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RIP Fernando Valenzuela. Even as a diehard Giants fan, this one hurts. Fernandomania in 1981 was a special moment in time. I can think of very few rookies who came onto the scene and had such an impact on the field and in pop culture.

Game 3 of the 1981 World Series. I’ll never forget it. 149 pitches. It was a sight to behold.
 
Please understand -the MLB isn't hurting. Small market teams are hurting but the MLB is making bank so saying, "...it's good for baseball..." is just so much f**king nonsense. I'm having this same argument/discussion on another board. What's really good for baseball is having small market teams do really well so they can maybe attract some more fans, and revenue. And hopefully provide their owners some incentive to keep the team in town. If you're really hoping for "good for baseball" then you should have been praying for an OAK/TB/CHISox ALCS those three teams are really in desperate straits and OAK has already agreed to leave town. It's too bad CLE/DET was such an early match up.
The inherent problem with hoping that small market teams compete, like the ones you mentioned, is solely on their owners.

Take the Mariners for example. The city of Seattle...hell...the entire PNW would go ape-**** if the Mariners actually made it past the ALCS and into the WS.

The problem is that their owner/ownership group REFUSES to spend on legit, real, worthwhile talent. Sure, they have home-grown talent like Julio and Cal and have brought in other pieces like Arozarena but they're taking the "Mike Trout" approach by having one or two guys carry the entire team into the post season and unless your name is Shohei Ohtani, that's just not realistic.

As for the A's, John Fisher wanted out of Oakland and was hell bent on making it happen. Between the fans and local news in Oakland calling him out on his BS about wanting to stay, there was no way he was going to spend the money to put a contention team on the field. I'll admit, the A's did better than I thought they would this year and perhaps they did take a little inspiration from "Major League" to finish the season their terms but Fisher was going to Vegas one way or another.

The White Sox have been a dumpster fire for years because Reinsdorf thinks he knows more about Baseball than actual baseball experts and he refuses to live in the 21st century. As for the actual team, he refused to spend on real talent to make the team better and assumed that they would get by with what they had. After this year, I foresee a full nuking and rebuild.

The problem with these small market owners is that they dont have any REAL intention of putting a post-season or WS team together. From March to September, these small market teams just recoup the money that has already been spent in order to keep the machine going for next season. To invest in a post season team means doubling the amount of money necessary and even then, it's not a guarantee and these small market owners either can't or wont spend on that.

Then you have teams like the Rockies where they have been so irrelevant for so long that they are actually reducing their payroll for next year, even though they pretend to want to contend.
 
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Yanks in 6. 1977 and 1978 redux.

Whether you're a big market team or a small market team, the surest way to build a winner is through the draft and developing your own core talent through your farm system. Merely signing the top free agents year after year pretty much never works.
I do believe there are going lot be a lot of bombs...
 
I did some excel math because I was bored. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Juan Soto combined at Dodgers Stadium in 184 at bats have 19 home runs, a .299 average, .680 slugging, and 1.050 OPS.

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman combined at Yankees Stadium in 296 at bats have 10 home runs, a .209 average, .372 slugging, and .682 OPS.

So the Yankees might have a road-field advantage in addition to home.
 
I did some excel math because I was bored. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Juan Soto combined at Dodgers Stadium in 184 at bats have 19 home runs, a .299 average, .680 slugging, and 1.050 OPS.

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman combined at Yankees Stadium in 296 at bats have 10 home runs, a .209 average, .372 slugging, and .682 OPS.

So the Yankees might have a road-field advantage in addition to home.
Well done!
 
I did some excel math because I was bored. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Juan Soto combined at Dodgers Stadium in 184 at bats have 19 home runs, a .299 average, .680 slugging, and 1.050 OPS.

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman combined at Yankees Stadium in 296 at bats have 10 home runs, a .209 average, .372 slugging, and .682 OPS.

So the Yankees might have a road-field advantage in addition to home.

Thanks for sharing.
 
My prediction yesterday of the Yankees blowing out the Dodgers didn’t pan out, so I won’t try to make another prediction. But I will say, despite the heartbreaking loss, the Yankees did out-hit the Dodgers last night. Something to keep in mind.
 
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