Yankees

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About like the Mets! Best record in baseball's regular season. No pennant.

Yeah I got one prediction! World Series viewers will be down in Gotham.

And I got one observation. The team in the playoffs with the worst overall record (83-78) , and the worst road record, by far (-15 1/2), won the pennant in a deciding Game 7 on the road.

Still there, Andy?? What was that about 'unfair' homefield advantage again? I'm not sure I got it entirely right!


Ed

 

I can't help but think that if my Reds' bats hadn't gone quiet down the stretch, the Reds would be in this World Series.

Yeah, I know...sour grapes :tonofbricks:

 

It would also help if Andy would stop using logical fallacies (particularly the appeal to authority fallacy) and present hard data. All we have seen is that the Twins had a lousy road record. It may be that they had the worst road record of any WS winner. However, nothing has been shown to compare their record to. Just bias and fallacy.

Andy, I'm going to help you out. Check out http://www.baseball-reference.com/ You should find plenty of help there to substantiate your claim by comparison, if such evidence exists. I'd also like to see you subtantiate the claim regarding 5 win tolerance. I haven't seen that phrased that way before, but only in comparison to runs scored/runs allowed.

 

Okay....the following stats are from www.baseball-reference.com:

1987 Twins had a variance of 6 games.
1998 NY Yankees: 114-48 - Pythagorean Record: 108-54. Variance=6 games. Park Factor - unfavorable
1995 Atlanta Braves. 90-54 - Pythagorean W-L: 84-60. Variance-6 games. Park factor: favorable.
1992 Toronto Blue Jays. 96-66. Pythagorean W-L: 91-71. Variance=5 games. Park factor: favorable.
1991 Twins had a variance less than one game. No luck there.
1985 KC Royals. 91-71. Pythagorean W-L: 86-76. Variance=5 games. Park factor: neutral.

I counted several teams who had variances of four games with a smattering of favorable and unfavorable park factors. There is not always a correlation between park factor and "luck" or success.

Conclusion? You singled out the Twins one year, IMHO.

 

This stat disproves the claim that the Metrodome is worth 5-10 wins per season. It just goes to show that having good pitchers and good hitters makes more of a difference than playing at home does. Who would have thunk it? :smilewinkgrin:

When the playoffs began, I think the consensus was that the AL champ was going to sweep the NL champ. I'm not sure that's going to happen. Suppan, Carpenter and Weaver all pitched very well in the NLCS, shutting down a Mets offense that was slightly better than the Tigers.

I've heard a bit of debate about whether the Mets should have brought in Wagner or not in the 9th. On the Cardinals radio broadcast, they were hoping that the Mets were going to bring in Wagner after he blew game 2 and nearly blew game 6. I don't think it would have mattered.

 

I've been hearing a lot of discussion about whether Randolph should've had Floyd bunt or swing away. You don't pay Cliff Floyd to bunt, IMHO.

 

I agree. Floyd should have swung away as he did. Even though his line of 11HR/44RBI/.324 OBP/.407 SLG wouldn't be my first choice as someone who's going to come through as a pinch hitter, it was a pretty good gamble by Willie Randolph. Floyd was obviously his best option. Either that or Willie Randolph is an idiot and I don't think he is.

I had heard an option of having Glavine come in and bunt, which isn't the worst idea in the world, but after Floyd was the top of the order. Even if he hit into a double-play, Jose Reyes is the next batter and who wouldn't want the leadoff hitter batting in the bottom of the 9th? I don't know if Randolph is taking heat for the Floyd, but he shouldn't be, because it was a good gamble that didn't pay off. As a manager, the best you can hope for is to put your players in a position where they will succeed. Near as I can tell, Randolph did just that.