The Postseason Continues

Not good for rarity but at least I completed it

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Cal Ripken sitting at 85% for Orioles 200 hits.

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Despite past O’s quasi-fandom, stumped by some of those answers. Also got burned my Mr. Most Hits In the Nineties.

https://theathletic.com/4890443/2023/10/05/chicago-cubs-2003-season-oral-history/?source=user_shared_article

This is worth a read. TIL that nobody from the Cubs 2003 postseason roster made a World Series as a player after that, and that both Steve Bartman and Jim Hendry were given World Series rings after 2016.

Perkins,

The Bartman getting a ring thing was a pretty big deal in 2016 but I guess I missed the part about Hendry

Between his galling comments on the Michael Oher situation and the recent crypto scammer stuff, Michael Lewis has sure pissed away whatever rep he built from his Moneyball days.

The post-game intel suggests the Twins used PitchCom to relay the pick off play, which I wasn’t even sure they were allowed to do

https://youtu.be/V8Udl-IrAWo?si=LeqJn62MWPV4jtDl

Rice Cube,

See now I’m wondering about that because the mandate in March was that a bunch of guys on the field or the dugout could get earpieces but only the battery gets the transmitters, so maybe the catcher picked up an indicator from Correa as he snuck behind Vladdy and signaled Sonny Gray to pick off?

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pitchers-pitchcom-transmitters-2023-update

Rice Cube,

Ah ok there it is, pays to read (dying laughing)

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/10/05/twins-sonny-gray-explained-crowd-noise-trick-vladimir-guerrero-pickoff

berselius,

The Oher stuff revealed his blind side (SNS) but what’s the crypto scammer stuff? I know he wrote a book on Sam and the FTXes but it seemed like he lucked into a well-timed book on that one (tempered by very poorly timed foot-in-mouth disease). Is there something else I missed?

Either way, the Oher comment really soured my opinion of him, and I really like his stuff.

andcounting,

There was a Legal Eagle video about this and the whole thing seems shady AF, I assume details will emerge but kind of tricking your purported adopted son into thinking that but not actually adopting him seems like a major low

Rice Cube,

A pretty nifty breakdown of the pick off

https://youtu.be/ZB084DrEwaI?si=kGEsA4qdB1A3vdWl

Rice Cube,

I am kinda remembering the Bartman one, but don’t think I knew Hendry had received one.

Rice Cube,

Oh no, I knew about the Oher stuff. I just hadn’t actually listened to any of his commentary about SBF. I have now and it’s nuts. They’re both examples of him refusing to revise his narrative after receiving new information. It’s kind of amazing he didn’t change his mind on SBF when the corruption came out. He thought he knew more but he knew less…and what he thought he knew was bullshit.

andcounting,

It seems like a fantastic marketing and business opportunity write a new book to revise that narrative but I guess ego gets in the way

Rice Cube,

When people get swindled it takes a LOT to get them to admit it. Lewis is NEVER going to see it.

andcounting:
Rice Cube,

When people get swindled it takes a LOT to get them to admit it. Lewis is NEVER going to see it.

This is a big part of why so many Americans still like Trump. It’s super hard to get people to admit they’re not as smart as how they see themselves.

Perkins,

This is part of that whole Dunning-Kruger thing methinks, one of the advantages of earning a PhD was when I realized how actually stupid I am compared to the true experts (dying laughing)

Billy Eppler just resigned, so David Stearns seems to have free reign to do whatever he wants with the Mets now

Rice Cube,

Or free rein, as I figured it probably should have been before I posted

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/usage-free-rein-vs-free-reign

Rice Cube:
Perkins,

This is part of that whole Dunning-Kruger thing methinks, one of the advantages of earning a PhD was when I realized how actually stupid I am compared to the true experts (dying laughing)

Agreed – the biggest lesson from graduate school is not just how much I don’t know, but how much I’ll never know (dying laughing).

andcounting:
Rice Cube,

Oh no, I knew about the Oher stuff. I just hadn’t actually listened to any of his commentary about SBF. I have now and it’s nuts. They’re both examples of him refusing to revise his narrative after receiving new information. It’s kind of amazing he didn’t change his mind on SBF when the corruption came out. He thought he knew more but he knew less…and what he thought he knew was bullshit.

At least it sounds like people are flooding reviews of the Lewis book with recs to read the recently released Number Go Up by Zeke Faux instead (dying laughing). I picked it up on audiobook earlier this week and am about halfway through.

Even before this stuff I had soured on Lewis a bit after The Premonition, on pandemic stuff. While The Fifth Risk was very good in breaking down all the invisible shit the government does behind the scenes, Premonition basically just seemed like a lot of lazy posthoc analysis and contrarianism.

This review of Lewis’s SBF from a crypto critic that I read semi-regularly was damning

https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/review-michael-lewiss-going-infinite

Never really understood crypto, always seemed like a scam, between the bitcoin and the NFTs it’s kind of just like “why don’t I just buy a Picasso and do rich people money laundering the way it’s always worked before?”

