All series talk goes in here. Non series talk goes somewhere else. No PBP, that can be found from other sources if you need it. All games are broadcast on AT&T Sports SW unless otherwise noted. 4-16 Collin McHugh (R) vs. Marco Estrada (R) 9:07 4-17 Wade Miley (L) vs. Frankie Montas (R) 9:07 MLBN (out-of-market only)
Estrada is averaging as many walks and homers combined as he is strikeouts. If making a rotation of AL West starters, how many Astros would make that rotation? I'd say 4 easy with a debate for all 5. Though, I'm not much a believer in the Marco Gonzalez's, the Lance Lynn's, and Brett Anderson's of the world.
We inarguably have the 2 best pitchers by a mile, and yeah I would say you could make a good argument for all 5. I would probably take Gonazlez over Miley, but that's it, and I'm not a big believer in Miley. Josh James would also comfortably be in every other rotation as well. The pitching in this division is utter trash right now. We have the 4 best starters when it comes to missing bats, and would be all 5 if we had James in the rotation.
To really make it work, you could eliminate the leagues altogether and just have (6) divisions with (5) teams in each.
Only problem is, you've got 6 teams on the Coast, then the Dbacks and Rockies...then the 2 Texas teams make 10. Doesn't matter how you realign those teams. KC and Minny are the next 2 westernmost teams, it just makes sense for MLB to have us and Arlington in the West.
I’m personally a fan of being in the AL West. First, I love the DH. Second, I love the late game times. It’s much more preferable to the 6 pm early games we used to get in Cincy and Pittsburgh. I’m usually not home from work and settled in until 6:30 or 7 most days.
Miss our old rivalries. Seattle, Anaheim, and even Oakland will never be real rivals to me, just league imposed. I hate late game times, and I'm sorry, but you're in a minority. As for the DH, personally, I love it when pitchers would hit that super rare home run. I just love the "rare" plays you almost never see (something many don't bring up). Universal DH is inevitable, though. If we were to eliminate leagues and do six 5-team divisions, I could see a "California" division, along with SEA, COL, ARZ, ARL, and HOU. Could work?
They are even worse now that I am in Florida. Fortunately I can sleep in, but in my advanced age, I still wake up around 7:00 every morning.
Well, its certainly true no matter how you slice and dice the league, solving one set of problems leads to creating others. Seemingly, creating some divisions with more teams and others with less would be the only way to totally solve the geographic issue. Given your example, a west coast league with 6 teams and a midwest with 4 would make it work. But this gets too far away from what people are used to or think is fair, so it would never fly. Not even sure id want it to. Although in time, these purely regional divisions could eventually lead to a greater sense of rivalries given than it would amount to more than just cities vs other cities, but geographical regions vs one another. Just a thought experiment. Nothing more.
Yea even on my days off i'm up before 7 myself...easier to deal with when I don't have to work though....need Miley to pitch some of these late games, that dude don't mess around