Count me as one that thinks shutting Strasburg down is dumb. If they were ten games back, I would get it. But they're comfortably up in the division race. They are likely going to make the playoffs and they are going to shut down (arguably) their best pitcher. The thought behind it when they first talked about doing it was that they were babying Strasburg now so that he is still in top form a few years down the road when the Nats were really in a position to contend. Well that time is now. What are you saving him for? Sure, there's a better chance than not that his team comes back next year and contends again, but that's no guarantee. And that's not even what gets me fired up the most about this. What I'm really upset about is that any Nationals playoff game will now become a three or four hour platform for the announce team to debate the decision, complete with several hundred camera cuts to a sad looking Stephen Strasburg in the dugout.
Many, many medical and baseball professionals disagree with you. The data supports their position. The way they handled it was bush, not the decision.
Are these really a big deal anymore? Seems like they happen more often than not now. Anyhow, Homer Bailey threw the 7th no-hitter of the season tonight (against Pittsburgh), 15th(or 16th) in Reds history.
Must've been a miserable game for the Pittsburgh crowd. First and only run is scored by a sac fly in the first. Then your team proceeds to get no-hitted.
There are definitely some of the old school pros who agree with the decision. But there are also many current pros who feel that the decision was horrible determined. The reason to sit him to prevent arm fatigue resulting in loss of arm flexibility and range of motion that would cause him to overuse a particular muscle group and lead to another injury. However, setting a flat inning limit is a very pen-and-paper technique to do that without a lot of science behind it. The more advanced way to do that would have been to use all the technology with cameras and biofeedback tools that professional teams have the ability to use to measure the angles, range of motion, and velocity of his throwing motion for different pitches at spring training and every few weeks throughout the season. At the point, the analysis begins to show true arm fatigue, then they should have elected to sit him, not at an arbitrary innings number that is based on retrospective and subjective occurrences of past pitchers. I bet if they would have done that too, it would have been better accepted by the media and Strasberg.
This is what happens when a few generations of young baseball players watch the "steroid period" of baseball with McGuire, Sosa, Griffey, Bonds, et al. and start to design their swings and approaches at the place to drive the ball for power instead of the more disciplined approach of simply hitting to the gaps, opposite field, as well as simply getting the head of the bat on the ball. There are definitely some of the younger generation of players who are doing that, but I would argue that current crop of young players probably have one of the highest rate of at bats without putting balls in play.
You are all talking about no-hitters? psshh... how about that triple crown that Miguel Cabrera would win if the season ended today? Now, that's something to talk about.
A's/Rangers series is awesome. Love the way the new playoff system creates urgency for both teams to actually win the division...such a huge advantange now to be a division winner as opposed to a wild card team.
You'd still have that. Baltimore and Oakland would still be trying to win their division even under the old format, they would also be worrying about each other. Chances are that everything will actually fall exactly the same as they would have under the previous format in the AL, since the odds of the 2 WC teams finishing with identical records are very high. I hate it. The NL shows the stupidest reason behind it. After 162 games, the Braves/Cards will play one game to move on, despite the fact that the Braves have clearly been the better team across 162 games.
The Rangers would have a WC spot locked up with very little urgency to play for a division title at this point.
No they wouldn't. Baltimore/As would be tied for the WC, with the Yankees and Rangers only one game ahead of both. The only team that would have clinched a playoff spot in the AL with 2 games to go is the Tigers.
Wait - you hate it even though it will play out exactly the same as the old system in the AL this year? In the NL, it made the race much more interesting for a few additional teams for the last few weeks, keeping their fans engaged and making many more games meaningful. And it penalizes being the wildcard team, giving both the Braves and Nationals incentive to try to keep playing to try to win their division until yesterday.
Very much so. The 2nd WC wasn't necessary. Makes no difference in the AL this year, and in the NL, I don't think a team that finishes 5 games ahead of another (round about) to play 1 game to decide who moves on. That is BS. If they were determined to have an extra round, it should have been a 5 game series.
And shockingly never caught up. Pujols slow start and waiting on Mike Trout hurt their chances, but they had already closed that gap by the deadline.
