”
Before we write that off as a loser’s lament, let’s note that a famous winner might agree. Tony La Russa won two World Series with St. Louis, but he had six Cardinal teams that won more games than his Series winners of 2006 (83-78) and 2011 (90-72). Including his tenure with the White Sox and the pre-Beane A’s, La Russa managed nine teams that won 95 or more games. Eight of those did not win the World Series.
In a year that has seen all four Division Series go the distance, it might sound silly to quibble with the system. But you’d like to think all this sound and fury leads to something meaningful, as opposed to noise for noise’s sake. You’d like to think excellence would, in the end, find its reward, but recent history suggests it won’t. The 2011 Cardinals were crowned champions of baseball, but even the reddest of Redbird fans would be reluctant to describe that as a great team.
Instead it was a pretty good team that got hot at the right time, which has become the way of October. Of the past 16 Series winners, nine won fewer regular-season games than the 2012 Braves. Of the 11 National League teams to win 100 games in the wild-card era, not one took the World Series. But the Marlins, who have yet to finish first in their division, have done it twice.
By Mark Bradley
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136 comments Add your comment
gtt
October 12th, 2012
1:05 pm
Fifth!
gtt
October 12th, 2012
1:05 pm
Darn, too quick.
dtanner
October 12th, 2012
1:06 pm
FIRST!
dtanner
October 12th, 2012
1:07 pm
DAMN! not first
gtt
October 12th, 2012
1:11 pm
I hate the new format and don’t apologize for the fact the reason is my beloved Braves lost to the #$%%^#%$$% Cardinals.
Weyman C. Wannamaker Jr. (A Great American)
October 12th, 2012
1:11 pm
It don’t mean a thing… if you ain’t got that swing.
y3ll0wjacket
October 12th, 2012
1:14 pm
Not a fan of the one-game format, but as a fan, I’d be happy if my team got in and at least had the chance. It does make for compelling TV — I’m enjoying all the games. But there is not much room for a traditionalist anymore. If the dang Braves could just get hot and win a couple of these postseason shootouts I’d feel better about it.
Drew
October 12th, 2012
1:24 pm
Mark, I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove here: that great teams don’t win or that there are two kinds of great teams- those who can win in the regular season and those that win in the postseason? At the end of the day, whoever wins it all was always the great team. The rest just had window dressing.
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Stinger 2
October 12th, 2012
1:28 pm
Mark: The answer to your question (What does it mean) is very simple and easy.
It means a lot more $$$$$ to MLB, to the owners, the media Networks and , I believe, to a lesser extent to the players To the fans who attend the games, it obviously means alot less $$$$ to spend elsewhere.
go-bravos
October 12th, 2012
1:43 pm
The format doesn’t really change anything for the Braves because they are just happy to get to the playoffs. The Braves just want to play the 163rd game and put their ridiculous banner up in left field for being 1 and done. Seems like all sports teams in GA are just happy to get there and not dedicated to winning Championships.
BigGTMike
October 12th, 2012
1:50 pm
With all the resting of players and other strategies going on, it’s no longer a matter of the best rising to the top over 162. The strategy has become do just enough to have a chance to get there and the best rise in late September through October. Or in the Braves case, be relatively mediocre but do just enough to get there and then have nothing left.
BravesFan79
October 12th, 2012
1:50 pm
No 100 win NL team has won the WS since the wildcard? wow unbelievable. It would be easier for me to say “screw the wild card” like i used to when the Marlins could only come in 2nd at best, but now the Braves are owned by some crappy media company who is cheap, and the wild card is our best shot most years.
al j
October 12th, 2012
1:51 pm
Maybe college football should be reading this.
Hankie Aron
October 12th, 2012
1:56 pm
Drew- I disagree with your assessment and you’re missing Mark’s point. A great team is 1 who wins at least 90 games or more over a 162 game grueling season. A team that gets hot and wins 11 or 12 games in a boiler cooker postseason is just the hot team at the moment. These wild cards have so diluted the regular season.
“it’s a sprint, not a marathon”
Bob
October 12th, 2012
1:57 pm
Mark I’m not one to quibble, but the Cardinals did not win the World Series in 2010, they did so in 2011. The 2010 champ was the esteemable SF Giants.
Hankie Aron
October 12th, 2012
2:01 pm
There has to be some semblance that the World Series winner is truly the best team instead of the hot team. Otherwise as a fan I feel cheated and the World Series was watered down like this one will probably be. Like Stinger said though, it’s about money. More playoff participants= more playoff games= more playoff money.
Sports Facts » Baseball’s postseason: It’s fun, but what does it all mean? – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
October 12th, 2012
2:03 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Hankie Aron
October 12th, 2012
2:04 pm
I was thinking the same thing Bob.
Rickster
October 12th, 2012
2:05 pm
Your conclusions about overall records and ultimate team proficiencies don’t take into account the disparity among the divisions. A good team in a weak division can win a hundred games while a better team in a tougher division may struggle to make the postseason. The only way to see which team is better is for them to play each other, preferably in a series.
I don’t like the new wild card format because of the one game playoff. Baseball is too prone to anomalies for a single game to be a valid decision-maker over the results of a 162 game season.
Retired HS bball coach
October 12th, 2012
2:07 pm
@Mark, this is a contention I have always made in support of Bobby Cox…if we had still been only league CHAMPIONS in the World Series…how many WS Championships would Bobby’s Braves had won. My answer would be several. Things are NOT set up to reward the BEST TEAM. Like so much of our 21st century world it is all about the $$$$.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 12th, 2012
2:10 pm
“But I’m not sure greatness has much to do with postseason baseball anymore. It isn’t just that the best team doesn’t always win; it’s that the best team almost never wins.”
So what? This is true about March Madness too. Why does everything have to be a narrative for you sportswriters? People watch sports for the entertainment value, and expanding the playoff field increases the entertainment value. I agree that a play-in game isn’t ideal after a 162 game season, but if they made that a 3 game series it would be fine.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 12th, 2012
2:10 pm
Put it this way — if people just wanted to see the best team win, then nobody would be complaining about the BCS.
Stinger 2
October 12th, 2012
2:16 pm
BigGTMike: You said the Braves were mediocre. What by baseball standards (wins and losses) is your definition of that word? The Braves won 94 regular season games
and only four other MLB teams won more. I call those results very good if not great.
Michael
October 12th, 2012
2:16 pm
Baseball’s problem of rarely ever crowning the best team as its champion essentially boil down to this: The playoff format is exactly opposite of the season format. In other words, baseball has by far the longest regular season of any of the major professional sports; twice as long (in number of games played) than basketball and hockey, ten times longer than football. But yet the first two rounds of its playoff series are 1 game and 3-5 games, less than the first round of both basketball and hockey. The other 3 major pro sports do a good job of setting up their playoffs to compliment the nature of their seasons, which allows for the best teams of the regular season to rise to the top of the playoffs simply by continuing to do what they have been doing. Baseball hasn’t got a clue when it comes to that, and until they figure that out, most people will largely continue to ignore their postseason.
Mark
October 12th, 2012
2:17 pm
Down in Arlington, ohn the other hand, they’re saying to themselves that you need to judge by the results of a 160-game season!
The A’s and the Dodgers have shown us that you can’t really buy a ring, even if you can buy a lot of wins (and thus a season). And what do you say to the Giants 1993 season where – with 103 wins – they didn’t make the playoffs?
I realize you’ve gotta fill up the page, but this was poor stuff…
Chris
October 12th, 2012
2:19 pm
I agree that this is probably to make more money, but these have been exciting games, so I’m not complaining. Better than fixing the outcomes. Would you rather watch blowouts and sweeps? Also, complaints that it being about making money are a little late. Since when has it not been about making money? I’m pretty sure they started charging for tickets about a century ago.
