With the Yanks/Angels facing off I was wondering..

by seamariners85 on Aug 20, 2007 11:47 AM PDT

Playoff contenders facing off..

Hello all, first time poster here with a question. With a few big matchups between fellow AL playoff contenders having just passed/coming up, I was wondering what everyone else's feelings are when two of our biggest playoff threats are facing off. With us just trailing the Angels by 2 games in the West, and only a half game ahead of the Yankees in the Wild Card, which team will everyone here be pulling for in this series? I feel we have a shot to overtake the division, yet if the Angels can manage a sweep and we are able to win 2 of 3 or sweep (Which I know would be a major stretch considering who we have going tonight), we can have a more comfortable lead on the Wild Card. Yet if the opposite scenario happens, with the Yanks/Angels (I think we already assume the M's are going to have to win), we could findourselves ahead/just one game behind the Halos when we take them on at home. Of course the Angels could sweep the Yanks, and if we manage to keep pace we could hope for a sweep at home that would put us above both the Yankees and Angels. I know it is foolish to hope for a sweep but I feel we'd be able to pull it off, especially with the way we've been playing at home. And not just limiting this to LAA/NYY, when other contenders (CLE/DET, LAA/CLE) face off, who do you guys generally pull for?

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I'm rooting for the games to be snowed out

Lets see how Anaheim likes rescheduling series now.

by Robert on Aug 20, 2007 11:50 AM PDT reply actions

My hopes for perfection -

Yankees sweep the Angels and we win 2 of 3 against Minnesota (assuming we lose tonight with HoRam goin..) Can we PLEASE either hire a hitman or plead Mac to have an incredibly short leash with him tonight? I would even not mind having RRS / Parrish splitting the first 5 or 6 innings then going with the normal bullpen usage to finish off the game. But I digress... Yes - ANA swept by NYY and we take the series in MIN and boom! We are tied atop the division and only a half game back in the WC.

by seattlesundevil on Aug 20, 2007 11:55 AM PDT reply actions

I'm hoping the Yankees take 2/3

And we sweep.

by Graham MacAree on Aug 20, 2007 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions

I would want NYY to win.

Because the winner of the AL West plays the AL Central while the winner of the WC has to face of with the tough AL East, I'd rathe face a weaker team in the playoffs.

My name is Matt Foley. I am 35 years old, I am divorced and I live in A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!

by Coach Owens on Aug 20, 2007 11:58 AM PDT reply actions

I'd rather face the tougher team in a short series

by Graham MacAree on Aug 20, 2007 12:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Wrong!

If NY wins the WC and we win the division, then WE play the Yankees, as the second seed in the AL because the first seed is an AL East team and Can not play a WC from their own division. SO you have your pick: win the WC and play Boston, or win the division and play NY...

Can we sign all Japanese players?

by KoreaPhil on Aug 20, 2007 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Good call, KoreaPhil

There's also the potential scenario of the M's winning the West and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim taking the wild card, in which case we'd be pitted against the Central winner (assuming Boston has a better record than CLE/DET). That being said, I think all of this speculation about playoff matchups is quite premature and a tad irrelevant at this moment. What's most important is that the Mariners simply make the playoffs. Anything can happen in the small sample sizes that are postseason series, as evidenced by the 06 Cards and the 03 and 97 Marlins to pick some teams from recent memory.

by FlaskInSafeco on Aug 20, 2007 6:33 PM PDT up reply actions

I want NYY to win.

They're the best team in baseball. We're better off playing for the division.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 12:05 PM PDT reply actions

Man I the Yankees,

but I'm inclined to agree. I like our chances of running down the Angels better than I like our chances fighting for the wildcard.

"Do not be too hasty in entering that room. I had Taco Bell for lunch!" Dr. Byron Orpheus

by Thingray on Aug 20, 2007 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions

That should be:

"Man I HATE the Yankees"

"Do not be too hasty in entering that room. I had Taco Bell for lunch!" Dr. Byron Orpheus

by Thingray on Aug 20, 2007 12:11 PM PDT up reply actions

yankees sweep and we sweep

in a perfect world

GO HORAM!!!

by thenatural on Aug 20, 2007 12:06 PM PDT reply actions

I don't care, really.

