Bored

Well definately don't use that line-up they used for five games because it had Lance Blankenship in it. But your right even in the playoffs LaRussa never settled on a regular line-up as the only thing that was the norm during the season was Rickey leading off and Canseco batting 3rd.

You can already start signing up for March Madness on Demand so you can watch all the games. I'm shocked CBS is still doing this for free as I thought for sure after doing it last year for free they'd start charging a fee.

The 1987 Seattle Mariners beat the 1989 Oakland A's. Yup, this tournament is a mess. In fact only two higher seeds advance in the 1st Round of this division/region. Thought about scrapping the whole idea but might as well see how bizarre this gets and see if every 16 seed advances. All three A's teams were bounced so definately can't be accused of fixing this. (16) 1987 Seattle Mariners def. (1) 1989 Oakland Athletics 4-3 Game 1: Mariners 4, A's 3 15 innings Game 2: A's 8, Mariners 3 Game 3: A's 4, Mariners 3 10 innings Game 4: Mariners 6, A's 5 12 innings Game 5: Mariners 4, A's 0 Game 6: A's 3, Mariners 1 Game 7: Mariners 7, A's 3 Phil Bradley: 14-32, 5 2B (9) 1986 California Angels def. (8) 1982 California Angels 4-2 Game 1: '82 Angels 8, '86 Angels 0 Game 2: '86 Angels 6, '82 Angels 4 Game 3: '86 Angels 4, '82 Angels 3 10 innings Game 4: '86 Angels 9, '82 Angels 5 Game 5: '82 Angels 5, '86 Angels 3 13 innings Game 6: '86 Angels 4, '82 Angels 0 Brian Downing ('86): 4 HR, 7 RBI (13) 1982 Kansas City Royals def. (4) 1988 Oakland Athletics 4-2 Game 1: A's 2, Royals 1 11 innings Game 2: Royals 6, A's 1 Game 3: Royals 4, A's 3 Game 4: Royals 7, A's 2 Game 5: A's 5, Royals 1 Game 6: Royals 2, A's 1 Vida Blue: 2-0, 1.06 ERA (12) 1988 Minnesota Twins def. (5) 1980 Kansas City Royals 4-3 Game 1: Royals 4, Twins 1 Game 2: Royals 3, Twins 2 Game 3: Twins 4, Royals 2 Game 4: Twins 6, Royals 3 Game 5: Royals 8, Twins 2 Game 6: Twins 6, Royals 4 Game 7: Twins 6, Royals 4 Tom Herr: 10-27, 3 SB (6) 1983 Chicago White Sox def. (11) 1989 Kansas City Royals 4-2 Game 1: Royals 5, White Sox 1 Game 2: Royals 9, White Sox 4 Game 3: White Sox 5, Royals 1 Game 4: White Sox 2, Royals 0 Game 5: White Sox 4, Royals 2 Game 6: White Sox 5, Royals 3 Harold Baines: 11-26, 2 HR, 6 RBI (3) 1987 Minnesota Twins def. (14) 1985 California Angels 4-1 Game 1: Angels 7, Twins 4 Game 2: Twins 7, Angels 5 Game 3: Twins 2, Angels 0 Game 4: Twins 2, Angels 0 Game 5: Twins 6, Angels 0 Tom Brunansky: 3 HR, 6 RBI (10) 1984 Kansas City Royals def. (7) 1981 Oakland Athletics 4-1 Game 1: A's 1, Royals 0 10 innings Game 2: Royals 3, A's 1 Game 3: Royals 2, A's 0 Game 4: Royals 5, A's 1 Game 5: Royals 4, A's 2 Royals' Team ERA: 0.99 (15) 1981 Texas Rangers def. (2) 1985 Kansas City Royals 4-2 Game 1: Royals 7, Rangers 6 10 innings Game 2: Rangers 9, Royals 2 Game 3: Rangers 8, Royals 7 Game 4: Rangers 4, Royals 2 Game 5: Royals 7, Rangers 3 Game 6: Rangers 12, Royals 0 Mickey Rivers: 14-27, 7 RBI A.L. West Quarterfinal Match-ups (16) '87 Mariners vs. (9) '86 Angels (13) '82 Royals vs. (12) '88 Twins (6) '83 White Sox vs. (3) '87 Twins (15) '81 Rangers vs. (10) '84 Royals Up Next: N.L. West

