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MLB 2021

Discussion in 'Sports' started by Gatorrari, Mar 27, 2021.

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  1. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    I think that Sports Illustrated just gave the kiss of death to the Atlanta Braves - they picked them to beat the Yankees in the World Series.

    Consensus up until now has the Yankees winning the AL and either the Dodgers or Braves in the NL. And fans will be back in the stands; the Braves are starting at 33% of capacity and the Yankees at 20%, and those numbers should go up as the season progresses. (The Braves are hoping for 100% by the time the All-Star game comes to town in July.)

    On Thursday it will be time to play ball, and that's no April Fools' joke!
     
  2. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Why the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers will be the greatest team in baseball history

    https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2021-03-29/dodgers-best-ever-team-major-league-history

    Meet the 2021 Dodgers, a team that is going to write the kind of stirring sequel rarely seen in Hollywood, an emphatic baseball encore that will lock down Murderer’s Row, smother the Gashouse Gang, and turn the Big Red Machine blue.

    Last season they were one of the best teams in Dodgers history.

    This season they’re going to be the best team in baseball history.

    Clip this claim. Print it out. Tape it up. You read it here first. You’ll read it here last.

    The Dodgers will be better than a 1927 New York Yankees team that didn’t play against a representative population. They will be better than a 1976 Cincinnati Reds team that required only seven postseason wins. They will be even better than a 1998 Yankees team that can’t match their starting pitching.


    These Dodgers are loaded and stacked. They’re deep and wide. They’re brainy and brawny. They’re competitive and cool.

    They have MVPs, Cy Young Award winners and Game 7 heroes scattered about the dugout like sunflower seeds. They have Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers and walk-off homers spread across the batter’s box like cleat marks.

    They have hotshot kids and Hall of Fame veterans. They have summer grinders and October heroes. They are shaped by the best mind in the game and commanded by the most resilient manager.

    Returning all but two important pieces from last year’s roster — and having countered those platoon pieces with two former Cy Young Award winners — there’s really nothing they can’t do.

    These Dodgers have a legitimate chance to equal the major league record of 116 wins, a mark shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners.

    They have deep scars. They have long memories. They rely on them both. Nothing fazes them. No bad stretch can rattle them.

    You think that’s crazy? Their 43 wins during last year’s 60-game season translated to 116 wins in a full season, and they’ve only gotten better.

    These Dodgers also have a legitimate chance to dominate the lousy National League West for a ninth consecutive season — hey Padres, beat them in a big game and then pop off — and roll to the title against American League teams that just don’t compare.

    You think that’s being myopic? Las Vegas has installed the Dodgers as clear championship favorites, while the PECOTA projections — a smart analytical model — figures the Dodgers to win six more games than anybody else.

    The Dodgers aren’t just good, they’re surreal good, Andrew Friedman having spent the last six years using both bold strokes and intricate sketches to create a roster that resembles a hardball masterpiece.

    They have a lock first-ballot Hall of Fame starting pitcher . . . and Clayton Kershaw might be only the third most impactful starter in the rotation, ranking behind big-game Walker Buehler and defending Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer.

    They have their franchise’s all-time saves leader . . . and Kenley Jansen isn’t even one of the best pitchers in a bullpen populated by the likes of solid Blake Treinen, tricky Victor González, seemingly resurgent Corey Knebel, and eventually nasty Brusdar Graterol.

    The Dodgers are so stocked, the two players featured in last October’s championship clinching video aren’t even prominently featured on the depth chart. Although you wept when you watched them, Julio Urías is just the fourth starter and Austin Barnes the backup catcher.

    The Dodgers have so many marquee names, the most anonymous role on the team is manned by a former Cy Young winner. Around here, David Price might be just another long reliever.

    Then there is AJ Pollock, who has double-digit homers in five of the last six seasons . . . and is batting at the bottom of the order. Or how about Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, two starting pitchers who had sub-3.00 ERAs last year . . . yet only one can make the rotation.

    When last season ended, the Dodgers roster included, among many October stars, one player who had three homers in a clinching postseason game and another who was so clutch in the playoffs it earned him a nickname. Yet the organization is so talented, it let both players walk in free agency, with Kiké Hernandez going to Boston and Joc “Joctober” Pederson going to the Cubs.