At this point, I'm more worried about our performance the next 3 weeks/20 games than what the other teams do. 17 road games (and the 3 home games are against the team ahead of us) with half of them against teams we could see in the playoffs... I think if we go 12-8 we'll be doing pretty well for ourselves.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 12:22 PM PDT reply actions

12-8 would be insanely impressive.

I'm just hoping against disaster.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 12:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah, treading water at 10-10 might be OK...

The problem being that the Yankee schedule in September is just ridiculously soft- they play a 3 game with us, a 3 gamer with the Red Sox, and the rest of the month is total crap with TB, KC, Baltimore...

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 12:38 PM PDT up reply actions

We should probably win about 6 of 7

right away, anyways.

My name is Matt Foley. I am 35 years old, I am divorced and I live in A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!

by Coach Owens on Aug 20, 2007 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Which is why we need to beat the Angels.

However, there's this:

Mariners:

41 games left, .506 opponents W%, 24 on road

Yankees:

38 games left, .506 opponents W%, 22 on road

They don't have it any easier than we do. It's actually the Angels who have a cupcake schedule from here on out; our seven head-to-head games might just decide the season.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 12:45 PM PDT up reply actions

I sure hope you're more pyschic than

you give yourself credit for. We could really use that four game sweep in Sept.

by Matthew on Aug 20, 2007 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Notice I said September...

The next couple weeks for the Yankees aren't too soft.

At this point, it's just win, baby, for me. The playoffs will take care of themselves.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions

IDK

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Ms end the season with the 4th or 5th best record in all of baseball and yet at doing other things come October.

by Matthew on Aug 20, 2007 12:59 PM PDT up reply actions

Possibly.

But that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Look at Cleveland in 2005, or us in 2002-2003.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 1:07 PM PDT up reply actions

I know

it's starting to piss me off. The NL only deserves 3 playoff spots. They should forfeit their wildcard over to the AL.

by Matthew on Aug 20, 2007 1:09 PM PDT up reply actions

They have to play Canada too.

by JI on Aug 20, 2007 3:36 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh, and generally?

My favorite teams are the Mariners, and whoever's playing the Yankees.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 1:08 PM PDT reply actions

Except for the next three days.

Or when they play Boston. This year is going to be tough on the ol' psyche.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions

Nope.

Fact: if we do our job (sweep the Twins) and the Angels sweep the Yankees, we'd be in good shape in the wild card race... and we could STILL beat the Angels by taking them head-to-head.

Remember when I said you should still be afraid of the Yankees, even though they looked dead? This is why. Having them beaten every chance you get is a good thing, period.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions

Unless it's done by other competition.

Any possible outcome of this series works well for us, but I'd personally rather get by the Angels. I'm not real comfortable with the idea of holding off the Yankees for the Wild Card.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 2:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Well...

I think it's going to be a tall order to get past the Angels as well. They match up pretty well (some very good RHP and a solid bullpen, good defense).

I think we'll know more in about 3 weeks. At this point, just making it through that with 10-12 wins will give us a shot.

by eponymous coward on Aug 20, 2007 2:31 PM PDT up reply actions

To hell with three weeks...

even just knowing where we stand three days from now will say a lot about what we need to have happen.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions

Definitely Yankees

It's not even a question in my mind. The bigger dilemma for me was deciding who I wanted to win when the Angels were playing the Red Sox.

My whole thing is that I desperately want the Yankees to win the AL East and have two representatives from the AL West. Boston is the only contender in the AL that doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. Their starters are good. They have a solid line-up with two sluggers. They have two good relievers and can get enough innnings from their starters that they don't need strong middle relievers.

The Tigers are the only other team in the AL that has the potential to be as solid. Their bullpen is starting to get healthy again, so I'm happy that the Yankees helped bury them a little bit this weekend.

by JoeyJoJo on Aug 20, 2007 1:25 PM PDT reply actions

and I hate the Red Sox

1000 times more than I ever hated the Yankees. I want their douche fans to really suffer.

by JoeyJoJo on Aug 20, 2007 1:27 PM PDT up reply actions

This is such a tough subject

I guess I will go with Yankees sweep or maybe Yankees 2/3 if we sweep. If the Yanks win 2/3 and we sweep, we're tied with the Angels and 1.5 up on the Yanks.

If the Yanks win 2/3 and we win 2/3, we're 1 game back of the Angels and 1/2 game up on the Yanks.

I'll take either of those scenarios.