Hey it's the one year anniversary of my blog...um, yay? I've been putting off several ideas such as a list of the Top 100 players of my "baseball lifetime" (1986-present) and also the Top 50 Oakland A's of all-time, shrunk from 100 since realizing that the list would be populated with guys who played two years or less with them. So I figured I'd do my biggest staple of my blog over the past year and that was the Award Redos. I originally was going to do the 1991 A.L. MVP but then rememebered, I already did it. But in that entry after I gave Frank Thomas both the 1991 and 1992 awards I wondered if the Big Hurt should have won four straight MVPs? So now to find out if his first real MVP should have been his 3rd overall. There was zero controversy for the 1993 A.L. MVP as Thomas won it unanimously. Typically when a player wins an MVP unanimously he probably was at the very least a deserving winner and certainly it was no exception here. Although he didn't lead the league in any major category he was in the Top 10 in Average, Runs, OBP, SLG, Homeruns, RBI, Walks, and Total Bases while helping the White Sox to their first division crown in 10 years. Since there was no real race there was no other players considered serious contenders. The defending champion Blue Jays were loaded with stars with Paul Molitor and John Olerud finished 2nd and 3rd in the voting repsectively while Robert Alomar finished 6th. Homerun champ Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey Jr., who had his first big homerun year with 45, rounded out the Top 5. Actual Results 1) Frank Thomas 2) Paul Molitor 3) John Olerud 4) Juan Gonzalez 5) Ken Griffey Jr 6) Roberto Alomar 7) Albert Belle 8) Rafael Palmeiro 9) Jack McDowell 10) Carlos Baerga 11) Jimmy Key 12) Joe Carter 13t) Jimmy Key 13t) Jeff Montgomery 15) Kenny Lofton 16t) Chris Hoiles 16t) Tony Phillips 18) Mo Vaughn 19t) Don Mattingly 19t) Cal Ripken 21) Alex Fernandez 22t) Greg Gagne 22t) Duane Ward 24t) Kevin Appier 24t) Cecil Fielder 24t) Randy Johnson #10 .289/.432/.474, 101 RC, 147 OPS+, .343 EQA, 56.7 VORP, 25 Win Shares #9 .310/.416/.585, 100 RC, 163 OPS+, .340 EQA, 60.4 VORP, 26 Win Shares #8 178 ERA+, 2.30 K/BB, 1.11 WHIP, 82.7 VORP, 27 Win Shares #7 .332/.402/.509, 131 RC, 142 OPS+, .325 EQA, 69.9 VORP, 29 Win Shares #6 .326/.408/.492, 118 RC, 140 OPS+, .323 EQA, 75.3 VORP, 30 Win Shares #5 .295/.371/.554, 123 RC, 150 OPS+, .327 EQA, 59.2 VORP, 31 Win Shares #4 .310/.368/.632, 120 RC, 169 OPS+, .339 EQA, 67.8 VORP, 31 Win Shares #3 .309/.408/.617, 146 RC, 172 OPS+, .343 EQA, 86.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares #2 .317/.426/.607, 144 RC, 177 OPS+, .356 EQA, 79.0 VORP, 32 Win Shares #1 .363/.473/.599, 156 RC, 185 OPS+, .372 EQA, 92.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares THAT'S WHAT YOU GET YOUR TRAITOR!!! Olerud had flirted with .400 for a little while as he was hitting .402 on August 1st but he tailed off after that and with the Blue Jays being loaded he couldn't garner a first place vote. He was better than Thomas across the board and was the easy pick here for me. If he could kept his chase for .400 a little longer he might have given Thomas a run for the MVP but maybe the writers thought he looked too much like a retarded kid running out to the field with his helmet on.

