TuesdoLinks: Can we squeeze out one more game?

Everybody back to Cleveland. Eventually, if your plane holds together, I suppose.

So here we are. The 2016 season ends in a place like Cleveland, Ohio. Makes perfect sense when you consider how miserable things have been for us in Anaheim since, what, May 1st?

It's November. We are still playing baseball. But wish not for a speedy end, for that means the beginning of months of nothingness. Let's root for the Cubs to win tonight, so that we get a free game tomorrow! Sleep can wait. Real baseball is more fun than no baseball at all.

Carry on with (at least) One Last Official World Series Links:

World Series Orgy Time

Common sense, and being a regular following of Links, will lead you to the realization that you cannot compare viewer ratings between baseball and other sports for two big reasons. "A": baseball is primarily a regional thing and mainly draws out of all the individual local markets, not as a single big aggregation. And "B": baseball has a shitload of games spread across a shitload of time. That spells dilution. Idiots, even idiots among the MSM, ignore those and look to ratings and declare that baseball is dead, or dying. Gotta change the rules, speed up the game, score more runs. Well, on Sunday we had a single, big event, national stage MLB baseball game go head-to-head against a single, big event, national stage NFL  football game. Cubs/Indians versus Cowboys/Eagles. Nobody can say that a Cowboys/Eagles game is not an NFL prime attraction. And the baseball game absolutely crushed the football game in viewership............And for those in the area who could not make it to Wrigley, or care to watch football, if they were within 5 miles of the stadium they could hear the fan cheers. Amazing. My guess is that lots of Chicagoans went home with ringing in their ears Sunday night...........And those ratings for Game 5 had to to overcome some folks in Seattle, who lost thir look at the final out of the first winning WS game in Chicago in forever, because their local FOX affiliate up there jumped to an infomercial. That would be one clueless station manager at the switch then, being cluelessly insistent that they were doing the right thing. I would bet that they feel a lot different about that decision by now. Maybe even thinking about a do-over. From the unemployment line..........

Yesterday I gave you a parallel play harkening back to a prior WS. Today I give you another. This time a Bartman comp..........

The Terry-Francona-needs-a-lot-of-ice-cream story took it's inevitable next step..........

World Series Factoid of the Day. Aroldis Chapman is a rather unique specimen of human baseball pitcher-pitude...........

Haloween Takes: How about a bloody-fingered Trevor Bauer trick-or-treater? That kid come a knockin' on my door and she wins all the candy left in the bucket...............The Cubs traveled in style. Can't say they are tight. Joe Maddon appears to have gone as Dennis Hopper..........I gave you an LAA jack-o'-lantern yesterday. Here's more, including a California Angels throwback..........

I'm not sure I get this. The Cubs were down 1 game to 3, needing to sweep to pull out the WS. They win one game, by the narrowest of margins, burning through their very best pitcher (unless Lester can survive a turn out of the bullpen), and now the Cubs have their mojo back? Even bloggers can let their emotions get the best of them...........Because, yeah, it actually gets pretty hard for the Cubs now...........

Ticket prices were tanking leading up to Game 5. And they were tumbling further on the road towards Game 6...But now they are soaring again, and Cleveland fans will be paying dearly. Someday somebody is going to create a commodities market and allow investors to speculate on WS ticket prices. Hell, they already do it with pitchers............Or, you could be like this guy and not use your ticket at any price, even free.

The shitty-assed plate umpiring has people all in a tizzy about the slow march towards robot strike zones. (And wait until you see the charts I am building for this series. REALLY shitty-assed umpiring!) A lot of Luddites are quoted, but we know how futile resistance can be. It will happen, but the delays will only be about the tech itself, and won't have anything to do with the reasons players and officials are whining about now.............

Everywhere (Else) in Baseball

Taylor Ward will be representing LAA in the AFL All-Star Game. Watch it yourself this upcoming Saturday night at 5 PM PDT.........Speaking of AFL, Tim Tebow, ex-professional football player Tim Tebow, got himself a boo-boo while sliding, of all things. I would have thought that would be the one skill that would transfer from football. It sucks to get old, man. It really sucks..........

The Rockies are casting a wide net. Good for them. Add Dave Martinez to the candidate list for new manager. Yesterday I already mentioned they have Don Wakamatsu on their radar. It's good to open wide to minority hirings among the upper levels of MLB. What would be better, I still hold, would be to look outside existing MLB dugouts. Scott Servais did just fine up in Seattle. Front offices and minor leagues have to have more candidates seeking opportunities. We are never going to get fresh thinking taking over Major League Baseball until we start getting fresh minds in the dugouts..........

Once upon a time I was a fan of Derek Holland. It seemed like every time I attended a Rangers game it was either Holland or Darvish on the mound, carving up the LAA batting order. Turns out that this was just poor timing on my part. Holland is an up and down guy, lots of injuries, and now possibly to be on the trading block...........

Just spitballin' here. I read a lot of headlines every night. One that I am tired of, and think maybe it is time for MLB to retire, would be the Match.com Meet Your Baseball Match dating tie-in, where you can set up a blind date and meet at an upcoming ballgame. Considering where we are at this point in the season, I'm pretty certain that traffic for that service has come to a grinding halt. And yet somewhere within MLB is a web site manager who is dutifully making sure that link stays right there in their daily story stack..........

Geez is this ever getting worse and worse. The White Sox sold their stadium naming rights to the highest bidder, even though that open themselves wide for ridicule. "Guaranteed Rates Field"? For a team that has sucked for the past 8 years? Guaranteed to suck again, perhaps? No perhaps about it. The sucking again can start right away with the new logo that their sponsor wants to foist upon them. Nothing like featuring an arrow emphasizing the White Sox plummet towards the basement to make everybody feel just great about home games!..............

______________________________