Sunday, October 2, 2016

Yanks Say Goodby To 2016, Mark Teixeira

Today, the New York Yankees play their final game of the 2016 season and Mark Teixeira play the final game of his 14 year illustrious career. Before the game started, the Yankees paid tribute to their first baseman since 2009; complete with a video montage of his career highlights, capped off with a standing ovation as he was removed from first base during the seventh inning. Teixeira has been nothing but class ever since his first big league season in 2002. From his off-the-field charity work to his numbers in the Bronx (206 HRs or "Tex Messages as Yankee radio personality John Sterling referred to them, 622 RBI), Teixeira left his Mark on the Yankees and their fans. We will definitely miss you, #25.

Once the game started, the Baltimore orioles clinched a playoff spot with their game 160 to win over the Yankees this afternoon in the Bronx. Louise Sessa took the ball and the lost for New York this afternoon, falling victim to a large afternoon by Matt Wieters. Getting the call and when in the Orioles biggest game of the season was Kevin Gausman, improving to 9-12 while lowering his ERA to 3.61 in an outing that sealed a date with the Toronto Blue Jays in Tuesday night's American League Wild Card game.

Both starters cruised through the first two frames, but it was the third that saw the game's first scoring action. Jonathan Schoop started the inning with a leadoff ground-rule double to right, advancing to third on a Hyun-Soo Kim ground out. The next batter J,J. Hardy lofted a fly ball to left for a sacrifice fly that scored Schoop to give the O's a one run lead.

In the top of the fourth, Matt Wieters launched a two-run shot deep into the seats in right field to extend Baltimore's lead to three.

Although the Yankees were held scoreless through the first three frames, they jumped on Gausman for a run in the bottom of the fourth. Brian McCann led off the inning with his 20th long ball of the year, a deep blast to right that put the Yanks on the board at 3-1.  The homerun put McCann in some rare company, joining three Hall of Fame backstops(Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Yogi Berra) as the fourth catcher to record double digit seasons of 20 or more homeruns.

It seemed as though Matt Wieters put his Orioles on his back this afternoon, launching his second two-run homerun of the game in the top of the sixth to widened the Orioles lead to a 5-1 score.

Didi Gregorius added an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 5-2, where it would remain the rest of the game. As much as they didn't want it to happen, all of the Yankees and their fans had to watch the Orioles celebrate their playoff birth on their home turf.

I have  thoroughly enjoyed watching all of these games this season and bringing you my perspective on how the game transpired. I look forward to many more seasons of it. I leave you with this thought for next season, as Joe Girardi put it in his pre-game press conference, "we are going to do everything in our power to bring a championship back to New York next season."

Thank You For Such a Wonderful 2016 Season


What a season 2016 has been both for the New York Yankees and for us here at The Greedy Pinstripes. We've been doing this a long time now and somehow every season just keeps on getting better and better for us. Views are up. Twitter followers are up. Comments are up. The number of varying views and different writers are up (with another on the way soon so look out for that sometime next week). We introduced TGP T-Shirts, we introduced the "It's Not What You Want" Podcast brought to you by The Greedy Pinstripes and so much more.

162 games, 162 game thread not including spring training, the All-Star Game and exhibition games. So many Meet a Prospect posts. So much of everything and you know what? We're going to do it all again next year.

None of this is possible without our readers, commenters, followers, friends and family. Thank you. We are nothing without you and we fully realize and appreciate that, and you. Thank you again for another great season and don't worry, while some blogs go to sleep for the winter we don't here at TGP. Stay tuned, we're just getting started.

Game 162 Thread: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 10/2


Here we go ladies and gentleman. Game 162. The New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium will play host to the Baltimore Orioles who has something to play for here on the final game of the season. Luis Cessa will take the ball for the Yankees on the final game of the season leaving Masahiro Tanaka done for the season while the Orioles will counter with Kevin Gausman. The game will be played at 3:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

Such a great season with such great memories. Frustrating memories at times but great memories nonetheless. End it on a high note. Go Yankees!

Explaining the 2016 MLB Postseason


Who gets home field advantage? Who has to run the gauntlet on the road? Who gets what in what tiebreaker and will there be a Game 163? There are a lot of questions to be asked around this time of the year but for whatever reason there are still a whole lot of fans who don't have the answers. That is due in large part to the fact that the mathematics, head-to-head schedules and such can make things complicated sometimes. That's where I am here to help, I hope. 



-- The Texas Rangers will have home field advantage throughout the postseason including the World Series after the American League won the All-Star Game inside Petco Park this season. Texas will play the winner of the American League Wild Card Playoff Game between, as it stands right now, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles.

-- The Chicago Cubs will have home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs but not the World Series. Chicago will play host to the winner of the NL Wild Card Game which right now stands at the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants.

-- The Boston Red Sox will play host to the Cleveland Indians inside Fenway Park in the ALDS due to having a better record this season and a better head-to-head record which determines the tiebreaker scenario.

-- The Washington Nationals will play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers as it stands right now in the NLDS due to a better overall record. The Los Angeles Dodgers had the better head-to-head record and would have owned the tiebreaker if it came to that.


That's the simple scenario breakdown. This can get really complicated between now and then so I will quote the MLB rules found on MLB.com for the rest. For the complete rule set head over there and check it out.





