mlb789 :

Then you may be in for a surprise or two yet.

The Nationals pitching staff is as deep as it gets in the NL, and they have a lot of "no names" that have ended up being very good players.

Mike Morse, Ian Desmond, and Kurt Suzuki are three players who are quality level... without even mentioning the "studs" or big money guys like Harper, Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman...

They weren't the best team in the NL for no reason.

I do not like those Yankees. I was really hoping Baltimore could have taken the series lead since they're obviously losing game 4. They came so close too. It's really deflating to lose by a single run and in extra innings.

It also looks like Oakland's number might be up. Down 2-0 in the 6th so far.

What I DO like is SF tied up the series. They've got a chance to advance in this one yet. I'm just a little worried about Matt Cain pitching tomorrow. He wasn't exactly spectacular last time out.

I almost wonder if it would have been better to not have Lincecum in the bullpen and instead of pitching him today have him spot-start tomorrow's game. That's obviously no longer an option though... but he's pitched well in the playoffs so far (like I said he would), so he might have been a better pick to start.

Well, as a Tiger's fan, if this lead stays until the bottom of the ninth, then anything can happen with Valverde on the mound. Especially against the "magic" A's. And if we do advance tonight, I would rather face the O's , not really because of the team, because both teams are really good. I just hate playing at Yankee Stadium.

Wow, way to blow the game Valverde. That's number 6 of the season I think. I give credit to the A's, but Valverde sucks!

I knew that was going to happen. NEVER count out the Athletics. It's a mistake. In fact, I feel like being a braggart.

"A's-Tigers tonight... and I think the A's have a little magic in them left. I've been wrong before of course, but I like the feeling in the air tonight"

There was magic in the air in Oakland. And now we have to see if they have one more magic trick in them.

Crazy Li :

I agree that the Yankees have probably won this series, but I think it's silly to count out ANY team in the post season before they have officially lost. With the way the teams are balanced, I could see all 4 series going 5 games. I obviously don't think it'll happen, but I can see a situation in which it would be reasonable.

legacyme3 : You're right. Anything can happen... but the O's best chance for a series win was winning this last game. Now they have an uphill struggle having to try and win both the remaining games and the Yankees have momentum.

The Tigers have shown that they have no shot at the World Series, though. If you can't close out the series, you don't have what it takes to win a championship. I've seen it time and time again. You can't take the lead in an elimination game, putting yourself in perfect position to finish your opponents off and then just throw it away. If your team does that, they can't survive the playoffs. That's just the way it is.

Champions finish off the opponent when they have them where they want them.

You can go all the way back to when Boston last won a World Series. They were down 3 games to none against the Yankees. They broke the sweep, which showed the Yankees lacking close-out power. The Yankees then failed two more times to put the Sox away. Tying the series up, completely gave Boston the momentum to not only win that series, but all the rest. They never looked back from that point. But at that point where the Yankees kept failing with the advantage, I knew that even if they were to win the series anyway, they weren't going to win the World Series, because you can't give teams that many chances to come back. It'll leave you getting burned.

You have to take advantage of every opportunity you get to win in sports. If you let even one slip, you could lose everything. There's no telling when you have another chance. You might think, "Oh, we still have another game." But that one might not even be close and your only real chance to win was the one you let get away.

Crazy Li :

Oh yeah, no doubt. This was as close to a must win as it could get without it literally being a must win situation. Now they HAVE to win, or obviously, they are done. It IS possible to see some magic however. The Orioles have had such a special way of winning this year, that I wouldn't be surprised if the next game ends in a one run game for better or worse.

Yeah, the Tigers have lost any chance of winning the World Series. I mean theoretically they "could" win, but the other team would literally need to implode. And with the quality of NL teams... I don't think that's a possibility.

I love the example you used with the Red Sox-Yankees, because that's exactly where I wanted to go, but was reluctant to, since I figured it would be homerism. That series was the one that first showed me as a relatively new fan of baseball (I started paying attention loosely in 2002, when I was 10, and next season in 2003 I started following seriously) that anything can happen. It's sparked a near decade of a fascination with the game of baseball, and it's brought me on an amazing trip to where we are in this playoff series.

