the last time they had a remote, every table was taken and people were standing full bus close to each other. You couldn't move around by 5 PM.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

He's covered himself with the inane belief that the MLB postseason is completely random. Spins at the wheel or whatever.

Are the Mets winning at about the right time? They seem to be relying on 3 young pitchers with a lot of upside. Are they winning ahead of schedule? Is this different for pitchers?

Yeah baseball's completely random in the post season, its not like they allow these guys a few games to sort anything out.

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Their offense is going to strike out a ton, now or in the future, but perhaps they will show more patience (Game 1, they were swinging early in the count against Harvey). The starting rotation needs another legitimate top of the rotation starter. When Hendricks is getting the ball in Game 3, that's a problem.

Still, though, they were (or still are) facing a team with little post-season experience that is also depending on several younger players.

When you're a top 4 team, I hate to hear they are too young. The playoffs in baseball are a crap shoot. They still have to win their division next season to avoid that wildcard game, and that's already a tall order given the Pirates and Cardinals both should be strong again.

I don't think the third best team in the NL should be talking about the playoffs being random when they are losing to the fourth best team in the NL.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

uh...because that proves the point?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Are you telling me that the Pirates and Cardinals are better teams than both of these teams?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The Cardinals lost their best pitcher a week before the playoffs. If they have him, then yes

And yes on the Pirates

Got it. So the Cubs shouldn't even be playing now.

So, I'm not sure what the point is of bringing up that the playoffs are random.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Because it's true?

Got it.

Water is wet. Also true.

I'd understand the relevance if the Cubs were the best team in the NL but they aren't according to you guys.

Or, at least say "Team lucky to still be playing is now unlucky and likely won't be playing much longer".

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

look, I understand playoff excitement, whatever, all that. But baseball should really be like the Premiership. The best team over 162 is the best team. Or have the NL champ play the AL champ. But the schedule is unbalanced.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

But that's one of the unique things about baseball. There's no real way to actually balance the schedule. Every team is different depending on which pitcher is starting that day. You can schedule the same amount of games between the teams but if Team A faces Arrieta five times and Team B only gets him once, that's not really "balanced".

The randomness is what makes it great. And I'll say this, the postseason is different than the 162. You could make a case that the Cubs had a better rotation than the Mets over the course of the year. But it's all different now. The spotlight is shining. You're the only game on the scoreboard. It's prime time.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Dan Bernstein:

Any team that does not win the world series, their season has been a failure.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

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I'm pretty positive that the Cubs did not consider the last 3 years, when they acquired all of these young players to compete for years to come, to be a failure.

Winning the WS, if you make the playoffs, is a crapshoot as well. It's pretty random.

That sounds great to make a statement like that, but it's a pretty stupid statement.

The problem is that a lot of people overrate how impressive it is to win the most games in the regular season in all sports. The difference in wins between the Cardinals and Mets was 10 games, over an 162 game season. That is a difference of 6% of the total season(you know, the same difference that pretty much didn't matter with home field advantage) and yet somehow it is crazy to think the Mets aren't the best team?

I'd argue that the championship winner is actually more reflective of being the best team because everyone plays the same teams, or the teams that beat those teams, and that the goal is never to be the best team in April or May.

The playoffs being random is just a way to excuse poor play. Quite honestly, if you think that the sport you watch is decided by a completely random playoff then you shouldn't even watch it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I've found that to be the complete opposite in Milwaukee.

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-- source

but that's part of what also makes it awesome...much like the first few rounds of the NCAA tourney.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

The NCAA tournament isn't random.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

play 154 and play each NL or AL team 11 times. Don't play inter-league and have the NL champ and AL champ meet in an 11 game series.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

uh? What? The first few rounds, outside of the #1 seeds against the #16 seeds, anything can happen.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

It is not random. There are a ton of metrics that show it isn't.

Don't confuse upsets with randomness.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Arrr. I hate metrics.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Has there been comment on the Really Smart Guys who are allowing this to happen?

http://www.avclub.com/article/forget-hi ... rig-227229

Can someone please tell me how you can say the playoffs are random and then say that the Cubs will win the World series?

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

The Mets are the best team right now. They werent over the course of the season.

The reason the randomness is more legit in baseball is the small sample size. The playoffs are 1/16th of a season.

NBA and NHL are like 40% and the NFL is about 20%

How do you know they weren't? The Cardinals won 10 more games than them, and the Cubs won 7. Is that enough for you to say that for certain?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

How can baseball be so heavily reliant on advanced metrics during the regular season -- it's been made quite clear that if you are not on board with advanced metrics you will be left in the dust as REALLY SMART PEOPLE march onward -- but in the playoffs advanced metrics mean nothing and everything is random?

How can advanced metrics suddenly become almost completely devalued at the most crucial time of the season when a champion is being crowned?

Why am I picturing Edward G. Robinson dressed in a Royals uniform bending Bernstein over a Gatorade cooler saying "Where are your advanced metrics noooow?"

Or do advanced metrics help you get to the playoffs and then everything is random?