Tag MLB

Red Sox vs Rays: Battle For The AL East

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are currently doing battle for first place in the AL East. The Rays entered the three game series against Boston up .5 game, but things could be quite different after these three games. In game one, a late rally by the Red Sox came up short as they stranded the tying run on third in the ninth and fell to the Rays 5-4. Even though a simple flyout hit a catwalk and turned into a double and Rays’ closer Troy Percival hurt himself backing up third base, Boston could not get the big hits and could not take advantage of those strokes of luck. Unlike, previous seasons the Sox can no longer consider Tampa Bay as “Fenway South”. For the first time in their history, the Ray fans outnumber the Sox fans in Tampa Bay. The Ray fans are finally proud of their team and showing up to the ballpark. They had a record crowd yesterday and had the best ratings for Rays’ TV in their history. It’d be tough to find a person who is unhappy with Tampa’s new-found success. The team struggled for so long and they played day after day without fans and without hope, but now that they have finally broken through, I don’t seem them going away anytime soon.

They have a young pitching staff and a solid bullpen. That’s not to mention their lineup, which though not overpowering, does pack a punch. Carl Crawford is still young and his best years are yet to come, though he seems to have gotten a step slower. BJ Upton and Evan Longoria are both terrific and are extremely young. The team is inexperienced so I’m not sure they can play this well for a 162 game season or handle pressure late-game situations in September. I think the Red Sox will win the AL East eventually, but not easily. If they don’t win the AL East, the Rays have a great shot at the Wild Card. I don’t see any other non-division winner really giving the Rays a run in the Wild Card. First off though, they are shooting for the AL East and that begins with the Red Sox and this three game series in Tampa Bay. Continue reading “Red Sox vs Rays: Battle For The AL East” →

The Unfairness of Interleague Play

Danny Vinik 2 Comments

I am very confused with MLB scheduling. I can’t figure out how any of it makes sense and can’t see how it could possibly be fair, especially with Interleague games. The Red Sox, for instance, face NL teams that are a combined 27 games over .500 while the Yankees face teams a combined 20 games under .500. How can that possibly be fair? Or how about the fact that the teams withthe four hardest strength of schedules are all from the American League East, but the Yankees are not one of them (they are 13th). The teams with the 11 highest strength of schedules are all American League teams and the teams withthe 11 lowest strength of schedules are all National League teams. I know the AL is beating up on the NL, but is that what creates this ridiculous difference. Even crazier, of those 11 NLteams with easy schedules, only 6 have records above .500 while of those 11 AL teams with tough schedules, only 4 have records below .500. Thus, the teams with easy schedules are losing and the teams with tough schedules are winning. Wouldn’t that suggest that those 11 AL teams are an incredibly amount better than those NL teams? Amongst those 11 NL teams are all three NL division leaders, the Phillies, Cubs, and Diamondbacks. Are we really supposed to expect the NL to contend with the AL? Continue reading “The Unfairness of Interleague Play” →

MLB All Star Starters

Danny Vinik 3 Comments

The Major League Baseball season is nearing its midpoint and with that comes the 2008 All Star game in Yankee Stadium. With fans voting for the All Star starters, the game many times turns into a popularity contest with deserving players not voted in as starters. Here are those American League players who should be starting at the 2008 All Star game:

Designated Hitter: I find it funny this year that there are no designated hitters have good years. I will give the nod to David Ortiz (though he is injured) with his 13 home runs and 43 RBI, but his .252 batting average makes him a non-ideal candidate. Of the 6 players qualifying for DH, only Hideki Matsui has a batting average above .265, but Matsui has only 7 home runs and 34 RBI, hardly an All Star caliber season. No DH is slugging above .500, so with the lack of talent at DH this year, I select Ortiz as he is the most balanced player amongst designated hitters.

Catcher: There aren’t very many candidates in the AL for starting catcher, but it has to go to someone. With a .332 batting average and .417 on base percentage, Joe Mauer is my choice to start at catcher. He has only 2 home runs and 27 RBI, but no other American League catcher stands out. Mauer has made only 2 errors at catcher all season and has thrown out 34% of runners. Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters” →