.
It was a funny series against the Jays. Sometimes a team comes in here and looks like a 125-win team for three games. The Nationals did that a few years ago. Couple others. The M's did crawl out of the coffin to salvage that last Toronto game. That accomplishment felt vaguely like the U.S. hockey team beating the Soviets in 1980. Do you believe in miracles?
Could not beLIEVE that Joey Bautista hit that pitch from Edwin Diaz ... except it looked completely inevitable.
Some time, some where the Jays lost 70 games this year. One of you mooks want to 'splain that to me? Seriously. And how that lineup has a 100 team OPS+? They looked like 7 HOF'ers, every position except 1B and 2B ... and their team ERA is 113.
No, I realize. On paper there are reasons. Those reasons weren't discernible to Dr. D's naked eye, though. If you put the Jays in generic uniforms (like DHARMA INITIATIVE GREEN BEANS cans, except labeled with black-and-white VISITING BASE BALL CLUB jerseys) I'd have thought that was the 1975 Red Sox out there.
Point being, the M's finally get to step away from the generic HOF cereal, up to the table with generic SANDLOT JOKERS cereal. 's OK by me. And, nice sac fly there Robby against a tough, tough pitcher. We appreciate it.
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We axed the question a few weeks ago ... if the Seahawks were 2 back in their division with 10 to play, would you rule them out? No, not even if all three teams were ahead of them, as the Tigers +2 and the Orioles +1.5 and the Astros +0.5 are ahead of them. But, of course, Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman and Pete Carroll would have a little something to do with that ...
Fangraphs has the M's with a 15% chance of making the playoffs. Earlier, Moe and the laws of mathematics pointed out that this is more connected with the idea of 4-6 records for everybody than it has to do with the M's chance of going 8-2 or 9-1.
Or does it? Moe also pointed out we finish with 4 in Orkland. No, that's not right ... the Orcs come here. Before that we've got a 3-gamer vs the Twinkies, of which the M's better win 2+. You don't have to yell at them in order to force them to attempt the feat. They're willing to win in Minnesota, we presume.
2-1, 2-1, 3-1 is not only do-able against MIN, HOU and OAK but it is what you would expect from a team that is thinking it could win in the postseason anyway. 7-3 would catch Detroit if it finished 5-7 against MIN, KC, CLE and ATL. Hmmmm. Now that you put it that way, maybe 15% is a little high... Nah. Moe can go back and count up for us the number of times Detroit lost 7 out of 12 in their 138 chances of doing so this year. The number of 5-7 Detroit runs will not be few.
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K-Pax tomorrow. Happy Zeus Day. And, yes, Matty, we are about one Cuban no-hit, no-run ballgame away from every day being a Happy Ace Day. :- )
Enjoy,
Jeff
