Crimson Red Sports

I know there are a few MLB fans here, mainly for the Braves or Dodgers :yuck:.  Rockies & Dodgers on now to determine who wins the Western Division and who plays in the Wildcard elimination game. Brewers are division winners after beating Cubs, who will be the other Wildcard team. Tuesday night the two NL Wildcard teams play each other. Wednesday night it's the Athletics & Yankees in Wildcard game on TBS. Clear as mud, no problem, right.



 :clap:

I will provide more info as the Wild Card/Playoffs progress on this thread.



 :popcorn2:    :4:

Hey thanks MD. I was wondering about this because my O's are way out but we have the Braves ini the National League we pull for so we will see how they do. I think HL is a Dodgers fan also. I think that is. RTR!

Dodgers 5. Rockies 2 Final. Dodgers win NL Western Division.

Rockies play Cubs in NL Wildcard on Tuesday.

Well, the Dodgers and Braves will face off.  Hopefully it will be a good series.  There may be some runs scored since neither team can trust their bullpen. 

My brother bought 4 tickets for Sunday's game in Atlanta.  Apparently there are no extras.   :-[ :'(

I think the Dodgers-Braves series might be a really good games. RTR!

For my 2-cents, I wish MLB would get rid of the wild card one-game playoff.  It's just too much of a distraction from divisional series and LCS. Go back to the three div winners + one team with the best record who did not win a division.

I don't much care for it either.

American League, Boston Red Sox fan here.

The NL is just playing for the NLCS, because there are 4-5 teams in the AL that will wax the NL champ.

I have never liked the one game playoff thing either. To me it just says we want more money coming in. That is all it accomplishes. RTR!

Agreed on the second wild card team. MLB trying to squeeze one more dime, I guess.

I think there should be some good series. With my O's out of contention since .... oh, April 25, I've had plenty of time to think about the playoffs.

NL
Dodgers-Braves: Tough one to call with all the young talent the Bravos have, but I think I have to go Dodgers in 4. A ton of experience on the Dodgers side. Braves are up and coming, though. Wouldn't shock me if this core stays together to see ATL win a title in another year or two.

Cubs over Rockies in WC game, so: Cubs vs. Brewers: Cubs in 5. Chicago gets revenge for division title game, but it will be a tough series.

Dodgers-Cubs NLCS: Dodgers in 6. Cubs will be worn out by Brewers series, and I think LA is hitting on all cylinders at right time.

AL
Indians-Astros: Astros in 4. Cleveland doesn't have enough pitching. Astros looking like world beaters again

Yankees over A's in wild card game, so: Yankees-Red Sox. Usually I would say throw the record out the window with these two, but BoSox dominated Yanks in regular season. I think that continues. Sox in 4.

Astros-Red Sox ALCS: This will be a knockdown, dragout battle. When the dust settles, I think Boston makes that one extra play to win in 7.

World Series: Red Sox vs. Dodgers. This one is really tough. My head says go with the Red Sox, because of that formidable lineup. However, I just think after coming so close last year, the Dodgers find some way to edge them in 7. Dodgers are World Champs (and my boy Machado finally gets a ring).

Of course, I would rather see Atlanta win this thing out of all the other teams.

cc - the first series are 5 games.  I don't disagree with your winners (other than I think either the Red Sox or Astros will win it all).

Crap, your're right. I'll adjust.

They probably will, but I just have this hunch about the Dodgers this year.

I agree. To advance to the World Series Boston must beat the winner of the Wild Card game between New York (100 games won) and Oakland (97 games won). They advance to play either Houston (103 games won) or Cleveland. Facing the NL winner will look easy after those two series. The AL is very strong at the top this year.

You know this is the strongest years I can remember the AL having since the Yankees and Dodgers of the late 60's to late 70's. RTR!

Cubs lose 2-1 in 13 innings.  They couldn't get hits -- I think it was 5 singles and one or two doubles in 13 innings, with one run scored.  I fell asleep after 11 innings. 