Mario
October 12th, 2012
2:24 pm
You compare baseball to basketball, but the nature of the sports is so incredibly different that the comparison is almost pointless. In basketball the better team generally wins. That’s how a number one seed finishes the season with a .758 winning % and the last place team manages only a .103 winning percentage. Baseball on the other hand resides almost as if by design in the range where a playoff team wins roughly 4 of 7 games on the year and last place teams lose 4 of 7 games on the year.
Any day, anything can happen in baseball. Cy Young winners can serve up home runs to back-up infielders. Triple Crown winners can be struck out by pitchers who might have been on the proverbial trash heap last week.
Claiming the new system has no method contradicts your example of the 1954 World Series. Baseball has returned to a system where winning the division has significant impact, lessening the chances that Wild Card teams can stroll into the playoffs with no benefit given teams who finished in first place. Chipper and Braves fans have a problem with one game playoffs, then win your division next time. Doesn’t that only reinforce the fact that 162 games matter?
Which teams still in the playoffs don’t deserve their shot at the World Series right now? The teams with the best records in baseball (Nationals and Yankees), the teams with the MVP favorites for their leagues (Giants and Tigers), the defending World Champions (Cardinals) or the surprise team of the year that finished only 2 games shy of the best record in their league (Orioles).
NCBravesFan
October 12th, 2012
2:40 pm
Couldn’t agree more, Mark. That particular genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back in unfortunately.
It would help if the regular season was shortened by a few games and the Division Series/LCS/WS were all stretched to seven games. If they’re going to keep the two WC format going forward, they should ideally make those five game series at a minimum.
GFF
October 12th, 2012
2:40 pm
Very true…..
Stuart
October 12th, 2012
3:02 pm
Good observation Mark; very true. MLB is losing sight of what makes a champion and what makes MLB history. Instead, it has its sights focused on $$$ and little else.
Baseball’s postseason: It’s fun, but what does it all mean? – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Baseball News Pro
October 12th, 2012
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doc
October 12th, 2012
4:16 pm
money babee, follow the money.
mark really is the nfl any better when teams near extinction in regular season get to championship level or super bowls as in the last several years? regular season is not weighted enough in favor of the season long performers.
a problem in the other direction is like the nba where the lakers have been in 31 of the last 66 championship finals i think i heard recently.
Shug
October 12th, 2012
4:42 pm
Nice article Mr. Bradley.
I’m in the minority, but I’ve felt the same way about NCAA basketball for the past 30 years. It’s MARCH MADNESS! but it rarely identifies the season’s best team. Villanova over Georgetown in ‘85 was a great story, but it really just showed that it’s improbable for a decent team to lose every single time it plays a superior opponent. NCAA Div. I football (with its polls) selects more deserving champions than the b’ball tourney.
Skeezix
October 12th, 2012
4:43 pm
I agree–it bothers me the way the current playoff system works. I don’t like it. I really don’t like the play in game.
PMC
October 12th, 2012
4:52 pm
It means the old baseball system of building a team to win 162 is completely over.
Teams that can’t manufacture runs when they need to (Timely Hitting) are not going to go far when it counts.
Baseball is a fun thing to go do on random day in the summer, but it’s really not interesting until the playoffs, just like the NBA.
GermanBravesFan
October 12th, 2012
4:53 pm
Where’s Clusters to put some perspective into this?
Mark Bradley
October 12th, 2012
4:54 pm
I’d submit that there’s a little difference between a collegiate single-elimination tournament and a postseason that features best-of-five or best-of-seven series.
And I think the best team wins the NCAA tournament more often than the best team wins the World Series. Think about it: Kentucky 2012, Florida 2007, North Carolina 2005, UConn 2004, Maryland 2002, Duke 2001, Michigan State 2000.
gtt
October 12th, 2012
4:58 pm
Tanners take first and second.
Mark Bradley
October 12th, 2012
4:59 pm
Kudos to gtt, belated though these are.
Maness
October 12th, 2012
5:16 pm
In America, only the NFL “needs” playoffs … i.e. the number_of_teams/number_of_games ratio. Baseball, hockey, and basketball could all play a multi-round round robin (or variation) and give the BIG TROPHY to the team with the best record … as they should. As they famously said in England last season (concerning THE PREMIER LEAGUE, which has no playoff — best record = championship!) after so many American sports teams who DID NOT have the best record won their championships … THE LEAGUE DOES NOT LIE.
Darryl Blackberry
October 12th, 2012
5:49 pm
The postseason has become something of a joke, and has been ever since ‘95, ironically. I guess it’s to be expected with the advent of expansion. Baseball wants every team to have a chance at glory, no matter how much that glory is ultimately diminished by the process itself…
JASon
October 12th, 2012
8:06 pm
“I’m not sure greatness has much to do with postseason baseball anymore.”
Greatness is winning when it matters. No one cares about your stupid regular season record. A great team is one that is a little better than average during 162 games, then plays every out like it is their last during the postseason. No one cares about your stupid regular season record.
Hillbilly D
October 12th, 2012
8:08 pm
What does it mean?
It means the Lords of Baseball are all about $$$ and really don’t give a rat’s ass about the game and its traditions. But what do you expect from a sport run by the likes of Bud the Dud, whose major accomplishment is making Bowie Kuhn look semi-competent..
Sonny Clusters
October 12th, 2012
8:27 pm
Here we are, GBF. We was looking at that sports coat Craig Sager is wearing and it reminds us of the cloth upholstery in a 53 Plymouth. Now, Clusters are controversial this time of year because we start out early saying the team has no playoff credentials and when they get eliminated by a team with the acumen to play in the post-season it defines the organization. All hat, no cattle. Let’s say you was always competing for “salesman of the year” but every time you got close you would forget your pen or lose your order pad while the other guy was writing order after order. Or say you was in the running for beautiful baby but when the judges came to see you you was wearing Braves pajamas with a hole in the knee. These are the kinds of things along with resting/coasting before the playoffs and not being able to re-engage and play competitive baseball when the uh, chips are down that cause post-season failure. A culture has developed and it is one of touting themselves as champions when there is nothing in the mix that would define them that way. Do the best teams win? We’d say a team that can play their best when all the marbles are on the table and pressure the other (maybe stronger) team to throw the ball away and play some its worst baseball while on the big stage deserves to win and the other one deserves to lose. Those turtlenecks they kept showing on television last week got very tight there at the end.
Sonny Clusters
October 12th, 2012
8:27 pm
Here we are, GBF. We was looking at that sports coat Craig Sager is wearing and it reminds us of the cloth upholstery in a 53 Plymouth. Now, Clusters are controversial this time of year because we start out early saying the team has no playoff credentials and when they get eliminated by a team with the acumen to play in the post-season it defines the organization. All hat, no cattle. Let’s say you was always competing for “salesman of the year” but every time you got close you would forget your pen or lose your order pad while the other guy was writing order after order. Or say you was in the running for beautiful baby but when the judges came to see you you was wearing Braves pajamas with a hole in the knee. These are the kinds of things along with resting/coasting before the playoffs and not being able to re-engage and play competitive baseball when the uh, chips are down that cause post-season failure. A culture has developed and it is one of touting themselves as champions when there is nothing in the mix that would define them that way. Do the best teams win? We’d say a team that can play their best when all the marbles are on the table and pressure the other (maybe stronger) team to throw the ball away and play some its worst baseball while on the big stage deserves to win and the other one deserves to lose. Those turtlenecks they kept showing on television last week got very tight there at the end.
Sonny Clusters
October 12th, 2012
8:28 pm
So powerful it posted twice.
BamaFaninGa
October 12th, 2012
8:42 pm
What it means is that the Braves are NOT in the playoffs AGAIN! Thanks to an ageing 3rd baseman who should have retired years ago, the Braves are at home watching the playoffs on their tv instead of participating in them.