Two teams tie for both Wild Card spots, or two teams tie for the second Wild Card spot
If there is a two-team tie for the two Wild Card spots they do not play a tiebreaker game to decide home-field advantage. Instead, it is decided based on head-to-head record, followed by intradivsion record. If that doesn't settle it, it then goes to intraleague record.

If there is a two-team tie for the second Wild Card spot, a tiebreaker game will be hosted by the team with the better head-to-head record during the regular season. If they split the season series, home-field will be determined by the team with the better intradivision record.


Three teams tie for two Wild Card spots


This is where it gets confusing, but it's looking possible, so let's use the NL as an example.

If the Cardinals, Mets and Giants finish with the same record they would receive an A, B or C designation. Think of this almost like a draft, and the team that holds the tiebreaker over the other two gets the "first pick" and can choose the scenario it likes best.

The Cards and Mets both have the season-series edge over the Giants, and the Cards and Mets split their series set, so first choice would go to the club with the better intradivision record, which is the Cardinals as of now, but that could change before the end of the season.

For example, let's assume that the Cardinals (first pick) and Mets (second pick) both choose the designations that give them two chances to make the Postseason, leaving the Giants with only one chance. The Cardinals and Mets would play in St. Louis on Monday.

The winner of that game would become the host team in the actual Wild Card Game; the loser would travel to San Francisco for a game on Tuesday.

The winner of the game in San Francisco would earn the second Wild Card spot, and would be the road team against the winner of Monday's game in the NL Wild Card Game on Wednesday.

However, it is possible that the Mets would decide that they prefer to play one home game with a rested pitching staff for a spot in the Wild Card Game. In that case, the Giants would travel to St. Louis for the tiebreaker game on Monday, with the Mets waiting to host the loser on Tuesday. However, in this scenario the Mets would be forfeiting any chance of hosting the actual NL Wild Card Game, making it less likely.



Three teams tie for one Wild Card


In a three-team tie, the three teams would choose their A, B and C designations, with Club C traveling to face the winner of the game between Clubs A and B to determine who advances to the Wild Card Game.

As an example, here's how it would play out in the American League if we get a three-team tie among the Orioles, Tigers and Mariners for the second Wild Card spot.

The Mariners have combined for a 9-5 record against the other two teams, while the Tigers and Orioles are 6-8. Therefore, the Mariners would have "first pick." The Orioles had the superior head-to-head record against the Tigers (5-2), so they would have "second pick."

In this scenario, the Mariners face a choice: Would we rather have to win two home games on consecutive days to clinch a Wild Card spot (Club A designation), or win one road game (Club C designation)?


There has yet to be a three-way tie since the second Wild Card team was added in 2012, so there is no precedent for which designation a team would pick.


If you have any additional questions leave them below in the comments section or hit us up on Twitter @GreedyStripes and I'll do my best to answer them, even if I have to research it first.

Game 162!

Game 162 Preview: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles 10/2


Here we go, we've waited for months to be able to say this. Game 162. The final game of the regular season. Let's get to it. In the final game of the season for the New York Yankees the team will play host to the Baltimore Orioles, one of their fiercest division rivals. The Yankees will send Luis Cessa to the mound on Game 162 while the Orioles will counter with Kevin Gausman. Let's do it.

Cessa will make his final start of the season on the final day of the regular season. Cessa heads into the start fresh off back-to-back quality starts against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox after allowing just two runs over six innings of work in both starts. Cessa last started against Baltimore on August 26th where he picked up his fourth win of the season.


Gausman heads into his final start of the regular season on a low. Gausman has allowed five runs in each of his last two starts, both losses for the young righty. Gausman has been money at home this season but has struggled on the road some so Gausman may hand the Yankees just what they want to end the season, a victory.

This game, and all games today, will be played at 3:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. There's literally nothing left to say. Go Yankees!

Game 162 Scoreboard Watching


All games begin today at 3:05 pm ET. Stay tuned to see who is heading to the playoffs, who is at home, who is on the road and who is going home for the winter. Game 162. It all comes down to this.



AL Wild Card Race: 
Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays @ Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers @ Atlanta Braves
Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics
Houston Astros @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim



National League Wild Card: 
New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies
San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates @ St. Louis Cardinals

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/2: Don Mattingly The Hit Man


Don Mattingly was the one bright spot for the New York Yankees in the 1980's and early 1990's and on this day in 1986 set a new team record for hits in a season with 232. Mattingly passed Earl Combs team record which was set in 1927 and would finish the season with a league leading 238 hits.


The reigning and defending World Series champion New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in a one game playoff on this day in 1978 in Fenway Park. We all know what happened, Bucky F'in Dent happened.


The Yankees are known for winning World Series championships but many fans forget that New York had plenty of years where things didn’t exactly go as planned. On this day in 1966 the Yankees would beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 but would still finish a half game behind the Boston Red Sox for last place in the American League. New York finished with a 70-89 record and fell 26.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. This was the first Yankees club to finish in last place in the American League since 1912.


Speaking of winning World Series on this day in 1936 the Yankees would beat the Giants in Game 2 of the World Series by the score of 18-4. That was then and still is now the largest lopsided victory in the history of the Fall Classic.


Finally on this day in 1932 and on this day in Yankees World Series history the team won their 12th consecutive World Series game as they swept the Chicago Cubs. This would mark the third consecutive World Series sweep the Bombers would achieve.