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FanPost Friday: Postseason hi-jinks, pratfalls, and polls

Baseball rudely continues on without the Mariners

By sanford_and_son
/ new

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Division Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v Arizona Diamondbacks - Game Three
it is time for paul sewald to pitch (in the NLCS)
Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images

Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday, the first one of the offseason. I’ll be honest, I took a break from baseball and didn’t watch any of the Wild Card round. I tuned back in this week for the hoopla of the Phillies and Braves series and felt great schadenfreude over the Dodgers getting swept by the Diamondbacks. We won’t talk about those other AL West teams in this space, no thank you.

Anyways, there have been lots of hot topics in the Mariners and baseball zeitgeist the last two weeks and so here they are, grab bag style, with accompanying polls. Debate the finer points in the comments!

The MLB Playoff format debate

Due to the 104-win Atlanta Braves having a rough go versus the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the 101-win Baltimore Orioles getting wood-chipper’d by the Texas Rangers in the ALDS, much ado was made about the five-day layoff for number one seeds (mostly by Braves and Orioles fans, but all the national pundits had to get their takes in, too). So, this led to further debate about the current Wild Card model, how many teams should make the postseason, and how too much time off is a bad thing for players’ timing, etc. The Braves especially have made themselves a spectacle for complaining publicly about many off-field things last week, but one particularly galling narrative is idea that the 2020’s Braves are starting to feel like the 1990’s Braves and that’s a.....bad thing??? Yeah, man, totally sucks to root for a team that wins all the time, what a bummer.

Anyways, some polls on the subject!

Poll

Does a five-day layoff have a negative impact on a number one seeded playoff team?

This poll is closed

  • 11%
    Yes
    (49 votes)
  • 10%
    No
    (45 votes)
  • 16%
    Impossible to say for sure
    (69 votes)
  • 28%
    Just play better, dummies
    (116 votes)
  • 28%
    The playoffs have always been a crapshoot and not a definitive test of who is the best team
    (117 votes)
  • 3%
    I do not care
    (14 votes)
410 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Is 12 playoff teams too many?

This poll is closed

  • 27%
    Yes
    (109 votes)
  • 62%
    No
    (250 votes)
  • 10%
    I don’t care
    (42 votes)
401 votes total Vote Now

Jake Mintz and the “Atta-boy, Harper” kerfluffle

Okay, this situation is absolutely fascinating to me from a journalistic perspective. Jake Mintz, better known as one half of the Céspedes Family BBQ duo who rose to prominence on Twitter and Vine (RIP) with their goofball baseball coverage and perspectives. The lighter side of baseball, if you will. Since then, their platform has grown significantly and they work for MLB and FOX Sports and have covered all kinds of baseball stories on and off the field throughout MLB and in international baseball, as well. Following game two of the NLDS, Mintz was in the clubhouse with the rest of the press taking in the scene after Bryce Harper got doubled-up to secure the win for the Braves. He reported what he saw and heard in the Braves clubhouse, as is a reporter’s job:

While Riley’s blast flipped the score, Harris’ outrageous snag and Harper’s consequent blunder was the talk of Atlanta’s locker room after the game. Kevin Pillar’s young son, sporting a custom “Money Mike” headband, waddled over to his favorite center fielder for a fist bump. Third-string catcher Chadwick Tromp strutted by Harris’ locker offering a congratulatory “Mike is him!” All while Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia cackled emphatically about Harper’s misfortune, bellowing “ha-ha, atta-boy, Harper!” repeatedly as reporters circled the room.

This all got back to Harper and the rest of the Phillies, of course, and the Phillies crushed the Braves in game three with Harper smacking two homers and staring down Arcia each time he rounded the bases. Much was made about the “professionalism” of Mintz reporting what was said in the press-access area of the clubhouse. Lots of embarrassing things were said in the last couple days about it.

Alanna Rizzo has since apologized for what she said about Mintz, but her sentiment was clearly shared by many Braves fans, of course, who feel like the momentum of the series was unfairly tilted by something that happened off the field and was then exploded out of proportion. Let’s take the LL pulse on the situation!

Poll

Did Jake Mintz do anything wrong?

This poll is closed

  • 7%
    Yes
    (26 votes)
  • 46%
    No
    (167 votes)
  • 20%
    Not a black or white issue, but reporters often have to deal with backlash when reporting unvarnished truth
    (74 votes)
  • 26%
    I dunno, Braves shoulda just played better?
    (96 votes)
363 votes total Vote Now

Poll

If you were in that situation and heard and saw the same things, would you have written it in a similar way?

This poll is closed

  • 30%
    Yes
    (99 votes)
  • 9%
    No
    (30 votes)
  • 20%
    Might have left the "atta-boy" part as "anonymous chanting"
    (65 votes)
  • 40%
    If I wanted to maintain a relationship with any of the Braves players, I would have exercised some restraint. If not, let it fly
    (131 votes)
325 votes total Vote Now

Mariners ownership and the blame game

Los Angeles Angels v Seattle Mariners Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Finally, let’s bring it back to the Mariners. Last week I wrote about how Mariners ownership bares the brunt of the blame for the failures of the 2023 season due to the lack of appropriate spending during the 2021 and 2022 offseasons. There was healthy debate in the comments about how much of that blame really falls on ownership versus the front office versus the players. Let’s settle it in poll form!

Poll

I would assign blame for the failures of the 2023 Mariners thusly:

This poll is closed

  • 16%
    80% on ownership, 15% on the front office, 5% on the players
    (69 votes)
  • 35%
    60% on ownership, 30% on the front office, 10% on the players
    (146 votes)
  • 10%
    40% on ownership, 50% on the front office, 10% on the players
    (44 votes)
  • 8%
    I blame ownership exclusively
    (35 votes)
  • 0%
    I blame the front office exclusively
    (3 votes)
  • 5%
    I blame the players exclusively
    (24 votes)
  • 15%
    Baseball is really hard, okay?
    (63 votes)
  • 6%
    I have no idea
    (27 votes)
411 votes total Vote Now

All right, have a great weekend, y’all! Enjoy the league championship series (well, the NL one at least) if that’s your thing. Otherwise, go Kraken!

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