In Defense of the MLB’s New Playoff Format – NextGen Journal
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In Defense of the MLB’s New Playoff Format – NextGen Journal
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Hillbilly D
October 12th, 2012
9:13 pm
Instead it was a pretty good team that got hot at the right time, which has become the way of October.
Along that vein, it’s usually a matter of which team’s 1-3 starting pitchers get hot. I like the old Whitey Herzog idea of playing a series without any days off. That way, if it goes 7 games, a team’s 4th and 5th starters come into play and you have a better chance of the winner being the better team.
Dr. Henry -- Augusta
October 12th, 2012
9:59 pm
Pretty good stuff MB !!! So you ask the question , “It’s fun, but what does it all mean?” Well, it means that if you’re a fan of the Braves you can’t remember the last time your team played an elimination game and eliminated anyone besides themselves…..Guess what? That answer is also dead-on if you root for the Falcons, Hawks, Bulldogs, or even the Jackets. But that’s OK because watching sports in person or on TV or radio is a very successful form of entertainment.
Delbert D.
October 12th, 2012
11:40 pm
I’ve never liked the wildcard in baseball, period. Rearrange the divisions to an equal number in each league, and don’t let non-winners play in the playoffs. 162 games is more than enough to establish true winners.
Spud
October 13th, 2012
12:29 am
After 46 years, the Expos make the playoffs for the second time, and have just blown a 6-0 lead to the Cards in game 5. The Montreal curse lives!
chem
October 13th, 2012
1:00 am
MLB postseason is not a crapshoot because there are more teams in play. The playoffs are a crapshoot because those teams don’t play enough games. The objective of the system is not to reward the best team but to make money by maintaining fan interest.
jchalupny
October 13th, 2012
1:35 am
Wow – you guys still cryin’ about how your the best team in baseball – but you got screwed by the playoff format? What a crappy column. Without the wildcards the Braves would have been done the last day of the regular season. The Cardinals are just lucky – yeah that’s it. Going back to last year they’ve won six win-or-go-home postseason games in a row. Yeah probably just luck. Pathetic.
Bradley Curse
October 13th, 2012
3:24 am
I think next year I’m just going to ignore most of the season. April-July=pointless, August-September=fun. Baseball season is too long just ask the Reds/Nationals if their 97/98 win seasons mean anything right now
“It means the old baseball system of building a team to win 162 is completely over”
lol, yep. Ask the 2011/2012 Cardinals (who finished 6+ games back in the division both years) if all 162 games are important? Nope, only September. One of these years when one league doesn’t have many strong teams, that Wild Card playoff is going to reward a team who finishes the season under .500
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
4:22 am
Bradley Curse: I understand the point you made. However, don`t the early season games mean at least something? My point is even if you won every game in August and September, that would only be approx. 60 wins. So lets say it did come to a point where a medicore team got in. Realistically, the number of games it won would more likely be 81 instead of under 500. This means they would have needed to win an average or 13 or 14 games per month to total 81 wins. Not saying the Cardinals are lucky at all.I just believe the one game playoff needs to be eliminated. If they want to have play in for a wildcard berth, let it be 3 games.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
4:32 am
Clusters: Will you ever make a post without saying something negative about someone? Sager and most anyone else could care less about what you think about his sportcoat. You have already beat up on the Braves and Chipper for the loss in the play in game. Did you forget to post something negative about the extension of Wren`s contract? Haven`t seen that one yet. Come on guy, the season is over for the Braves. They will be back under the guidance of Frank and Fredi stronger than ever next year. As for me, I say as always: Go Braves!
P B Orr
October 13th, 2012
5:04 am
I’m afraid this is killing baseball. Viewership seems to be way down. Today’s Yanks game started with a sea of empty seats. The Yankees! 50,000 homeless dudes could wander in off the street if there were any real interest. Troy Aikman slammed the Dallas fans who never went to Rangers games, then, in good ironic hipster fashion, sported Ranger hats when they started winning.
If they want a lot of teams in the post season, and I’m not opposed to that with 30 teams, then lump each league into one pile and skim the top. Cut the regular season to 154 games. Get it over with before October. The last regular season game should happen before the NFL gets underway.
I love baseball in my bones, but frankly I’m bored by it now. The players either have no personality, or a negative one (hipster hair, stupid fashion statements, power ropes..). There is no small ball. Can anyone in North or Latin America advance a runner? Bunt? Steal? There is no competition as such. No drama. Big comebacks by underdogs do not automatically mean drama. Red Sox over Reds, Game 6, 1975, that’s drama.
-drl
Hanch
October 13th, 2012
5:30 am
Doesn’t surprise me an Atlanta paper would have an issue with the Wild card. But isn’t the purpose of it to give more teams a chance at a World Series win. I would argue that the “best team” isn’t always the team with the best regular season record. The team that wins the most games during the season was probably the team that had the fortune is staying the healthiest. During the 90’s the Braves seemed to always be in the playoffs, and other than ‘95 always losing in the playoffs. In ‘93 the Giants won a 103 games,but because there was no wild card so they had to go home and the Braves were in to do their typical playoff swoon. I would have loved to see what that Giants team with Will Clark, Matt Williams and Barry Bonds would have done in the playoffs. My guess is that they would have represented the NL better than those choking Braves teams of the 90’s. I like the wild Card as it gives the team that’s playing the best right now and the team that is able to play in the clutch a chance to represent their League in the World Series
Nativebird
October 13th, 2012
8:35 am
As much as I’ve always been a supporter of a Division structure in sports, it’s attractiveness in rivalry and competitiveness has been blown up by the travesty of the postseason crap-shoot that punishes the marathon winner in lieu of the manufacturered hot-flash late rocket launch.
At this point, if this ridiculous 1-game play-in dice throw is not scrapped…I’m all for an NBA-style league-wide seeding of all teams, picking the top 12 for the playoffs.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
9:57 am
Look, you little creep, we are talking baseball and you are talking us. Why don’t you go ask your pretend wife if you can get a hobby? We think you may be a little unsure of yourself since everything you said would happen with the Braves didn’t happen and everything that has happened before happened again. As you always say, “golly, gee, gee willikers.” If we was looking for somebody to blog with, you would not be it, so could you please just ignore our posts since they trouble you so much and concentrate on getting some heavier pajamas to wear in the winter? We have never seen a blogger on here so creepy that follows us from blog to blog and sermonizes and tells us what to think. Somebody at home must be telling you the same things and we was wondering if maybe it’s your momma? Now, just put this in your bubble pipe and smoke it . . . while the Braves were feting Chipper and sending him on his way the last days of a “pennant race”, the Cards were sharpening their skills and playing hard and running hard to base and moving runners and they don’t quit. One organization gets it done and another never does. You, seem to be in the camp of the never does, never will (without changes). We, on the other hand, are a Clusters and we think you may need some professional help or at least a teddy bear.
Cards Win...
October 13th, 2012
9:58 am
A lame article by a lame writer….busy making lame excuses for a lame franchise….greatness has never been determined in the regular season…and you get to see that first hand every year…Atlanta is the poster child for underachieving…you learn how to win, and you learn how to lose…if you don’t like it, you change the culture. Making excuses is what losers do…
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
10:07 am
Having been a baseball player, Clusters know some of the nuances of the game better than some others and we know for sure that taking it easy on the field with the idea of turning it back on later does not work. Most times, a team cannot turn it back on just like that. Take the Braves, for instance . . . a famous used to be third baseman said they would rest up for the playoffs in 2011 and when time came to win just one game to get there, they couldn’t close the deal. They couldn’t win one single game out of six that would guarantee a wild card appearance. Now, this year they won 94 games and got to the one they had to win and played like a team that won 47 games instead of 94. They was making wild throws and leaving men on base and not able to bunt right and was safety squeezing so bad that the announcers called it a “rookie mistake” when it was our manager calling for it. Well, we’d go deer hunting and try to forget, too. Only thing is, we’d never shoot a little deer with a high powered weapon if he was just walking in the woods where he lives with his deer family. We’d give him some deer treats and have our picture made with hime smiling instead of having a picture with him dead like some class acts that do that kind of stuff. Class act. Hmmm . . .
