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I just woke up and saw the results of the first game of the divisional round, I have to say I was surprised. Arizona going 1-0 up against the Dodgers? Texas going 1-0 up against the Orioles? I guess now’s when we find out what these teams are made of, seems a lot of new contenders are making themselves felt.
 
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At least both NL games went the way I wanted them to...
 
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Pretty close games last night. Looks like the Dodgers may not make the NLCS, let alone the World Series. Given the relatively strong showing of the wild card teams, who would say that the extra rest the seeded teams get is really an advantage?
 
Oh I think it adds charm to use the short series. If you win 100 games but don’t get your timing right with regards to form or aren’t clutch when it matters, you go out. That’s fine by me, it means that a plucky lesser team who do have a big game mentality can put together a deep post-season run.

Anyway that is what makes a great manager, that ability to inspire a team to a really big game. That is why rivalries are so important, I think winning Red Sox teams of the last 20 years have been quite good examples of clutch-ness, but would they have been as great without the regular Yankees games to sharpen them up?

Also there is the whole thing of “how many teams participate vs the number of games to be played vs how late in the year do you continue” balance.
 
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Oh I think it adds charm to use the short series. If you win 100 games but don’t get your timing right with regards to form or aren’t clutch when it matters, you go out. That’s fine by me, it means that a plucky lesser team who do have a big game mentality can put together a deep post-season run.

Anyway that is what makes a great manager, that ability to inspire a team to a really big game. That is why rivalries are so important, I think winning Red Sox teams of the last 20 years have been quite good examples of clutch-ness, but would they have been as great without the regular Yankees games to sharpen them up?

Also there is the whole thing of “how many teams participate vs the number of games to be played vs how late in the year do you continue” balance.

That's my other pet peeve - too many playoff teams. Division winners, plus one wildcard was perfect.
 
If they repeat this year's success next year, they'll go even further. Wouldn't surprise me if they sign a few big names this off season to help them get over that last hump. But in their defense, the Rangers are like a wrecking ball so there's that too.
They and the Astros... just wow!

It's down to the Rangers, Twins(very little hope for them), and Phillies for me.
 
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Rangers got hot again at the right time, first sweeping the Rays and now the Orioles. I'd be fairly pleased to see Bruce Bochy win another ring. He's going to need to wring as much magic as he can out of that pitching staff and bullpen, who are nowhere near as good as the Giants' late inning specialists at their peak. Or else their offense had better keep bludgeoning the opposition.
 
Rangers got hot again at the right time, first sweeping the Rays and now the Orioles. I'd be fairly pleased to see Bruce Bochy win another ring. He's going to need to wring as much magic as he can out of that pitching staff and bullpen, who are nowhere near as good as the Giants' late inning specialists at their peak. Or else their offense had better keep bludgeoning the opposition.
100% AGREED!!
 
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Yeah, the schadenfreude is in overdrive right now with the Dodgers bowing out meekly. They simply ran out of starting pitching this season.

[EDIT: and Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman had only one hit between them? Yikes.]
 
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