MLB WS Predictions

[Dr. Shades]

Please educate me: How can the team that lost possibly not "deserve" to lose?

My apologies -- I didn't realize you were being serious.

100%. I was born without the sports gene, so there's much about sports that I simply don't understand.

There is an element of luck in sporting events, and sometimes outcomes can be attributed to luck as much as (or more than) they can be attributed to a disparity in skill or effort. In a competitive context, so say that someone didn't deserve to lose means they played with sufficient skill to win but the outcome was decided more by chance than by having been outplayed. In another contest, an identical display of skill could reasonably result in victory.

Hmm. I can't see how luck plays a factor in an indoor arena where the wind isn't a, uh, factor.

So, how did luck influence the game about which you were speaking?

[Bret Ripley]

My apologies -- I didn't realize you were being serious.

100%. I was born without the sports gene, so there's much about sports that I simply don't understand.

There are people who follow a sport for years and still don't understand a significant amount of the game.

There is an element of luck in sporting events, and sometimes outcomes can be attributed to luck as much as (or more than) they can be attributed to a disparity in skill or effort. In a competitive context, so say that someone didn't deserve to lose means they played with sufficient skill to win but the outcome was decided more by chance than by having been outplayed. In another contest, an identical display of skill could reasonably result in victory.

Hmm. I can't see how luck plays a factor in an indoor arena where the wind isn't a, uh, factor.

Parenthetical note: weather did not really play a factor in this game, but T-Mobile Park is not an indoor arena.

So, how did luck influence the game about which you were speaking?

Oof. Where to start. Both teams played very well and rather evenly (e.g. both teams had exactly 8 hits), but there are 'luck' factors that play a part of almost every baseball game. For example, hitters have limited control over where the ball will go when they make contact. A sharply hit ball can be a line-out if hit directly at a defensive player but be good for a bases-clearing double if the angle of departure from the bat differed ever so slightly. Making good contact is a matter of skill; exactly where the ball goes includes an element of luck. In fact, there are statistics (I will mention a couple below) that track a player's luck when it comes to batted balls.

Another 'luck' factor is that hitters have no control over whether any of their teammates are on base when they successfully score a hit. There were several times during the 15-inning marathon that a hit that had been made in one inning and scored nobody (no baserunners) would have won the game if made in another inning when teammates were on base.

If you don't follow baseball you almost certainly won't be interested, but on the off chance anyone is interested here is an article that briefly discusses 'luck' in baseball and a couple of the statistical tools used to quantify it ('batting average on balls in play' and 'home runs per flyball rate'): https://library.fangraphs.com/principles/luck/.

[ceeboo]

There are people who follow a sport for years and still don't understand a significant amount of the game.

Nail - Head - Nice!

The Battle in Seattle (game 5) was epic. It will go down as one of the greatest game 5's of all time.

So many things play a significant role in all of this tremendously pressure packed drama. Being that it was extra innings, and that it was loser go home, just made these "many things that played significant roles" even more significant.

The pressure on every pitch - the pressure on every hitter, the pressure on the defense - the ball/strike count - the base runners - the number of outs - the bunt option - the intentional walk option - the many manager's decisions - the batter's job to move the runner up 90 feet - the pitcher's job to deny the runner moving up 90 feet. And on and on and on.

Luck (or good fortune) is always involved (at least to some degree) in a game that goes 15 innings.

That game was really special, and Seattle earned the right to move on.

Playoff baseball is the bee's knees, in my opinion.

[Bret Ripley]

There are people who follow a sport for years and still don't understand a significant amount of the game.

Nail - Head - Nice!

The Battle in Seattle (game 5) was epic. It will go down as one of the greatest game 5's of all time.

In Seattle, that game will be remembered for however long people continue to think about baseball. It will rank up there with the 1995 tie-breaker game with the Angels with Luis Sojo's broken bat "inside the park grand slam", and 1995's ALDS Game 5 against the hated Yankees with Edgar's 11th inning hit that Seattle fans just refer to as "The Double". Some people credit "The Double" with saving baseball in Seattle, and there may be something to that.

