As a Phillies fan, congrats to the 'Stros. They were the better team this series. Phils' bats didn't show up, but Houston's pitching was probably the reason. Painted the strike zones all Series and kept batters off balance throughout the playoffs.

Offseason is going to be fun for a lot of teams. Phillies will need to plug holes to get a pure leadoff hitter and some guys who actually get on base.
The pitching will likely come from the minors, and the bullpen is now at the very least solid.

Will be interesting to see if the Astros can keep all these players and pay them.

After this offseason, it will likely be another season of Haves and Have Nots. Would *love* to see MLB expand to a few more teams and have a 2-League relagation set-up. If teams like the Marlins, Pirates, and Royals don't want to pay to compete, they can compete to not be sent down.

When the better teams play each other consistently, baseball is sooo good. This year's playoffs were a good example of that. Some great baseball, and about 10-15 really exciting games.

Right? You’d think congratulations would be appropriate right now…

Congrats to the Astros. Yesterday's news, onto free agency. Will Ohtani stay in Anaheim? How much will Trea Turner get? Correa should've stayed in Mini for 1 more year, too many big name shortstops on the market again. How much will Judge get? Hoping a bunch of these guys sign before the new year.

With the World Series over, it got me dreaming about how great a 2-Tiered relegation League would be. Here's what my Dream League would look like, based on this year's standings and adding expansion teams.

General rules: Last place team from each division in "A" is replaced by the first place team from the same "B" league division every year. "B" League playoff champion gets the option to choose their "A" division but have to remain in the respective National or American League.

Playoff Format: A-League, top 2 teams from each division make playoffs, with normal 7 game series, and division winners having home field advantage or even playing all first round games at division winner. B-League, same format, and if a non-division winner wins their B-League championship, they also move up to A, replacing the team in the respective National or American League with the worst record left in that division. (This would make the B-League playoffs meaningful for a cities in the A-League who finished 4th in their divisions, and their fans can sweat it out until their danger-team in the B-League is eliminated.)

(So, come playoffs, the only cities in the A-League where baseball might be boring are for the 3rd place teams cemented into 3rd place.)

A-League:

NL East:
Phillies
Braves
Mets
Cardinals
Brewers

NL West:
Dodgers
Padres
Cubs
Giants
Diamondbacks

AL East:
Yankees
Blue Jays
Rays
Orioles
Red Sox

AL West:
Astros
Mariners
Guardians
WhiteSox
Twins

League 2

NL East:
Marlins
Nationals
Pirates
Montreal
Nashville

NL West:
Rockies
Reds
Oklahoma City
Salt Lake City
Indianapolis

AL East:
Tigers
Twins
Royals
Charlotte
Orlando

AL West:
Angels
Rangers
A's
Portland
Las Vegas

We need a team in Vancouver! Balance the East- West Canadian divide.

Congrats Astros fans! I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is quiet here for a couple of reasons-
The four Astros fans here have 95% of the posts covered in this thread. Anytime anyone posts anything non-Astros, it somehow turns back around to the Astros. This is very similar to the NFL fan thread, where it is a large majority of Bengals posts, but there is a bit more balance there.

The Astros just won one not that long ago. People like to root for the underdog. The Astros were never the underdog, other than people saying they cheat more, so I understand that chip on their shoulder. They are consistently in the top 10 in payroll, so if you believe salaries impact a roster (which I do), then starting the season, they already have more than a 50% chance of not being the underdog.

I am glad you guys have a World Series ring without an asterisk next to it. I personally think you have multiple World Series rings without asterisks, but I also believe that all records are legit, including Bonds home run record. I know I am in the minority on this, but MLB is absolutely guilty of bending/making "rules" to try and keep itself relevant. It's a business, and it will do what it needs to do to be a profitable one.

I absolutely love baseball, and the strategy throughout the entire game, but its clear to me there needs to be a more competitive balance, mostly at the salary level, and how contracts are structured. If you had to choose 8 playoff teams for next year, I guarantee you their payroll will be in the top 10. I think popularity of baseball is waning simply because the competitive balance has been skewed greatly.

Again, not that you need it, but congrats on your title! I understand where you are coming from when your other professional sports teams are the Rockets, Cowboys, and Texans.... LOLOL

Serious question, since I am in a state with only one baseball team.... Do Astros fans get behind the Rangers as well?

Congrats to Dusty Baker and only Dusty Baker.

LOLOL.... I feel like the Astros won in spite of their coach. I have always liked Dusty though.

