This series is starting to remind me of 2005, when the Astros had Clemens, Roy Oswalt, and Andy Pettit for starters and got swept by the White Sox. I’ll be surprised if the series makes it back to Houston.
Game Thread: World Series thread: Nationals vs Astros
- Thread starter 81usaf92
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The last time a team choked away a 2-0 WS while being on the road for those 2 games....... 1996 yuck.
Im surprised I got a like from a braves fan for pointing that out... I dont know if he liked that I knew that or he just enjoys the voodoo that series put on us like Cubs fans deep down enjoyed their lore of curses despite what they said for 100 years of them. :biggrin:
Disagree that the Braves were fortunate to win the East even though I agree with the seemingly contradictory assessment that the Nats were a better team. But the Braves played better and beat the Nats H2H early, middle and late in the season. You are right about the poor Wash bp but the Braves' pen was also awful often during the season. They were good down the stretch after the initial hiccups following the 3 acquisitions.
Agree that the injuries were a killer, especially Freeman. His play at the plate and in the field was awful and killed the Braves at crucial times during the StL series. Sometimes all he needed was just a flyball but whiffed instead.
Could not agree more about the chemistry though IMO, any real roster improvements that present themselves should be taken, though with the chemistry mentioned kept in mind.
Many talk about the Braves' cursed playoff history, though they are about .500 with 13 series wins since '91, though losing their last 6 or 7, but Wash's was much shorter with not one series win, though probably favored every time since 2012 - not one win. And they often lost in incredible fashion. It looked like it again vs Mil down 2 in the 8th vs Hader. But a bloop hit kept the inning alive then Soto hit a 3 run single that had funny spin and thus got past the RF. It's crazy.
Don't know if they let Harper go because of bad locker room influence or because they did not think he was worth the money. I don't know. Never heard of Harper being a cancer but I don't keep up with it that closely, maybe he was.
Saying the Braves were fortunate is crazy. Both team got off to a slow start and both teams had very similar records from May onward.
Winning 97 games is not “fortunate”. Braves has a 10 game lead in mid Sept. and were 5-2 against the Nats in Sept. to put them away. Then the Braves shut it down and still won the division by 4 games while loosing 11 of their last 20 and the Nats winning 8 straight.
The Braves dominated the division this year and then the injuries caught up. IMO, a healthy Braves lineup is better than this Nats lineup, Braves bullpen is better as well. The Nats have the better starters though.
In hindsight, I think the Braves starters weren’t used right in the LDS. Soroka should have started game 1 so he could’ve thrown twice. He’s our best starter and we only got 1 start out of him.
Winning 97 games is not “fortunate”. Braves has a 10 game lead in mid Sept. and were 5-2 against the Nats in Sept. to put them away. Then the Braves shut it down and still won the division by 4 games while loosing 11 of their last 20 and the Nats winning 8 straight.
The Braves dominated the division this year and then the injuries caught up. IMO, a healthy Braves lineup is better than this Nats lineup, Braves bullpen is better as well. The Nats have the better starters though.
In hindsight, I think the Braves starters weren’t used right in the LDS. Soroka should have started game 1 so he could’ve thrown twice. He’s our best starter and we only got 1 start out of him.
Not sure, but the home team has only won about 51% of MLB playoff games. Home field advantage does not exist in this sport.
I do think it would be more interesting if they did 2-2-1-1-1 rather than 2-3-2 home and away
I think ther have been times where there was some homefield due to the stadium - the Astrodome for instance, when a team was built around the geometry. I remember reading about Jose Lima, who was great his last year in the Dome, walking into Minute Maid muttering "this is no good." And he got shelled there. But the numbers don't lie.
There are some places that you really dont want a deciding game to be as a visiting team. None of those places are in Houston or DC, but out of the two I would say Houston having homefield advantage gives them a slight edge because of how committed their fans are compared to Washington and how their ballpark is one of those oddities.
I would say the #1 place that I wouldn't want someone to have a homefield advantage in a 7 game series is San Francisco. The wind, location, and crowd noise are huge factors at that place.
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Also Fenway Park. It isn't really an advantage when they play AL teams because those teams are familiar with how to play balls off the wall, but NL teams have had a tough time with that.
That is true, but I think when baseball turned into an analytical sport the Fenway effect lessened due to the emergence of opposite field hitters and leftys.
I think any ballpark with a sea breeze mixed with a weird structure is a difficult one to adjust to. PNC, Wrigley, and SF come to mind, but I give SF the advantage over the other two because of the team they usually field and the fans.
The Yankees lineup was designed to take advantage of that short porch in right field for so many years. The new ballpark has no such anomalies.
When the old Yankees stadium first opened right field line was 295. It was “the House Built for Ruth”
Yep - back in the day it had a monster center field - just huge - but you could check swing a homer down the right field line.When the old Yankees stadium first opened right field line was 295. It was “the House Built for Ruth”
The Minn Metrodome was one of the better home field advantages because of the fans. The stadium itself was one of the worst of the "cookie-cutter" parks with no physical charm but the fans made it a very tough postseason park.
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