RIP Dick Butkus

berselius,

Lewis should be under more fire for some of the comments of support he’s given to the family that was the story in The Blind Side. From the sound of it Oher got screwed and Lewis was standing up for the family (family friends I think) as recently as a month ago.

Gaming the injured list? That’s unthinkable!

https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1710083089031119123?t=jPx66-dDhnXk5eoJsoafhw&s=19

Rice Cube:
Never really understood crypto, always seemed like a scam, between the bitcoin and the NFTs it’s kind of just like “why don’t I just buy a Picasso and do rich people money laundering the way it’s always worked before?”

I’ve always understood crypto as a cyclical pump-and-dump scheme and have never invested in it because there’s nothing of tangible or even intuitive value backing the security. It’s just vibes.

Perkins,

At least with currency as a fake human construct its value is backed by the government (dying laughing)

Rice Cube,

Yeah the USD is backed by a combination of the US economy, government, and military, which are all more real than “n00bm4st3r69 said this shitcoin is going to the moon!!!!🚀🚀🚀🚀”

Perkins,
https://twitter.com/CasPiancey/status/1710092094055006355/photo/1

berselius,

(dying laughing)

Half of this was Ryan Zimmerman even though he only has the one (dying laughing)

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Billy Eppler is apparently under investigation for misusing the IL, and I’m really curious what prompted that. We’ve seen the Cubs (and probably most orgs) stash players there with what appear to be phantom injuries, so Eppler must have done something truly outrageous.

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Put it in H!

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Guessed the Laser Show for 100 RBI but tough to do when you’re mostly leading off I guess, even in those bopper lineups.

MiLB + NRI –> https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/10/joey-votto-plans-to-play-in-2024.html

Votto for Cubs 2024

MLBTR has projected arb salaries

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/10/projected-arbitration-salaries-for-2024.html

Cubs (9)

Codi Heuer (4.000): $785K
Nick Madrigal (3.163): $1.9MM
Mike Tauchman (3.143): $2MM
Nick Burdi (3.140): $800K
Julian Merryweather (3.109): $1.3MM
Patrick Wisdom (3.058): $2.6MM
Adbert Alzolay (3.050): $2.5MM
Mark Leiter Jr. (3.031): $1.6MM
Justin Steele (2.143): $4.1MM

Rice Cube,

More like Justin Steal, amirite?

andcounting,

I believe his arb raise does not include the money he’s about to earn from being one of the top players in the pre-arb class and the inevitable Cy Young finalist placing, I think they usually do all that stuff by the time the Winter Meetings roll around, so Steele will get paid before he gets paid some more, deservedly.

I guess based on his service time Steele is a Super Two guy so I wonder if they’ll just try to use an extension to deal with that.

Apropos of nothing, my Lego UCS Venator Class Star Destroyer arrived today and this might be the happiest I’ve been in some time.

Perkins,

I’m waiting for pictures of the new modular Avengers Tower before I decide whether to splurge

Sandy Alcantara–> TJS 😔

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1710426710221418998?t=HIK4-aQ2qQdQaiXyLT1cAg&s=19

Perkins,

I just did the landspeeder, came out pretty great

Man, there’s way more knockoff Legos out there than last time I browsed around.

berselius,

I don’t like the Landspeeder enough to want to buy one but would absolutely consider if they made another UCS B-Wing.

I’m planning to get that Coruscant Guard LAAT sometime next year because it looks hella fun to play with. I got the midi scale Executor earlier this year and really looking forward to more ships at that scale.

Here’s (most of) my stuff, save for a few things in the post-move repair shop

Really wish I had bit the bullet and picked up the Executor back in 2011, but $400 was a tough swing just coming out of grad school (dying laughing).

Perkins,

The B-wing is probably my least favorite model that I have, (dying laughing). It’s such a pain in the ass to look good when displaying it.

also:

Perkins,

FWIW I ended up liking the Landspeeder way more than I expected.

That Venator whatever looks pretty badass, but I haven’t had enough of a connection to Clone Wars to grab any of the related stuff.

berselius,

I said about five or six years ago if they ever made a UCS Venator I would buy it instantly. The old UCS Executor was really cool and wish I’d bought (or even been aware of) it then. The current midi scale one is also neat though.

I have the mid-sized Millenium Falcon from around when Episode VII came out but if someone were to get me the $900 mega-huge one I wouldn’t object

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Maddux is 68 of this. I guess not many people can easily think of another CYA-GG winner.

Woot

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This is of course just game 1 and it isn’t over yet but I would say the Rangers have grabbed some momentum

Ah yes, time for playoff Schwarber

Rice Cube,

Playoff level TOOTBLAN

The Rangers winning a squeaker, the Twins not completely dying, and the PHI-ATL game being a scoreless tie so far is some YCPB stuff

Kershaw getting clapped tonight.

Playoff Kershaw remains defeated.

Baseball is such an asshole sometimes. Dude is gonna go to his grave with at minimum mixed feelings about his own HOF career.