1990 Oakland A's Embarassing sweep at the hands of the Reds in the Series but were like the late-90's Yankees in that they acquired Harold Baines and Willie McGee near the end of the season not because they needed them but rather because they could.

We're probably not that far way from when ESPN just becomes it's own 24 hour infomercial for everything ESPN related. Hell the only reason why they are giving John Amaechi as much attention as they are is because they are publishing his book.

This reeks of MLB trying to seperate itself from the "Steroid Era" by coming up with an artificial way to control homerun totals. That being said I don't think humidor will have as big effect on homeruns overall as it does in a higher elevation like Denver.

ESPN.com is reporting that Shannon Stewart will be signing a one-year deal with the A's for $2.5 million. I suppose it's not a big risk and essentially is replacing Jay Payton although it makes the effort to get Ryan Goleski in the Rule 5 draft kind of pointless as they is no roster spot for him now unless they trade someone.

The A.L. West features three World Champions, two of them on paper being the two weakest World Series winners in that decade. The Royals lead the way with five teams as some may forget at one time they weren't a complete joke. The White Sox, Rangers, and Mariners have just one team a piece, Mariners being the only franchise in the 80's who failed to have a winning record with their '87 team leading the way with 78 wins. Can they shock the world and upset the '89 A's in the 1st Round? #1 1989 Oakland Athletics (99-63, defeated San Francisco 4-0 in World Series) OPS+: 104 (t-3rd) ERA+: 118 (1st) DefEff: .715 (1st) Best Player: Rickey Henderson Best Pitcher: Mike Moore #2 1985 Kansas City Royals (91-71, defeated St. Louis 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 95 (t-12th) ERA+: 119 (2nd) DefEff: .701 (8th) Best Player: George Brett Best Pitcher: Brett Saberhagen #3 1987 Minnesota Twins (85-77, defeated St. Louis 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 96 (10th) ERA+: 100 (t-8th) DefEff: .700 (t-6th) Best Player: Kirby Puckett Best Pitcher: Frank Viola #4 1988 Oakland Athletics (104-58, lost to Los Angeles 4-1 in World Series) OPS+: 109 (4th) ERA+: 110 (t-2nd) DefEff: .710 (4th) Best Player: Jose Canseco Best Pitcher: Dave Stewart #5 1980 Kansas City Royals (97-65, lost to Philadelphia 4-2 in World Series) OPS+: 107 (t-4th) ERA+: 105 (5th) DefEff: .707 (3rd) Best Player: George Brett Best Pitcher: Larry Gura #6 1983 Chicago White Sox (99-63, lost to Baltimore 3-1 in ALCS) OPS+: 100 (t-6th) ERA+: 114 (2nd) DefEff: .712 (2nd) Best Player: Carlton Fisk Best Pitcher: Richard Dotson #7 1981 Oakland Athletics (64-45, lost to New York 3-0 in ALCS) OPS+: 103 (9th) ERA+: 105 (3rd) DefEff: .732 (2nd) Best Player: Rickey Henderson Best Pitcher: Steve McCatty #8 1982 California Angels (93-69, lost to Milwaukee 3-2 in ALCS) OPS+: 114 (2nd) ERA+: 107 (t-3rd) DefEff: .712 (4th) Best Player: Doug DiCinces Best Pitcher: Geoff Zahn #9 1986 California Angels (92-70, lost to Boston 4-3 in ALCS) OPS+: 103 (t-6th) ERA+: 107 (4th) DefEff: .715 (3rd) Best Player: Brian Downing Best Pitcher: Mike Witt #10 1984 Kansas City Royals (84-78, lost to Detroit 3-0 in ALCS) OPS+: 97 (t-8th) ERA+: 103 (6th) DefEff: .711 (4th) Best Player: Willie Wilson Best Pitcher: Dan Quisenberry #11 1989 Kansas City Royals (92-70, finished 7 games behind Oakland) OPS+: 98 (t-8th) ERA+: 109 (t-3rd) DefEff: .692 (11th) Best Player: Kevin Seitzer Best Pitcher: Bret Saberhagen #12 1988 Minnesota Twins (91-71, finished 13 games behind Oakland) OPS+: 110 (t-2nd) ERA+: 104 (t-4th) DefEff: .699 (6th) Best Player: Kirby Puckett Best Pitcher: Frank Viola #13 1982 Kansas City Royals (90-72, finished 3 games behind California) OPS+: 109 (3rd) ERA+: 100 (t-8th) DefEff: .716 (3rd) Best Player: George Brett Best Pitcher: Dan Quisenberry #14 1985 California Angels (90-72, finished 1 game behind Kansas City) OPS+: 97 (8th) ERA+: 105 (t-6th) DefEff: .710 (t-4th) Best Player: Brian Downing Best Pitcher: Donnie Moore #15 1981 Texas Rangers (57-48, second best overall record in A.L. West) OPS+: 105 (t-5th) ERA+: 102 (t-6th) DefEff: .713 (t-5th) Best Player: Buddy Bell Best Pitcher: Doc Medich #16 1987 Seattle Mariners (78-84, finished 7 games behind Minnesota) OPS+: 97 (t-8th) ERA+: 105 (5th) DefEff: .694 (10th) Best Player: Phil Bradley Best Pitcher: Mark Langston 1st Round Match-ups '87 Mariners vs. '89 A's '86 Angels vs. '82 Angels '82 Royals vs. '88 A's '88 Twins vs. '80 Royals '89 Royals vs. '83 White Sox '85 Angels vs. '87 Twins '84 Royals vs. '81 A's '81 Rangers vs. '85 Royals

