The Dodgers finally clinched a postseason berth on Saturday afternoon with an exciting 10-6 win over the evil Giants in San Francisco. It wasn’t easy, and certainly wasn’t comfortable, but they did it. We don’t know if the Dodgers will be the wild card winners, or winners of the National League West. We don’t know who the Dodgers will be playing or where. But, they’re in the postseason and at least have a shot at defending their National League championship. I’ll take that any day, especially after how the season began.
With the Dodgers celebrating into the night up in San Francisco, I would like to take a moment and extend my deepest gratitude towards all of you. It’s the last day of the regular season, and as tradition over here we are declaring today LADR reader appreciation day. The Dodgers have fan appreciation day, and I believe that you all deserve one too. I want to say thank you to everyone who has commented, viewed, read, participated, argued, and visited over here over the course of the 2018 regular season. Yes even you! Especially you!!!
There is no community over here without you guys. I mean this. I thank you from the bottom of my Dodger blue heart. Building this community has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I love this place as much as I love the Dodgers, and all of you. So from all of us over here, from Oscar, from James, from Chad, from Johnny, and from yours truly I want to stand up and shout and say thank you. I want to give you all a standing ovation. From me and the entire staff of LADR, I want to thank you all for being here. Now let’s all cheer the Dodgers onto a World Series championship this October and watch the boys in blue break that nasty championship drought.
Thank you! I’ve not posted as much this season, but I read this every day. Looking forward to a long October.
Me too, Scott? If so, Thank You for spending your time doing this. It is very fun to read about the Dodgers and their exploits. You are a good guy. Let us hope for a World Series win. I still find it hard to cheer Roberts.
Yes you too Pack. Everybody
I have been very hit and miss (much like the dodgers team this season) in here this season, a very long and bumpy journey.
I fear we have major issues that won’t be addressed, in particular our manager, (please note that I am writing this message while I am wearing my Blue batting jersey that was given as a promotional this year at the stadium, must have been a BMW of SoCal promo. Okay in this promotion the jersey is a “Roberts” jersey (yes crossing out the R O and S gives you an awesome “BERT” shirt.). So I wear the Roberts (BERT) jersey yet knowing he is a key to our problems and solutions, I’m afraid he needs to go, but won’t as long as the Dodgers are a winning team. I keep hearing that this team has so much talent on it, but yet they play very inconsistent and mediocre thru out the season.
Let’s hope we see a limping team enter post season and find some magic.
War, Oot!
I have enjoyed all my time here on ladodgerreport and will continue to do so. I enjoy the banter and the opinions, no matter how skewed or weird. I enjoy Scott and the rest of the staff’s takes. It gets a little heated sometimes and those are just the emotions of serious fans. None of us really has the answers, we just like to think we do. As a Dodger fan of over 60 years, I do know the history of the team and I have always been a traditionalist as far as the game goes. But the game and the way it is played, not to mention the mind set of the players, has changed dramatically the last couple of decades. Strikeouts are no longer a stigma, why, I do not know. Launch angle, exit velocity, spin rate all are terms associated with the game now. .230 hitters with power are well paid players. BA means not nearly as much to the new breed as OBP. Wins by starters are pooh poohed by the stat geeks. Yet wins still matter. It is just who gets credit that does not. But without them, how do you judge starting pitchers? Quality starts? Give me the old way every day. Today the Dodgers try to lock down the division and their winningest pitcher will be on the mound. Rich Hill with his whopping 10 wins will try to secure the division title while the Dodgers hope a 25 year old rookie named Febbes, can beat the Rockies in Colorado. What ever the Rocks do, the Dodgers need to match. Unless they lose. Then the Dodgers need the win. I like their chances against the Giants. I am going to email Badger and see if he is ok. He has not been on here in quite a while
Yes, pitcher wins are indeed devalued. To me they represent nothing.
To show you in a easy example: DeGrom has higher WAR than wins.
What are people’s opinions, should DeGrom be considered for MVP this year? His stats are ludicrous.