    The two veterans will be missed. The Dodgers bench is a tad thin and inexperienced. The infield is shakier with former prospect Gavin Lux giving it another shot at second base

    But one of the reserves, Edwin Rios, hit two homers in last fall’s National League Championship Series. Another is the ever-dependable Chris Taylor. And still another is everybody’s favorite catcher Barnes.

    And this is a team that can handle a question mark. Check out its weathered resume, seven years of postseason failure before last year’s success, their shield in the storm. They have deep scars. They have long memories. They rely on them both. Nothing fazes them. No bad stretch can rattle them. No good week can placate them. Nothing interferes with their vision toward autumn. In the last four years they have either won the World Series, played in the World Series, or lost to the team that eventually won the World Series. The Fall Classic has become their second home. Halloween has been printed on their schedule. They don’t hope for a deep playoff run, they expect it.

    This week I asked manager Dave Roberts, how good can this team be?

    He knows. He won’t exactly say, but you could hear it in his voice, he knows.

    “We have a chance to do something really special and win a championship,” he said in a videoconference. “You don’t play the game on paper, and you have to play 162 games this year, and see where we end up. But I think that if you look at talent, potential, it could be as good as any team the Dodgers have ever fielded.”

    Then I asked him, is this the most talented collection of players he’s ever been around?

    “I think that with what this core group has been through, some tough times, and obviously that elation of last year . . . the pedigree is there, the talent is there, and obviously you bring in Trevor Bauer and you bring back David Price and then the younger players that have gotten even more experience, you would think that makes them even better, yeah, there’s no telling how good this club can be.”

    The best team in baseball history, that’s how good.
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  3. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Dodgers suck donkey wee wee.


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  4. 95spiderman

    95spiderman F1 World Champ
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    hard to get excited as yankee fan since injuries seemed to ruin every season this decade. hoping for healthy 21
     
  5. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    I had a streak going where I missed only one opening day at Fenway 2000-2019. Also hit about a dozen openers at CBP in Philly during that period. For some reason, I have zero interest in baseball this year.
     
  6. Steelton Keith

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    Phils on track for undefeated season!
     
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  7. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    :rolleyes::p:D
     
  8. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    More proof that anything can happen in baseball

     
  9. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    Phils 3-0. Bullpen preserved leads in all three wins. This is not fiction
     
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  10. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Dodgers win 5 in a row after dropping opening day to Colorado. Haven't played one home game yet.
     
  11. Steelton Keith

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    Phils on fire
     
  12. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    I don't know what its like outside of LA but Angels and Dodger resale prices are astronomical.
     
  13. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

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    Neither of those teams won the World Series.

    The Mets bullpen is already in mid-season form. In other words, they suck...T
     
  14. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    Tom, when your bullpen gets above last year's Phils' historic mark for bullpen futility (ERA 7+) , let me know
     
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  15. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Justin Turner hits a home run that lands right in a fan's nachos. Splashes cheese all over his jacket so the Dodgers gave him a free jacket during the game.
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  16. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Dodgers off to an amazing start. Best record in the entire league by far. Plus 39 differential. Part of it may be because they played Colorado so many times this early but last night they played a hell of a game against SD and won in extra innings.
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  17. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    The 1984 Tigers started 35-5 en route to a championship; that's the best start that I can remember. Let's see where the Dodgers are after 40 games.
     
  18. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    Check out video of Phils' Harper getting hit in the face 97 mph fastball. Cardinals' pitcher drilled the next guy in the middle of the back w/ next pitch
     
  19. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    If you hadn't noticed, the "mighty" Dodgers have fallen out of first place.....
     
  20. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Yes they suck!
     
  21. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    Philes screwed again by umps...two totally missed calls on the same play. The guy they called out was safe and the guy they called safe was out.
     
  22. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

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    Let's hope for more of the same from the boys in blue!

    T
     
  23. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    Don't those two cancel each other out? :)
     
  24. Steelton Keith

    Steelton Keith F1 Veteran
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    I don't know what I watched / listened to in Mets-Phils series, but it wasn't baseball.
     
  25. ag512bbi

    ag512bbi F1 Veteran
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    They suck
     
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