Tampa ties it with 2 in the top of the 9th and scores another 2 in the top of the 11th. Tampa 8, Dodgers 7. TB used 25 players and LA 24 over 11 innings. 1 up on NYY, 2 up on LAD
The team that worries me the most righr now is Oakland. They seem to have had our number this last month.
Astros have always struggled against the Rays, especially in Tampa. Astros aren't playing well against Oakland right now (despite dominating the season series) Are you sure you guys want the #1 seed? Frankly, I don't think it really matters who they play, as long as they have possible HFA in the WS (which they should be able to maintain vs the Dodgers). Minnesota/Oakland/TBR could all conceivably beat any team in a short series... but the Astros remain the toughest matchup regardless.
If you recall last year the Astros went into Boston late in the season and wiped the floor with the Red Sox but it didn't matter at all come playoff time.
Cole didn't pitch against the A's in either of the final two series against him and Grienke stepped up and won both of his starts against the A's. I think they'll be ready this time around.
I'm not really scared of the A's (famous last words) despite our very recent struggles against them. Up until the last two series, we've pretty much owned them. And we're still 11-8 against them this year. The only reason I might be okay with not getting the #1 seed is because then the Yankees would have to play the A's and the A's have really given them fits this year. I believe the A's are 4-2 against them and they could easily knock them out as a wildcard. NY wants no part of the A's in the wildcard.
A's turned their season around somewhere like the end of May. Since then they have among the best W/L in MLB, if not the best outright. Since then, the Astros are below .500 against them. It'd be a good series. Love me some playoff baseball.
Houston should sweep the A's, but Luzardo is a mystery He's likely only going to pitch in relief, and he is rookie, but he is the wildcard if starting. The A's don't scare me much.
The Astros already own the tiebreaker against the Dodgers as of two wins ago. Dodgers will actually have to beat our record to get HFA. Both the Astros and Dodgers have similar-difficulty remaining schedules, so it's going to take some pretty bad play on our side. Yankees have a somewhat harder schedule. At this point, I don't care who we face in the first round. I just want to the team to finish strong in the runs per game department. No playoff team is going to be easy when you're only scoring 2-3 runs per game.
This isn't quite right although I know what you mean by it. The Astros cannot lose 2 net games to the Yanks or 3 to the Dodgers. That would flip the records. They're still 1 and 2 games ahead, respectively. Or you might say 1T and 2T games ahead to indicate the tiebreaker.
It completely makes sense and is correct, the yankees have to finish 1 game a ahead of us for HFA. Where we only need to tie the record. So essentially yes, the Yankees are essentially 2 games back since they are 1 worst then us in the win column right now.
For sure want the homefield. 1) you play the team that has to start their number 2 starter in the opener because they will use their number 1 in the WC game 2) homefield against yanks will be huuuuge
In the last 2 days, I've lost 2 players from my fantasy team for domestic violence. I had Vasquez and German. Crap. I'm the Kansas City Chiefs of my fantasy baseball league. They had already moved him to the pen (pitched 2 innings LAST FREAKING NIGHT in middle relief). I don't think it'll have that much impact.
Agreed. It's just ambiguous wording. Normally when we say "back" or "behind" we mean "number of games to tie the other team's record." In this case, we're saying the Yankees are "back" 2 wins from taking the lead over us, or, conversely, the Astros must fall 2 games "back" to lose the lead. But in terms of just straight records, the Yankees are 1 game back from the Astros for the best record in baseball. Semantics for those that know what's going on, but an important distinction for those that may not.
Huge impact for them. He was an 18 game winner. Yankees are toying with the idea of bullpening the games