Today saw Wakatakakage v Onosato, and it was a fantastic match:
Ny times copied my post
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I’m just getting into baseball, been watching a lot of it the last couple weeks.
This sounds pretty similar to the A’s strategy, actually. Except for the Sox it sounds like idk, maybe just complacency? For Fisher and the A’s he’s cheap as hell but also has purposely dismantled the team and fanbase with the goal of moving the team for a big $$$ return. Is that a risk at all with the Sox?
it’s incompetence with the white sox instead of malice in the unfortunate case of the A’s
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This is basically the strategy of most every team other than like six rich teams and maybe the Cardinals.
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will add that the A’s famously cracked the code on this dilemma to a degree
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Still seems like there’s a spending issue on top of that though. Looking at salaries you still have a lot of teams willing to spend enough to at least be in the middle of the pack for salaries. Then you have the bottom 5 or so where the money really drops off.
such a nice view from up there in the stadium!
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Yeah, baseball is a game of haves and have-nots even between say a mid-level payroll team like the Cardinals and a low-level team like the Marlins. A lot of teams have gotten into this cyclical boom and bust style of roster building. Having a 70 win or worse team with a lot of prospect talent that could become a perennial 95+ win team is more preferable to most than having like a 76-86 win talent-level that might scrape their way into the playoffs. Like I was saying, some of the rich teams don’t ever cut their losses on a season or practice tanking, but most every other team does to varying degrees.
Tanking and having money can be a real potent combo. Just look at the 2016 Cubs and the Astros from the past decade or so. They both stripped things down to the studs, waited for a big core of young talent to develop, threw money at the situation and won big.
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Yeah I think I wouldn’t mind watching almost any sport with a view like that, wow!
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The other problem is they’ve expanded the playoffs so much, and playoff baseball is such a crap shoot. Last years matchup between 2 teams that had lost 100+ games in 2021 but were able to ride prospects and a few smart free agents through to the World Series is kind of a worst case example of the expanded playoffs in so far that it does not adequately reward the best team over a 162 year season while also rewarding tanking behavior. You still end up with the Dodgers spending like crazy but even teams like the Red Sox or Yankees will put out rosters with obvious holes that can do enough to make the dance (and earn those dollars), then hope for the best in October. You really only need 3 starters and a few solid bullpen arms to be competitive.
It’s a bit of a conundrum, on the one hand it’s good you can’t buy a championship but on the other it feels like the regular season is devalued. At least there’s a lot of exciting young players scattered throughout the league and the pace of play changes have been pretty good.
Love the pix!
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Can’t say I agree with this assessment. Teams can buy championships and that’s just what the Rangers did. They were the 4th highest payroll.
Basically their entire rotation was purchased via free agency and Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer were pricey additions brought in via trade mid season because Jacob DeGrom, their $40 million a year pitcher got hurt. Also their two super-star middle infielders were bought in free agency for exorbitant amounts.
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I think mack is correct that you can’t really buy a best of 5 series. But you certainly can buy more bites at that apple by sustaining a high payroll
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Sure, baseball’s highly volatile compared to the other major spots making winning in the playoffs a bit of a crapshoot. Bringing in a bunch of expensive free agents to a team thats homegrown talent is middling at best and the end result is winning a World Series feels like buying a championship to me.
Shohei Ohtani.
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These are so great! Man I love Oracle Park.
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it’s an interesting question: who are the “legit” champs? 90s Braves (even with the Maddux FA, that was a lot of their own dudes), 2015 KC, etc. Vs who are the 1992 Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball teams
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I’m definitely looking forward to watching the playoffs this year and seeing if these top spend teams(NY teams, Dodgers, Astros, Phillies) will do. It simply cannot be as bad and predictable as like european football is where largely money spent guarantees ultimate success.
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Don’t forget the Padres! Their payroll is insane as well.
I hope the Tigers can sneak in there, because it’d be fun to see them potentially give the Astros some trouble.
About the only thing we can guarantee about the playoffs is that somehow, the Mets will blow it. Either by failing to get in, or by falling on their faces once they do.
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