Okay now I wish the Bears had won.

I think Rhodes/Addai co-MVP would make sense. That being said they'll probably give it to Manning.

Joseph Addai is now just one catch shy of tying the Super Bowl record of 11. Now that would be a bizarre player to break the receptions record.

11, Super Bowl V & XXVII. Take away the Hester return and the Colts have dominated this game yet the only have a two point lead to show for it.

I'm the same way as the more recent Super Bowl films just aren't that ineresting to me. I think the main reason is the lack of John Facenda as his narration just brought an extra level of gravitas to the films.

When you run simulations like this there will be bizarre results but I wasn't anticipating the '86 Mets getting bounced by the '88 Pirates but it happened and in only five games. Strat-O-Matic hates the Mets apparently as of their five teams only the '88 team survived. The '80 Phillies were also bounced as the '80 Expos got "revenge" for losing out by a game for the division title in 1980. (16) 1988 Pittsburgh Pirates def. (1) 1986 New York Mets 4-1 Game 1: Mets 6, Pirates 5 Game 2: Pirates 6, Mets 1 Game 3: Pirates 4, Mets 3 11 innings Game 4: Pirates 2, Mets 0 Game 5: Pirates 4, Mets 3 Bobby Bonilla: 9-20, 6 RBI (9) 1989 Chicago Cubs def. (8) 1984 Chicago Cubs 4-2 Game 1: '84 Cubs 8, '89 Cubs 6 Game 2: '89 Cubs 9, '84 Cubs 3 Game 3: '89 Cubs 6, '84 Cubs 2 Game 4: '84 Cubs 6, '89 Cubs 2 10 innings Game 5: '89 Cubs 9, '84 Cubs 5 Game 6: '89 Cubs 12, '84 Cubs 1 Andre Dawson: 9-24, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI (4) 1985 St. Louis Cardinals def. (13) 1987 New York Mets 4-3 Game 1: Cardinals 3, Mets 2 Game 2: Mets 9, Cardinals 0 Game 3: Mets 4, Cardinals 3 Game 4: Cardinals 6, Mets 1 Game 5: Mets 2, Cardinals 1 Game 6: Cardinals 5, Mets 4 Game 7: Cardinals 5, Mets 3 Vince Coleman: 7 SB (12) 1981 St. Louis Cardinals def. (5) 1987 St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 Game 1: '87 Cardinals 5, '81 Cardinals 4 Game 2: '81 Cardinals 9, '87 Cardinals 1 Game 3: '81 Cardinals 7, '87 Cardinals 4 10 innings Game 4: '81 Cardinals 4, '87 Cardinals 0 Game 5: '87 Cardinals 3, '81 Cardinals 2 10 innings Game 6: '81 Cardinals 7, '87 Cardinals 3 Darrell Porter: 3 HR, 11 RBI (6) 1983 Philadelphia Phillies def. (11) 1985 New York Mets 4-3 Game 1: Mets 3, Phillies 2 Game 2: Phillies 6, Mets 5 13 innings Game 3: Phillies 5, Mets 1 Game 4: Mets 2, Phillies 1 Game 5: Mets 4, Phillies 2 Game 6: Phillies 12, Mets 1 Game 7: Phillies 6, Mets 0 Mike Schmidt: 11-28, 7 HR, 13 RBI (14) 1980 Montreal Expos def. (3) 1980 Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 Game 1: Phillies 4, Expos 3 Game 2: Expos 6, Phillies 4 Game 3: Expos 5, Phillies 2 Game 4: Expos 4, Phillies 2 Game 5: Expos 3, Phillies 1 Scott Sanderson: 2-0, 1.69 ERA (7) 1988 New York Mets def. (10) 1981 Montreal Expos 4-2 Game 1: Mets 4, Expos 1 Game 2: Expos 5, Mets 3 Game 3: Expos 7, Mets 6 13 innings Game 4: Mets 7, Expos 0 Game 5: Mets 7, Expos 6 Game 6: Mets 2, Expos 1 David Cone: 2-0, 0.53 ERA, 17 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 16 SO (2) 1982 St. Louis Cardinals def. (15) 1984 New York Mets 4-2 Game 1: Cardinals 5, Mets 4 Game 2: Cardinals 4, Mets 3 10 innings Game 3: Mets 5, Cardinals 4 Game 4: Cardinals 12, Mets 5 Game 5: Mets 8, Cardinals 5 Game 6: Cardinals 5, Mets 3 11 innings George Hendrick: 10-28, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBI N.L. East Division Quarterfinal Match-ups (16) '88 Pirates vs. (9) '89 Cubs (12) '81 Cardinals vs. (4) '85 Cardinals (14) '80 Expos vs. (6) '83 Phillies (7) '88 Mets vs. (2) '82 Cardinals Up Next: A.L. West

