2026 Misc MLB News Thread

[Playing Catch]

Re-seeding with the unbalanced schedule seems unfair to teams in good divisions. If you put the Dodgers in the AL West and they win 120 games, do they deserve a better seed than the Rays playing an AL East schedule?

[BruisedCrew]

For anyone who lived through the days when there was no such thing as wildcard teams, and only league, and then division, winners went to the playoffs, complaints about seeding seem really silly.

If you think it’s unfair for a team with a better record to get a lower seed, imagine how you would feel when your team has a significantly better record than a division winner, but doesn’t get into the playoffs at all.

The Brewers of the late 70s through early 90s had a few good 90 plus win seasons that got them nowhere while the winner of the AL West would get into the ALCS with a similar or lesser record. In some of those years the Brewers weren’t even close to the division title because someone like the Yankees or Orioles was winning 100 games or more.

If the playoff arrangements in place today had been around then, the Brewers would’ve had a lot more playoff appearances between 1978 and 1992, and maybe even a World Series title. 

[MrTPlush]

40 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Re-seeding with the unbalanced schedule seems unfair to teams in good divisions. If you put the Dodgers in the AL West and they win 120 games, do they deserve a better seed than the Rays playing an AL East schedule?

Precisely part of the problem. 
 

It is what it is. Don’t blow up divisions and rivalries because one year there was a goofy bracket. The best team rarely wins anyway. No need to overthink the bracket to be ‘right’.

There are many reasons I don’t care to watch the NBA and the meaningless of divisions is definitely up there.

[long ball]

I’m not sure how much attention this has been getting, but the Marlins did something interesting with some of their starters down the stretch. They had Alcantara and Pérez pitch out of the bullpen on their throw day. From what I understand, this is a little bit of a test kitchen idea. See how guys handle the schedule. 
 

now I don’t think the brewers would implement this, however it is a very interesting thought experiment. Pair this with a 6 man rotation, a team who is very likely to make the playoffs, generally needs to find advantages at the fringes of the roster/rules and we’d be an interesting candidate to do this. 
 

upside: less need to shuttle guys to and from the minors since we have an extra bullpen arm every game. Get 20+ additional innings from some of the best pitchers on the roster. This makes it easier to run a 6 man rotation all year. 
 

downside: the game may not present an opportunity for the starter to get into the game so you’d have to have them get their bullpen work in after the game? You lose the ability to just work on stuff without the pressure of it being a live inning. 
 

Unknown how it would impact performance and health. 
 

they talked about it on the just baseball podcast with lance brodkowski the other day and I found it an idea. 

[markedman5]

Not the way to run a good organization 

 

[Playing Catch]

12 hours ago, markedman5 said:

Not the way to run a good organization 

 

I don't know who Baseball Bros from Nosebleed Sports Media are, but being that Mariners leadership also mentioned that they were looking to retain Wilson in another capacity and he's been there for 30 years tells you that they didn't "force" Dan to do anything. I suspect they asked him if he wanted to have a parting Q&A, and if he wanted company up there on the dais.

Provacative clickbait. Say what one will about Seattle's front office and management, but this moment wasn't surreal, nor was it a poor way to do a firing in today's live media landscape.

 

[markedman5]

33 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I don't know who Baseball Bros from Nosebleed Sports Media are, but being that Mariners leadership also mentioned that they were looking to retain Wilson in another capacity and he's been there for 30 years tells you that they didn't "force" Dan to do anything. I suspect they asked him if he wanted to have a parting Q&A, and if he wanted company up there on the dais.

Provacative clickbait. Say what one will about Seattle's front office and management, but this moment wasn't surreal, nor was it a poor way to do a firing in today's live media landscape.

 

I think the point is the Mariners didn’t announce it……..every organization does that…..,,he ended up breaking it to the reporters that he was fired.

it was after the last game of the season……its not like he could avoid the topic……they should have announced the firing like every other organization does……he still would have addressed the media but at least he wouldn’t be breaking the news.

When asked about it later The GM wouldn’t even confirm that he had been fired as opposed to resigned and dodged the question.

it was handled poorly…….you are the first person I’ve seen that doesn’t seem to have an issue with it.

 

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, Playing Catch said:

I don't know who Baseball Bros from Nosebleed Sports Media are, but being that Mariners leadership also mentioned that they were looking to retain Wilson in another capacity and he's been there for 30 years tells you that they didn't "force" Dan to do anything. I suspect they asked him if he wanted to have a parting Q&A, and if he wanted company up there on the dais.

I am curious what the actual story is. My reaction was somewhere in between, but I do think there's a world where he wanted to make that statement himself on his own terms, and as usual people jump to the hottest take possible.

[markedman5]

Looks like I was wrong…….my bad

 

[owbc]

59 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

Looks like I was wrong…….my bad

 

Let this be a warning sign for hiring a team legend as your manager. It's been clear for a long time that Dan is a great guy but a poor manager. Everybody knew he was done at the end of the year and it was going to be sold as one of those "chose to step down" type decisions. 

A change was needed mid-season, but they were basically stuck with him because of his stature within the organization.

Rodriguez tossing the ball into the stands with 2 outs in that 22-0 game against Milwaukee was not an isolated incident. The team was mentally checked out for the majority of the season. 

We'll never know if a different manager could have turned things around mid-season. There was more than enough talent on the Seattle roster to finish with more than 81 wins. 

[Team Canada]

2 hours ago, markedman5 said:

Looks like I was wrong…….my bad

 

As is often the case, it's dangerous to jump to conclusions (not a shot at you, more the culture and commentators that posted outraged takes).

[Just Some Guy]

Great first game of the playoffs today.  Phillies / Braves had 7th and 8th inning lead changes with the Braves winning 5-3.

[Playing Catch]

That was an amazing game. Duran's 25th pitch being the decider.

[Underachiever]

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