You watched longer than I did, but the Rockies starter (Freelander? or something like that) was lights out. And that was on three days rest, too.

Yanks 7  A's 2 Yanks advance.   :wall:


Braves  :clap: play Dodgers  :yuck: on Thursday. Four games Friday including Yanks/Red Sox. Wow!

The news this morning said the Yanks/Red Sox last played in the playoffs since 2004.  Was it that long ago?   :-X

 :kickme:

Well we will see in the first game how things start panning out. RTR!

Yeah, that was the year the Sox came back from down 4-0 to win the series. Not a fan of either team, but if it is another series like that, it should be fun to watch.

Boston came back from down 3-0 to win 4 straight to take the series. They went on to beat the Cards and break the Curse of the Bambino winning their first World Series since 1918.

Dear Lord, I'm losing my mind.  :wall:

The Red Sox had a great year but it means nothing in the playoffs. In the AL, do NOT overlook the Astros. They won 103 games. Yankees appear healthy so someone has to shut the Yanks & Red Sox down with pitching. Astros have best overall pitching with best ERA of 3.11, & tied for 4th in Saves. Of course, Red Sox, Indians, & Yankees are 3rd, 4th, & 5th in team pitching.



 :think:   :dunno:   :stars:

 :behave:   



 :lol2:

Brewers 2  Rockies 0. 4th inning



 :clap:

Brewers 3  Rockies 2

Dodgers 6  Braves  0. (Umps obviously in the tank for Dodgers)




 :panic:

Good Lord the Braves took a whippin'. I am not sure what happen but I would guess pitching on both sides. RTR!

Kershaw is probably the biggest vulnerability out of our Game 1-3 starters at this point.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the Braves put up a couple big innings tonight.

I would be shocked to see the Braves put up a couple of big innings tonight.  Or any other post season game night.  :lol2:

I jumped off that sinking ship about 20 years ago.  I don't even like to watch baseball any more because of their epic post season melt downs.

I understand it had to be frustrating for Braves fans, but 14 straight division titles is incredible success.  Cox and Shurholtz (sp?) often did "more with less" than the big market teams.

One thing for sure the Braves was heart breaking every year. I got use to it, now on to better stuff: I thought Kershaw was a big man at one time. Has he changed? RTR!

The Dodgers are looking sharp at just the right time, and the Braves came in having lost four or so in a row. This is why I think LA has a shot at the whole thing: they are firing on all cylinders at just the right time. I still think Boston makes short work of the Yankees, but if Houston beats Cleveland, that ALCS is going to be interesting.

The American League is a crap shoot. Boston, Houston and New York are all 100 game winners and capable of taking the League Crown. I think the American League winner will also be your World Series winner. Getting through the ALCS is the hard part IMO.

I agree the AL will win it all. RTR!

ANOTHER Braves post-season fiasco, shut out 3-0 with 8 incredible innings by Kershaw who threw only 85 pitches in 8 innings. That's what Maddox would do (in the regular season). When I saw that Kershaw was going to pitch, I saw the end was near.




 :wall: :wall: :wall:

Well one thing about it, the Dodgers won't use the Mercy rule. They will just keep pounding the Braves. RTR!

Yeah, I think the Braves are about a year early. They surprised many people by doing so well this year. I think maybe next season could be huge for the ATL.

Boston beat the Yankees 5-4 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

WOOT

Memo To Atlanta:  It's hard to win games when you don't score runs.

It's hard to get a double on the game's first pitch and still not score!
 >:(

The leaving men on base at the Pro level was always one of my heart breaks. We use to get men home in high school. They get paid millions to make a sac fly and they can't even do that. RTR!

I worry that a lot of the Braves may have had a career year (Markakis) or will be one year wonders (Acuna, Albies, Swanson, Newcomb, Camargo). Plus, other players who are on the edge of going either way, mostly bad, like Flowers (32 year old catcher), Suzuki (35 year old catcher), Venters who is great one game, lousy the next and a 33 year old pitcher, & Sanchez is a 34 year old pitcher. Like I said, the Braves are teetering back & forth from success or failure.