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
10:14 am
Card Win gets it. He really does. We get the same thing from the Braves organization every year and then they put up a little sign in the outfield and call themselves champions of something. If they was champions they’d still be playing. The Cards organization finds a way to win and doesn’t fold the tent early like somebody we can think of that doesn’t even run hard in the one game they have to win to advance. We was thinking the culture has to change a lot with some people missing next year. One thing, how about Joe Girardi benching A-Rod because he was giving his team the best chance to win the game. How did that work out? Oh, yeah, they advance to the NLCS while a team that sends up Uggla again and again and watches him have a selfish at-bat and strike out or popup and kill momentum gets to go hunting early. We love the Braves and it hurts to see them blindly doing the same crap over and over and not doing the things they need to do to compete harder for the win. Sending Lowe out there again and again in 2011 is a good example. And that last game, was so bad that it leaves a bad taste and kinda makes you forget the 94 that were better.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Clusters: Believe me, I am not trying to blog with you either. I am not stalking you.
I am simply responding to what I consider to be never ending trash talk about the Braves organization including the management and certain players. As you point out, every one of us have a right to say what we want to. I never tell you what to say or not to say. I respond with what I want to say about your feeble attempts to blast the Braves with your self proclaimed humor. Go Braves!
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
10:24 am
Clusters: You just said love the Braves. Before that you gushed at how great the Cardinals are. Sounds like you are not too sure of which team you like.
By the way, the Yankees did not advance to the NLCS. You got lost on that one because you were in such a hurry to bash Uggla in your next sentences?
Hopefully that was the case since you call yourself such a great baseball authority.
Go Braves!
Peter
October 13th, 2012
10:33 am
Come on Mark how long have you been watching sports ? The playoffs are for the teams that can rise to the top in a pressure situation…….You know when all is on the line….not a typical regular season game.
They don’t choke like Chipper did throwing away the game with errors. If you want to win in the playoffs you must be patient at the plate, be sound in the field, pitch well, and above all have the heart of a champion as the Card did last night, refusing to lose no matter what the odds.
Being in the moment and believing is the example the Cards gave us.
The team must also have the parts in place…….. you need a combination of speed, pop, and guile.
The Braves had some of those type of players, Blanco and Infante…..but our DUMB GM WREN traded them and our chances away.
Now both those players are in the Championship series…… and are really helping their respective clubs.
We got Uggla, and Rick Ankiel for those guys……Ankiel gone from baseball, and Uggla the most expensive 2nd bagger in the history of the game is a .218 hitter……PLEASE !
You can talk all you want about the regular season, but the ability to be clutch, and win when the world is watching is different.
The Braves management has proven time and time again, they don’t understand the mind set of the players they have, because we don’t have clutch in the club house, and we stink constantly in the biggest games.
Peter
October 13th, 2012
10:36 am
The 2nd season is for teams with heart……not like the Braves.
A team that is sound….. with speed, defense, pitching………. not like the Braves.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
10:39 am
Clusters: “and that last game was so bad that it leaves a bad taste, and kinda makes you forget the 94 that were better”. Maybe it makes you forget. However, It did not make me and thousands of true and real Braves fans forget the 94 wins which exceeded all but four other teams in MLB. Also, what about all the kids who literally love the Braves, Chipper, Prado, Fredi, et all. I doubt that one loss in a play in game dampened their thrills they got from the Braves. Go Braves!
Peter
October 13th, 2012
10:45 am
Mark you need to write about mediocrity…….. Frank Wren, having been run out of Baltimore, lands here and has created ZERO……..
All the blame lands on him and management…… poor decision player wise is the issue.
Blanco and Infante are two fine examples……. we traded them for Ankiel, and Uggla……
Ankiel is out of baseball, and Uggla is the highest paid 2nd baseman ever, and sporting a .218 average…….both situations are a joke.
Write all you want about the Braves “Regular season ” victories…… but don’t forget how the fold like a house of cards in the pressure of the post season.
Dawgdad (The Original)
October 13th, 2012
10:51 am
Mark it boils down to two choices, both of which Bud will ignore as he rakes in the dough from the present cluster fork.
My preference is that baseball should go back to two divisions in each league and seven game format to decide WS participants. This would restore the regular season excellence requirements for the champions. TV money would suffer, so like Obama says every 30 minutes, “We ain’t going back”.
The other is to totally blow off tradition for more moolah. Shorten the season to 100 games and go to an all playoff/all the time game. Do like the NBA, let everyone with a pulse into a pool type situation, pitting the various pool winners into 7 game playoffs, eventually arriving at a victor. Almost every city gets its playoff games, just like the NBA, and everyone has a chance that lightening will strike their team.
You are correct with analysis, what we have now is random selection of one of the teams that did OK during the season.
Dawgdad (The Original)
October 13th, 2012
10:55 am
Sonny @10:14
Good posts, true for sure, and really riled up the cheerleaders.
Peter
October 13th, 2012
10:59 am
Come on now folks it is all about interest, marketing, and money for many teams, towns and all involved in the game. Plus fans around the country get to see players on different teams.
You are crying because the Braves are choke artists……. They have no leadership on the field, fire and the management is mediocre..thus they lose in the big situations.
Example 3 games left in the season they go to Pittsburgh to play an under .500 team, and lose to a pitcher with a 0-6 record, and 6 plus era, even after he walks something like 5 Braves in the game….The Braves only get 2 hits if I remember correctly…..
IS THAT CLUTCH ???????
Yes with all on the line they find was to suck. But hey with wren as the GM……REALLY WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT ? Really ????
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
11:03 am
peter@10:36: A team that is sount…..with speed, defense, and pitching…..not like the Braves??
I respond by saying the Braves were ranked as the No. 1 defense in the NL. They have speed with Bourn, Constanza, Simmons and Heyward. The have arguably the best bullpen in baseball. Agter the starting pitching (despite injuries and some underpreforming players) was sorted out they then had one of the best ERA`s in baseball in August and September.
FrmtheBlechrs
October 13th, 2012
11:04 am
I hope Detroit wins and they have a 4 day snow storm!!!
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
11:08 am
Peter@10:59: Did the Braves suck in the 94 games they won? If so how? Nice job of taking one bad game out of 162 to attempt to make a point.
Peter
October 13th, 2012
11:15 am
Stinger 2 .. Tell me about the multible championships the Braves have……. tell me about both Infante and Blanco, now both playing in the championship series.
tell me about Ankiel, and Uggla.
Tell me about that series in Pittsburgh with the division on the line, and the 0-6 pitcher with a 6 plus era beating the braves.
Tell me about David Justice, the Brave with the most heart.. the guy who was the most clutch ever…..thank God for him, or we wouldn’t even have a single….YES Single championship.
Tell me about Frank Wren.the guy who at the time put together Baltimore with the most expensive payroll in the history of baseball, to have an under .500 club.then run out of Baltimore.
Let’s hear how the BRAVES WON 94 GAMES…..THEM PLAYED LIKE LITTLE LEAGER’S WHEN ALL IS ON THE LINE.
Peter
October 13th, 2012
11:18 am
Stinger 2 please tell me how the Braves used Bourne’s speed……. 2 years in a row he led the league in stolen bases.. he comes to the Braves and ONLY gets 42.
Tell me how we are going to sign him with Scott Boras as his agent ?
Tell me about Tex, and how we gave away All-Stars for him ?
Please 94 games and a great pitching staff cannot make up for a lack of heart.