1979 World Series Game 6 - Pirates 4, Orioles 0 (boxscore and play account) -This game was played on a Tuesday just two days after the Colts played a game and the football yard marks a very visible. Once again it's a very good thing that multi-purpose stadiums are almost gone. -Howard Cosell spends time early in the game whining about some unamed Baltimore columnist whining about ABC's habbit of showing the players wives on a regular basis, which it did get completely out of hand in a few of the games. Maybe not quite as annoying as FOX cutting to close ups of fans between almost every pitch in the playoffs now. -In every game they've played brief interview clips of players with Cosell and there's a kind of interesting one here of Rick Dempsey talking shit about Bill Madlock. -Several promos done for ABC's college football line up that Saturday, featuring USC/Notre Dame and Texas/Arkansas. #4 USC would crush #9 Notre Dame 42-23 and #10 Arkansas would upset #2 Texas 17-14. -In case you only thought today's announcers had hard ons for scrappy, short, white middle infielders like David Eckstein, Cosell and Keith Jackson constantly fawn over Phil Garner here. Cosell constantly calls him "The Little Pepper Pot" which as far as I can tell never caught as a nickname for Garner but "Scrap Iron" did. Garner did have a great series though and through this game was probably the favorite for the series MVP before Stargell's huge Game 7. -The scoreless tie is broken in the 7th inning when with Omar Moreno on first and going on the pitch, Tim Foli chops one up the middle. Kiko Garcia makes a terrible decision by waiting right at the bag at second for the ball to get to him instead of cutting it off to get the easy out out first, thinking he can get a double play which would have been impossible with Moreno going on the pitch. The ball ends up going through Garcia's legs and Rich Dauer backing him up can't get Foli at first. It's scored a hit. Dave Parker then follows with a hard hit ball at Dauer but he misjudges the ball of the bat and commits to far to his left and can't recover to get in front it thus allowing it to get through for a base hit. There was a lot of bad fielding in this series although some of it had to do with the terrible shape of the Memorial Stadium turf. -Relief aces/closers were overused during this era but it was kind of cool to see Kent Tekulve come in here and shutdown the Orioles for three straight innings. 1979 World Series Game 7 - Pirates 4, Orioles 1 (boxscore and play account) -Jimmy Carter was at the game. Ya I know you care. -Coming into this game the road team had won 12 of the last 15 Game 7's in the World Series. The Pirates win here is the last time this has happened as the home team is 8-0 since. -Cosell thinks advancing the runner should be an official stat. Hey he was light years ahead of Buster Olney for coming up with completely meaningless statistics. -By far the most tense, exciting moment of the series comes in the bottom of the 8th. Trailing 2-1, the Orioles 2nd & 3rd with two out and Chuck Tanner had Tekulve intentionally walk Ken Singleton to load the bases to pitch to Eddie Murray who was 0 for his last 20. Murray hit one hard to right and Parker would stumble going back for the ball and for the briefest of moments it looks like it would go over his head but he recovers to make the catch. That would have ranked up their with the Buckner play if Parker had fallen down and potentially cost the Pirates the series. -The top of the 9th lasts forever as at one point Earl Weaver makes four straight pitching changes as the Pirates had a staggered left/right line-up. It backfires as Mike Flanangan gives up an RBI single to Omar Moreno, Doug Stanhouse gives up a single to Tim Foli, Tippy Martinez plunks Dave Parker to load the bases, and on his first pitch Dennis Martinez hits Bill Robinson on the hand to force in the Pirates' final run. -When Flanangan makes his rare relief apperance it is mentioned that his wife had an emergency apedectomy that morning. Cosell takes this time to take about how hot she is. One of the few times in the series Cosell made me smile. -Tekulve pitches a pefect 9th and even though it was in the visiting park the fans still run on the field. Steve Nicosia is seen beating down who I'm assuming was an upset Baltimore fan with his catcher's mask in the melee. Bonus Clips -Nothing terribly interesting here except they have the original footage of the final three outs of the Pirates sweep of the Reds in the NLCS. -They include all of ABC's postgame coverage in the clips and President Carter was involved in the trophy presentation. Chuck Tanner is as giddy as a school girl to be talking to him while it appeared to me that Willie Stargell wasn't sure who he was. Here's just a list of the extras. 1. Bruce Kison: Origin of "We Are Family" 2. Bill Robinson: "The Family" 3. Don Robinson: Characters on the Pirates 4. Tim Foli: Pirates Had Roles 5. Dave Parker's Outfield Assist, 1979 All-Star Game (just a TWiB recap) 6. NLCS Clincher: Last Inning and Celebration (original footage) 7. Don Robinson: Rookie in the World Series 8. Willie Stargell: Compares 1971 and 1979 Pirates 9. Willie Stargell: Pirates Put Aside Differences 10. Tim Foli: On Willie Stargell 11. Willie Stargell: Chuck Tanner Fights Through Tragedy 12. Tom Boswell: Willie Stargell, Pirates Leader 13. Bill Robinson: Stargell's Homerun 14. Earl Weaver: Dissapointment of 1979 15. Last Out and Celebration 16. World Series Trophy Presentation 17. World Series MVP Trophy Presentation to Willie Stargell 18. Bill Robinson: City of Champions and Closeness of Club 19. Pirates Championship Rally

They are best-of-seven series so that's not necessary. It will be the standard 2-3-2 format with a day off between "travel dates" and following round would start two days after the final day of the previous round.