 :tinfoil:

I can't speak for the other players, but Markakis spent the first part of his career in Baltimore, and he is solid player all around. He may be having a career year, but you can always count on him to at least hit around .280 and is a stellar fielder.

Markakis made the All Star game for the first time in his career, at age 34, he turns 35 in a month. That's why I named him. I hope he gives us another 3-4 years.


 :wave:

Perhaps, but I would have killed to have him back in an O's uniform this season.

You must really hate him to send him back to that manure pile. At least he made it to the playoffs & All Star game with the Braves.



 #-

Yanks 3  Red Sox 0. 4th inning



 :panic:

Yankees 6 Boston 2. New York wins Game Two to even the series at 1-1.

 :wall: :wall: :wall:

The Y's and R'S' have always been an interesting series. I remember the talk about the Gambino. RTR!

Brewers 6  Rockies 0. Brewers sweep-They await Dodgers/Braves winners

Braves 5  Dodgers 2  3rd inning


 :popcorn:




 

Braves win 6-5 to stay alive. They are are behind 2-1 in the series.

It was a nice team win for the Braves with the two big hits coming from the youngest player in baseball and the team's veteran.  Add to that a pitching by committee performance, and it really should build some confidence for them.

With that said, screw the Braves!

Well go Braves but I think they only extended the pain to one more game. RTR!

The grand slam was worth the watch.

 :clap: :clap: :clap: wow I didn't know there was a grand slam. I was about ask has the Braves hit any HR's? RTR!

Braves lead 2-1 in bottom of 4th.

Just trying to change our luck.

 :popcorn2: :popcorn2: :popcorn2: :popcorn2:

Red Sox 10. Yankees 1. 5th inning

Nose-Picking Dodgers 6. Braves 2.  Final


Dodgers play Brewers in NLCS.

Astros 11. Indians 3. Astros sweep

Astros play Red Sox/Yankees winner in ALCS.


 :popcorn2:

BoSox up 14-1 in the 8th.

BoSox win 16-1. Sox had a guy hit for the cycle. Sox up in the series 2-1.

I congratulate the Braves on a fine season, one in which you saw some bright young stars coming to life.  The future looks good for the Bravos.

They did have a great season this year and accomplished more than was expected of them.  I think they actually set up the Dodgers to get embarrassed by the AL though instead of getting themselves embarrassed...

They had a good year. They won 90 games in the regular season. That would not have won any other division in either league. They also lost in the first round of the playoffs. They did better than expected but they were not great.

There is 2 big shocks to me:
(1) Braves went as far as they did.
(2) the Brewers are in the NLCS.
RTR!

Brewers could give Dodgers some problems. Astros looked good putting away a decent Indians team, and Boston really roughed up the Stankees.

I really don't see anybody shutting the Red Sox down. They are good. RTR!

Red Sox lead 4-1 (bottom of 6th).

 :popcorn2: :popcorn2:

Red Sox hold on to win 4-3 -- BARELY!!

 #+ #+ #+ #+

The Red Sox almost blew it in the 9th but they held on.

The ALCS is going to be epic. This could be one of the best league championship series in many years.

Houston and Boston are the two best MLB teams IMO. It should be a very good series.

I still think it is wierd that Houston is in the American League. It is even harder to believe they have gotten good. I hope they don't break out those rainbow colored jersey's they wore in the 80's.

I know when Houston was in the NL they were horrible. Now they are in the AL they are in the running every year. What is the deal here? RTR!

Funny, I was thinking the same this morning. How weird it is to say Houston is in the ALCS and Milwaukee is in the NLCS. And yeah, just say no to the rainbow jerseys.

I'm certainly not a bigtime baseball fan, but I didn't realize Houston switched.   :dunno:

Yes, they could.  Their starting rotation isn't as good as the Dodgers, but their bullpen is much better.  Playoff series are often lost due to poor bullpens.