No to the Rangers. Houston hates Dallas and Dallas hates Houston

Congrats to Trey Mancini, coming from a black hole in Baltimore, surviving cancer, to the home run derby last year to WS champ. Perseverance pays off!

Better team won, no question. Dusty Baker deserves his ring. Taking Wheeler out will be debated all off season but the Phillies bats went ice cold the last 3 games. As I Phillies fan, it was a great ride. I’m a long time season ticket holder. This brought baseball back to Philadelphia after an 11 year absence. It was awesome to be a part of it. This one hurts for sure. But make no mistake about it, we’ll be back next season.

Unfortunately I think the real issue in this thread is there seem to be 1-3 people that can only post that the Stro’s are cheaters and all they want to talk about is 2017…..it pisses people off because at the same time they refuse to acknowledge the “possibility” other teams were doing similar things which has been proven and they fail to recognize throughout the history of baseball almost every team has cheated or at least been accused for various things. At a certain point the Stro’s have proven they are a good team like em or hate em. Never bugged me if anyone hates them…they deserve the hate and to be kept in check for 2017. Keep hating all you want because they are winning…..but if you hate them because of 2017 alone your a hypocrite…do your homework and see how many other teams have cheated and you should hate those teams just the same and don’t put a blind eye to it.

There is also just not that many people that care enough about baseball here it appears. I feel I have always given respect/acknowledged how good other teams/players are. In baseball no matter how good your team is you can’t get cocky because it’s always about who is the best team on a given day. Some teams stepped up in the post season and some collapsed….I said from the beginning of the post season the Phillies were the worst matchup for the Astros…they got HOT and easily could have won it all…Phillies had a great season and should be proud..they showed how good they are. Glad it played out that way.

Can’t wait for next year…there are some teams on the bubble that may surprise all of us by the playoffs.

Go Padres 2023!

98 days to spring training. Hope the college and nfl games keep on delivering, some wild finishes this weekend!

Congrats Astros fans! Not really the outcome I wanted, but glad the team could offer retention to their fanbase.

Diaz gets 102 m from the Mets, is this deal setting the market? Hard to compare relief pitching to position players unless comparing WAR.

20m a year for a closer is nuts

It is nuts but that’s modern era baseball…starters seldom go more than 6-7 innings. Then have a reliever that may go 1-2 innings then a closer for the 9th. That closer is expected to hold the lead and get the last 3 outs without fail every time without fail. That’s ALOT of pressure…pitchers that can live up to that will command big money as every team wants the guy that can deliver the last 3 outs.

Tons of free agents this year. It’s all a crap shoot…do you spend less and hope to draft/develop talent from within or do spend big bucks for immediate upgrade to make a run for the WS? If you are one or 2 quality players short you almost have to spend the money to take a chance. The window to be good is short sometimes.

Could be an interesting offseason. Judge is obviously one everyone is watching. There are several franchise quality short stops hitting the market. Correa is opting out from the Twins. We may see some crazy contracts so who knows if $20 mil is too much for a top closer.

Crazy if this is really the new market for closers. Closers are so finicky and can go from lights out to BP pitcher in moments. On the other hand you could argue that it's the most important position of a quality team. But 5 years seems like a big gamble to me. Time will tell

It’s not much of a gamble for Cohen, more like pocket change.
I’d be worried if I’m the Yankees because if he decides he wants Judge, he will get him.

The Judge race is gonna be fun to watch. Giants already came out and said if he isn't a Giant next season it won't be because of money.

Hot take: Judge won't be worth the contract he's inevitably going to get.

Hot take two: Judge goes to the Mets.

Angels are asking a lot for Ohtani..I’d like to see the dodgers go after him, but not give up on a May or Bueller

Judge will get 8-9 years and 320 m. If I'm the Yanks, I let him go unless I can trade Stanton, Donaldson and Hicks with prospects attached and still having to eat salary. They need contact hitters that play solid defense and 2 more starters.

The Mets want Ohtani badly and at the end of the day, I think they will get him.
However, if that falls apart, Judge becomes a really possibility. The Giants can’t come close to matching a strong Cohen offer.

Still riding high off the Astros championship, but I am starting to get the itch for those free agent signing announcements. Lotta star power out there.

Of the playoff teams in 2022, who do y’all think drops off and misses the playoffs in 2023? Personally I think it’s the Yankees. AL East is gonna be a battle next year.

The new more balanced schedule should even things out so teams like the Astros and Central division can’t pad their record beating up on bottom squads.

Maybe the top of the AL West was just that good this year. I do agree that the balanced schedule will be great overall for the league.

Because the Astros record was only 11-2 in the playoffs? Pretty funny.

ANNNNND we're back!

