My opinions about the Indians/Mariners series can be found here. As far as the other three Division Series are concerned: Braves/Astros There’s no question in my mind that when everyone is healthy, the Astros have a superior team to the Braves. Their pitching isn’t that far behind Atlanta’s, and their lineup is probably the best…
[Ed. note. Clay Davenport isn’t a doctor, nor does he play one on TV. He does, however, have some interesting observations on the greatness of Barry Bonds’s 2001 season. Rany Jazayerli yields the floor to him this week.] I’m having trouble deciding which of Barry Bonds‘s new records is the most astounding. I’m pretty sure…
Has a dynasty started to crumble? The Braves couldn’t win 90 games this year, although their Pythagorean projections and their 19-24 record in one-run games pretty much say that they should have. Even so, the Braves did win their seventh straight division title. The Astros made a full rebound from last year’s collapse, but the…
The Baseball Prospectus staff discussed this week’s playoffs. Mariners/Indians Joe Sheehan: Indians in five. Derek Zumsteg: Okay, I’ll bite–you’re mad. The Mariners have a slightly better offense, a bullpen an order of magnitude better (with Cleveland’s stats including their pre-John Rocker goodness), and a better rotation. The Indians are talking about using a three-man rotation,…
The general consensus is that this is a mismatch, with the greatest regular-season team in AL history taking on a fading dynasty on its last legs. The thing to remember is this: in a short series, anything can happen. Anything. Lineups (AVG/OBP/SLG/Equivalent Average) Seattle Mariners RF Ichiro Suzuki (.350/.381/.457/.311) SS Mark McLemore (.286/.384/.406/.306) DH Edgar…