I actually don't mind the Angels sweeping if we sweep because that will give us a 3 1/2 game cushion on the Yanks which is pretty nice and still leaves us only 2 back of the Angels which we can make up when we play them. But if we don't sweep the Twins I sure as hell don't want the Angels winning games.

by phil333 on Aug 20, 2007 2:21 PM PDT reply actions

I really don't think we're sweeping Minnesota.

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 20, 2007 2:29 PM PDT up reply actions

Not unless the same guy we hire to take out Ho,

can handle Hunter, and the entire Twins pitching staff as well.

Bulk discount?

"Do not be too hasty in entering that room. I had Taco Bell for lunch!" Dr. Byron Orpheus

by Thingray on Aug 20, 2007 2:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah, almost every post in this topic

is assuming a sweep on our end. While we are very capable of doing so, we were also very capable of sweeping the Twins last week, and look what that got us. If we had taken even one more of the games against them, then we'd be one back in the West, and 1.5 up in the Wildcard. I just hope we play solid, and take the 2 of 3 that we should win.

by tootthekazoo on Aug 20, 2007 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions

If we take 2 of 3 against the Twinkies

it will be a good three days for our playoff odds, regardless of what happens between the Angels and Yankees. I'm just happy that one of those two teams has to lose each night of that series.

by FlaskInSafeco on Aug 20, 2007 4:04 PM PDT reply actions

No matter what happens

I really think we need to be in first place before taking on the Angels if we want to be in a good position to make the playoffs. Sure, we can still trail them but the margin of error is much smaller. That walk-off win in the last series is currently the difference between 2.0 games back and 4.0 games back.

by ThundaPC on Aug 20, 2007 4:12 PM PDT reply actions

its way more important

for us to take at least 2 in Minny.

by Matthew on Aug 20, 2007 4:16 PM PDT reply actions

I'm leaning towards the Angels

I figure we have more head-to-head opportunities to gain ground/pass the Angels. We only have one series with the Yanks and it's in NYC. Plus, we're already ahead of the Yankees. I'd rather build on that lead and then worry about gaining on the Angels.

by BaltimoreMarinersFan on Aug 20, 2007 8:03 PM PDT reply actions

OK, it really doesn't matter...

who wins this series or any other series with "playoff implications," if we don't win our own games. When LAA was slumping, we made up some ground, but not nearly as many as we should've. But anyways, I'm rooting for the yanks in this series, and here's why:

SEA OW% .506, 17H, 23A
NYY OW% .503, 16H, 21A
LAA OW% .496, 23H, 15A (Home Record, 41-17)
CLE OW% .503, 16H, 23A
DET OW% .498, 23H,15A
BOS OW% .472, 18H, 19A (Home Record, 40-23)

Before I go into the complicated/tricky races, it's clear that BOS WILL win the East (sorry yanks, ok, not really...). With the home record that they have, the cake-walk schedule, and only 6 games left against the NYY (3H, 3A), it's safe to write them in for the AL East.

The wildcard race? It will NOT come from the Central. A combination of mediocre play and having to leapfrog over both SEA and NYY is difficult. Even with series against SEA and NYY, CLE and DET will be lucky to get a split. They're more focused on the head-to-head series (3H, 3A) like we are with the LAA. My pick? DET by a hair.

So that leaves SEA, LAA, and NYY for the WC, with SEA and LAA fighting for the West as well. Now, I REALLY want to stick it to the angels, but seeing that they have a majority of their games left at home, compounded by their league-best home record, I believe LAA winning the West may be already in the hand. Me being a homer, am not willing to concede yet, but oh well...crazier things have happened before (Ho pitching out of his mind and winning last night...).

So, SEA or NYY for the WC? Well, that's precisely why I'm on of those rooting for the LAA to win 2/3 or sweep the NYY. As I know we need to build as big of a cushion as possible before heading to the bronx. After all, we still have 7 games against the angels, and anything can happen.

My playoff scenario:
SEA (WC) @ BOS
DET @ LAA

BOS is clearly the best team, and the best case scenario is to face the toughest team in a short series, and pray for a DET upset. Felix-Weaver-Batista/Washburn VS Beckett, DiceK, Schilling.

Just keep winning and playoff will come in no time!

"You just got Aj-aculated on!"

by wwbaker3 on Aug 21, 2007 10:58 AM PDT reply actions