I think the Astros beat up on everyone last season LOL!

You could also say the Dodgers, Braves, Mets, and Cards were beating up on bad teams. Cards had a WEAK division as did the Guardians.

Season is still 162 games…you can only balance the number of times teams play each other and I always felt with such a long season all teams should get a chance to play each other…..regardless good teams are gonna be good and bad teams are just gonna be bad.

Mlb needs to instate a salary floor to make these owners put a competitive product on the field.

Why a floor instead of a cap? Genuinely curious, as I have never heard of fans demanding a minimum salary for competitive balance.

So teams like Miami, Cincy, Baltimore, KC, Oakland, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, and Pittsburgh have to put a decent product on the field. Same as the NFL.
Every team gets a cut of the tv money and they're required to spend a certain amount. The luxury tax should go to the smaller market teams to help them sign their young stars long term. This will help grow the fan bases and in turn grow the game which turns into revenue etc etc and create ba;ance so it's not always the same 8-12 teams in October

So do you feel a floor is better than a cap? I personally feel like a cap is far more effective than a floor. You can only drop so low, but with a hard cap, you can only go so high.

Luxury tax isn’t really doing much to help small market teams as it currently sits.

I am pretty sure the Yankees radio contract is the same size as the NL centrals combined tv contracts… basically something absurdly skewed due to market size.

Nfl have a floor and a ceiling and yes all the luxury tax money should go to the smaller markets. Competitive balance will grow the game on it's own. We can probably name the 2023 playoff teams already and who will be in last.

And it’s doubtful we will ever see a truly great NFL team again, but I guess parody is good.

I don’t think any league has found the best way to balance talent across a league. Personally I believe the only way is to get rid of monster contracts…make contracts INCENTIVE based…pay for performance with incentives and the incentives shouldn’t count against the salary cap. If the team does well the players get a piece of the pie as they should. Make the luxury tax PAINFUL for owners. Get back to Franchise players that can stay with one team for a career. If there is less competition for free agents because teams have good players it allows lesser teams a better chance to acquire younger good talent to develop and build a team. The goal is so you don’t have the same 3-4 teams for a decade competing for a championship. It is possible to do this and still pay the players and balance the talent. They are still figuring out how to do it. As it stands teams stall because they cave in to a monster contract but suffer because they can’t afford to fill other holes in the team. It’s a delicate balance to achieve and a lot of pressure on the leagues to spread the talent.

100% agree about getting paid for performance. These contracts that go on until the player couldn’t play slo-pitch are bad for everyone especially the fans.

Yep…you have a player they owe say 100 mil for the last 3 years of their career when they are the least productive….makes no sense. Now these contracts usually get productive years in the beginning when maybe a team has a chance to make a championship run but hurt later on.

It’s a matter of finding the right balance to pay players their share WHEN they perform and the team is successful…players deserve their cut. All these monster contracts do is provide guaranteed money to “Star” players regardless. They often hinder a team’s financial means to obtain talent at other positions..it’s a catch 22. It’s an antiquated system..if the league wants balanced competition and to grow all the markets/teams change is needed. The NFL is looking a little balanced but it feels like a lot of teams playing sloppy football early this season. Not sure if it’s the 17 game season or what….it’s just not a good product right now. Hard to compare football to MLB…it’s a rough sport and a much shorter season. But they have to deal with spreading talent across the league to make it competitive as all pro sports do.

NBA has to be the worst with players colluding to make super teams and influencing “destination” cities…if you are not a destination city your team is basically screwed. That’s why I don’t watch the NBA. I like basketball but what’s the point when you know the same teams are gonna be good…and the officiating..fouls are like holding in the NFL…they call it when it’s convenient. The last 2 min of a close game take 30 min to play because of the fouls. It’s a joke. Yes it’s strategy within the rules but it’s not how the game was intended.

So an interesting fact I don’t think was ever mentioned leading up to the WS is Apr 7th 2000 was opening day of Enron field which is now named Minute Maid Park. The Astros played the Phillies and lost 4-1. Forgot all about that but stumbled across a T-shirt I have from opening day at the new ball park from 2000. I didn’t attend the game but got the shirt free several years ago.

Shocked that factoid was not mentioned leading up to the WS.

Congratulations to the Phillies. 2022 World Series champs due to cheating disqualifications as noted earlier.

Pleas note them again. For clarity

This chick never stops crying lmao

Haha. I’m not the one who ran crying to the mods because they couldn’t handle someone criticizing (for valid reasons) their team.

Did you see that America’s team won their second World Series? How’d your team do?

Who’s Yordaddy?