Pitching coach Mark Prior

The bye is a curse

Most of that was Cliff Lee (dying laughing)

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A Sporcle for your entertainment, I got 40/48 because I forgot a bunch of relievers and guys who barely played

https://www.sporcle.com/games/tnoe000/the-2023-chicag-cubs

Rice Cube,

37/48 here

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Challenging one today.

berselius,

Yeah I forgot a few of the random one-appearance guys

The “he’d better not suck in 2024” implication was interesting

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/10/managerial-notes-ross-showalter-venable-jay.html

I don’t think Baltimore is advancing past the Division Series.

Pathetic O’s

Rice Cube,

Slightly less pathetic but still losing

Go Twins

The Niners might be good

At least it won’t be all sweeps

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Pretty happy with today’s.

woooooo

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Rice Cube:
At least it won’t be all sweeps

Teams who win games in this postseason have a much better record than teams who do not win games.

andcounting,

I know that sounds like an absurdly obvious statement, but it’s hilarious to me at this point that only two teams in the 2023 postseason have a win percentage that doesn’t end in .000.

andcounting,

Big if true

andcounting,

They did already release bunches of articles about how the playoff system was broken or unfair because the top seeds got walloped but I’m just like “maybe that’s just baseball”…if the top teams always won that wouldn’t be as fun, even if you believed that was pure.

With the Beers out, I’m now just rooting for whoever is playing LA or ATL on any given day.

berselius,

As for the AL

Rice Cube,

As a big proponent of this system, I rest comfortably knowing no baseball mind of any merit would believe there’s anywhere close to enough data to meaningfully evaluate the damage done by *checks notes* resting a little.

andcounting,

The one that I recall most is in 2012, when the Tigers had several days off after having swept the ALCS while the Giants kept playing, and then I believe the Giants swept the Tigers in the World Series, but that’s just really a convenient narrative/excuse, maybe…I dunno…it’s the postseason, play better?

What I’d wonder mostly is if the data shows hitters perform worse after a multi-day break since timing is probably the easiest thing to lose without regular reps. I have to think after the exhaustion of the season everyone would feel a bit fresher with some time to heal the nagging aches and pains (especially pitchers).

Perkins,

I feel like if you gave teams a choice between playing in the wild card round right away or getting a bye…they might trend towards the extra days of rest, but I guess we won’t know until MLB decides to put it to a vote

berselius,

I would like the Orioles to decide to stop sucking but I guess we have to take a wait and see approach

Beyond wanting the Astros to lose, I don’t have a rooting interest in this postseason so I’m hoping for the maximum amount of games and chaos.

I guess I’d be pretty okay with seeing the Twins win it all.

I’m going to use Seiya Suzuki as case in point that resting for a few days boosts OPS by roughly .600.

andcounting,

N=1 but merits more study, very interesting observation

I guess this only feeds the narrative a little more if ATL doesn’t somehow end up winning this game and series

Castellanos stole a base and took third on an ill-advised throw because baseball is wild

ATL not having a single hit through 5 is definitely YCPB

Rice Cube:
andcounting,

N=1 but merits more study, very interesting observation

“Spahn and Sain and pray for rain” might technically qualify as well (dying laughing)

O hai narrative shift

That is definitely a narrative shift

What an insane catch and TOOTBLAN to end that game

Jesus what a play that could’ve gone so wrong but ended up so right

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1711551721749532796?t=lmpA6Rac4QRN_Jg7Ego9gw&s=19

I boo you Barves I boo you

Rice Cube,

Wow. I would die if that were the Cubs.

andcounting,

I’m immensely surprised Harper didn’t wait around just a bit past 2B to wait for the ball to drop but Harris overthrew a couple guys before Riley salvaged the play so a number of really stupid things had to happen in order for that play to become potentially iconic

Dodgers are being pathetic but 0-2 comebacks are known to happen

I saw a meme that Clayton Kershaw’s regular season stats are inner circle HoF but in the postseason he’s basically Steve Trachsel. It’s remarkable.

Perkins,

Was thinking about Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing but they at least continued to play well and put up stats, they just weren’t as good as Michael Jordan. Kershaw just kind of gets factory reset when the postseason starts, it’s weird.

I haven’t submitted today’s IG yet but I’m wondering which of Wood/Prior/Zambrano gets picked most for a 200K season.

Perkins,

I chose Arrieta (dying laughing)

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Barry Zito was never a big strikeout guy, natch.

Big Z for life!

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I opted for Wood.

Man poor Orioles

berselius,

Gonna lose our AL pick (dying laughing)

What a poor showing

That beatdown took less than 3 hours

Imagine winning 99 and 101 games just to get swept.

Unforgiving on the rarity as there are some slim pickings for the right column

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Not the best day for rarity scores, but I managed to avoid using Nolan Ryan.

Rice Cube,

I really wanted to use Scherzer for the top right, but could not think of another player for NYM-ARI.

Tom’s letter and shit –> http://www.obstructedview.net/tom-ricketts-letter-to-fans/