Playoffs

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Oakland A’s early postseason exit isn’t the final chapter

This season wasn’t supposed to be like this for the Oakland Athletics. They were expected to maybe finish in third place at best in the division. The team was supposed to be contending for the postseason in 2019. Maybe 2020. No, they were not supposed to be here.

But they arrived sooner than expected. They got 97 wins and got into the postseason as a wild-card team. That’s how stacked this American League was. Three teams had at least 100 wins and the A’s at 97 wins had to settle for the second wild-card spot.

And that’s what made this season so special. Sure, it sucks that they lost their wild-card game and their postseason dreams were dashed just like that. But what can you do when the rotation was made up of spare parts and a bunch of inexperienced players lead the team to the postseason?

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Yuli Gurriel’s racists gesture and finding forgiveness among the immersion of two cultures

I’m angry. I’m upset. I want to punch Yuli Gurriel in the face. Mocking someone for their physical appearance because of a stereotype is not going to fly in this country.

But I know that my anger and desire to hurt him will not solve anything.

Last night, when Gurriel made a slanted eye gesture and called Yu Darvish (who is Japanese) a Chinito (little Chinese boy), it was clear to many that it was not acceptable. But that was many people, not all people, who found something wrong with it.

There are the people that think America is getting too PC and that it’s an overreaction to something minor. Others are contending that Latin culture features these kinds of remarks and actions all the time and it’s normalized. Using these terms and actions is so common and it’s pretty apparent that Gurriel is just doing what he was so used to growing up.

The problem is that he isn’t back home in Cuba. He is in America. And after all the problems with what we had with disrespect this season (two suspension for homophobic slurs, racist slurs thrown at O’s OF Adam Jones), the league has been on high alert on the way people and fans are being treated.

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Cubs winning the World Series is great and it sucks

Any other year the Cubs winning the World Series would be great! I would be happy for them and I would lavish in their celebration. I am still happy for them. But I wish it didn’t happen this way.

I am an A’s fan through and through so the Cubs winning doesn’t affect me. There are former A’s on the Cubs and the Indians I cheered for. But the Indians were the team I wanted to win.

Since high school I adopted the Indians as my second favorite team. I always have a secondary team in all sports. I chose them because they were an American League team. They also were going through a drought and they weren’t in a major city like New York or Los Angeles. I liked the players on the team at the time so I decided to follow them.

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Are you cheering for the Cubs because ‘Back to the Future’ said so?

As you know I am a huge Back to the Future fan. As part of a side note from the movie’s sequel, the Cubs win the World Series in 2015. It’s a funny little piece of movie history but now that we are in 2015, this could actually happen.

I was real glad to see the Cubs win last night and advance to the NLDS. I am cheering for them to win it all solely because the movie said they would. Wouldn’t it be a great story and a cool tie in with the movie? A movie’s prediction almost 30 years ago predicts the World Series winner. How crazy is that?

The team I still think is the best in all of baseball are the Blue Jays and they probably have the most balanced team right now. However, you never know how things will turn out. I also like the upstart Astros. Something about them really stands out to me as a fun team.

But if I had to prioritize it, it’s the Cubs first, then the Astros. The Jays come next. The rest I am indifferent.

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Cavaliers fan tries to prove that Derrick Rose’s game-winning shot should not have counted

One of the best things about Twitter is reading tweets from fans who have conspiracy theories or can’t accept reality. Following Derrick Rose’s game-winner against the Cavs, I saw this tweet from a Cavs fan trying to prove that the inbound took too long. I found this very funny.

Of course, the first mistake here was that the timer started when the whistle blew, not when the inbounder received the ball. Clearly this fan doesn’t know the rules. The whistle only means that the game is resuming, not to start the clock.

Also, the five-second rule can’t be precise. It actually is on the discretion of the referee who is making the count. And if you look at the referee, he is at about 4.75 (give or take) in his count.

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I like the one-game Wild Card round for the MLB postseason

Up until last night, I had no opinion of this. My team, for the past two seasons, did not need to play in this round so I never gave it much thought. But this year, this was their only entry into the dance and I started to wonder whether or not this was a fair format.

After watching last night’s thrilling and tough loss, I have to say I am on board with this game.

The initial gripe I had heard was that the addition of an extra Wild Card team would dilute the playoff chase in September. Looking at what we had this season, I still had interest in it. Also, giving two more teams a chance to make the postseason to me is a good move. Open up the gates a little for the other teams.

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I am not watching the World Series

** Mini rant. 

Why would they ruin a great song??

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I don’t care for the Red Sox. Only Jonny Gomes and Stephen Drew get my love because they are former Athletics. Other than that, Boston’s had enough glory and love from everyone for the past decade. Sure it would be a great storyline after the bombings, but I just don’t want them to win. I don’t want ESPN and all media outlets to get in with them.

And as for the Cardinals. Everyone claims they have the best fans in the world, the best baseball city, yadda yadda yadda. Their hubris about themselves is too much. They are a great team, but stop giving them all the props.

Can’t both teams lose? Whatever. Baseball season ended for me already. Now to focus on the other sports.

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Yasiel Puig’s exuberant bat flip triple was what we needed

This was wonderful to see.

This was wonderful to see.

Remember when I was praising Johnny Manziel for being this over the top wild horse that has people all wild up? I am officially proclaiming Yasiel Puig as baseball’s Manziel.

I know, I know Carlos Beltran. You want him to tone it down a notch.

“As a player, I just think he doesn’t know [how to act],” Beltran said via ESPN. “That’s what I think. He really doesn’t know. He must think that he’s still playing somewhere else.

“He has a lot of passion, no doubt about that — great ability, great talent. I think with time he’ll learn that you’ve got to act with a little bit more calm.”

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The A’s will overcome their past postseason failures tonight in Game 5

The New York Times chronicled the Oakland Athletics’ past postseason failures. It sucked reading it. But I am the ever optimist.

I believe they will break it. I believe they will win Game 5 and move on. I believe in this team.

And that’s me as a fan. Until that 27th out is recorded, there is a chance.

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If I understand the rules correctly, umpires made correct call on controversial home run

Was this a home run?

Check out the above GIF from SB Nation.

My initial thought told me that this was a blatant interference and that the home run should not have counted.

I even dug into the MLB rule book to make sure. The rule comes from section 3, article 16.

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