Going back to the ESPN poll, KingPK your interpretation of the question is wrong. The question is regarding who is the worst quarterback to ever start in a Super Bowl and not who has performed the worst in the Super Bowl. Obviously they could have phrased the question better. The poll is silly though because it is too early in Rex Grossman's career to put him on such a list. David Woodley is definately the worst quarterback who has ever started a Super Bowl as he only lasted five years and was a starter for only two of them.

I needed content and I wanted to do something related to the very competitive decade of the 1980's for baseball so I've decied to run a 64 team tournament between the top teams of the 1980's. Ya 64 is way too many but I'm Bored. I'll be using the computer version of Strat-O-Matic Baseball to run the tournament. I'll be simulating the games and the only thing I'll determine before the games is who the starting pitcher will be for each game. It will just be like the NCAA College Basketball tournament where I'll have four regions, or four divisions if you will, with teams seeded from 1 to 16 with each match-up being determined by a best-of-seven series. Now for deciding how to do the seedings and who gets in I went the simple rout. First teams who won the World Series will be seeded highest, then teams who lost in the World Series, then teams who lost in the LCS, then the top 2nd place teams by record, and finally an "automatic berth" for the best team of the decade for a franchise who didn't have a team fit into the other categories so every franchise will have a representitive. Starting with the N.L. East which features three World Champions including the team who had the best record in the decade, the '86 Mets. The Mets have the most teams in the region with five, followed by the Cardinals with four. The Pirates are the only team with just one rep as the '88 team was their best of the decade. Here's just a quick rundown of all the teams and the first round match-ups. #1 1986 New York Mets (108-54, defeated Boston 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 116 (1st) ERA+: 114 (t-1st) DefEff: .709 (4th) Best Player: Keith Hernandez Best Pitcher: Bob Ojeda #2 1982 St. Louis Cardinals (92-70, defeated Milwaukee 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 103 (5th) ERA+: 108 (2nd) DefEff: .710 (2nd) Best Player: Lonnie Smith Best Pitcher: Joaquin Andujar #3 1980 Philadelphia Phillies (91-71, defeated Kansas City 4-2 in World Series) OPS+: 102 (6th) ERA+: 110 (1st) DefEff: .701 (4th) Best Player: Mike Schmidt Best Pitcher: Steve Carlton #4 1985 St. Louis Cardinals (101-61, lost to Kansas City 