Sitting here watching this Mets Cubs game 3 going on right now. The Cubs really caught a break in the 6th inning when Soler misplayed that ball into right field on what would have been an obvious scoring play that rolled into the ivy and ultimately took at least one run off the board for the Mets. The Cubs need to take advantage of that break and try to win this game. If they lose tonight, I doubt they will be able to come back from an 0-3 deficit in the series.

bobq : The Jays were the only team I even wanted to see in the world series from the AL. It's a shame, they could have made the world series really interesting. Would have been a really cool experience for a lot of their players too, like Tulo and Dickey, and a few others.

We're on the verge of seeing a Mets/Royals WS.

Someone shoot me, the only way this could have been worse is if it was Cardinals/Royals. Holy s***f***, what a horrid post-season it's been.

Can't wait for basketball season, and I say this as an avid fan of the sport.

legacyme3 :

the first round series were interesting because all but 1 went the full 5 games. This championship series is weak though... seems like neither of the series will get to 6 games, thats how it feels.

Obviously Id like my jays to make it, but if they didnt I would have liked to see the cubs get there, but it looks pretty bleak for both teams.

Its alarming how many quality prospects the jays have traded in the past 5 years. I mean, the ride to this point in the playoffs was excited, but not getting the whole way and having an empty farm system really is frustrating.

Lucky for you, your redsox have the deepest farm system in the league in my opinion so you guys will be back in it very soon.

bobq :

We'll be back very soon, I have the utmost faith. We actually played really well in the last two months of the season, and came close to making a true WC chase. We were at one point like 5 games back of a WC spot in the final month, and only fell out of it truly near the end. We weren't mathmatically eliminated until very late in the season, despite everything. Despite the Jays storming out, despite the Yankees defying age. Despite awful managing, and despite having people like Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, and Hanley Ramirez, and Pablo Sandoval dragging us down for the majority of the season.

With our prospect depth, it's clear what our move this offseason is. We're going to trade many of those prospects for a high level ace, which is the final piece of the puzzle, well and truly.

If we can do the following things, I think we could win the division next year:

1. Sign for/Trade for an ace. I'm not counting Cueto. If he's who we get, we're f***ed. But if we sign a Price, Zimmermann, or Greinke, or trade for a Sale, Gray, or Strasburg (all names that have been tossed around at one time or another), and just keep the core intact, our rotation for next year goes "Ace/Buchholz/Porcello/Eduardo Rodriguez/Miley", which is definitely enough, if the Rick Porcello we saw in the final two months is the Porcello we should expect going forward.

2. Find a taker for Hanley Ramirez. It doesn't matter where or how. Get rid of him, and play JBJ in the OF, and Shaw at first base. They don't need to be world beaters, but Hanley was so bad it's addition by subtraction.

3. Revamp the bullpen. We have three reliable relievers, but we overuse them. Pick up a high leverage arm/future closer (for when Koji retires) and use them to give guys like Tazawa a break. Use Joe Kelly out of the bullpen. He sucks as a starter, but he's got the stuff to be nails as a reliever, or even closer.

Do those three things, and I guarantee, we're back on top again. Our new guy calling the shots (Dombrowski) has a history of turning awful teams into contenders (laid groundwork for 2003 Florida Marlins, and every Tigers team of the past decade, as well as helping the Expos be good for a while). He's a genius when it comes to trades, and we have a lot of prospects to move.

The only prospects we need to absolutely keep are Yoan Moncada, Anderson Espinoza, and Andrew Benintendi.

legacyme3 :


I dont know of anderson espinoza, who is he?

I agree about the red sox, it seemed that they were a few pitchers short of being very dangerous, and they certainly played very well late in the season. Its surprising that hanley and pablo played well blow expectations considering what they have done in the past. Jays were fortunate to find a trading partner for reyes, although it did cost us hoffman and castro. How long are pablo and hanley signed for anyway?

My impression of the redsox this season is that betts and holt will be scary to play against for years to come, and jbj finally found his form this season. Redsox will grab another high draft pick to add to their excellent farm system depth and will soon have a quality major and minor league system, which doesnt look to slow down any time soon... this is how you build a consistent contender as opposed to the trade everyone away for a 2 year window to be good and then your team is really old approach that the jays went with.

bobq :

I had a huge post written up, but Vizzed ate it, so I'll sum it up like this.

His stuff, poise, and makeup have all been compared to a young Pedro Martinez.

As for Hanley and Pablo. Hanley has three guaranteed years and a fourth year vesting option left (worth 22 million I think?). Pablo has 4 years, with a 5th year club option (worth 17 million).

I was never expecting the Mets to go 3-0 against the Cubs, especially after how they have played against them in the regular season, losing all of their games against them. It would be cool if they could win tonight because it would be an amazing story for their pitcher Steven Matz, who only made his debut half way through the season, and last season finished the double A season with a championship victory, so this would be fitting.

