Topic: 2016 MLB Thread....

[metaldams]

Typing this mid game.  I get the whole using the bullpen in the WS, but taking out Hendricks with a 4 run lead, only 60 pitches, and giving up one run and replacing him with a starter screams Madden being a smart ass.

[metaldams]

Typing in the 9th, unbelievable.  Chapman is gassed.

[JazzBill]

Holy Shit

[JazzBill]

I guess Hell has just frozen over.

[Tony Bensley]

THE 108 YEAR DROUGHT IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE CHICAGO CUBS HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHEERS! 

[TTS#1]

I am thrilled, stunned, shocked, amazed!

All of the above. It wasn't Joe Maddon's finest day, pulling Hendricks early, taking Lester out when he was on a roll, calling for a Baez bunt with a man on 3rd and 1 out. But in the end that doesn't matter anymore as the Cubs won the game and the World Series Championionship. That game will live on forever as one of the greatest World Series games, let alone Game 7.

Commiserations to the Cleveland Indians and their fans, though. They played a tough series and they will be there or thereabouts again next season with a fully healthy Carrasco and Salazar in their rotation again.

[metaldams]

Congrats to The Cubs!  I know as a pre-2004 Red Sox fan what their fans are feeling, and it's pure bliss.  Theo Epstein, between breaking two "curses," surely punched his ticket in the hall of fame last night.

[Lefty]

Mazel Tov, Cubbies!  Not that it mattered to me who won the World Series, but it's always nice to see "new blood" when it doesn't involve a team beating a Philly team.  Cleveland will just have to settle for two titles this year (three, in a way, if the Browns keep up what they have been doing).

In the 1993 "Married with Children" episode entitled "Dancing with Weezy," there was this little exchange:

Jefferson:  "When was the last time the Cubs won the World Series?"
Al:             "1908."
Peg:          "And you can't remember the year we were married!"
Al:             "Same year, 1908!  Only thing is, baseball's still interesting!"

Now it can be updated.  And with the Cubs' win, the now-Arizona Cardinals have the dubious distinction of having gone the longest without a world championship in the four major sports (1947).

[TTS#1]

Congrats to The Cubs!  I know as a pre-2004 Red Sox fan what their fans are feeling, and it's pure bliss.  Theo Epstein, between breaking two "curses," surely punched his ticket in the hall of fame last night.

Yeah, he's heading to Cooperstown. Probably even before last night but last night cements his place.

Amazing when you consider that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are both only 42-years old. Two of the greatest minds in Baseball working in tangent to end two long-standing World Series droughts.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Maybe not the "greatest World Series"--I think anyone saying that may be getting a little carried away, but it is the greatest story; the Cubs finally beating the so-called curse.

Maddon may have been roasted for some of his moves had the Cubs lost--but as they say--all's well that ends well.

I'm not sure if I'm right about this, but apparently this was one of the highest rated Series ever--if not the highest. I think the Cubs would have been a huge draw no matter who they played, but the Indians were a great story as well...

[Paul Pain]

Nowhere near the highest.  Many in the 1990s had a higher rating and/or viewer count.

[stoogerascalfan62]

Congratulations, Cubs.

[Tony Bensley]

If the numbers are to be believed, last Friday's Parade for the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs drew over 5 million, which would make it the largest single gathering in U.S. history!

I guess that winning a World Series for the first time in over a century would tend to inspire a huge draw like that!  We're talking more people in Grant Park than showed up for either of outgoing President Obama's Election victories, and those weren't small potatoes, either!

It'll be interesting to see who contends in 2017!  Only a few months until Spring Training!

CHEERS! 

[TTS#1]

I am so glad the new CBA deal is done for the next 5-years and there's no lockout.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/11/30/breaking-down-mlbs-new-2017-21-collective-bargaining-agreement/&refURL=https://www.google.com.au/&referrer=https://www.google.com.au/

There's more changes to come over the next few weeks I have read and one of the bigger ones is World Series HFA is no longer determined by the ASG winning league. It's now whichever Pennant winner has the best regular season record, which is how it should have always been.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Yes, great news that Bud Selig's foolishness about letting an exhibition game determine home field is finally over...


 

[Tony Bensley]

Yes, great news that Bud Selig's foolishness about letting an exhibition game determine home field is finally over...


 

The National (League) Nightmare Is Over!!!! 

[Lefty]

I wonder what the Fox Network thinks about the ASG not being so important anymore?

Besides not solving the 44-year-old problem of the DH being only in the AL and not the NL, they missed out on an opportunity for better roster handling throughout the season.  They should have had 30-man rosters, with 25 being allowed to suit up for a game, all year long.  That way, if someone has a nagging but minor injury, or a relief pitcher is unavailable to go three days in a row (right, Phillies?), a team could just put said player on that game's inactive list.