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 108 (t-1st) ERA+: 113 (2nd) DefEff: .718 (1st) Best Player: Willie McGee Best Pitcher: John Tudor #5 1987 St. Louis Cardinals (95-67, lost to Minnesota 4-3 in World Series) OPS+: 94 (10th) ERA+: 106 (3rd) DefEff: .696 (t-6th) Best Player: Jack Clark/Ozzie Smith Best Pitcher: Todd Worrell #6 1983 Philadelphia Phillies (90-72, lost to Baltimore 4-1 in World Series) OPS+: 102 (t-5th) ERA+: 106 (t-2nd) DefEff: .685 (12th) Best Player: Mike Schmidt Best Pitcher: John Denny #7 1988 New York Mets (100-62, lost to Los Angeles 4-3 in NLCS) OPS+: 117 (1st) ERA+: 110 (3rd) DefEff: .707 (t-8th) Best Player: Darryl Strawberry Best Pitcher: David Cone #8 1984 Chicago Cubs (96-65, lost to San Diego 3-2 in NLCS) OPS+: 105 (4th) ERA+: 104 (4th) DefEff: .690 (10th) Best Player: Ryne Sandberg Best Pitcher: Rick Sutcliffe #9 1989 Chicago Cubs (93-69, lost to San Francisco 4-1 in NLCS) OPS+: 104 (t-3rd) ERA+: 110 (2nd) DefEff: .708 (6th) Best Player: Ryne Sandberg Best Pitcher: Greg Maddux #10 1981 Montreal Expos (60-48, lost to Los Angeles 3-2 in NLCS) OPS+: 99 (8th) ERA+: 106 (3rd) DeffEff: .715 (t-3rd) Best Player: Andre Dawson Best Pitcher: Bill Gullickson #11 1985 New York Mets (98-64, finished 3 games behind St. Louis) OPS+: 105 (4th) ERA+: 111 (3rd) DefEff: .716 (2nd) Best Player: Gary Carter Best Pitcher: Dwight Gooden #12 1981 St. Louis Cardinals (59-43, best overall record in N.L. East) OPS+: 108 (3rd) ERA+: 98 (t-8th) DefEff: .715 (t-3rd) Best Player: Keith Hernandez Best Pitcher: Bruce Sutter #13 1987 New York Mets (92-70, finished 3 games behind St. Louis) OPS+: 116 (1st) ERA+: 99 (9th) DefEff: .696 (t-6th) Best Player: Darryl Strawberry Best Pitcher: Dwight Gooden #14 1980 Montreal Expos (90-72, finished 1 game behind Philadelphia) OPS+: 106 (t-3rd) ERA+: 103 (4th) DefEff: .698 (9th) Best Player: Andre Dawson Best Pitcher: Steve Rogers #15 1984 New York Mets (90-72, finished 6 ½ games behind Chicago) OPS+: 101 (5th) ERA+: 98 (9th) DefEff: .694 (9th) Best Player: Keith Hernandez Best Pitcher: Dwight Gooden #16 1988 Pittsburgh Pirates (85-75, finished 15 games behind New York) OPS+: 107 (3rd) ERA+: 99 (7th) DefEff: .715 (4th) Best Player: Andy Van Slyke Best Pitcher: Doug Drabek 1st Round Match-ups '88 Pirates vs. '86 Mets '89 Cubs vs. '84 Cubs '87 Mets vs. '85 Cardinals '81 Cardinals vs. '87 Cardinals '85 Mets vs. '83 Phillies '80 Expos vs. '80 Phillies '81 Expos vs. '88 Mets '84 Mets vs. '82 Cardinals I'll complete the 1st round match-ups for this region/division, posting the results in the next entry, and then move on to the next region/division. Not sure how long I'll take to finish each round.