Houston switched so the MLB could have 15 teams in both leagues with three 5-team divisions each.

As for how they got good, they made trades that made them stink for a long time to get 4-5 good years.  They will never be able to afford all their stars when contracts come around, so they'll likely have to do it all over again.

I can see another World Series with LA & Astros. I think Astros take down Red Sox.




 :popcorn2:

Exactly. That's how Baltimore survived for a few years, by having mediocre starters and a killer bullpen. It came back to bite us eventually, though, and I think it will Milwaukee as well. Dodgers starters are just too talented.

At one point the Braves had probably the best starting rotation in the history of the game but it didn't really do them much good in the post season.

If only everyone could get that pitch 8" off the left corner like Tom Glavine.

Then they could lose in the post season too.  :lol2:

Now wait a minute, Tom Glavine only got a 7.5" pitch. RTR!

They didn't have 4K TVs back then so there really is no way to know.  :lol2:

Here's why:

Bullpen awful, no real closer all those years
No timely or clutch hitting
Bobby Cox was manger



 :wall: :wall: :wall:

I read an article by Tim Kurkjian (who I really like) yesterday, about 3 reasons why the Dodgers will beat the Brewers.  He named starting pitching, power through the lineup, and player mix (young/veteran mixture).  The last paragraph was headed "AND ONE REASON WHY I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG..." and he named about 6 reasons why the Brewers would win.  I felt like it'd really been betrayed by the title of the article :lol2:

Brewers 4  Dog Humpers 1   bottom of 4th
Dodgers have committed 2 awful errors.



 :clap:

Wow Brewers playing better than I thunk it. RTR!

Dog Humpers & Brewers play @ 3:30 pm. Astros & Red Sox @ 7 pm tonight.


 :popcorn2:

Brewers 2  LAD 0 bottom of 5th. Brewers still batting.

Dodgers won 4-3

 #+ #+ #+ #+ #+

Houston takes Game One from Boston 7-2

Wow.

The DogHumpers better take at least 2 at home.

:lol2:

Snitker signed a new contract with the Braves?  What do you Braves fans think?

I don't care who signs if they can't produce good pitches OR make RBI's then they aren't any need for them. RTR!

DogHumpers took it on the chin last night.  I went to bed after the 7th.  Sometimes you just know that the Dodgers could play 18 innings and not score that night.

Red Sox and Astros are tied up at one game each. Game Three is in Houston this afternoon.

4pm  TBS

Is it 4PM EDT or CDT?

:-[

Boston wins Game Three 8-2. BoSox lead the series 2-1.

Woot!

(https://ssl.gstatic.com/onebox/media/sports/logos/PYjW8IShPc7b-aG2JX5p9w_96x96.png)

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the DogHumpers won when I woke up this morning.  I think I missed a full 9-inning game after my bedtime.

Bwaaaaahahaha.  Series tied 2-2 after the Dodgers win it in the 13th.   :worship:

Jackie Bradley destroyed that ball on the GS.

Dodgers at 4PM CDT today

Sox at 7:30 CDT tonight

BoSox win 8-6 to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

Game 5 is today at 7:00 on TBS.

DogHumpers go up 3-2!!  I'm still not very confident in how they're playing, but some of the batters seemed to be willing to change their approach last night.  It's rare for the DogHumpers to win without 2-3 HRs, and last night they had none.  A couple really good liners straight back over the pitcher's head by Turner and Puig were really encouraging.  And I tip my cap to Clayton Kershaw.  One rough inning (only 1R but left the bases juiced), but for the most part he was masterful.  I'm going to be extremely sad to see him go if he opts out of his final two years on his contract.  I will wish him the best, and only hope he goes into the HoF wearing DogHumper Blue.

BoSox are looking good.

