MLB: ***Official 2018 Chicago Cubs Season Thread***

Nah, I don’t agree with that. They play each other 18 times - the other 144 matter too. A lot can happen in a season and it shouldn’t just rest on if you had a healthy stretch, were hot, etc etc when you played the other team. They tied, they have a tiebreaker for that. Play it on the field at the end.
dumb
 
Lol, okay. You start naming all the players who started their careers never walking but started taking walks at a league average rate. I won't say it never happens but it's very, very rare. Javy Baez is a hell of a player, but he's never going to have a .380 obp.

I tend to agree here, Baez's improvement this year was actually from being more aggressive, swinging at even more pitches than before, jumping all over the first strike he saw. That's why I'm fairly pessimistic on Almora's ceiling, he has almost as bad as chase rate as Baez without the elite bat speed and power. Playing two below average hitters in OF spots is hard to overcome, no matter how good their defense is.
 
I would really like to see MLB go back to a 154 game season offering a few more off days during the season and ending at least a day earlier which would create time for a three game wild card series. Having so few days off in the season leads to more player injuries than necessary and can really bullocks things up if the weather doesn't cooperate - see Cubs final month and a half this season. The best team in the league should get to play the worst team regardless if it is a wildcard or division winner. I would also like to see winning in the season be rewarded in the playoffs. If a team like the Yanks this year has the second best record in their league they should host in every round they have the better record than their opponent. The wild card game (or series if they make it happen) is enough of a disadvantage (punishment) for not winning the division.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: psychlone99
I would really like to see MLB go back to a 154 game season offering a few more off days during the season and ending at least a day earlier which would create time for a three game wild card series. Having so few days off in the season leads to more player injuries than necessary and can really bullocks things up if the weather doesn't cooperate - see Cubs final month and a half this season. The best team in the league should get to play the worst team regardless if it is a wildcard or division winner. I would also like to see winning in the season be rewarded in the playoffs. If a team like the Yanks this year has the second best record in their league they should host in every round they have the better record than their opponent. The wild card game (or series if they make it happen) is enough of a disadvantage (punishment) for not winning the division.
The thing about 3 game series is this... what format? 1-1-1 is the only fair way to play it and that is a lot of travel in 3 days, especially when the winner will then be traveling to the division series city after winning.

You can’t do a 2-1 or a 1-2. Neither is fair to the team with home field advantage.

I don’t disagree about 154 games. The season starts too early and ends too late. It really disadvantages teams like the cubs that can’t shelf themselves from the weather with a roof.
 
I don’t disagree about 154 games. The season starts too early and ends too late. It really disadvantages teams like the cubs that can’t shelf themselves from the weather with a roof.

I agree, makes no sense that you play the bulk of the schedule during the warm summer months and then end it in late October and early November.
 
The thing about 3 game series is this... what format? 1-1-1 is the only fair way to play it and that is a lot of travel in 3 days, especially when the winner will then be traveling to the division series city after winning.

You can’t do a 2-1 or a 1-2. Neither is fair to the team with home field advantage.

I don’t disagree about 154 games. The season starts too early and ends too late. It really disadvantages teams like the cubs that can’t shelf themselves from the weather with a roof.

Team with the better record gets to host all three. No travel. Done in 3 days barring weather.
 
424.gif
 
I would really like to see MLB go back to a 154 game season offering a few more off days during the season and ending at least a day earlier which would create time for a three game wild card series. Having so few days off in the season leads to more player injuries than necessary and can really bullocks things up if the weather doesn't cooperate - see Cubs final month and a half this season. The best team in the league should get to play the worst team regardless if it is a wildcard or division winner. I would also like to see winning in the season be rewarded in the playoffs. If a team like the Yanks this year has the second best record in their league they should host in every round they have the better record than their opponent. The wild card game (or series if they make it happen) is enough of a disadvantage (punishment) for not winning the division.

Totally agree on the 154 games move. Not a lot of off days and many of those are travel days. With all of the rain this spring there were a lot of off days that became makeup game days. When they expanded that years ago there was only the World Series seven games to play. Now they end up playing for a month into possible freezing ass bad baseball weather. Reducing to 154 would only cost teams a one home series a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VeloClone
If shortening the season is an issue for MLB in terms of money, I got a few solutions.

1. End your dumb blackout rule

2. Make it 150 games and give teams a weekly day off

3. Expand the playoffs.

People aren’t watching MLB mid season. They are watching playoffs.

I can get on board with these. The blackout doesn't affect me much with my Yankee MLB subscription. The only games blacked out this year were the Twins series and that was on local cable. The blackout stuff totally ******* blows for Minnesota and Iowa area fans of regional teams. It's ridiculous considering they are trying to sell subscriptions and streaming is what people are trending to, not big channel cable TV.
 
If shortening the season is an issue for MLB in terms of money, I got a few solutions.

1. End your dumb blackout rule

2. Make it 150 games and give teams a weekly day off

3. Expand the playoffs.

People aren’t watching MLB mid season. They are watching playoffs.

The whole game is in need of a reset. Reduced schedule, more regional games, uniform schedules, play minor leagues fair wages, etc.
 

Help Support Us

Become a patron