MLB 2007 - World Series

[Imran Siddiqui]

****ing Glavine... hand it to the Phils on a silver platter

[snoopy369]

Florida Marlins, the NL's spoilers

They tried with the Cubs, but the Brewers wouldn't go along with it...

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
****ing Glavine... hand it to the Phils on a silver platter

We'll take it!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Days like these are why God made bourbon

Though a one game playoff for the WC tomorrow should be fun.

Now I have to pick an NL team to root for . I think I may go for the WC team. Here's for a Cleveland vs. San Diego/Colorado WS .

[Imran Siddiqui]

Had some bourbon... now for a martini... drowning the mega-collapse away .

[Ninot]

Go Red Sox!

[Imran Siddiqui]

The question becomes, who is the NL MVP? The AL MVP, I'd hope everyone agrees, is obvious (A-Rod). NL MVP is harder.

On Win Shares (at least the more complicated Hardball Times version), David Wright of the Mets leads the pack with 32 WS. However, they didn't make the playoffs. Neither did Pujols' Cards, as Pujols second with 29 WS. Third place is a bit of a surprise and a NO WAY vote, Eric Byrnes for Arizona, even though his team made the playoffs (and finished with the best record), with 28 WS. After that, you get a 3 way tie with 27 WS for Carlos Beltran, Hanley Ramirez, and Miguel Cabrera, none of whose teams made the playoffs. Then a three way tie with 26 WS by Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Matt Holiday, all of whose teams made the playoffs, and Prince Fielder, whose team didn't.

If we look at adjusted OPS+ (according to baseball-reference.com), Chipper Jones finishes first with 167, but his team missed the playoffs and he missed too many games. After that is Pujols with 160, Fielder with 157, Wright with 153, and Cabrera with 152. After that, at 6th in OPS+ is Holliday with 150.

So it's a muddle. We may have to turn to pitching, where Jake Peavy stands head and shoulders above everyone else with a 176 ERA+. Second is Brandon Webb with a 156 ERA+. Pitchers normally don't win, because they have a Cy Young award, but this year it may have to go to the pitcher, especially if San Diego wins the Wild Card. For the record, Peavy has 22 Win Shares, because pitchers only pitch every 5 days instead of hitting basically every day.

I'm thinking the closeness of the NL race means that Wright or Fielder, even though their teams lost will get plenty of play for the MVP award. I think Fielder is a sexier pick because he plays for the Brewers and hit a TON of homers. Even though Wright is the better fielder and has better hitting Win Shares. The Mets collapse will hurt Wright. If the Mets walked in, Wright may have won it easily.

So I'm thinking it's between Prince Fielder and Jake Peavy at the moment with Matt Holiday being a spoiler if Colorado makes it in as the Wild Card.

[snoopy369]

I think Holiday and Fielder are the two possibilities, with Peavy a possibility if he beats the Rockies tomorrow with a command performance. I don't think he'll get it unless he really dominates tomorrow (although I think he has the Cy Young wrapped up).

A-Rod probably does win the AL MVP

[-Jrabbit]

Then a three way tie with 26 WS by Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Matt Holiday, all of whose teams made the playoffs, and Prince Fielder, whose team didn't.

Hmm, 4 guys in a 3-way tie. Neat trick.

My take: It's between Fielder and the field.

Holiday and Wright are best of the rest, but Wright's out because of The Collapse. Pujols will always get significant support; he's the best player in the NL. But it's not his year. Those Phillies probably cancel each other out. No way will it be a pitcher, and Prince kept his team in the race almost single-handedly. Oh, and crushed 47 steroid-free HRs.

I don't think the vote will be close.

[-Jrabbit]

Oh, and I'm officially rooting for Colorado tomorrow.
GO ROCKIES!

[-Jrabbit]

I just read that Holiday "has a chance at the RBI title" in Monday's playoff (play-in?) game vs. the Padres.

How can MLB, with it's perennial holier-than-thou attitude toward its precious records, classify this as a 163rd game, with stats applied vs. the rest of the league, which plays 162?? It's clearly post-season in my eyes.

WTF is up with that???

[Imran Siddiqui]

and Prince kept his team in the race almost single-handedly

I know that's the meme, but without the amazing rookie year of Ryan Braun, the Brewers don't come close. Hell, Braun's OPS+ is almost equal to Fielder's (152 to 157)... a much better second fiddle than, say, Wright had this year (Wright's OPS+ was 153, next highest on the Mets was Moises Alou with 140).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
I just read that Holiday "has a chance at the RBI title" in Monday's playoff (play-in?) game vs. the Padres.

How can MLB, with it's perennial holier-than-thou attitude toward its precious records, classify this as a 163rd game, with stats applied vs. the rest of the league, which plays 162?? It's clearly post-season in my eyes.

WTF is up with that???

They always have, IIRC. A one game playoff has always had its stats applied to the regular season stats.

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

and Prince kept his team in the race almost single-handedly

I know that's the meme, but without the amazing rookie year of Ryan Braun, the Brewers don't come close. Hell, Braun's OPS+ is almost equal to Fielder's (152 to 157)... a much better second fiddle than, say, Wright had this year (Wright's OPS+ was 153, next highest on the Mets was Moises Alou with 140).

Your points are valid, but answer the question: "Who deserves the MVP award?"
I'm addressing the question: "Who's going to actually win the MVP award?"

This concerns the behavior of MVP voters, not sabermetrics.
It's all about the meme.

[Arrian]

Wow. I'm sorry, Imran. That's brutal.

So the Yanks are off to play the Indians. I'm not terribly confident. There are 4 or 5 pitchers on the Yankee staff I trust at all. Sabathia is a badass, and the Yanks are vulnerable to good LHP. The way their last starts went, I would prefer Hughes over Mussina in the postseason rotation. Then again, Hughes may (should) be assigned to shadow Roger in Game 3 in case Roger is still broken (or just plain sucks). Pettitte's last start stunk. Matsui is having his knee drained and apparently is limited to DHing, which basically puts Giambi on the bench (given the way he has been hitting, perhaps for the best).

The Yanks are going to need to get a little lucky. But hey, it's happened before. Go Yankees!

-Arrian