EVIL~! alkeiper

-Mike Lowell has been cleared to return, and hopes to play in the Marlin's last game on Sunday. -Mark Grace is retiring after the season. -Author George Plimpton died. Plimpton is best known to baseball fans for authoring SI's infamous portrait on Mets "prospect" Sidd Fynch, a fictional pitcher who was rumoured to throw 168 MPH. Everyone bought it.

Milwaukee leads the Astros 5-1 in the 2nd.

On the Winning teams debate. Historically, voters have not elected MVPs from losing teams. A question though is how many times HAS the best player come from a losing team? Using Bill James' Win Shares, I went back 50 years to identify the best players of each year, and whether their teams had a sub-.500 record. It may not be a perfect method, but its based on hard statistics, and no "intangibles." Here's what I found. 12 times in the last 50 years, the best player came from a losing team. That works out to a 6% rate. Five times the league's best player from a losing team finished tied with a player from a winning team. Of the twelve, ten finished in the top ten of MVP voting. What does this exercise prove? That MVP voters HAVE historically considered players from losing teams.

No, the worst thing ever is if they proceed to win the National League.

*Looks over thread* Surprisingly no incriminating comments from this side.

For what its worth, Win Shares through September 23rd has David Ortiz ranked 9th on the Red Sox, behind Ramirez, Nomar, Mueller, Trot Nixon, Pedro, Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, and Kevin Millar.

Well what they added wasn't much. I seriously doubted their playoff chances up through about three weeks ago.

That's inaccurate. Milwaukee was baseball's most profitable franchise according to Major League Baseball, whose figures are at best slight exaggerations, and at worst malicious lies.

Florida's understandable, because the baseball fans were absolutely pissed upon in 1998, disenfranchising them.

Pittsburgh @ Chicago Cubs Josh Fogg vs. Mark Prior. The Cubs and Astros are tied for the NL Central league. The Cubs may not afford to lose a single game this weekend. Luckily they play at home against a sub-.500 team. Prior's been pitching well all season, so I expect the Cubs will take this first game. Milwaukee @ Houston Wayne Franklin vs. Jerome Robertson. The Astros are in the same boat as the Cubs. Can't afford to lose, playing at home, against a sub-.500 team. The difference is, they don't have Prior on the mound, although Wayne Franklin isn't exactly Josh Fogg either. NY Mets @ Florida Aaron Heilman vs. Carl Pavano. The Florida Marlins are just about in the playoffs. The only way they can lose is if they lose all the games, the Astros AND Cubs win all 3 games, and the Marlins then lose a tiebreaker game. St. Louis @ Arizona Brett Tomko vs. Elmer Dessens. The red headed stepchild of the Central. The Cardinals are still mathematically in the race. All they need are three losses by both the Astros and Cubs, three wins in this series, and a playoff win or two. No problem, right? Atlanta @ Philadelphia Horacio Ramirez vs. Vicente Padilla. This game helps determine home field advantage for the Braves, and nothing more. The most interesting part of the game is finding out the reaction Phillie fans have to their team. Do they cheer them for a good run? Or do they boo them for blowing the Florida games? Los Angeles @ San Francisco Kaz Ishii vs. Kirk Reuter. The Giants aren't making up one game, so they'll finish at 161 games, making math here really difficult. They're working on home field advantage. Baltimore @ NY Yankees Damien Moss vs. Andy Pettitte. Rodrigo Lopez vs. Jorge DePaula. Yes, its a doubleheader! The Yankees can wrap up home field advantage with a sweep. Minnesota @ Detroit Eric Milton vs. Nate Cornejo. The Tigers shocked the world by winning last night. ESPN pointed out that even if they lose all 3 games, their winning percentage will still be better than the '62 Mets, because the Mets missed two games. So its just the loss record we're looking at here. 118 and counting. Oakland @ Seattle Justin Duchscherer vs. Joel Pineiro. Another home field advantage game. Next year I'm not counting these. Games that don't matter Montreal @ Cincinnati Colorado @ San Diego Cleveland @ Toronto Boston @ Tampa Bay Chicago WS @ Kansas City Texas @ Anaheim

Minnesota @ Detroit Johan Santana vs. Nate Robinson. Detroit stands at 40-118. They need to take 3 of 4 from the Minnesota Twins to avoid tying the NY Mets modern record for futility. Philadelphia @ Florida Randy Wolf vs. Brad Penny. After dropping the first two games, the Phillies need to win this game just to stay alive in the NL East. The Marlins hold a 3 game lead. Baltimore @ Boston Omar Daal vs. Derek Lowe. The Sox are on the verge of clinching the Wild Card. If they win tonight, they're in. Chicago Cubs @ Cincinnati Carlos Zambrano vs. Todd Van Poppel. The South Side of Chicago is beginning to feel it. Shawn Estes gave them a great performance yesterday. After this game, the Cubs finish out the season at home, against Pittsburgh. They're a game up on the Astros. Milwaukee @ Houston Doug Davis vs. Tim Redding. The Astros get the weakest team in the NL in their home park for the last four games of the season. If they screw this up, then they don't deserve the playoffs anyway. Los Angeles @ San Diego Hideo Nomo vs. Brian Lawrence. Still on the cusp of playoff contention. The Dodgers need every win at this point, plus alot of help from the Marlins. Games That Don't Matter Arizona @ Colorado Tampa Bay @ Toronto Chicago White Sox @ Kansas City Pittsburgh @ NY Mets A side note about these games. First off, who would've thought 2 weeks ago that Chicago/Kansas City would have no effect on the postseason. It's also amusing that this weekend, the Pirates (vs. Cubs) and the Mets (vs. Marlins) could decide everything.

