They don’t have a terrible bullpen - on the contrary, since the deadline trades they have one of the best in MLB. Taylor won’t be a meaningful part of it in the postseason. And they won in the postseason with Baker last year. I also am fed up with Dusty’s poor decision making, but knock off the hyperbole.
That's quite the murderers row so to speak. Painful memories. Didn't think we would have to endure that again but it appears so (at least through the end of this year)
That is mostly because of injuries and bullpen usage. The talent isn't there to overcome Dusty's incompetence.
Exactly. This is a talented team but with having the equivalent of a scarecrow as a manager (for the record I'd rather have a scarecrow) it's not good enough to win. I do think we make the Playoffs. The most frustrating thing is we should have at least a 5.5 game lead. White Sox took care of the A's and we were gifted the Royals. Too bad we have a buffoon as a manager
We've lost at least 5 games because of Bakers goofiness. That is the difference between having the best record in the AL and possibly missing the playoff all-together. Imagine having a player that made 5 game losing errors a season. Do you think they would last in the MLB?
It's infuriating. Especially since reality is we probably lose Los next season. This year is wide open in terms of ability to win it all (as good as the Giants have been I don't think they're better than us talent wise) and we should be the best team in the AL. Like I mentioned before, I thought the worst punishment we got was losing the draft picks. It was by far having Baker forced on us
Way to double down on the hyperbole. Go look at any professional forecasting system and get back to me.
Yes, it's frustrating. I hate it. But they got swept by the Tigers and the Orioles also, and have continuously flirted with the best record in the league ever since. At any rate, you asked if they will make the playoffs and I suggested you to look up professional forecasts. You responded by quoting the last three games, so I'll just provide you the forecasts. Fangraphs: 94% odds of making playoffs. https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds FiveThirtyEight: 94% of making playoffs. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-mlb-predictions/ Again, this 'they suck. they won't make the playoffs. they have the worst manager/bullpen/utility IF/minor league/whatever' is just hyperbole. It's a long season and a league where the best hitters hit one-third of the time and the best teams lose 4 out of 10 - keep some perspective.
Hopefully you're right. but .500 since the end of June. I do not believe they'll make the playoffs if that continues. We'll see.
Well we lucked out and won 1 out of the 4 game series. Agreed there is some hyperbole going on in this discussion. But Dusty, at a minimum, can't be trusted to take this team to the promised land. There is a good reason he's never won a title. We are stuck with him, unfortunately. The positive about this team is we have the best record in the majors against teams with winning records. And that's who we will face in the playoffs. We absolutely must win the division to have any chance at the WS.
So how does this team find itself in a battle to make the playoffs with the following standing? Scoring Runs - 1st in the majors ERA - 5th in the majors, nearly 1st in the AL That's just a poor job by Dusty that this team has not won at minimum 8 more games than they have. We should be pushing for an Astros record in wins for a single season, not struggling to get to 95 wins.
They are also in a battle to have the best record in the AL. This season likely doesn't have the multiple 100+ win teams like there were in 2017-2019. They built up a nice cushion on having the best offense in baseball and in turn had the best record in the AL at that peak but we all know they have been coming down to the pack recently as injuries and slumps have taken their toll. Bullpen was addressed but now the starters seem to have hit a wall at times recently.
Jimy Williams was a young team manager teaching the game trying to manage a team of veterans, which requires more management and tactical skills...