Sports Facts » Cincinnati Reds Baseball: Latest Collapse Brings About All-Too-Familiar Feeling – Bleacher Report
October 13th, 2012
11:19 am
[...] Baker era, at …Baseball Notes: Baker is a question Reds have to answerPhiladelphia InquirerBaseball's postseason: It's fun, but what does it all mean?Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker's future is uncertain | [...]
Peter
October 13th, 2012
11:20 am
The Braves WILL be stuck in mediocrity.. until Wren and current management are gone……..
Peter
October 13th, 2012
11:22 am
I respond by saying the Braves were ranked as the No. 1 defense in the NL.
And in the second season.. One game 3 errors…….
Are they leading the post season in errors ? I have yet to check…and all in one game !
WOW….Impressive !
Peter
October 13th, 2012
11:23 am
The have arguably the best bullpen in baseball.
We cannot say that……. we didn’t see what they could do in the post season…the time it really matters.
Robert
October 13th, 2012
11:29 am
“Before we write that off as a loser’s lament, let’s note that a famous winner might agree. Tony La Russa ….”
La Russa is, at best, a loyal but bold faced liar (remember his quotes about McGwire and Canseco), at times a hypocritical liar (recall the Johnny Cueto AS Game snub and his lies about the reasoning behind it), and has a vested interest in poo-pooing the validity of the post-season, to rationalize his own medicore performance therein
You know, it’s true that there is something not right about letting 10 teams into the postseason, or about making some of them face an immediate one game do-or-die sudden death scenario, and blah blah, and yadi yadi, and so on
In the face of an imperfect world and an imperfect setup, some players, teams, and organizations consistantly manage to still get it done, while other manage to consistantly find a way to fail
The postseason teaches us that winning a lot of games and being a champion are two entirely different things
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
11:43 am
Peter: I respect your right to post your views and opinions. I just don`t agree with some
of them. I will list some examples of those:
.Wren did not trade the good prospects for Tex. That was a Scheurholtz (sp.) deal.
.Wren has made some good moves. He got Bourn last year. He picked up Sheets who help the SP some. He picked up Malholm and a good reserve outfielderfrom the Cubs.
. As for resigning Bourn, I don`t believe the Braves should given the likely asking price and other circumstances with this player. Unless they can get him for less than 10M for not more than 3 yrs. they should pursue other options. I do say Wren made a goo move to get him.
. You say stuck in mediocrity…another statement that I have to disagree with you. Maybe its just that our definitions of this term are not the same. To me a medicore team is one that goes no better or less than 81-81. Over the last 20 years, I don`t believe the Braves have finished that way more than 3 or 4 times.
Boo Boo
October 13th, 2012
12:12 pm
Since Allan Huber Selig has been commissioner of major league baseball, the game of baseball has lowered itself to the level of professional ‘rasslin’. Why shouldn’t it? His team is a perennial loser with the only chance of ever getting to the playoffs, much less the World Series, is by bargain basement players injected with steroids. A “play-in” is the latest invention of his. It comes with team with the worst record getting to play two games in their park first, which in a 5-game series is a home field advantage of sorts. That abberation of logic follows, “whoever wins the All-Star Game gets home field advantage.” It follows “the Houston Astros will move to the American League,” but not the Milwaukee Brewers (his team), which was born in the American League and should never have moved into the National League. The move was because his loser team had a better chance of making the playoffs as the winner of the weakest division in baseball. That followed a “tie All-Star game.” That follows allowing Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds make a complete mockery of the baseball record book (home runs), while doing nothing to assist the Congressional hearings on steroids in major league baseball (where all professional sports get their antitrust exemptions). Someone suspended his ‘roid monkey’ (Ryan Braun), but he let him almost win a triple crown this year (one that would have been tainted), by sweeping the test away, like Braun is just a good boy who is misunderstood.
As for Tony LaRussa, follow the steroid trail. He is probably on the board of executives for the sophistocated steroid system that won Lance Armstrong seven tainted Tour de France victories, and trillions of dollars for being a successful cheat. LaRussa has ‘coached’ more roid players to stardom than anyone else in the history of the modern era. He began his mad scientist experiments in Oakland (jury still out on Chicago, where crime is king), with McGwire and Canseco. The bay area is where Barry Bonds grew his head 4-times larger. When LaRussa went to manage the St. Louis Cardinals, he got McGwire back and turned little catchers, like Yadayadayada Molina, into fence rattlers. To date, the Cardinals do not have more than 4 players with hair on their heads, and those are all American born. Albert Pooholez makes it look like human beings born in Central America are the most physically advanced on the planet.
That leads to the next question, which is: At a time when the American unemployment rate has been over 8% for four years (albeit the 7.8% recent projection might lower it a little), why is it that over 40% of ALL major league baseball teams pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to foreigners on visas? [Answer: Steroids are not controlled in foreign countries like they are in America.]
Another problem Selig’s monster has created, through avoidance, is some kind of replay to avoid horrendous calls by umpires. Even professional tennis allows protests on whether or not a ball was in or out. We have the technology to do the same in baseball, but for some unknown reason Selig prefers infield fly rules being called when a ball is dropped in medium left field, and pitchers are constantly screwed on ball-strike calls that are wrong. The umpires allow the catcher to appeal to the first and third base umpires to see if a batter swung or not, why not let the batter appeal to instant replay on a bad strike call. Give red flags to the managers and allow them to toss it out of the dougout up to twice an inning, until the umpires are replaced by robots.
When it is all said and done, baseball just isn’t worth watching any more. It takes 3 hours to play a normal 9-inning game, but when it costs a family of four $200 to go to one game (parking, concessions, and seats), who wants to throw that much money away over a 162-game season. When it all boils down to steroid hitters and pitchers coming from the minor leagues in August, turning an 81-win team in a weak division into a “play-in” team because of one good month, being pitted against a 94-win second place team that consistently won for six months, only to have a six month season come down to a one-game contest determined by human error, where the umpires are asked to turn the game into some Hollywood ‘underdog wins’ scenario always being the ending, because it makes baseball more exciting and makes TV networks richer, who cares? Why not just watch Dancing with the Stars until it is time to watch the Yankees play the Cardinals in the World Series?
Peter
October 13th, 2012
12:18 pm
Wren has made some good moves. He got Bourn last year. He picked up Sheets who help the SP some. He picked up Malholm and a good reserve outfielder from the Cubs.
OK…. but Bourne is going to be another rental is he not ? You actually think Scott Boras is not going to get him an over paid contract ?
What about Lowe, KK, Uggla’s huge contract, and bringing back Diaz ?
Constanza is a nice bench player who fits the many out field roles we had with the young Blanco…..but he is never going to be what Blanco can be….. and wow giving away Infante for Uggla….. sorry I can’t get over that.
Problem is the price….. 13 million plus for Uggla, and 4 million for Infante…… That is 9 million we could be using for a real out fielder with POP….. or the other needs.
We are built to hit home runs and a shut out to win….and not for small ball and manufacturing runs.
I don’t like Wren… PERIOD……. But I am thinking Scheurholtz has allot to do with all of it as well.
Drexel Gal
October 13th, 2012
12:20 pm
Earl Weaver’s approach as a manager produced results similar to those of Billy Beane’s. Weaver was often best (or second-best, in those pre-Wild-Card days) over a full season, but he was 1-3 in the World Series, and 4-2 in the ALCS.
[One more thing ... the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011, not 2010. The 2010 champion was San Francisco.]
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
12:45 pm
Hey, Stalker2 . . . are you feeling the love? It looks like you may just be on a deer stand of your own right now. We think you are a major league creep and that is mostly because you are a stalker. We can love the Braves and respect the Cardinals and don’t need you telling us we’re not a worthy fan because we’re not like you. We can’t imagine anybody wanting to be like you. Creepy, creepy, little man. As to the children who love the Braves . . . wouldn’t it be novel not to break their hearts every year while another team celebrates on Turner Field? Now, the gloves are off. Keep messing with us and we will eviscerate you on this blog. If you was wanting to match wits, you come woefully unprepared to do so.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
12:46 pm
Peter: One last comment. Got to run to Grandson`s soccer game.