Looking at those video clips reminds me how much I don't miss the dreadful old Kingdome. Even the restrooms were dreadful: using the urinal troughs was like lining up side-to-side to pee into the bed of a Tesla Cybertruck.

[Whiskey]

Nail - Head - Nice!

The Battle in Seattle (game 5) was epic. It will go down as one of the greatest game 5's of all time.

In Seattle, that game will be remembered for however long people continue to think about baseball. It will rank up there with the 1995 tie-breaker game with the Angels with Luis Sojo's broken bat "inside the park grand slam", and 1995's ALDS Game 5 against the hated Yankees with Edgar's 11th inning hit that Seattle fans just refer to as "The Double". Some people credit "The Double" with saving baseball in Seattle, and there may be something to that.

Looking at those video clips reminds me how much I don't miss the dreadful old Kingdome. Even the restrooms were dreadful: using the urinal troughs was like lining up side-to-side to pee into the bed of a Tesla Cybertruck.

Oh boy. Images of Candlestick.

[Res Ipsa]

Nail - Head - Nice!

The Battle in Seattle (game 5) was epic. It will go down as one of the greatest game 5's of all time.

In Seattle, that game will be remembered for however long people continue to think about baseball. It will rank up there with the 1995 tie-breaker game with the Angels with Luis Sojo's broken bat "inside the park grand slam", and 1995's ALDS Game 5 against the hated Yankees with Edgar's 11th inning hit that Seattle fans just refer to as "The Double". Some people credit "The Double" with saving baseball in Seattle, and there may be something to that.

Looking at those video clips reminds me how much I don't miss the dreadful old Kingdome. Even the restrooms were dreadful: using the urinal troughs was like lining up side-to-side to pee into the bed of a Tesla Cybertruck.

The Kingdome sucked, especially for baseball. I saw The Double in 1995. As soon as I saw where the ball was headed, I jumped up and started screaming “We win! We win!” It was the most exciting sports moment of my life. Refuse to lose and all that. But Friday’s game was the best pitching game I’ve ever seen. I’m still stunned.

[Res Ipsa]

There are people who follow a sport for years and still don't understand a significant amount of the game.

Nail - Head - Nice!

The Battle in Seattle (game 5) was epic. It will go down as one of the greatest game 5's of all time.

So many things play a significant role in all of this tremendously pressure packed drama. Being that it was extra innings, and that it was loser go home, just made these "many things that played significant roles" even more significant.

The pressure on every pitch - the pressure on every hitter, the pressure on the defense - the ball/strike count - the base runners - the number of outs - the bunt option - the intentional walk option - the many manager's decisions - the batter's job to move the runner up 90 feet - the pitcher's job to deny the runner moving up 90 feet. And on and on and on.

Luck (or good fortune) is always involved (at least to some degree) in a game that goes 15 innings.

That game was really special, and Seattle earned the right to move on.

Playoff baseball is the bee's knees, in my opinion.

Yep.

[ceeboo]

It will rank up there with the 1995 tie-breaker game with the Angels with Luis Sojo's broken bat "inside the park grand slam"

Thanks for that! Awesome!

using the urinal troughs was like lining up side-to-side to pee into the bed of a Tesla Cybertruck.

Reminds me of a great story.

When the real ceeboo (my boy) was about 3, I took him to a Redwings hockey game. After being there for a while, he told me that he had to go to the bathroom. I walked hm to the line and we waited. When we were next, with me about four feet from him, he walked up to the urinal, looked at me, I looked at him and said you good little man? He said, yeah dad and proceeded to drop his drawers, turned his butt towards the urinal, and began to sit! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!

Moral of the story: When your kid tells you that they have to go to the bathroom, DO NOT assume that they mean pee. A follow up question would have been the right move on my part. (Can't wait to tell that story at his wedding)

[Bret Ripley]

(Can't wait to tell that story at his wedding)

[ceeboo]

Seattle pounds Toronto - Goes up 2-0 and going home.

Wow!

(Did you see that crazy double play in the Brewers/LA game?) Wow!