I think pablo can still be valuable, but I feel like hanleys defense is going to keep declining to the point of frustrating, similar to what happened to reyes. Good luck finding a trade partner for either one.

My jays just won so this series is guaranteed a game 6, but as a fan you want to see as many post season baseball games as possible so heres to hoping for an extended and exciting post season.

Wow, this Murphy guy is... Something... Just a few moments ago he hit a home run in his 6th straight game which is an MLB record for the playoffs and has 7 in total.

I didn't have cable way back in 2006 so this is the 1st time seeing the Mets in the playoffs ever so I'm excited and its 8-1 in the 8th inning so it looks like within an hour the Mets will be the NL champions, which I still can't even believe. If you told the players just 3 months ago that they would even finish in 1st place, they would think you were crazy.

The Mets Do have a great young team. Their pitching especially is just lights out. Then add the historic Postseason that this Murphy kid is having, and you might have a world series champion. You just have to keep your fingers crossed that Cespedes isn't injured too badly.

Cubs had a decent run, but no-one expected them to get all the way to the NLCS this year. They rode Arrieta who had just an unbelievable stretch in August and September to get to the Wild Card game, then made the Cardinals pay for the mistakes that were made. The Cubs need a couple more pitchers for the bottom half of their rotation, and someone that can get on base at the top of the order.

Jordanv78 : I personally didn't even think that the cubs were going to make it past the wikd card round with the way that the pirates have been playing towards the end of the season, but for most of the season, especially in the 2nd half, Arrieta was a one man show.

It was an interesting side note going into game 4 that Theo Epstein who now runs the Cubs front office was the GM when the Red Sox came back from their 0-3 deficit against the Yankees that year (the only team that ever did it) So some were wondering if the Cubs under Theo might have the chance to do the same thing somehow.

I wasn't one of those people buying into that though.

OMG I can't wait until tonight because I'm going to meet some of the best players on the Mets when I'm at Jimmy Kimmel. I'm going to meet Wilmer Flores, David Wright, Jacob Degrom, and Matt Harvey! Perfect way to get the city hyped up for the world series which will here next week.

bobq : Wow, how about that Jumping catch that Revere had at the wall, totally getting a fence facial, then having the presence to throw a cannon back to Tulo. Totally would have doubled him up if dude at 1st held onto the dang ball. Still no matter what happens in the game, that was a cool play. Some great defense in that 7th inning.

jays have great defenders for the most part. colabello is our first baesman, but hes known for his batting average as opposed to his defense. His defense has been criticized this season and often caused toronto to go with smoak who is a very good defender who can hit the ocasional hr but overall is not a great hitter. colabello was the best player for the jays in game 2 against texas and has gotten in the starting lineup each game since.

Also, bautista just tied the game with his second bomb of the game.

goins screwed up and cost the jays a sac fly run with a failed bunt attempt. Jays have had their chances to score runs but could only get runs via the homerun.

I think some of kcs best bullpen guys in herrera, madson and davis have been used already now that theres a rain delay, which seems to be advantage jays.

I think jays will see hochavor and duffy once the rain delay is passed.

Theres rumor that stroman will enter the game... this is not ideal for the jays as he would be the jays game 7 starter, and dikey was terrible earlier in the series. What a close and exciting game.

This game got intense quickly. Hopefully Bautista can get a 3rd one maybe? Love to see the Blue Jays and Mets in the World Series. The Royals already ha ld their chance to win it all and now its the Jays turn.

Only a few more outs left and I really don't want this to go to extras since its already late.

bobq : I thought the biggest issue with that bunt attempt was them having him take the first pitch. I'm not sure what that happened. I mean you aren't fooling anyone at that point in the game. Everyone knows you are going to bunt. Just bunt it. Was huge that he didn't get the runners over.

Stinks that the game had to be delayed due to rain not long after the game finally got exciting. Looks like the Royals are going to take the momentum here. Just took a 4-3 lead. Can't believe that they scored on that looper to right field. Crazy.

revere got squeezed on a garbage strike call, but I still have no idea why they threw navarro out there to pinch hit for goins with 1 hit all post season.

was a great ride for my jays, they traded most of their farm system and they may just walk into free agency, but still, what a ride.

poor osuna, hes gunna get a whole lot of grief for getting the loss, even though hes been ridiculously impressive all year.

theyre gunna be all over goins for not getting that bunt down either.

It is a darn shame because pompey stole 2 massive bases in the 9th with nobody out and then they cant drive him home.

this was a very winnable game for the jays, but they left so many runners on base.

Well the Royals are going to be a hard team to beat. Supposedly Edinson is going to be starting game 1, so I doubt the Mets are going to have a problem against him no matter who they put out there and could be an easy win because most likely you've got a guy with a 3.5-4 ERA against a guy with an under 3 ERA.

Probably should also be able to continue their Home Run streak since they will be on the road and could probably score at least 5 runs during game 1.