(09-28-2015 12:14 PM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  Yost and Hinch seem to be the favorites in the AL conversation. I watch a ton of the Yankee games. Yankees fans either love or Hate Girardi. I'm on the hate side. His over managing of the pen has cost us a bunch of games this year, and has put a huge burden on Betances and Miller down the stretch. Betances leads the majors in innings as a reliever and pitches thrown as a reliever. But yet on back to back nights about a month ago found himself in a 7 run game and a 4 run game on back to back nights. His over managing flabbergasts me.

St Louis seems to have been the favorite all along in the NL, but, essentially losing 2 of their pitchers(Lynn has been ineffective and Martinez done for the year). Crazy that what they do may have a lot to do with what Wainright can give them coming back.

Like I said, I don’t follow the Yankees closely, but I look at that roster and it seems as if they’ve overachieved. I hear you on managing the pen though. That is one reason I love Maddon. He makes moves that puzzle me from time to time, but he is so open in his press conferences and he usually provides his rationale. All managers make mistakes, but when they give their perspective and rationale going into the decision it’s hard to be too critical.

As for the Cards, they racked up a bunch of wins before the break, but they haven’t been as good since. They continue to win a lot of games, but they haven’t been very good against the Pirates or Cubs. I don’t recall the exact record, and a quick Google search didn’t turn up, but they have the third best record in the NL Central since the break. I don’t expect much out of Wainwright in the playoffs; I assume he’ll be out of the pen. It will be interesting to see if Molina plays, and if he is able to gut it out, how effective will he be? His bat is only a bonus, but if he can catch, manage the staff, and control the run game, that will be a huge lift for them. I don’t think Holliday is going to be a huge addition in the playoffs, but I could be wrong. They’re the Cards, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it to the WS, but they’re limping, and to me, they seem to be playing the worst baseball of all the NL playoff teams. A rotation of Wacha, Lackey and Garcia isn’t all that impressive, and their ace, Wacha, has given up 15 earned runs over his last 20 innings pitched.

I really think the Pirates are the best team in the NL right now, but they have to face the best/hottest pitcher in the NL in an elimination game. I don’t like the one game wildcard game for that reason. This year, you have MLBs 2nd and 3rd best teams (based on record) facing off in an elimination game. Can’t be in MLBs best interest to have either of those teams at home before the average fan realizes the playoffs started.