I really dislike this Akeem guy. Big fan of David Sampson though he called the Astros in six and has been praising them like crazy the whole postseason . He defends there 2017 ring here too
https://syndication.bleacherreport....orld-series-winners-in-last-20-years.amp.html Bleacher Report ranked 2022 Astros as the best team in last 20 years Spoiler Record: 106-56 Pythagorean Record: 106-56 Postseason Record: 11-2 “A lot of people are going to be annoyed by this ranking and will accuse me of getting too wrapped up in the moment. But here's a fun fact for you: Dating back to 1954, there have been only four World Series champions that won at least 65 percent of their games and had a large enough run differential for a pythagorean winning percentage of at least .650. Those teams are: the 1975 "Big Red Machine" Reds, 1998 Yankees (the apex of the most recent dynasty in MLB history), 2020 Dodgers (who played only 60 regular-season games) and these Astros. We spent so much of this season focused on the 111-win Dodgers and Yankees, who started 61-23 before collapsing in spectacular fashion, that we just kind of took a damn good team for granted as it reached its sixth consecutive ALCS. Justin Verlander is going to win the AL Cy Young Award. Jeremy Peña should finish No. 2 in the AL Rookie of the Year race. Yordan Alvarez ought to be headed for a third-place finish in AL MVP voting. And the Astros also got great seasons out of Kyle Tucker, Jose Altuve, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and others. They just had no weak point, save for maybe Yuli Gurriel's batting .242 one year removed from winning the AL batting title. But even he made up for lost time in the postseason, leading the team with a .347 batting average. As a result, they swept the Mariners and Yankees and then made history with a combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the World Series. This Houston team is the new standard against which future World Series champions will be measured”
I know he's despised in the media and nationally, but I can't have a bigger man crush on this guy. He can do no wrong in my book. Jeff Luhnow, the OG architect of this dynasty!
Dusty last night. I have to give him credit. Going with Abreu in Montero’s spot after noticing Montero had been squared up this series.That’s what I am talking about.
If you look at who Montero faced vs who Abreu faced in the past 2 games, you see why Baker pitched them the way he did. Abreu came in in the 7th in both of those games to face the heart of the order. Montero pitched the 8th against the lesser guys. Baker was playing matchups, not what inning it was.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34929129/2023-mlb-power-rankings-our-way-too-early-no-1 1. Houston Astros 2022 record: 106-56 (first in the AL West) 2022 final ranking: 2 With nearly the entire roster coming back for 2023, Houston's incredible pitching depth makes the Astros a pretty easy call here. They allowed the fewest runs in a full season in the American League in the DH era (since 1973). Justin Verlander does have a $25 million player option, and even if he opts out and signs elsewhere, the Astros will still have the best pitching depth in the majors -- especially with a full season from Lance McCullers Jr. and Hunter Brown, who copied Verlander's delivery while growing up in Michigan, ready to step into a significant role. The Astros even have some flexibility in the payroll to make a big addition. Given that Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman are free agents after 2024, maybe they'll be looking for a long-term power bat. You know, perhaps even a certain New York Yankees outfielder ...
We should have won in 5 games. The first game was a fluke. How many times in his career has Verlander lost a 5 run lead after running through the first 3 innings like a buzzsaw, and what decent manager would allow him to.
“I guess that’s what easy outs do to get on base,” Wheeler said of the light-hitting Maldonado. “Get hit.” Lol. Wheeler is a b****. Not sure what the controversy is with Maldonado getting hit. He was legally within the batters box and he moved his elbow down and out of the way of the ball. Now obviously he was perfectly fine with getting hit but this wasn’t a Diaz moment.
