Growing up, there was nothing more important than sports. I would say that from the ages of 9 to 16, my summers consisted of watching the Mets game at night, waking up and watching Sportscenter like seven times, then watching the replay of the Mets game, and then finally going outside to enjoy my summer. And then at night I would watch that night's game. I loved all sports, but baseball was my passion.
Back then, events like the All-Star game seemed special. Before the free agent frenzy and inter-league play, it was a novelty to see your favorite players go up against other players from the opposing league. You could see Randy Johnson vs. Barry Bonds or Greg Maddux vs. Ken Griffey Jr. and it was special because the only other way to see these match-ups would be in the World Series.
That is why I think this year's World Series match-up is intriguing.
The Mets and Royals just do not have a lot history together. Prior to this year's Fall Classic, they have only met 9 times in the regular season, in 2002, 2004, and 2013.
I think the All Star Game and the World Series lose their luster a bit when we see teams and players
that we've seen face off before. This year will be a throwback year because the Royals young lineup and the Mets young pitching have not seen a lot of each other.
The Royals have a young, athletic lineup. They can run and they play good defense. They might not have one guy that jumps out at you but when you look up and down their lineup, they are all solid major league hitters. Eric Hosmer is a middle of the lineup First Baseman, Lorenzo Cain seems to do everything well. Kendrys Morales is the prototypical DH, which will make playing in a National League ballpark interesting. Do they sit their DH and RBI guy???
The Royals, as we saw last year in the playoffs have a strong bullpen, but can their rotation hang with the Mets' young guns. Johnny Cueto has struggled since coming over from the Reds in a deadline deal. Edinson Volquez and Chris Young had solid years, but they are the definition of journeyman pitchers. Yordano Ventura is their young ace and has been a big part of the Royal resurgence of the last two years.
For the Mets, as we all know, it will all come down to their young pitching staff and their ability to get the ball to Jeurys Familia as soon as possible. The Met rotation and their ability to conjure up offense from many different players should put them in a solid position to win games.
As a Met fan, two things terrify me going into the series. One, is the Royals running game against Travis d'Arnaud. d'Arnaud is a wonderful offensive player and a great leader of the pitching staff but he does not have a great arm and I am positive the Royals know that and will try to take advantage. My other worry is the Royals' professional hitters versus the Mets pitchers. Mets pitchers throw a lot of strikes, which is a good thing. But the Royals have a lot of good hitters who like to play small ball, get base hits, and run the bases. I can see the Royals hitters jumping on pitches around the strike zone and killing us with base hits.
These Mets had a surprisingly easy time defeating the Cubs. I don't think the Royals will be as easy a task.
No predictions here though. I can't jinx myself. All I can do this series is wear the same Met jersey I've been wearing for all the playoff games so far and root like I'm a twelve year old fan again.
-BNolan
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Mets-Dodgers NLDS Preview
When thinking about what to write for this blog, I was going to do a position by position breakdown or maybe look at a bunch of statistics to try and compare the two teams. But I am going to keep it fairly simple.
The Mets and Dodgers make for an intriguing match up.
East Coast vs. West Coast
Original New York National League Team vs Replacement National League Team.
Memorable playoff moments between the 2 clubs (1988)
Both teams with elite starting pitching staffs.
A veteran playoff team (Dodgers) vs. a team with not a lot of playoff experience (Mets).
Big Market club that spends a lot of money vs. Big Market team that does not.
First thing I think of when I think of the Dodgers is their two top starters. Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw might be the two best pitchers in all of baseball. Next thing I think of is their extremely large payroll. As high as that payroll is and as good as their top two pitchers are, I just don't think the rest of the team is that good. The only player that might instill a bit of fear is Adrian Gonzalez, a proven run producer and RBI guy over his career. I am certainly not scared of Jimmy Rollins, Carl Crawford, or Chase Utley (maybe the 2008 versions but not the 2015 version). Yasiel Puig has kind of turned out to be bust. He came into MLB like a lightning bolt but lacks fundamentals that even Yoenis Cespedes possesses.
But pitching wins in the playoffs and the only way the Mets have a shot is if they win at least one of the first two games. They have to beat Greinke or Kershaw, or hopefully both.
Now, not one of the Mets pitchers expected to start in this series has thrown a pitch in the postseason.
But while everyone is talking up the Dodgers two aces, the Mets have a staff that can pitch with anybody. Degrom, Syndergard, Harvey, and Matz all have the ability to dominate. Only question is can the do it on a national stage under the spotlight.