Again, I respect your opinion and fellings about not liking Wren. I agree he gave Uggla way too much based on his performance so far. Maybe something good will happen in 2013 and Uggla will do better. Nice to chat with you.
georgia87
October 13th, 2012
12:57 pm
The problem (besides the play-in game, which is like flipping a coin) is that the post-season doesn’t look like the regular season. All the off days and travel days allow teams without starting pitching depth to compete with the ones that do. All it takes is one hot pitcher. The Braves learned that too many times.
Dum-Bass
October 13th, 2012
12:59 pm
One would think with the way it played out, that Fredi G was playing for the wildcard rather than the division title. He only started halfway managing the last 2 months of the season, and seemed to be fairly content with going to the wildcard play-in game. That 5-6 game difference due to his inept managing would have made a huge difference. Looks like next year will be a repeat of this year, and maybe even worse. I predict a big dropoff in fans attendance due to the departure of CJ, and the failure of Liberty Media to to field anything above a mediocre team who just wants to get to the playoffs, but not win it all.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
1:02 pm
We was reading about the Cards this morning and thinking what heart they must have to accomplish like they do when everything seems to be against them. Last year, while the Braves were in an EPIC collapse the Cards were in an EPIC rundown of the team ahead of them. Then, they kept winning until they won the World Series. This year, they took on a team with 94 wins and the hottest pitcher in baseball, on the road, in front of 50,000 hostile fans and won the game. Then, they had an amazing comeback last night against the Nats. Who wants to bet against them? Who in his right mind would bet on the Braves against them after looking at the results of both teams? The guy on ESPN was right when he picked the Cards in the play-in game. The Cards play up and the Braves play down in big games. Over and over and over. The Cards have won their last SIX elimination games. The Braves fold like a cheap tent when they need to win. The biggest folder has gone home now and maybe we will see something different in the season ahead. Maybe.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
1:12 pm
Dum-Bass, you make some good points. The fans have to let the Braves know that what they’re serving is not what the fans want to drink. A leader needs to emerge. They haven’t had one. The pattern has been to fail in September and that pattern is unbroken. The manager is certainly not the one that will make a difference. We was watching an interview with Francona talking about his plans for the Indians and “you know what?” he spoke intelligently and without cliche and never once tipped his cap and “you know what?” he will get to the post season with Cleveland before Fredi ever gets there with the Braves (if we can all agree that they weren’t in the playoffs this year . . . they failed to make the playoffs when they lost the wild card to the Cards). We hope they will get better and jettison Uggla and see if they can get player that is willing to play team baseball like Prado. How did he turn out so well in this organization of selfish hitters?
Nativebird
October 13th, 2012
3:15 pm
The post season was always about the team that yes, had heart and yes, could rise to the top and yes, win under the pressure situation, BUT among all THOSE THAT WON the marathon of skill, consistency, cohesiveness, teamwork and preserverance that 162 game six month long SEASON presents. The goal of the season is to find THE BEST TEAM. Not the best pressue team at the end. If not, then heck, why even HAVE a season? Let’s cut it to a month and start an elimation tournament with ALL TEAMS starting April 1st?
Dum-Bass
October 13th, 2012
4:46 pm
Like most, I was really down on the St. Louis Cardinals after their win over the Braves in the WC play-in game, and was hoping the Gnats would knock them on their butts! Now, I have had a change of mind. Due to the asinine decision of Bud Selig to insert a 2nd wildcard team in the hunt, I’m hoping and praying the Cards go all the way and take the WS. Possibly then Selig may catch some heat. I understand he is an arrogant and stubborn man so he would never admit to himself he screwed the system up, like he did the all star game. Right now the 4 teams that in are in the playoffs won their respective divisions, except for St. Louis. The Cards, as the 2nd WC team finished the season at 88-74, which is the same as Detroit, but the Tigers did win their division which cannot be helped. I would love to see the team with the worst record, who would not even be there but for Bud Selig, (and maybe an umpires call) win the World Series. Maybe just like the BCS that would bring about some changes.
Peter
October 13th, 2012
4:47 pm
Except for the Errors maybe the Braves are really not that good……. How did they do against teams over .500 this year and how did they do against teams that were under .500 and should beat.
That statistic should tell the story.
I don’t like the pieces Wren traded away……. and the bench pieces especially.
The runs scored in the last 20 plus games was awful……. and really this is the time of year the hitters have an advantage in my opinion.
Social media: MLB is breaking records – ESPN (blog)
October 13th, 2012
5:17 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
6:04 pm
Clusters: @12:45. Well now you have resorted to threats to me. I am not afraid of you and any threat you make such as the one like eviscerating me. I can give my opinions about what you say like you call me names such as creepy and stalker. The difference is I will not lower myself to your game of name calling.
Since you have seemingly settled in on comparing the Cardinals to the Braves, it appears we will hear the same old retoricfor a while. Meanwhile Chipper is gone so maybe you will find a new whipping boy besides him or Uggla or Fredi.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
6:09 pm
Yep, you’re the new one, Stalker boy. Now, we was shocked to read that you are a grandparent because of your juvenile posts and underdeveloped thoughts. We don’t like to pick on anybody’s granddaddy so we are going to cut you some slack and hope you will disappear. You should look up eviscerate and while you are doing it look up stalker. GW Ridgeway said he wasn’t a stalker and look how that turned out. As for creepy . . . you just are. Sorry.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
6:14 pm
Clusters: One other mistake today in addition to saying the Yankees will play in the NLCS. You gushed about how great a hire Cleveland made by getting Francona. Apparentlyyou do keep up with what happens on other teams. Francona was fired by the Red Sox after the real EPIC Collapse.Yes they blew a bigger lead than the Braves last year. Another reason he was fired was because he lost control of the team and allowed pitchers to eat fried chicken and drink beer in the clubhouse during games. If you would prefer him over Fredi go root for the Indians as your AL team while you make the Cardinals the team you love in the NL.
derek k
October 13th, 2012
6:16 pm
Mark, Thanks
I think this would be kinda cool 2 different scenarios:
Scenario 1
WC1 vs WC2 best of 3
WC winner plays #1 seed best of 3
2 vs 3 best of 5
LCS best of 5
World Series 7
Scenario 2)
WC1 vs WC2 best of 3
WC winner vs #1 seed best of 5
2 vs 3 best of 5
LCS best of 5
WS 7
Idk lots of different ways i guess i just think the one game play in is stupid anyone can get lucky and run the table.
Also do you think we might trade for a 3b such as Wright?
Hillbilly D
October 13th, 2012
6:37 pm
After 46 years, the Expos make the playoffs for the second time, and have just blown a 6-0 lead to the Cards in game 5. The Montreal curse lives!
The Montreal Expos went to the NLCS in 1981. They also had the best record in baseball in 1994 before the strike. They might have made it that year, as well.
Stinger 2
October 13th, 2012
6:40 pm
Clusters: Got to end my blogging today. In closing, I hope I did not cause too much embarassment to you by pointing out the glaring mistakes or errors you made about the Yankees and Cleveland with Francona. I also have bad days as we all do. I realize you were extremely busy with all of you negative posting about the Braves today. This could have been a contributing factor.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
6:52 pm
Somebody has a Clusters Obsession and we wish it was a good looking woman instead of somebody’s grandpa who must be a little senile judging from his posts on here. We thought about moving over to another blog but he just follows us there. We’re pretty sure we’d never socialize with somebody like that and we don’t especially enjoy blogging with him but he has something to say about everything we say on here. As for having a “right” to say what he wishes maybe somebody should tell him this is a baseball blog and not a social register. Talk about a busybody minding somebody else’s business . . . he’s trying to be our mama and tell us what to think and how to act and what to post and we can see from his drivel over the past few months that he missed about every single prediction about the Braves and the post-season. Some baseball guy. Now, baseball . . . we think there are at least a few teams still playing right now and they would seem to be the ones likely to win the pennants and one of them the World Series. The Braves have gone to the house.
