Well one team could win the game and lose several of their players to injury, not that I am wishing for that to happen.

Aren't the Dodgers playing the Cardinals in the play-in?  One of the great NL franchises will be out, that much is true.

I'm getting just awful on these details in my old age.

Cole's big money deal didn't reach into the playoffs. Just like Ryu's didn't pay off in September. If you are in a front office it must gives you the shakes to give a big, long term contract to a pitcher.

There's probably going to be a little talk about Nevin sending Judge on the Stanton double. It's probably a good play against half the teams out there. They won't have a centre fielder who gets the ball back in that quickly and if they do they won't have a shortstop who can make so strong and accurate a relay. But against the good defensive teams... yeah, that stuff can get you killed.

on the Stanton double

Not to be pedantic, but it was only a single. Stanton advanced to second on the throw home. My point here is that Stanton clobbered two balls that looked to be home runs but hit high on the wall, only to be singles. Very different game if those cleared the wall.

I saw Stanton staring daggers at Nevin afterwards and just assumed...

Well spotted just now by Siddall on Bogaerts pointing to second base.

The Yankees radio announcers were at the playoff game at Fenway Tuesday, the first time they've been at a game outside New York this year.

I was surprised to read that the reason they were still calling road games off a monitor the last few months was just that their employer ("WFAN's parent company, Audacy") wouldn't pay for their trips (hotel, meals).  Ref: https://nypost.com/2021/06/18/suzyn-waldman-john-sterling-should-be-on-road-with-yankees/

The Yankees got their playoff game and embarrassed themselves.
A-Rod's commentaries are all over the place this morning.

It's going to be some winter.

Yankees lose !!! Yay !!!

Boston wins. Booooo !!!

I hope the Rays beat them in straight games.

signed

Bitter Jay's Fan

Yankees lose !!! Yay !!!

Pythagoras had the Yankees winning 86 games this year, and that feels closer to the way they performed than did their 92 wins. Whether or not Boone returns is, to my mind, immaterial. It's that sadly misshapen roster that is surely due for a lot of off-season adjustments, that can't help but be better next season, and perhaps even become a legitimate 92-win team.

I railed about this in another thread, but this is a team without strength at C, SS, and CF. 1B is murky. And they have TWO guys for 2B, though one returned to his pre-NY levels and one has been in decline since age 22.

I don't know if they can properly rebuild the roster and stay under the luxury tax threshold. I do know that if someone like Odor ends up getting 300 AB again, they'll have not taken care of business this off-season.

Pythagoras had the Yankees winning 86 games this year

I've moved on from Pythagoras - we had some good years, but it was time - but my spanking new Team Evaluation Method has the Bombers at 89-73.

The fanbase badly wants Boone's head (and maybe Cashman's) and this is a franchise that famously fired its manager for losing the seventh game of the World Series. Twice. But I just don't think it would be like Cashman to dump his manager.

Probably the biggest issue - besides the misshapen infield - is the Aaron Judge question (to extend or not to extend, that is the question) and how that will be affected by any free agent signings. While Cashman has evidently long lusted after Robbie Ray, his team needs a real major league shortstop far more than it needs a pitcher. Although - sing it with me - you can never have enough pitching.

Team Evaluation Method -- that sounds interesting, Magpie. What was the Jay's record using it?

While Cashman has evidently long lusted after Robbie Ray, his team needs a real major league shortstop far more than it needs a pitcher.

So Ray and Semien then?

What was the Jay's record using it?

'Twas 92-70. The method is disturbingly simple (I haven't just moved beyond Pythagoras, I've moved beyond Runs Scored and Allowed. Very progressive thinking, surely.) Its findings differ from the standings in three divisions - AL East, AL West, NL West - and it would have given us a three way tie for a second Wild Card and a truly glorious Monday.

So I figure I'll write up an explanation/justification and spring the whole thing as part of a Welcome to the Division Series Thread.

I've been updating my Big Honking Database since they tossed the first pitch at Fenway last night - it's now up to 2,790 seasons - and I'm possibly too fried to think clearly.

But I have a fun fact to share: the Arizona Diamondbacks just posted the worst record in one-run games since the 1937 St Louis Browns (who likewise went 10-31 in one-run games.) Only three teams in history have posted a winning percentage in one-run games worse than that .244 mark from the Snakes and Browns. That would be the 1935 Braves and a couple of 19th century teams. History is so cool.

As a rule, bad teams generally do better in one-run games than in the rest of their games, which is the main reason this is so unusual.

One more Fun Fact: the Mets played 66 one-run games this season and if you think that's a lot - well, it is tied for 11th most all time, on a list with 2,790 entries. (Most ever was 75 one run games, 1971 Houston Astros.)

