Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – August 24, 2014

While having a delicious Mexican dinner with my family, I somehow got into a baseball discussion with my wife. They don’t happen often so I decided to turn it into an impromptu podcast.

It is a spicy Margarita and chips and salsa episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.

Pedro Alvarez, Joe Mauer, Mike Leake, Jeremy Guthrie, Juan Lagares, Trevor Plouffe, Ervin Santana and C. J. Wilson all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball?

When in Pasadena, have a wonderful Mexican dinner at El Cholo. Click HERE for more info.

And now the AL West is an awesome race

Ben Margot – AP

Folks, the new Wild Card system works.

Under the old Wild Card system, tonight’s A’s and Angels game would have been interesting but not really intense. Sure, if the A’s won there would be a tie for first place with 34 games left.

But both teams would be in line for a playoff spot. They are 6 games up on the Mariners who would be their only threat to a post season run. So the idea would not be to win the Division but to make the playoffs and not fall behind Seattle.

With the A’s and Angels both in the post season, one would face Baltimore and the other either Kansas City or Detroit. So the real interest in the series would be as a preview of the inevitable ALCS clash.

Now it is different.

When Jon Lester pitched beautifully, Coco Crisp scored on the wild pitch and Sean Doolittle shut the game down, the two teams essentially began a 34 game race.

The winner? They get home field advantage throughout the post season.

The loser? They get to face either Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Max Scherzer or David Price in a one game do or die playoff game.

Which would YOU rather have?

34 games left. One team will play better than the other. And it is going to get good.

 

Time to update the Dodged Bullet/Teeth Grinder tally.

An explanation of what this is all about can be found HERE.

 

A’S DODGED BULLET – TEETH GRINDER Tally

Joe Smith’s 8th inning 2 out wild pitch scored Coco Crisp and gift wrapped a 2-1 A’s win over the Angels. DODGED BULLET

47 Dodged Bullets 41 Teeth Grinders

TOTAL: +6

 

GIANTS DODGED BULLET – TEETH GRINDER Tally

Giants jumped ahead to a first inning 2 run lead and couldn’t hold it for a single frame. Lincecum lost again as the Nationals scored early and hung on, 6-2. TEETH GRINDER

47 Dodged Bullets 44 Teeth Grinders

TOTAL: +3

 

RED SOX DODGED BULLET – TEETH GRINDER Tally

Boston took an early 3-0 lead and kept the Mariners off the board for 8 out of 9 innings. Unfortunately Seattle posted a 7 spot in the 4th inning and won 7-3. TEETH GRINDER

41 Dodged Bullets 54 Teeth Grinders

TOTAL: -13

 

The AL West season starts tomorrow.

Both teams have a magic number of 35.

2 can be carved off by whomever wins tomorrow.