Dakota
October 13th, 2012
8:32 pm
Uhhh Mark, a little hypocritic, there was a time not too long ago that the Braves would not have made the playoffs at all this year! Plus you didn’t menion football, How many times has the team with the most wins won the Superbowl? Quit whinning Our team lost, though maybe the Wild Card should be expanded to a 3 game series, The Cardinals outplayed us and they outplayed the Nats, They are a VERY good team with a much better lineup and a pitching staff almost as good as the Braves, I tip my hat to them, They have been in 7 NLCS’s since 2000 and 3 WS they know how to play baseball in September and October!!!!! Thats why St Louis is a baseball town and we cant sell out playoff games
Yankees tab Kuroda to start Game 2 of ALCS – MLB.com
October 13th, 2012
8:40 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
gy6
October 13th, 2012
8:45 pm
why not just make it a single elimination tournament with 28 of the 30 teams qualifying. makes as much sense as this abortion.
Sonny Clusters
October 13th, 2012
9:22 pm
The point was made. 2 teams collapsed. The manager of one has 2 WS rings. The manager of the other would have to buy a ticket to get to the WS. One speaks with intelligence and has a plan. “You know what?” the other one doesn’t. We was thinking Mark might be on to something here about a team getting hot at the right time. We was wondering why the Braves go so cold at the wrong time? If we was picking somebody to manage the Braves we would try to find somebody that has been successful before – somebody who could say something more than “you know what?” There are not many cerebral managers out there but LaRussa came pretty close. We understand he reads books. As for Fredi, he is much like Chipper whose favorite author is Marvel.
benchwarmer
October 13th, 2012
10:21 pm
Baseball has always been entertainment. With the expanded leagues now just having two winners leaves out to many fan bases. And of course that also means less money.
Alex Rodriguez Stays on Bench as MLB Yankees Oust Orioles – Businessweek
October 13th, 2012
10:35 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
flagboy?
October 13th, 2012
10:57 pm
al j
October 12th, 2012
1:51 pm
Maybe college football should be reading this.
_____________________________
Are you being serious? College football is doing just fine.
The Truth
October 13th, 2012
11:11 pm
This isn’t the MLB I grew up enjoying. 100 wins means nothing. This is now the NFL where you can squeak into the playoffs at 8-8 thanks to the 1,204th tiebreaker, catch fire, then beat a team that was dominant for an entire season. I get it…. it’s all about money… and the more teams that “have a shot,” the more money they make. But each wild card series went to 5 games. ALL of them… if that just isn’t the slightest bit fishy, I don’t know what is. I’m sick of baseball right now. F the Cardinals, F the Yankees, F the Giants… and go Tigers (only by default). Though the fate of all 4 teams has probably already been decided.
Walter
October 14th, 2012
12:17 am
What is your point? Baseball still has the lowest percentage of it’s overall teams make the playoffs (compared to NBA and NFL) and the NBA is the only league where the top 1-2 seeds win just about every series. What’s the point of having a playoffs if the top teams are supposed to win every time? This is what makes watching the NBA playoffs before the Finals pretty much pointless. If you want a system that really rewards regular season performance, go watch EPL soccer and write about that.
Stinger 2
October 14th, 2012
3:54 am
Clusters: I am certainly not obsessed about you. In fact, I have a real issue with you.
That being your continious complaining and negative posts about the Braves. Now, as I have said many times, you have a right to say anything you want to say as long as Mark and Jeff don`t filter your comments. I will continue to respond as I see fit to do so.
I have never called you any ugly or demeaning names. I will not get into that game with you. I will continue to be a “cheerleader” and true fan of the Braves. Go Braves!
Larry
October 14th, 2012
7:36 am
Leaving comments at 3:54 am are clearly a sign of obsessing.
I agree with Clusters: Chipper departed with a lot of stats burdoned with an unremarkable postseason career; Uggla defines everything about a Cox and Gonzelez brand of free swinging, guess hitting home run hitters; and Gonzalez is neither bright or courageous.
Some like to say that playing Ross over McCann took courage. Well how smart and courageous is it to play your solid back-up over the injured starter?
Francoy benched his starting center fielder, Coco Crisp, due to a poor postseason and won a World Series. Giraldi just benched arguably a top 10 alltime player in AROD in the 5th and deciding game and advanced…that’s courage! Meanwhile, Uggla was benched a game or two and was once again cluless in the play-in game; Chipper jogs to first in his final at bat as if to say, “I guit,” while once again not showing up in the big boy games.
Freddi is a nice guy and I’m sure the veteran players find him easy to play for. But make no mistake about it, when it comes to apptitude, instincts, strategy and courage, he’s in the bottom fith of all whom manage the game of the easiest professional game to manage.
Larry
October 14th, 2012
7:38 am
Francona
Sonny Clusters
October 14th, 2012
11:00 am
Watch out, Larry, or somebody will start to mama you and tell you that you have a right to say something but she is going to set you straight in her next post. We have been blogging here for years and this is the first time we’ve encountered a nosy Betty like this one. Now, as for calling names . . . we think “creepy” is descriptive as is “stalker” and we have no regrets about calling it like we see it. We was wondering who wears the pants in that family but we already know who wears the pajamas. We are glad there are some folks blogging on here who share some of our opinions and it is not important that any of us agree on everything. Some little fella thinks we all have to be like him. Creepy.
Peter
October 14th, 2012
11:33 am
Yes Dakota .. Right on……. Cards are clutch, and all the whining won’t change the Braves are NOT !
cloudodust
October 14th, 2012
11:42 am
Advertising (TV timeouts, etc) surrounding sports (regular season and playoffs) is killing my interest in watching live (Thankfully there’s DVR). Playoffs (as we’ve come to know and love them) mean booku revenue for TV and whatever the sport of choice. At least Baseball (historcally) has a rhythm to it that TV/advertising can’t destroy (yet). Just give ‘em time.
Pat K
October 14th, 2012
11:56 am
Sour grapes. Really. Sour grapes.
Stinger 2
October 14th, 2012
1:22 pm
Clusters: As to others who share your opinions: There are many who do just that.
The difference is how they do it vs. how you express yours and to the extent that you do. First, you try to be funny to your admirers by using analogies to belittle,complain about and put Fredi, and certain players you dislike under the bus. Second, you do this on and on never taking the time to freshen up your negative acts.
This is very different from others who don`t like the Braves. Most of those people are to the point and come up with something different to complain about on their next post..
Ken Stallings
October 14th, 2012
2:34 pm
A number of salient points made by you, Mark Bradley.
My purest side desires a return to the nine-game World Series where the winner of the National League’s regular season meets the winner of the American League’s regular season. That same side wants the designated hitter rule eliminated and inter-league play limited to the All-Star game and the World Series.
But, alas, none of that will happen. There is just way too much interest and money on the table for the division and league playoffs and that requires more than one NL team playing one AL team. But, perhaps the Wild Card should be limited to one team because to have an even number of teams in the playoffs you have to have one more team than the champions of the three divisions per league can deliver.
I could live better with the two-team Wild Card if it featured a three game series all played at the home stadium of the higher finisher. A split doubleheader would allow it to fit in two days to minimize impact on the division winners being idle too long. It would also handicap the wild card team that won because their bullpen would be heavily taxed.
Ultimately, perhaps baseball should emphasize the regular season champions more. European League soccer does this by awarding a coveted trophy to the regular season champion and then having a playoff with its own trophy. Perhaps therefore the root of your column’s point llies in the winner-take-all emphasis put on the World Series champion. We actually start to believe that there is no lasting value in winning a regular season title of any sort.
