IST: Cubs @ Padres

TC in Mississippi

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This franchise is so similar to the Blackhawks...it's scary. They've built the foundation and have their core players set, now they have to keep updating it...phasing in new young players while bidding adieu to older and fading favorites. If they continue to draft well and avoid the "all in" trades, they can be a very good team for a very long time.

Good analogy. They are similar to the Blackhawks from the young superstars all the way down to the fact that they separated the business and baseball/hockey operations in an effort to make both better. Understandable with McDonough but whoda thunk it with Crane Kenney? I wonder about anyone that still questions the Ricketts' ownership.
 

Diehardfan

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My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Cubs
  1. Chicago Bulls
  1. Chicago Bears
  1. Chicago Blackhawks
Good analogy. They are similar to the Blackhawks from the young superstars all the way down to the fact that they separated the business and baseball/hockey operations in an effort to make both better. Understandable with McDonough but whoda thunk it with Crane Kenney? I wonder about anyone that still questions the Ricketts' ownership.

Ha...that would be me. I was looking for Mark Cuban to take over, not that it couldn't have worked with him but I'm pretty damn happy with the job Ricketts and his family have done. Not only with the team itself but turning Wrigley into a complex was an amazing job of future proofing the franchise.
 

TC in Mississippi

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Ha...that would be me. I was looking for Mark Cuban to take over, not that it couldn't have worked with him but I'm pretty damn happy with the job Ricketts and his family have done. Not only with the team itself but turning Wrigley into a complex was an amazing job of future proofing the franchise.

Don't feel bad. I was adamant that the only way this team would ever win was if they moved out of Wrigley to the burbs because it would force ownership to actively try to win. I was pissed that Ricketts all but took that off the table from day one. Doh. I became firmly in his camp when he hired Theo though. Boston has always been my number 2 team so I've watched Theo work for a long time.
 

CSF77

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Yeah they were talking about this on the radio the other day. 20%+ is a phenomenal probability for a single team to win the WS. It's about as high of odd's as a team can have. But we still have nearly an 80% of NOT winning. So its important to keep in perspective that we're really f'ing good and we have as good of a shot as anybody -- but the playoffs in baseball is all about who gets hot at the right time.

You can have the best team in the league and if you run into a hot team, it's over.

The odds go up every round they win. 20% a month out is pretty good.
 

beckdawg

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Good analogy. They are similar to the Blackhawks from the young superstars all the way down to the fact that they separated the business and baseball/hockey operations in an effort to make both better. Understandable with McDonough but whoda thunk it with Crane Kenney? I wonder about anyone that still questions the Ricketts' ownership.

I've never really felt bad about the Ricketts. They came from the financial industry. That's an area where optimization is so important that there are companies that buy space to get as close to internet junctions as possible because 100th's of a second make such a huge difference. I knew that would never please the "buy all the things!" crowd that wanted a team modeled after the yankees at the time. However, lean teams are ones that generally sustain success.
 

czman

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Man, we have been around each other for a long time. Not me and you, but the whole board. I mean CSF77, boobaby, czman, and multiple other are from CBS. You came here a year or two later and so did TC, PR, and all the names I am forgetting. Man, how good is our fucking team! I want a World Series more than anything. I watched the Saints win the ship and trust me. I never thought that would happen. That was some voodoo home cooking. I fucking believe. I tell people to temper their expectatios, but fuck it. This is the best Cubs team I have ever saw. I am 30 and this team is unreal. I know the window should have just started, but fuck. Lets hype the train up. I am a man that grew up in southern Louisiana. I cried when Harry Caray died. I batted like Mark Grace and Frank Thomas. No batting gloves was like Grace and the stance and power came from Thomas. Its our time. Im enjoying the ride this year. WE ARE GOOD! Try not to suck!

How nice that I made the cut. Anyone know if KB's head has exploded yet?

I don't know how often the team with the best record wins the WS, it seems like it does not happen a lot. Got to be hot at the right time.
 

brett05

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Why? Because they spend more money on an "everyday" player rather than their bench? I mean you realize if this is such a disadvantage to them that they don't HAVE to pay a starter $10 mil a year right?
You realize that by spending less on a pitcher they'd have a less chance of winning right?

You realize they can sign Darwin Barney for $1 mil and play him as a DH.

Sure, and not do as well. The NL could spend nothing on bench players or spend a lot on one guy for the games they play DH.


They CHOOSE to pay guys that rather than spending on their bench because it makes more sense and probably wins more games.
And the NL chooses to not spend on a DH bench guy so they can spend in other areas. Something the AL can't do if they want to win more games.

That's not some inherent disadvantage.
Yes it is because the rules are different. If you wanted the same balance the AL team would always have the DH and the NL would always have the pitcher bat. Truthfully we need standardized rules. That's the only way to truly balance this advantage out.

As for the AL being better... you can cite IL records all you want but if the AL truly was better 80% of the time like it suggest that would bare fruit in the playoffs and it just doesn't. I'm not even suggesting the NL is "better." I'd say they are mostly 50-50 nearly every year and honestly the world series tends to play to that. At the end of the day, if you don't buy that then whatever. I can literally cite as much math and reason as I want but if you don't buy something then you just don't buy it and I don't know how I'm suppose to argue against the numbers when they suggest the AL has always had an advantage in IL play.

1) The IL record is aprt of the evidence that the AL appears to be the stronger league.
2) The number of sub .500 teams does as well.
3) We've done the math and shown where the AL is always at a disadvantage by either having someone taken away of the NL getting an addition made.
4) The playoffs to a large degree are the hot teams. We've all said that so let's not go changing that now for such a small sample size.

I'd totally be interested in the numbers that shows this to be false. Not seen any yet that has been explained away.

My stance is who bloody cares which league is "better?" I only care which TEAM is the best because at the end of the day that's all that matters. Save this which league is better stuff for the joke that is the all-star game which I'll also mention I never watch either because it's rather pointless to me as well.

At best you can only say who is better in the league not all of baseball. When you expand all of baseball you need to expand your criteria in the absence of a balanced schedule.
 

brett05

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They did this after IL started not prior to. Granted it makes more sense having 15 teams in each league but I think the longer term plan is moving to 32 teams with 4 divisions a la the NFL. Also, technically you wouldn't have to have an IL game but it would require either a long season with more off days or the proposed shortened season.

Technically you can't do it without IL play basically everyday unless like you said a season goes on for more than a year or you play a shortened season like 3 games. Just put together a day of games where no IL play happens and yet all teams do. Not possible.
 

brett05

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If they removed the WC all together and went 4 champs per league. That might work then

Only if you have a balanced schedule against the other 15 teams.
 

brett05

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On a basic level I agree with you but there's a lot of nuance there. Most teams with long term success have a solid organizational structure behind them. On the other hand you don't win without talent. Sometimes talent overcomes a poor organization, hell the Cubs almost did it in 2003, but I don't think there are a ton of instances of that in baseball. The best teams of course have both, solid organizational foundation and superior talent.

Wasn't that the year that the Cubs did have both? #1 farm and the team in the bigs?
 

CSF77

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Only if you have a balanced schedule against the other 15 teams.

I'm not a fan of IL myself. Add to it not a fan of weighted in division games either. A bad division 1 good team can fatten up and get in.

Prefer a in league balanced schedule. Winners of each div advances. Now this will bring back the whole Bsox issues again. 2nd best team assed out. But comes down to winning your division.
 

CSF77

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Or they can remove the division moniker and just make it top 4 teams per league advance
 

brett05

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I think you can get rid of divisions if you play a balanced schedule.
 

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