Stanford comes back from 17 points down to upset UCLA 75-68 and that's after beating USC by 15 on Thursday. They might crack the Top 25 now after looking NIT bound just a few weeks ago.

I think eventually they'll release every World Series on DVD, at least all of the ones where the original footage is still available. I'm holding out hope for the 1972 World Series (six of seven games decided by one run) but some of the footage from the 1975 set hadn't aged well so I'm not sure if it will be possible for any older World Series to have a complete set put out for them.

Here's your misery index (number of years since last championship or if never won, number of years in exsistence): Cardinals 59 Lions 49 Eagles 46 Vikings 46* Oilers/Titans 45 Chargers 43 Browns 42 Bills 41 Falcons 41* Saints 40* Bengals 39* Jets 38 Chiefs 37 Colts 36 Dolphins 33 Seahawks 31* Raiders 23 Bears 21 Giants 16 Redskins 15 49ers 12 Panthers 12* Jaguars 12* Cowboys 11 Packers 10 Broncos 8 Rams 7 Ravens 6 Texans 5* Buccaneers 4 Patriots 2 Steelers 1

For Vern, coming out March 27th: I'm surprised they are releasing this set instead of the 1991 set this year but I'm happy that MLB is going to keep doing this after releasing the '75, '79, and '86 sets last year.

A Louisville Cardinals fan blog posted a running tally of things Dick Vitale talked about during the Louisville-UConn game that had nothing to do with the game. It won't c&p well so here's the link. They came up with a 156 different items. Shockingly Duke was mentioned.

Soooo Pat Burrell is no Joe DiMaggio. Wow he really does suck then.