I don't think Ray fits the current Yankees pitching strategy.
They like hard throwers but they don't want them to throw too many fastballs.

The Padres have fired their manager.
Not shocked.
His name doesn't ring a bell, but leaves a weird tingling in my ear.

Following the success of the Astros and the White Sox, surely they will hire some old has been.
Who's available? Hinch would probably love to manage that team.

it's now up to 2,790 seasons
Amazing stuff Magpie.  With that much time and history invested in the sport, you get to spout all the windy lore you like.  Baseball is all about the stories, right, and the story this year was great.  Such a fun team to follow.

I do believe there some Hall of Famers in the house this evening. Let's see... Scherzer and Kershaw must be almost automatic... Yadier's pretty close... Wainwright's got a better case than people might think, but he's waiting for some Veterans Committee of the future... Goldschmidt and Price still have some work to do.... and everyone else is under 30.

Mookie Betts turns 29 tomorrow and already has a decent HoF case, as the second best player in baseball over a 5 year span.  He might yet be an inner-circle guy depending on how he ages. 

I was thinking Price can't still be on a hof track, he was never 'best pitcher in baseball' good, and his career has fizzled the last few years. Get him out of LA, keep him healthy, and give him 150 ip a year for another 6 years...he'll need a few more huge seasons, because no one is compiling stats into the hof conversation as a pitcher anymore.

Goldschmidt is a classic 'if he defies the aging curve' guy, which is impossible to guess. He's a good example of how hard it is to be a hofer when you don't start young. Arenado is more likely, I think, similar counting stats and 3 years younger.

I don't think Price is likely at the moment, but he's still "only" 35 with 155 career Wins. If he gets back into a rotation, one can see him finding his way to 200 and that makes him pretty viable.

I think compiling still helps you get into the Hall - hello, Mr Baines, how's it going - although you probably have to wait a while.

Wainwright, I think, is the Blyleven of his generation (RH curveballer who lasted until he was 40). Of course, Wainwright didn't get into a rotation until he was 25 and lost a few seasons to injury whereas Blyleven came up when he was a teenager. And Blyleven also came up in the 1970s and shouldered that type of workload. But their peak seasons are pretty comparable, and so is their career quality. Blyleven had to wait his turn until the great pitchers of his era went in and Wainwright will definitely do through the same thing until (if) he gets there as well.

Agreed Magpie. Just fun to look at WAR as it does give a good idea - very few get in sub 60 without a good narrative (Jim Rice, all closers in are sub 60) or friends on the committee (see Baines, Harold for a prime example).

Yeah, I think Molina is pretty close to a lock whatever WAR says (which probably underestimates his defensive value anyway.) Goldschmidt and Wainwright have some work to do, but the way they're still playing they look quite capable.

Dave Roberts is a brave man.

Yeah, catchers, like closers, are kind of a special case. Yogi Berra 59, Mike Piazza is 59, Ted Simmons 50, Mickey Cochrane 49, Buck Ewing 48. But some have over 60 like Gary Carter (70), Ivan Rodriguez (68), Carlton Fisk (68), Johnny Bench (75). Yet Carter took 6 years to get in. Go figure.

" His name doesn't ring a bell, but leaves a weird tingling in my ear."

His name is Max Tinnitus, right ?

The bar for Hall of Fame catcher ought to be closer to Posey/Mauer than Molina/Posada.

Sooner or later, one of these managers is going to find the guy in his bullpen who doesn't quite have it tonight. Which is going to settle the matter. That's always the danger of going to the pen early.

So I guess Roberts would want to pinch hit for McKinney... hmmm. What about that old Pujols fella?

OK, why wait?

Fun finish. I was thinking steal a base, then 2 run home run. Love it when I guess right. SF vs LA should be a great series.

The Yankees's #4 prospect is a shortstop named Oswald Peraza who hit .297 this year while generating some of the highest exit velocity in their system. He should be ready by 2023 and they also have another guy named Anthony Volpe behind him who is generating some pretty good scouting numbers.

Neither of these guys hits left, which could be a difference maker in that stadium.

It's going to be an interesting winter.
They still got Odor for another year at 12M, injured Britton 14M, Hicks 10.7M.
Judge is in his walk year and should make at least 18M.
A bunch of guys also get their final arbitration, Gallo, Sanchez, Taillon and Chad Green.
Urshela, Montgomery, Peralta, Voit, Torres and Frazier are all due a raise.

They still got Odor for another year at 12M

I believe that the Rangers are eating the entire contract, save for the league minimum that the Yankees are contributing. Odor is just such a poor player that I can't see him returning, if it costs the Yankees nothing.

Yeah, you're right. Odor  is basically free even if they decline his option.