Baseball

[Vrede too]

Nats! In StL!

Don't need much of a bullpen when your 35 year-old starter, Aníbal Sánchez, hurls 8 2/3 hitless (not counting the 2 batters he hit). But, their bullpen has been shockingly great, too. Sánchez allowed the only hit in a shutout game. The bullpen is now up to 17 straight scoreless innings.

[Vrede too]

Wow, 2-0! In StL! Only 1 run allowed in the 2 games.

[Vrede too]

Now I want:

Yankees > Astros
Nationals all the way, an Amtrak Series.

Nice, visitors are 3-0 .

[GoCubsGo]

Now I want:

Yankees > Astros
Nationals all the way, an Amtrak Series.

Nice, visitors are 3-0 .

Damn Yankees.

Go GNats!

[Vrede too]

Damn Yankees.

11 innings, 1-1 , off to NY.

[GoCubsGo]

Damn Yankees.

11 innings, 1-1 , off to NY.

Flaherty-Strasburg on the bump tonight in D.C. That should be a good one. Strasburg has been an awesome playoff pitcher.

[GoCubsGo]

Wow, 7 ip, 12k, 0 earned runs.

[Vrede too]

Wow, 7 ip, 12k, 0 earned runs.

Wow, 3 games, 13 runs scored, 27 ip, 1 earned run allowed, 2 runs total allowed. Setting records for defense? Sweep?

[Vrede too]

GNats!!

Funny that they went 5 games in the division series while NYY swept.

[GoCubsGo]

GNats!!

Funny that they went 5 games in the division series while NYY swept.

Woo Hoo!!!! (I've got a cousin in DC, he's loving this, so yay cousin!)


Dodgers were the best team in the NL. The two best teams in baseball are playing in the ALCS.

[Vrede too]

Woo Hoo!!!! (I've got a cousin in DC, he's loving this, so yay cousin!)

Dodgers were the best team in the NL. The two best teams in baseball are playing in the ALCS.

Does your cousin go to games, and has he been going to playoff games?

I grew up attending Washington Senators games, mostly with my mom.

Even before I was born they were the sad sacks in "Damn Yankees”. That version left to become the Twins in 1960.

The team I saw was the expansion Senators team from 1961-71.

For most of their existence, the new Senators were the definition of futility, losing an average of 90 games a season. The team's struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators: "Washington: first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League." Their only winning season was in 1969 when Hall of Famer Ted Williams managed the club to an 86–76 record, placing fourth in the AL East. Frank Howard, an outfielder/first baseman from 1965 to 1972 known for his towering home runs, was the team's most accomplished player, winning two home run titles.

I was too young for the 1971 riot, but was with the rioters in spirit.

On September 21, 1971, by a vote of 10 to 2, American League owners granted approval to move the franchise to Arlington (TX) for the 1972 season. Senators fans were livid. Enmity came to a head at the club's last game in Washington. Thousands of fans simply walked in without paying after the security guards left early, swelling the paid attendance of 14,460 to around 25,000, while fans unfurled a banner reading "SHORT STINKS". With the Senators leading 7–5 and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, several hundred youths stormed the field, raiding it for souvenirs. One man grabbed first base and ran off with it. With no security in sight and only three bases, umpire crew chief Jim Honochick forfeited the game to the New York Yankees.

Not that I stayed a fan, but the misery continued for the Texas Rangers, even with Nolan Ryan's pitching and Shrub's "leadership". It would not win the AL Western Division until 1996.

The first playoff series, 24 years after the franchise came to Texas, saw the Rangers lose to the New York Yankees, 3 games to 1....Oates led the team to consecutive AL West championships in 1998 and 1999. Neither of Oates' last two playoff teams could win a single game, losing all six in back-to-back sweeps at the hands of the Yankees, a team that won three World Series in the 1990s after defeating Rangers teams in the first round. The 1999 team was to be the last playoff-bound team until 2010.

They finally made it to the 2010 & 2011 World Series, losing both. They have not been back.

Anyhow, forgetting about the Rangers this is the first DC success in my lifetime, and its greatest team since:

1924: World Champions
1925: American League Champions
1933: American League Champions

Yippie!

[GoCubsGo]

He does go to quite a few games, but didn't go to be he ncls. But he's kind of bumming, he's leaving town for the Mediterranean for three weeks. First world problem!

Liked that 1971 Senators story, didn't know that.

[Vrede too]

The game was over in the 1st, literally. Back to TX.

[GoCubsGo]

WHAT A GAME!!!!

[GoCubsGo]

Blech.

Heard on the broadcast last night that the 2010's are the only decade that the evil empire has not appeared in the world series. Unbelievable.

They kinda suck lately at being an empire, then.

They got good at sucking. History made!!

[Vrede too]

WHAT A GAME!!!!

Very exciting 9th, crap.

CONGRATS!!!!

GO Nats!!!! Deep state vs derp state.

[GoCubsGo]

WHAT A GAME!!!!

Very exciting 9th, crap.

CONGRATS!!!!

GO Nats!!!! Deep state vs derp state.

[Vrede too]

3 weeks ago:

... Go GNats, but their bullpen is miserable. Not really rooting for anyone, as long as the dreaded Yankees, the Cards (it's a cub thing) or Dodgers don't win I'm good.

The announcers remarked on how surprising it was that the bullpen came through , even getting the win.

Go Nats.

I'm nowhere near as passionate as you, but it's been my entire lifetime, too. I can't even call my childhood baseball team disappointing, there never were any expectations. Then betrayal - to Texas! - 34 years with no team and now to win a World Series game in the new team's 15th year . . . <sniff> :thumbsup: .

[Vrede too]

And all good things come to an end.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/ ... joe-maddon

He's gonna be a legend in Chicago down the road. Probably wasn't the best X's & O's guy, his handling of the pitching staff and constant lineup shuffling didn't sit well with some. But a great guy and a great interview nonetheless.

Bring on David Ross.

Report: Cubs to hire David Ross as their new manager

Congrats.

... Ross, who ended his career playing for the 2016 World Series champion Cubs, has no managerial or coaching experience. He has served as a special assistant in the Cubs front office since his retirement while also serving as a TV analyst and played under seasoned managers such as his predecessor, Joe Maddon, Terry Francona, and Bobby Cox. But really, this is a hire based in the perception that Ross can serve as a motivational and unifying force in the clubhouse in ways that Maddon was considered lacking in his last couple of years at the helm.

In handing Ross the job the Cubs are just the latest team to join the trend of turning to an inexperienced, recently-retired player to be their new skipper. The track record for such hires has been mixed at best, with the technical aspects of managing — particularly bullpen management — standing out as weaknesses for such candidates. Heck, if you go back to the 1960s you’ll find examples of managerial inexperience being a problem. Yogi Berra, famously, won a pennant managing the 1964 Yankees yet struggled all season, in part, because he said he had a hard time serving as an authority figure over his former teammates who were his contemporaries and near-contemporaries. He was fired after the season.

I feel like Ross will do OK with that part of things, but given that the Cubs will enter 2020 with pretty big expectations given their payroll and their talent level, he certainly has his work cut out for him....

Interesting, good luck.

[O Really]

Not to mention Ross' experience on Dancing With the Stars, on which he finished second. Dancing around can be a helpful skill when Cubbie fans want to know why (again) they're out of the playoffs.