Official MLB Playoff Thread

[fan_since79]

Gillaspie had a big 2-run double in one of the closing games against the Dodgers.

7-14 in his previous five games before tonight.

 

 

[fan_since79]

August 18, 2015: Angels DFA Conor Gillaspie.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/08/gillaspie-designated-kaleb-cowart-angels.html

[eligrba4ever]

The Giants open with a wild card win on the road. 2010 deja vu all over again. Gonna be a lot of Windy City weeping at the end of the NLDS sweep.

It's an even year. GO GIANTS!!!

 

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, fan_since79 said:

August 18, 2015: Angels DFA Conor Gillaspie.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/08/gillaspie-designated-kaleb-cowart-angels.html

Remember how upset you were when Scioscia sent him packing?

[fan_since79]

7 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Remember how upset you were when Scioscia sent him packing?

http://www.angelswin-forum.com/forums/topic/22693-cowart-up-gillaspie-dfad/#comment-654239

"Hope he catches on somewhere. It's always a little sad when a player's career ends."

[ukyah]

2 hours ago, Oz27 said:

Clayton Kershaw exists.

feel free to look up clayton's numbers in the postseason.

[Oz27]

1 minute ago, ukyah said:

feel free to look up clayton's numbers in the postseason.

When someone has possibly been the best pitcher ever over your first nine seasons, it takes someone pretty silly to discount all of that because of three bad postseason starts.

I really hope Kershaw has a good postseason just to put this ridiculous narrative to bed.

[arch stanton]

Yeah I've seen his numbers yet if you asked me to choose a starter for a post season game it would still be him.

[ukyah]

Just now, Oz27 said:

When someone has possibly been the best pitcher ever over your first nine seasons, it takes someone pretty silly to discount all of that because of three bad postseason starts.

I really hope Kershaw has a good postseason just to put this ridiculous narrative to bed.

 

thanks for taking the bait.

so, let's look at this objectively. let's say we have the two best pitchers in baseball and we have to choose one. what a difficult choice. i mean, they're both so damn good. i wonder what we could look at to help us make a seemingly impossible decision?

oh, i have an idea.

bumgarner: 88.1 innings, 2.49 era/.883 whip. not counting tonights shutout start.

.79 era/.67 whip over his last nine postseason outings. not innings, outings. those are postseason starts and some say hi to your mother for me postseason relief pitching.

23 shutout innings in winner take all games.

23 scoreless inning streak.

the all time leader in scoreless postseason starts and postseason era.

second all time in postseason shutouts.

 

 

clayton kershaw: 64.2 innings pitched, 13 games. 4.59 era/1.16 whip. 

it's not worth going into any further because it's all bad. clayton is an amazing pitcher, but his postseason pitching has been a shattered mess, so far.

bumgarner has to be the pitcher you start your staff with.

 

 

[arch stanton]

In all those previous season Kershaw was great but he never had a 15.64 K/W rate or a 0.725 WHIP or hits per 9 below 6. As unlikely as it might seem, this is an improved version of Clayton Kershaw. We'll find out later this week if it holds up in October.

[Oz27]

I could not possibly disagree more, ukyah. Kershaw is such a better pitcher than Bumgarner. The difference is really, really substantial. You'd be silly to take anyone other than Kershaw or to let three bad starts, out of hundreds for his career, cloud your judgement. Kershaw was having what I would call the best pitching season ever until he got injured. Then he came back and he was incredibly good. He is the best pitcher in baseball by a Trout-esque margin.

2016 Kershaw = a 1.69 ERA, 0.725 WHIP, 230 ERA+, 15.64 K/BB. It is so freaking silly to let a couple of bad postseason starts take away from the fact that Kershaw is so much better than any of his peers.

[ukyah]

4 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

I could not possibly disagree more, ukyah. Kershaw is such a better pitcher than Bumgarner. The difference is really, really substantial. You'd be silly to take anyone other than Kershaw or to let three bad starts, out of hundreds for his career, cloud your judgement. Kershaw was having what I would call the best pitching season ever until he got injured. Then he came back and he was incredibly good. He is the best pitcher in baseball by a Trout-esque margin.

2016 Kershaw = a 1.69 ERA, 0.725 WHIP, 230 ERA+, 15.64 K/BB. It is so freaking silly to let a couple of bad postseason starts take away from the fact that Kershaw is so much better than any of his peers.

