MLB: AL East gets beat!

I don't think your observation holds: the Rays have the smallest market in baseball. Rangers play in the largest undivided market (by population) in baseball. Toronto is nominally larger than the Twin Cities, but I wouldn't think of them as a large market team.

Still glad the Rays were beaten--they are a dirty club.

big time baseball fraud as the op

Lack of Salary Cap = Baseball Sucks

tampa is one of the best run organizations in the league. i would consider them actually to be the best except for this huge caveat: their starting pitchers over the years tend to have their arms destroyed. charlie morton actually survived and is still pitching for atlanta.

yankees and toronto are teams with huge payrolls who just plain flat out suck. boston is slowly rebuilding. baltimore is treading towards the right direction finally. gunnar henderson is a real good player.

overall it should be a real good and entertaining post season. maybe some team this year upsets atlanta that's not the dodgers or the astros.

I thought someone would at least point out the fact is that neither of the teams who got beat were the Yankees or the Red Sox. Couldn’t even make the playoffs! There are some things yiu just can’t buy, like the will to win.

Red Sox ownership basically gave up on being competitive when they fired Dave Dombrowski and sold Mookey. Word is that they were fine with third or fourth place finishes, but not ok with a last place finish as it cut into food/concession sales when attendance dropped. They still have the highest ticket prices in baseball and the most expensive beer, but they put out a subpar product.

Tampa is a nasty club. They flagrantly violate the three batters rule by faking injuries, but they do cause actual repeated elbow injuries due to forced pitch selection that causes their careers to end just before arbitration (i.e. big payday).

^civale, eflin and bradley should demand their agents this off season to work their asses to get them out of that organization.

As a Cubs fan who suffered through their end of season implosion - it’s more difficult for me to care about the playoffs that much. But I’m pulling for Philly.

I want to pull for Baltimore, but they don’t have hardly any brothers on the team. Mullins at CF, but that’s about it…. LOL

Gooooooooo Rangers and Dbacks!

Americans care about football this time of year.

70 years old and can’t remember that all time saying that nothing is as American as baseball and apple pie?

Anyway, back on topic as the Orioles will become the 3rd AL East team to get swept in one more game. Love it when the smaller organizations develop young talent through the draft!

Kind of a weird grudge to have against a division. And weirder still that you’re cheering against the orioles and rays when praising teams who build through the draft?!

“Americans care about football this time of year”

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Apparently the WNBA failed to get that memo. This has to be the dumbest move ever. A league struggling to gain traction with the fans scheduled their finals to begin on an NFL Sunday (along with the MLB playoffs). Brilliant!!

It'd be cool to see the Orioles do something although they look like they'll be good for awhile

Building through the draft / farm system is the organic way to do it. Unlike the Yankees old system of waiting for other organizations to put in the time and work of developing players - and then just go buy them. That’s so gay…why not develop your own talent.

“why not develop your own talent.”

There are multiple ways to win. Yankees have money and build through the draft. They have not had a losing season in more than 30 years. They have 5 championships in that time, more than any other team. Is that not enough to prove there is more than one way to do it?

Back when I was a kid, the Orioles were a powerhouse - appearing in 3 straight World Series. Brooks & Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, and Davey Johnson.

And the team with four pitchers to win 20 games. That will never, ever happen again. McNally, Palmer, Cuellar and Pat Dobson - the one people forget.

Even the 90’s Braves with Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine couldn’t accomplish that.

The O’s have been terrible for years. Not a fan, but would be nice to see them in a WS again.

One more game and the Dodgers will bow out in a sweep, too! The small market talents are shining over big payroll so far. Gotta love it when there are no Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, or Red Sox around the diamond in October.

"Americans care about football this time of year."

All the major football leagues are on an international break at the moment. The premier league is only 8 games in. It baseball playoff time, and the NHL starts soon.

Down go the Dodgers! Couldn’t even win one game against the lowest seeded team who limped into the playoffs on a 4 game losing streak.

Gooooo D-backs!

More people watched the horrible jets Broncos game than every baseball playoff game and real housewives of Atlanta attracts 5x more viewers than the NHL.

Snakes alive(no I don’t mean stupid lawyers)! Phillies get snake bitten again for a second night. Home crowd advantage is evident. Phillies have gone the way of the Yankees model, so the D-Backs have a huge challenge ahead but never would have thought a 6th seeded team could come back like they have from a 100 loss season 2 years ago. 2-2 is what we do, but it’s a must win game at home if they hope to squeeze one out in Philly. Home field is a big advantage, especially against large market teams like the Phillies. Great games these last two nights. Sad to see Houston come back. Hoping to see Rangers back in it.

Well the one thing I got rong was feeling home field would be the advantage. What we all should appreciate is how these big market teams can’t buy a bullpen which the D-Backs crafted. How do you spell relief? D-b-a-c-k-s!! Phillies got snake bitten by the best of the west.