*Official* Wild Card Series Discussion Thread

[thomas35forever]

Games 1 and 2 begin at 2 p.m.

[berwyn]

Did someone post about this recently, cuz I missed it? What fun bat flipping is.

[Jfinsocal]

Elevated fire danger in Cali tomorrow. Supposed to tail off on Tuesday but smoke could be a problem. Wonder if there is a plan for this?

[voodoochile]

Elevated fire danger in Cali tomorrow. Supposed to tail off on Tuesday but smoke could be a problem. Wonder if there is a plan for this?

New fire just north of the Bay Area in Napa area. It wasn't that big last I checked but it just started this morning.

[34rancher]

Why on earth would they have games in Oakland for the first 2 days at noon Bay time??? That makes no sense.

[voodoochile]

Why on earth would they have games in Oakland for the first 2 days at noon Bay time??? That makes no sense.

Gotta fit in 8 games a day and be able to show most of them. Most you can really broadcast on one station would be 3 so that gonna lead to some funky start times. not like there's any fans.

[34rancher]

Gotta fit in 8 games a day and be able to show most of them. Most you can really broadcast on one station would be 3 so that gonna lead to some funky start times. not like there's any fans.

But there are only 4 games Tuesday on 3 networks...it makes no sense to show day games in the home markets. All times are local:
A 2 pm start in Chicago and 12 pm start for Oakland...and a 1pm start for Houston and Minn. It kills your ratings for those major markets..Heck, even the Cubs are at 1 pm on Wednesday.

They are really putting all their eggs in the New York and LA market...

[jcw218]

But there are only 4 games Tuesday on 3 networks...it makes no sense to show day games in the home markets. All times are local:
A 2 pm start in Chicago and 12 pm start for Oakland...and a 1pm start for Houston and Minn. It kills your ratings for those major markets..Heck, even the Cubs are at 1 pm on Wednesday.

They are really putting all their eggs in the New York and LA market...

Don't you know that the baseball world revolves around the Yankmees and Dodgers

[Zakath]

Don't you know that the baseball world revolves around the Yankmees and Dodgers

Actually Yankees and Red Sox (even worse because of ESPN).

[jcw218]

I didn't mention the Red Sawx because they didn't make the playoffs.

[HomeFish]

Different ump crew, right?

[Chez]

I'm assuming the three-batter minimum/finish the inning rule for relievers is in play during the playoffs, but what about the runner on second base extra inning rule? Is that still effective for the post-season?

[voodoochile]

I'm assuming the three-batter minimum/finish the inning rule for relievers is in play during the playoffs, but what about the runner on second base extra inning rule? Is that still effective for the post-season?

I don't think so, but I'm going off memory again and we all know how that goes...

[Kobo]

I'm assuming the three-batter minimum/finish the inning rule for relievers is in play during the playoffs, but what about the runner on second base extra inning rule? Is that still effective for the post-season?

Nope. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-announc...yoffs-for-2020

Will extra innings continue to feature an automatic runner at second base?

No, that rule was only in effect for the 2020 regular season and will not be in place for the postseason. Extra innings will begin with none on, none out.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I haven't really followed the A's this year, but looking at their roster they seem extremely beatable. There really isn't anyone in their lineup who scares you. Their "MVP candidate" SS is having a down year (.680 OPS). Their best hitter on the season seems to be Robbie Grossman, who is about as mediocre as it gets. And if they are going to go with Bassitt and two lefties as their 3 starters, when the Sox as a team have destroyed lefties all season, I'm pretty confident that we can win this series.

I mean honestly, if you lined up the players position-by-position, including the rotation, how many spots would you take the A's player over the Sox? Assuming Eloy is back in LF and Engel is in RF, I think it's really just the #3 starter (whoever they use), DH (Canha), and 2B (La Stella). I suppose it depends on which version of Moncada and Robert show up, but each has shown some signs in the past few days of breaking out of their slumps so I'll take my chances with their talent.

This was probably the best matchup we could have hoped for. Well done Renteria on the tank job.