64 innings vs. 88.

those "couple innings" are starting to add up.

kershaw is a mad bitch of a pitcher. a truly dominant ace. so is bumgarner.

like i said, two of the absolute best starters, what differentiates them so far? the answer is clear.

kershaw had better pitch like a freaking demon this postseason, because the bumgarner/kershaw ground has already been laid for the sportswriters. 

[Oz27]

5 minutes ago, ukyah said:

64 innings vs. 88.

those "couple innings" are starting to add up.

kershaw is a mad bitch of a pitcher. a truly dominant ace. so is bumgarner.

like i said, two of the absolute best starters, what differentiates them so far? the answer is clear.

kershaw had better pitch like a freaking demon this postseason, because the bumgarner/kershaw ground has already been laid for the sportswriters. 

What separates them? Plenty. Bumgarner's career ERA+ is 123, for Kershaw it is 159. For 2016, the WHIP difference was a massive .299. The ERA gap was 1.05. For FIP it was 1.44. For K/BB it was 10.99 (!). For BB/9 it was 1.4. Bumgarner gave up home runs twice as often. Bumgarner was 49 per cent better than league average, which is great. But Kershaw was 130 per cent better than average.

Bumgarner is a very good pitcher. But what differentiates them so far is that Kershaw is better at baseball by a really big margin.

[Richard]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Remember how upset you were when Scioscia sent him packing?

Wasn't stoneman the gm at the time?

 

F'n Stoneman..

[ten ocho recon scout]

I think kershaw is insane. But for this particular argument, you can compare it to a guy whos 50-3, and the other guy is 40-13, but the second guy took the title in the first guys 3 losses...

Obviously apples and oranges, especially since they never met head to head for the series. But as much as kershaw deserves the nod based on overall excellence, madbum should get his due for his title fights.

[CaliAngel]

7 hours ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

Haha MLB sucks so bad at replays. Always having the backs of the umps on the field. Probably one of the worst blown replay calls in sports history.

Not saying he's an expert in the slightest, but my dad used to umpire for high school games, and there's a course you take to learn where to stand as an umpire, and where you should be positioned in different scenarios, so you can predict where you're able to get to before a play happens. This is all of course in preparation for being in the best position to observe a play and make the right call. 

Now I don't know if MLB has reasoning for their madness, but time and time again when I'm watching ballgames with the old man and the umpires blow a call, he points out where they're positioned relative to the play, and how they are absolutely positioned wrong. And he's right, from where they're standing during blown calls, there's no reason to believe they saw the play properly, or where standing in the correct angle to make the right call.

Thank god for instant replay but even then, they blow calls from time to time. I don't know how you can possibly call him out, his foot clearly was on the bag before he was tagged, and he maintained contact with the bag throughout his slide. 

 

[Billy_Ball]

To think, Gillaspie was just a bandaid at 3B while Freese was on the DL, like Brendan Ryan was for Simmons at SS this year.

[Blarg]

10 hours ago, m0nkey said:

That's why you don't use your closer unless you have a lead!!!

 

-Blarg

That's why you take stuff out of context,  to be an ass. I never once said not to use the closer unless you had a lead but my argument was if you were going to use the closer in a high leverage situation the 9th inning would have been it and if Showalter had then Britton wouldn't have been available in the 11th anyway. 

Also Familia is listed as the Mets closer. So you failed twice but nice to see Oz was on board with you. 

[fan_since79]

Noah Syndergaard posted this on his Twitter page at 1 am. Angels fans can relate:

“Baseball has a way of ripping your ♥ out, stabbing it, putting it back in your chest, then healing itself just in time for spring training.”

 

[nando714]

11 hours ago, fan_since79 said:

August 18, 2015: Angels DFA Conor Gillaspie.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/08/gillaspie-designated-kaleb-cowart-angels.html

We would have caught Texas and Houston last year if we kept him

[mtangelsfan]

Thanks Dipoto!

[Angel Dog and Beer]

A friend of mine (huge SFG fan) texted me in the second inning of last night's game saying that Gillespie will end up being the hero of that game. I gave him shit because he was of no value with the Angels, and now he's starting in the playoffs. He nailed it. 

[Homebrewer]

Game 3 will probably feature Bumgarner and Arrietta in SF.

Could be another elimination game, too.

[Angel Oracle]

Gillespie channeling his inner Billy Hatcher

What is it about Bochy and even number years?   Granted, having a MadBum helps.

[fan_since79]

Gillaspie told a reporter last night that his goal has always been to play in the postseason.

Getting DFA'd by the Angels was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.