That's exactly how they'll go. I believe the Cubs have gone the longest without REACHING the World Series. Their last Series occured in 1945, notable for WWII, and a sportswriter quipping "I don't think either team can win."

Thanks Treble. That's a perfect way of updating your picks.

Ok guys, I'm gonna try and get an early start on tabulating the votes. So if you want to edit your picks from now on, leave a note under the ballot with the old picks, and the new picks.

For all the defense wins championships supporters, look no further than the LA Dodgers. In my view, you need the overall package. Offense AND defense. A little luck doesn't hurt either.

That figures. I don't really have all the details handy. They profiled it on the news a few years ago, from this pro football team in Pottsville, PA. Apparently the story goes that the pro team played a bunch of games against college teams that the Pro league didn't approve of, and they screwed them out of a title. If there's a Pro Football Historian in the house, I'd love to hear the whole story.

Well Mik, looks like your team is taking the Wild Card. Congratulations. No our milk here. We had to beat the Marlins to win, and we didn't make it. There's always next year. A few independant thoughts about the Marlins.... -The best move they ever made was getting Jeff Torberg out of there. He was a cancer to the pitching staff, and if they kept him Josh Beckett and Brad Penny would have doubtless joined AJ Burnett on the DL. -Ivan Rodriguez has rejuvenated his career in a big way. He's on his way to a big contract, and the HOF. -Every move the Marlins made (I-Rod, Urbina, Conine, Juan Pierre) went the Marlins way. That's unusual for any team.

Oops. Got my Chicago geography screwed up. That'll teach me to try and be cute.

Ken Macha- The A's decline can clearly be linked to Tejada's drop in performance in the first half. I probably give him a little credit for a sabermetric approach as well. Joe Torre- I listed him 2nd, giving him credit for dealing with a godawful owner. He doesn't get noticed because he's consistently very good. Ron Gardenhire- Really the Twins are the 5th best team in the AL. They didn't stand out until their 11 game win streak. Tony Pena- He made a bunch of stupid moves down the stretch. I think the Royals run had more to do with the players playing well.

No thanks. I live two hours away, and I have work on weekends.

Like I told you Boston fans before the season. Its not too late to embrace Theo Epstein and his sabermetric revolution. And Bill Mueller is your A.L. batting champion. Shea who?

I really don't fault the players. 1 run losses are bad luck more than anything.

Philadelphia @ Florida Well, after that abomination of a game yesterday, the Phillies need to take the next two games to stay in the race. They'll put Brett Myers on the mound against Josh Beckett. NY Yankees @ Chicago White Sox Mike Mussina vs. Esteban Loazia. The White Sox are out of playoff contention. The Yankees are seeking home field advantage. The draw here is Esteban Loazia's final push for Cy Young, and twenty wins. San Francisco @ Houston Sidney Ponson vs. Roy Oswalt. The Astros need to turn it around NOW. They trail the Cubs by a game in the NL Central. The Giants are looking to gain home field advantage. Montreal @ Atlanta Zach Day vs. Russ Ortiz. Atlanta looks for home field advantage. Texas @ Oakland Jacquin Benoit vs. Tim Hudson. The A's have clinched their division. They're 3 1/2 back of the Yankees for home field advantage, so they might as well kick back and start setting their postseason rotation. Seattle @ Anaheim Ryan Franklin vs. John Lackey. The Mariners are screwed. Baltimore @ Boston Pat Hentgen vs. John Burkett. The Sox hold a three game lead over the M's in the Wild Card, which they hope to maintain over the last five games. They've been eliminated from the race for the East crown, since there wouldn't be a tiebreaker. Chicago Cubs @ Cincinnati Shawn Estes vs. Josh Hall. The Cubs are racing towards the finish line. They hold a game lead over the Astros in the Central. St. Louis @ Milwaukee Matt Morris vs. Matt Kinney. The Cards are 3 1/2 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central, with only four to play on their part. Los Angeles @ San Diego Kevin Brown vs. Ben Howard. The Dodgers are 3 1/2 games back, but they have six games left. They're likely out of the race. Eric Gagne has 54 saves, however, and if he approaches Bobby Thigpen's record, then the Dodgers will remain interesting. Games that don't matter Tampa Bay @ Toronto Pittsburgh @ NY Mets Detroit @ Kansas City Cleveland @ Minnesota Arizona @ Colorado

Not as long as the Phillies win.

I misspoke. When I said I give up, I meant to say that the Phillies would no doubt make this game competitive again. I don't know where that came from.