Very controversial moment in the Red Sox-Astros game when Altuve hit what appeared to be a HR off of Mookie Betts' glove, over the right field wall. The ump called fan interference as a fan's hand hit the glove, causing Betts to miss it. From the naked eye, the ball looked like it was over the yellow line of the wall, which would have made it a HR. The ump disagreed and called him out.

The only definitive camera angle that would have proven it one way or the other, was blocked by a security guard. Bartman's cousin, I presume.  :lol2:

Betts would have made the catch. He timed his jump perfectly and his glove was in perfect position to make the catch until an Astro fan hit and closed his glove. He ball still hit the closed glove of Betts. I thought it was the right call.

That's where the controversy comes in; if the ball has crossed the plane of the yellow line at the top of the wall, it doesn't matter if the fan touches it or not. If it hasn't crossed the plane, then it's fan interference. He ruled that it had not crossed the plane. To me, it looked like it did, but the ump was close to the play and called him out immediately, and they used replay to try to confirm. I'm sure he had a better angle than the viewers did.

My question was going to be, as I didn't see the play, whether the HR wall is the same rule for fan interference as foul ground.  From what you described, 2, it sounds like it is.  Did they usher the fan out?

Who won the game? RTR!

Red Sox 8-6.  They now have a 3-1 series lead over Houston.

Looking more and more like the Dodgers vs Red Sox.  That'd be a good World Series.

 :popcorn2:

I don't think Fox will be too disappointed.

They never showed how close the ump was to the play. The announcers said his call on the field was iffy and only officially made when the umps huddled before getting on the phone with replay. Replay had the same options as football replay. Confirm it, reverse it or let it stand. They let the call on the field stand. It was a very close call that could have gone either way. I thought it was the correct call. I am also a BoSox fan.

One point that I heard the Braves announcers make several times this season is that the replay officials (where ever they may be) should not know what the call  on the field is.  That way they could easier be neutral in making their decisions based solely on the video that is available to them.  I support this argument.  I also don't have a dog in the ALCS one way or other...

Boston won Game Five 4-1 and advances to the World Series. Boston takes the ALCS 4 games to 1. I did not think Houston would go down this easy. Boston is going to be tough for the NLCS winner to handle.

Congrats to the American League champs, the Boston Red Sox. They did make quick work of the Astros. Now they wait for the winner of the Dodgers and Brewers. The Dodgers lead the Brewers 3 games to 2, but the remainder of the games are in Milwaukee. Could be interesting.

I watched the game last night until 10:30, and the score was already in hand for Boston.  Thanks for the update.

Right, 2, the NL series might stretch to 7 games since it's in Milwaukee.

 :popcorn2:

I truly believe Boston is the WS in hand to either keep or give away. RTR!

Except the replay officials are not making the call, they are reviewing the call.  The presumption is that the official on the field has a better view than the cameras; the call is only reversed if the cameras clearly show otherwise. 

Brewers 7  Dodgers 2

Final game is tonight at 7pm CDT

World Series starts Tuesday the 23rd. Boston vs Dodgers/Brewers

Brewers won game #6 so #7 is tonight.  I hope the Brew Crew gets it done.  Would like to see them in WS.

Well actually I don't care. I want to see this best team to challenge the Sox cause I am not sure anybody can this year. RTR!

Great sports day for me, fellas!  Roll Tide and Go DogHumpers!

Same here.  Bama wins the Cigar Bowl, Dodgers win the pennant, and Urban Meyer's overrated team falls big.

ROLL TIDE

^^^This.

(http://www.plasenciacigars.com/wp-content/themes/plasencia-cigars-2018/img/hero-hand-with-cigar.png)

It was a good sports day. It would have been better if Ole Miss beat the boogers.

Chech's exact words to me last night.

:toast4:

YUCK!  Dodgers vs. Beantowners in the WS.  I hope they both loose.

So true.  Looks like they have a shot at 6-6 and the Birmingham Bowl now.  :lol2:

Since the Playoffs are over I will start a thread titled World Series 2018.






 :duh: