Astros start as FanGraphs favorite to make WS, third for title behind ATL and LAD
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred reiterates that he will step down as commissioner in January, 2029, after his 5-year term expires.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
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Another article from Passan on the inevitable expansion to 32 teams, mostly recapping what we already know. It probably wonāt happen until the early 2030s, the expansion fees are going to be enormous (maybe 10x higher than the Tampa/Arizona fees, even adjusting for inflation), and Nashville and Salt Lake City are the frontrunners right now because theyāve got strong and well-prepared groups advocating for their cities. But nothing is certain until the Aās are relocated and the Rays have a new stadium (be it in the Tampa area or in another city altogether).
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I really hope they donāt do the 4-team divisions thing. Iād much prefer the 8-team structure. 4-team divisions will just lead to even worse teams fluking their way into the postseason on the back of a weak division.
The only good thing about the 4-team division structure is not having the Texas teams and west coast teams in the same division.
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Personally, Iām ready to go back to two 16-team leagues. Maybe the top two in each league make it, maybe only the winner. Make the regular season games meaningful. And finish everything in October.
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My ideal would be 16 team leagues, 2 divisions of 8, top 2 in each make the postseason, 7 game series all the way. 8 total postseason teams out of 32 is a great mix of regular season matters and regular season is still exciting down the stretch.
Yāall are crazy if you think theyāll reduce the number of postseason games. Just pray they donāt expand it further.
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No chance they reduce, youāre right. Thatās just MY ideal.
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We can dream.
No way they donāt add to playoffs if/when they expand if not sooner.
The league already tried to make the playoffs larger and had to settle for 12 teams.
Just a matter of time.
I think we need 16 2-team divisions. Winner advances automatically as does one wildcard from each division. Best of 11 format. That would allow them to shorten the regular season to 106 games: 8 home and 8 away at all members of the ārivalā division and the remaining Intra-divisional in 4-game series.
Among the advantages ā¦
- preserving all regular season records from pollution by future innovations.
- creating a whole new flood of āmost playoff ____ everā records.
- allowing Pirate fans and others to have time off to prepare for football season.
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I was looking at Miguel Tejadaās numbers, and I was a bit surprised that heās not a HoFer, but I was really surprised that he didnāt even get 5% on his first ballot. Was he a victim of the steroid stink?
He has a PED suspension late in his career
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Thanks, I didnāt know that. Or at least I didnāt remember it.
Yeah, more than āstinkā. He was plum covered in stench.
Who on the Aās wasnt juiced up?
His MVP season was the Moneyball Season. I donāt think guys like Mabry, Hatteberg, Zito, Et al. were into that. I always had the impression that Tejada picked it up from Palmeiro during his days in Baltimore.
Thereās a a story about one of them having a āvitamin drinkā or something similar that the other one tried.
My recollection was that Palmeiro said it was Tejadaās but I may have that backwards.
Either way, steroid era explains the HoF issue for both.