Another question is whether their new found offensive prowess will continue in the playoffs. As hot as the Mets were in August and most of September, their bats dried up the last few weeks of the season.
Can David Wright, making his return to the playoffs for the first time in nine years, avenge his dreadful 2006 postseason?
Can Terry Collins pull the right strings in his first playoff trip?
I am excited to see who will step up, especially against the two aces from L.A.
Should be an interesting series. No predictions here...too many unknowns. I just want to see a good series and hopefully be able to see the Mets advance.
-BNolan
The Mets and Dodgers make for an intriguing match up.
East Coast vs. West Coast
Original New York National League Team vs Replacement National League Team.
Memorable playoff moments between the 2 clubs (1988)
Both teams with elite starting pitching staffs.
A veteran playoff team (Dodgers) vs. a team with not a lot of playoff experience (Mets).
Big Market club that spends a lot of money vs. Big Market team that does not.
First thing I think of when I think of the Dodgers is their two top starters. Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw might be the two best pitchers in all of baseball. Next thing I think of is their extremely large payroll. As high as that payroll is and as good as their top two pitchers are, I just don't think the rest of the team is that good. The only player that might instill a bit of fear is Adrian Gonzalez, a proven run producer and RBI guy over his career. I am certainly not scared of Jimmy Rollins, Carl Crawford, or Chase Utley (maybe the 2008 versions but not the 2015 version). Yasiel Puig has kind of turned out to be bust. He came into MLB like a lightning bolt but lacks fundamentals that even Yoenis Cespedes possesses.
But pitching wins in the playoffs and the only way the Mets have a shot is if they win at least one of the first two games. They have to beat Greinke or Kershaw, or hopefully both.
Now, not one of the Mets pitchers expected to start in this series has thrown a pitch in the postseason.
But while everyone is talking up the Dodgers two aces, the Mets have a staff that can pitch with anybody. Degrom, Syndergard, Harvey, and Matz all have the ability to dominate. Only question is can the do it on a national stage under the spotlight.
Another question is whether their new found offensive prowess will continue in the playoffs. As hot as the Mets were in August and most of September, their bats dried up the last few weeks of the season.
Can David Wright, making his return to the playoffs for the first time in nine years, avenge his dreadful 2006 postseason?
Can Terry Collins pull the right strings in his first playoff trip?
I am excited to see who will step up, especially against the two aces from L.A.
Should be an interesting series. No predictions here...too many unknowns. I just want to see a good series and hopefully be able to see the Mets advance.
-BNolan
Sunday, October 4, 2015
MLB Playoff Preview
Today was they final day of the 2015 Major League Baseball regular season.
Today we found out exactly who was going to make the postseason,
Some teams we already knew, the teams that have clinched over the last couple of weeks.
National League Division Series match ups include the NL East winning Mets versus the NL West winning Dodgers. The Central winning Cardinals will face the winner of the Wild Card game, either the Pirates or the Cubs.
Over in the American League, we have the Toronto Blue Jays, making their first postseason appearance since 1993,versus the Texas Rangers who made a hard charge in the second half of the season to win the AL West, Defending AL champs, The Royals will face the winner of the AL Wild card game, either the Yankees or the Astros, who are making their first postseason appearance since 2005.
These series should make for some exciting baseball.
There are some teams who haven't played a lot of postseason baseball lately (Mets, Blue Jays, Astros).
Even the Yankees are making their first playoff appearance, if playing in the Wild Card game is considered making the playoffs, since 2012.
You have teams like the Cardinals and the Royals, who were basically in control of their division the vast majority of the season. The Cardinals are the team that is always in contention and always seem to win year in and year out. The Royals made a tremendous run to the AL Pennant last year and lost to the Giants in the seventh game of the World Series.
There are teams like the Mets, Rangers, and Blue Jays, who all made significant deals at the trade deadline to improve their teams. The Mets were a borderline Wild Card contender, in a good spot because the division favorite Nationals were having a down year. Then in late July, they called up top hitting prospect Michael Conforto, and traded for Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and of course the blockbuster, Yoenis Cespedes. They got hot in August and September and won their first division crown in almost a decade.
In late July, the Rangers weren't even thought of as a playoff team. When they traded for ace Cole Hammels of the Phillies, many baseball people saw it as a move for the future. Turns out that that trade combined with guys like Prince Fielder having a bounce back year, propelled them to an unlikely division title.
The Blue Jays, a team that always seems to be filled with talent, found their missing piece when they traded for certified ace David Price. They also swapped All Star shortstops with the Colorado Rockies, acquiring Troy Tulowitzki for Jose Reyes.
