Grant77

I'm not defending the choices of Ontarians or saying that this is the case there, but voters who keep an open mind and vote for different parties should be seen as a huge positive. Idealistic voters who don't consider the unique issues presented during each electoral cycle and at each level are a huge negative in my view. That's what you have in the United States, where people consistently vote against their own best interests based on issues that don't even affect them. It's sad when you can predict a riding before the parties even release their platforms or name candidates.

I agree that those pitchers will be more prone to injury in the future, but I'm unconvinced that fatigue will affect their performance over the next 2 weeks. Springs, Kluber, and Rasmussen haven't shown any signs of slowing down.

They sure lucked out with Suarez. He certainly had negative value in that trade and was a fairly significant salary dump. At age 31, he's somehow changed from a defensive liability to a positive defender and is in the midst of his best season ever. None of these potential playoff teams are 'easy' matchups, but I think we have a far better chance of beating them than a Rays team with vastly superior pitching and a versatile offense that has performed similarly against better opposition.

I agree. They probably aren't a playoff team without the new format and an easy division, but the offense is finally average thanks to J-Rod and the pitching is a bit above average too. They have a good future core if the vets don't regress and bullpen volatility doesn't bite them.

Like the Angels, Athletics, and Royals that they went 3-7 against? It's kind of funny immediately after a certain poster sang their praises as an elite playoff team, despite the statistics saying otherwise.

Make that a 10 run inning against the vaunted Mariners bullpen, that is well below replacement level for September.

It would be cool to see them catch Tampa or Seattle, who is currently in the middle of giving up an 8 run inning to Kansas City and 4-7 in their last 11.

The Orioles haven't mattered for a couple of weeks now.

Bad relief pitching and outfield blunders from Kelenic are allowing the Royals to get back into an 11-2 game. 11-7 now, with a 5 run inning still going.

John Lackey's deal with Boston had a similar clause.

I watched the game and he had control issues for sure. I just think the conclusion that he should be removed from his role due to that game or a mediocre (but not terrible) 7 inning sample is jumping the gun a bit. He's been no worse than Garcia or Romano recently.

I don't believe that 7 innings from a reliever really tells you anything. One (unintentional) walk and 5 K's is pretty normal for Cimber. Velocity and spin rates are pretty normal. Obviously a home run in such small sample will really skew it, but the last HR before that was over a month ago. I'll buy that his mechanics look a bit off, but we're really making a mountain out of a mole hill here. Cimber didn't give up a single hard hit ball last night. Bass would have given up a run in the same circumstances (bunt and lucky weak hit single).

A bunt, an HBP, an intentional walk, and a little chopper that squeaks through a drawn in infield is hardly a reason to be concerned about a reliever. Position an infielder a little differently and Cimber has a DP to end the inning. That's why they call it a game of inches.

I would be very surprised if he didn't return next spring and compete for a spot. We don't exactly have a 40 man roster crunch upcoming.

Did you guys see the bounce on that hit? That was brutal!

Nick Nelson celebrating that K is sad on a couple of different levels.

You would say that regardless of the conversation. The facts are all there are your opinion isn't needed to confirm that they are 100% correct. The guy recently made an absolute fool of himself trashing Guerrero Jr in a nonsensical rant and now he's on a hot streak. Hopefully Olerud's streak of being wrong continues and the Mariners struggle.

I know he's a troll, but I don't let him get off the hook that easy when he's so obviously wrong.

Phillies fans are awful, wow.

Even Hoskins knew that was a strike.

I have a hard time believing that JD was ever a problem in the clubhouse. I think that was a media created narrative.

Long story short, you have a hunch that the Mariners average pitching staff is going to improve in the future. Fine. It's certainly possible.I'm just not going to pretend that this season didn't happen. It did and we don't live in your fantasy land where the events that don't support your outlandish conclusions didn't happen.

Notice that I said every division and wildcard leader except Cleveland. It's true, so I'm not sure what you are trying to correct. You brought up OPS+ in your original tantrum so I responded with it. wRC+ is going to give you the same story. I'm not buying the cherry picking of the starters. If you remove the worst pitchers from the Blue Jays rotation then it's obviously going to look a lot better as well. Additions like Bass are not reflected in our statistics either, nor are they for any other team. In September, the Blue Jays bullpen has been top 10 and Seattle's has been replacement level at 0.0 WAR. I don't think that's a particularly useful statement, but it's no different than what you are doing. Seattle isn't a historically bad playoff team. When 6 of 15 teams make it, you would expect an average team in a weak division to have a shot at a wildcard spot. This isn't particularly surprising. I don't think they are much different than the Orioles or red sox in terms of talent, but the division makes a huge difference.

Eno Sarris, recently on Sportsnet 590, said that the extra roster spot is by definition going to be a replacement level player and would not play a role in his voting process.

You do realize that 100 is an average OPS+, correct? That means 104 is pretty much average. Every division and wildcard leader but Cleveland has an OPS+ over 110. That includes both leagues. Home runs and walks are important, but the team is also 28th in batting average between the Pirates and Tigers. A team that bad hasn't made the playoffs in at least a decade, perhaps far longer. The pitching is also 8th out of 15 AL teams, so forgive me for taking your unfounded opinion with a grain of salt. The other playoff teams in the AL are 1st (Hou), 2nd (NYY), 3rd (Cle), (4th TB), and 6th (Tor). Saying that an average hitting, pitching, and defensive team is mediocre shouldn't be a controversial statement.They just got 1 hit by Oakland for god sakes.