Well Bluto, that’s your opinion and I respect that, but I will never agree with it. deGrom pitches for a really bad team. He goes deep and his team never gives him run support. As far as MVP, no way, Mets were going to be bad no matter what he did. Cy Young, maybe. There is precedent for that. But Yelich of the Brewers and Baez in Chicago are far more deserving of MVP recognition. I do not like saber metrics and I never will. You cannot tell me that Chris Taylor with his over 170 strikeouts is good for the game. Strikeouts are worthless and yet todays FO’s do not consider them a bad thing. Strikeouts will for the first time in major league history exceed hits. That’s pitiful, and if that’s the kind of baseball you like to see, I really feel sorry for you because I remember when pure hitters were the norm, not an abomination. The all or nothing attitude of players today has made the game unwatchable sometimes. The only player on the Dodgers who uses that theory and is consistent, is Justin Turner, the only .300 hitter on the team. That’s pretty bad. They probably would have 2 if Seager had stayed healthy. Machado is close at .296, but only .269 as a Dodger. By the way, it’s deGrom, not DeGrom…..
“Yes, pitcher wins are indeed devalued. To me they represent nothing.”
If we are talking about starting pitchers, a pitcher’s win means the team won. It means the pitcher recorded at least 15 of the 27 outs needed to get that win. So it does mean something and really doesn’t represent nothing. However we shouldn’t consider it the primary category to determine the better pitchers.
K’s, walks, and HR’s are what the pitcher primarily controls. And if the pitcher can keep those in his favor against both left handed and right handed pitchers then you have something positive. If he can keep those in his favor three times through the lineup then you have something even more positive.
But yeah wins aren’t a pitcher’s best metric of effectiveness.
I get all that, BUT, how are you going to determine how much you are going to pay them??? Ok, the union is not just going to fold its tent and allow pitchers salaries to nose dive without a fight. Get real. These guys are millionaires because certain things they do have value. You telling me that deGrom with his sub 2 ERA and less than 10 wins is worth more than Scherzer who won 18 and struck out 300 batters? You might value them by how many of their starts the team ends up winning. But that ain’t happening either. You are headed for a full blown labor dispute if you totally devalue wins by the pitcher, especially starters. Heard from Badger, he is just taking a break.
Does that include me Scott, for pointing out your typos???
Just kidding 🙂
Salute to everyone here at LADR.
Michael Norris please let us know how Badger is doing.
I will, and I was pointing out that Bluto misspelled deGrom, not Scott…..Dodgers have 2 touchdowns today, Rockies only 1. Mad Max hits #34. Dozier goes yard. Kemp 3-3. Tomorrow, and it is looking like there will be a # 163 at Dodger Stadium, both teams will have use of the entire 40 man rosters.
What happened to Badger? I noticed that I hadn’t seen his name for a while, however I wasn’t checking in too often so I thought I just was missing seeing his posts. So what’s up with the Old Badge?
Taking a break Blue. I heard from him a little while ago….Just wanted some time off is all.
Just love watching Hill pitch.
He did pitch well today and will get his useless 11th win.
Isn’t he awesome? When he spins that curve he can be very tough to hit.
One game playoff for division, tomorrow. At least it will be on television… I hate Spectrum, and refuse to subscribe to them, just to get Dodger games.
15-0. Hope LAD do not have another offensive meltdown, following a route.
MLB should fine the teams that roll over, when division titles are on the line. I thought that was the whole purpose of having all games start at noon today, so there would be no flopping or sand-bagging. WAS, STL, DET, and maybe even Gnats, rolled over and played dead.
Got to win tomorrow, so they can avoid W/C game, and play ATL in NLDS with HFA.
Who will start for Dodgers? Strips/Maeda tag team? Wood? Ryu not enough rest, Kershaw just pitched (threw), waste Buehler? Rather save Buehler pitch a win or go home game, but I think I heard Ferris would get the nod.
After 162 games, I pick Kiké for MVP. Even though JT came back strong after injury, Kiké kept the ship afloat during his absence, and kept playing hard throughout, leaving it on the field, game after game.
Go Blue, one game at a time.
Scott, Thanks for providing a place where Dodger fans can voice there opinions and not be censored by over-sensitive fans who cannot handle the truth. I do not sugercoat anything, and am a half-empty kind of guy. I expect as close to perfection as possible, since these are well paid professional ballplayers.
It has been a lot of fun interacting with your followers.
Let’s go all the way, this time.