The Yankees, who lost the division lead to the Blue Jays, were having a pretty impressive year.
Injuries to Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi late in the year hurt the club. Injuries throughout the season to Jacoby Elsbury and Masahiro Tanaka definitely affected their season as well. But for the Yankees, it was the old veterans, like A-Rod, Carlos Beltran, and Teixeira, and the bullpen combo of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller that carried them to the one game playoff. Boy I would love to see another postseason run for guys like Beltran and Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees' opponent, the Houston Astros, are the young guns of the playoffs. Not far removed from 3 consecutive 100 loss seasons, The Astros were in first place most of the year. They are stocked with young talent, like Carlos Correia, and they have potential Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel along with 19 game winner Colin McHugh.
The NL Central is the best division in baseball. They are sending 3 teams to the postseason.
The perennial winning Cardinals, the Pirates and their recent success, and the Cubs backed by a much improved roster and every player's favorite manager, Joe Maddon, will all play playoff baseball.
There is a lot of excitement and a lot of cool story-lines for this year's edition of the MLB playoffs.
I hope it turns into a great postseason for America's past time. Should be fun to watch.
Stay tuned later in the week. Should the Yankees win on Tuesday, I will do a preview of their Division Series matchup and I will also do a Mets-Dodgers preview.
-BNolan
Today we found out exactly who was going to make the postseason,
Some teams we already knew, the teams that have clinched over the last couple of weeks.
National League Division Series match ups include the NL East winning Mets versus the NL West winning Dodgers. The Central winning Cardinals will face the winner of the Wild Card game, either the Pirates or the Cubs.
Over in the American League, we have the Toronto Blue Jays, making their first postseason appearance since 1993,versus the Texas Rangers who made a hard charge in the second half of the season to win the AL West, Defending AL champs, The Royals will face the winner of the AL Wild card game, either the Yankees or the Astros, who are making their first postseason appearance since 2005.
These series should make for some exciting baseball.
There are some teams who haven't played a lot of postseason baseball lately (Mets, Blue Jays, Astros).
Even the Yankees are making their first playoff appearance, if playing in the Wild Card game is considered making the playoffs, since 2012.
You have teams like the Cardinals and the Royals, who were basically in control of their division the vast majority of the season. The Cardinals are the team that is always in contention and always seem to win year in and year out. The Royals made a tremendous run to the AL Pennant last year and lost to the Giants in the seventh game of the World Series.
There are teams like the Mets, Rangers, and Blue Jays, who all made significant deals at the trade deadline to improve their teams. The Mets were a borderline Wild Card contender, in a good spot because the division favorite Nationals were having a down year. Then in late July, they called up top hitting prospect Michael Conforto, and traded for Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and of course the blockbuster, Yoenis Cespedes. They got hot in August and September and won their first division crown in almost a decade.
In late July, the Rangers weren't even thought of as a playoff team. When they traded for ace Cole Hammels of the Phillies, many baseball people saw it as a move for the future. Turns out that that trade combined with guys like Prince Fielder having a bounce back year, propelled them to an unlikely division title.
The Blue Jays, a team that always seems to be filled with talent, found their missing piece when they traded for certified ace David Price. They also swapped All Star shortstops with the Colorado Rockies, acquiring Troy Tulowitzki for Jose Reyes.
The Yankees, who lost the division lead to the Blue Jays, were having a pretty impressive year.
Injuries to Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi late in the year hurt the club. Injuries throughout the season to Jacoby Elsbury and Masahiro Tanaka definitely affected their season as well. But for the Yankees, it was the old veterans, like A-Rod, Carlos Beltran, and Teixeira, and the bullpen combo of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller that carried them to the one game playoff. Boy I would love to see another postseason run for guys like Beltran and Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees' opponent, the Houston Astros, are the young guns of the playoffs. Not far removed from 3 consecutive 100 loss seasons, The Astros were in first place most of the year. They are stocked with young talent, like Carlos Correia, and they have potential Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel along with 19 game winner Colin McHugh.
The NL Central is the best division in baseball. They are sending 3 teams to the postseason.
The perennial winning Cardinals, the Pirates and their recent success, and the Cubs backed by a much improved roster and every player's favorite manager, Joe Maddon, will all play playoff baseball.
There is a lot of excitement and a lot of cool story-lines for this year's edition of the MLB playoffs.
I hope it turns into a great postseason for America's past time. Should be fun to watch.
Stay tuned later in the week. Should the Yankees win on Tuesday, I will do a preview of their Division Series matchup and I will also do a Mets-Dodgers preview.
-BNolan
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