Perhaps that is what needs to change more than anything else. Perhaps baseball needs to award significant trophies to division champions and make an emphasis of it.
Sonny Clusters
October 14th, 2012
2:37 pm
You, sir, are a sick little man. Leave us alone and go blog baseball. Sure, you don’t know much about the game but that’s not prerequisite for participation here. We was wondering why you keep posting about us instead of your heroes? Chipper, Uggla, and Fredi together might score 30 on a Wonderlic but that is not a given. Another thing that is creepy is how you come to a blog long after it closes and post about us. Like Larry says, you are obsessing and that is not healthy for an old codger like you. When our granddaddy Clusters got old he still had his mind and we are sorry if that’s not working out for you in old age. We would have thought you was a youngster with arrested development until your mentioned your grandchildren and because we respect them we will try to leave you alone if you will just stop stalking us and following us from blog to blog and looking in our windows at home. Creep.
Sonny Clusters
October 14th, 2012
2:50 pm
Mark, let us ask you a question . . . if you was Fredi Gonzalez and you was going to spring training what would you do to try to improve this team and what might you try to do to help them play better baseball in the games that are win or go home? Since they are always going home early in those games we think maybe they should do something different or try something new. Now, that’s just us and the way we think. When we was playing ball Coach did most of the thinking and strategizing for our team but (you know what?) Coach was a whole lot smarter than Fredi appears to be.
Stinger 2
October 14th, 2012
5:41 pm
Clusters: There you go again. You could not ask a question of Mark without saying something ugly about Fredi could you? The man lead his team to more wins (94) than all other managers but four. This total was only one less than the NYY. This qualifies his to have a lot of smarts. You are always braging about being a baseball player but I never see any solutions to any issues or problems you have with the Braves. And we all know if you don`t have a solution you are part of the problem. And I tell you what ;
You seem to have more complaints and problems about the Braves than any other blogger on AJC.
bulldogbubba
October 14th, 2012
5:59 pm
@Mr Stinger2- Please back off Mr. Clusters with your comments.He along with you have a right to give your opinion on the Braves.Yes you can rah about 94 wins and Chipper, Uggla , and Fredi are the cream of the crop in your opinion , but Mr.Clusters does make valid points about where the weak points are in the line-up and where they could improve to go all the way to a championship. I personally do not know Mr. Clusters but I do know about the Parkview culture he comes from.I worked in that community for 7 years and know how passionate they are about winning in all sports and academics also. In those years around that community of people I know they won 3 state championships in football, several in baseball and also in soccer and in one school year they were the state champions in all three. I say that to say this , if Mr. Clusters was around that enviornment he knows what it takes to be a winner and what decisions are made to reach those goals of winnig the top prize.That whole community has the same mindset as Mr.Clusters potrays in his writings on this blog and I enjoy his sarcasim and his funny writings also.So I ask both of you to keep this and other blogs fun and imformative for ALL of us. Thanks to BOTH of you for what you can add to them all. THANKS!!!!!
Stinger 2
October 14th, 2012
9:26 pm
bulldogbubba: Please tell me what you think I should not say in response to Clusters.
I never call him any ugly names like he calls me (Stalker and Creep) etc. I usually state that I am not calling him down for giving his opinions which he has a right to do.I only respond to his post because they are always complaining,criticizing,negative,etc, about the same individuals using as a disguise ( his humor) in an attempt of offset the seriousness of what he is really meaning about Fredi, Chipper, Uggla, et all. I just do not think its right to get personal in your critical remarks about a celebrity or athelete.
Call their preformance or actions on the field bad if you think they are. But don`t take it to the point Clusters does.
I again ask: What do you want me not to say? I will listen for your answer.
bulldogbubba
October 15th, 2012
12:20 am
@Mr.Stinger2 – My suggestion is to pick your battles.I do see on this writers blog and Jeff Schultz’s that you contribute a lot of writings when Mr. Clusters has given his “negative” thoughts as you suggest. It starts out to be a good read but then it seems to go downhill after 2 or 3 responses between the two of you. I think if you would give some suggestions as to how the Braves can improve their team in stead of always critizing Clusters or anyone else who may “rail”on a player or players might just help the negative situation. The same players are the ones who play poorly many times whether he is a HOF’er or a overpaid 2nd baseman or a hurt catcher. That is why a frustrated blogger may call out those players time after time hoping Fredi sees it and makes a change instead of being his buddy..With all that said I appeal to Mr. Clusters to have patience with you as you reassess the way you approach him henceforth and we all agree to disagree and enjoy the writings of Mark and Jeff. I hope you and Clusters have swell week!!!!!!!!!! GO BRAVES
Ben
October 15th, 2012
4:29 am
I disagree… I like the new format.
First, the new format devalues the wildcard. No longer does sneaking
in as the wildcard put you on the same stage as the division winner.
Ask Texas if they would have rather won the division to get at least a
best of 5. Oakland overtook them and they were done after one more
game. The random component is the penalty for not winning your
division. I want this penalty to be large so I do not prefer a 3 game
series for the wildcards. Allow the random penalty to stand!
Second, it keeps many more teams and cities interested in baseball
into September. This, I would argue, increases interest in the regular
season.
If the goal is to reward “excellence”, as the author so pompously puts
it, and excellence is measured by a teams regular season record, then
we could toss out the divisions and have the AL and NL champion play
each other like prior to what, 1967. Then we would be guaranteed to
have one of the “most excellent” teams win the championship.
I prefer the champion to be a team that is good enough to qualify, and
also good enough to win when the pressure is on. Good enough to
qualify is to win your division. As far as the wildcards letting in
sub par teams, all the wild card teams in both leagues had a better
record or an equal record to the Tigers who were the division winner
with the least wins.
One additional reason I like some luck/randomness to be involved is
the payroll disparity in MLB. I like the fact that more teams have a
chance to take down the big spenders, especially, of course, the
Yankees.
Stinger 2
October 15th, 2012
6:20 am
bulldogbubba: I read your last response. I have no problem with what you said.If you are concerned and have problems with my responses to Clusters, I will let him be.
Vermont 39
October 15th, 2012
7:44 am
Playing a season of excellent baseball doesn’t really mean that much anymore. Apologists will say;”it’s a NEW ERA;people want excitement in the Post Season. $ound$ $u$piciou$ and di$ingenuou$.
smallmouth6
October 15th, 2012
8:17 am
The Wildlife Card means second and now third place teams can take be crowned the best team in all of baseball when in fact they are not. We will never go back because of money, but baseball will never be as representative of the true championship teams or rewarding to the championship team’s fans as it was before the wild card. Add that with a failure to get a hold of the ridiculous salaries being paid by rich teams, then what you have left a third of the teams always having a chance to win, a third with an outside possibility, and third that almost always end up like Kansas City or Pittsburg.
James Rygelski
October 15th, 2012
11:33 am
As a lifelong Cardinals fan (since 1959) I’ve seen some real Cardinals N.L. and world champs (1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, 2004) and some make-believe ones (2006, 2011). I’m the only Cardinals fan who’s dismayed by the now-strong possibility that the 88-74 Cardinals, fifth-best in the N.L., will meet the 88-74 Tigers, seventh-best in the A.L., in this year’s excuse for the World Series. The greater dismay is that the American sporting public wants this kind of thing, with the Davids slaying the Goliaths every year (though you’ll have two Davids in this Series). Not saying the way things were done “way back then” were always better, but before wild cards were allowed starting in 1995 the World Series in the two-division era usually featured the perceived best team in each league facing each other (with few exceptions like the 1973 Mets and 1987 Twins). We had respect for those who’d achieved something in the long regular season and sat back to watch the best battle it out. Now, in an age in which everyone feels entitled to compete for a playoff spot, we watch the good to great regular-season teams eliminated early while the mediocrities thump their chests and pop Champagne. The current system punishes those who excel and rewards those who straggle in.