At this point, tomorrow could shape up to be one of the best days in recent post season history. We have 3 games that are anyone's guess, and 1 game between the Orioles and Yankees that could shape up to be one full of drama, with shades of the Red Sox and Yankees of 04 (albeit a round sooner.)

Oldschool41 : Nope, but I was jumping for joy along with my older brother in the room. For the second there (including a lot of other A's fan) I thought we lost yesterday game, because it was in the 9th inning 3-1, and the A's barely got any hit in the past inning. Woo I was happy to see that the Oakland Athletics got a walk off win last night, and the Coco (who made final hit) got pie in the face. Yep the Oakland Athletics still doing that even in the post-season where the person that let them get a walk off win get pie in the face. 

Like I've been saying the whole time.

It's not about experience or inexperience right now.

The Nationals-Cardinals game is going to come down to one very important facet of the game.

Pitching.

Both teams had it. But the Nationals pitching was a little bit better, for one pitch. And that's all it takes. One pitch.

Good job Nationals. They get a chance to finish off the Cardinals, and move onto the Giants.

What's with former Phillies players getting walk-offs to save their teams?




Oh well whatever... all I care about are GIANTS making the advance. Can't ever count them out. Let's hope they use this momentum to blow right through round 2. Nats, Cards? I don't care. Bring them all on!




Though the Cardinals are an unorthodox team or at the very least they were when they won the WS in that they really had an offensive team. Usually defense wins championships, but they blew past some pitching-oriented teams to win on their bats. I haven't really followed them to know if they're still such an offense-heavy team or not this year. If they are, they'll be major trouble for the Giants who can't score many runs.




I'll be missing tonight's games 'cause I'm working a closing shift, so I'll hafta just either look at this thread or mlb.com to see what happened when I get home.

So. All 4 series ended up going 5 games.

We have the Giants and Tigers in so far... which honestly kind of bores me. Was hoping the Reds and A's would advance. Those two are fun teams to watch for sure.

We have Orioles and Yankees tomorrow... and then the Nationals and Cardinals.

I really really hope the O's and Nats advance. Those two are currently the only two teams left I can really root for. Call it East Coast bias if you want, but when you get down to it, they just have more interesting players and make for more compelling rivalries.

I'd hate if the Yankees and Cardinals won. :| Hell, I'll just watch MNF or whatever the f*** else is on. I love baseball, but only when a team I am interested in is involved. And the Tigers and Giants have bored me for the most part, aside from Verlander and Miggy (on the Tigers) and uh... well I guess the Giants have Buster Posey.

Both are good teams. They just happen to be boring to watch. To the extent I'd rather watch a "lesser team" play.

Well... odds are pretty good one of them will move on. Best of luck to them.

I hope the O's win too... but I'm still expecting St. Louis to topple Washington. Not that I want the Cardinals to win or anything. I find them boring too. I just don't think it's Washington's time yet. Then again, they had a lot of years where they had teams that should have at least been able to compete for a wild card spot and ended up being 4th or 5th in their division all the time somehow. Maybe this is supposed to make up for all the under-achieving years?

Maybe that's also why they made Teddie finally win a Presidents race on the last game of the season. It seems symbolic with them finally not being losers this year.

Go Cardinals GO!

9-7 in the 9th. Down to their last strike and they got a hit twice!

I hope they can close it out.

Well, I'm done with baseball for the year.

All the remaining teams are boring beyond belief, and the Cardinals keep getting gifts from the umps.

They've been squeezing the Nats pitchers all night, and giving the Cardinals 3 miles off the plate. I thought home field advantage meant the opposite.

Whatever. f*** the Cardinals.

Excuses.

You are just pissed that your team LOST.

GO CARDINALS!

Unfortunately the Yankees won as well, so I will be cheering for Detroit to win the World Series.

Cardinals vs Giants. Battle of the last 2 World Series champions. Should bee an interesting series.

Also, Detroit beat the Yankees in the ALDS last year.

bobq :

You have to be f***ing joking.

No seriously. Do you know what a strike is? Because they were being called balls.

I'm cheering for expanded instant replay. It's obvious we need it.