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I'm a sucker for Pedro Martinez, and as such I loved reading this:

Pedro Martinez tossed seven impressive innings to outpitch Tim Lincecum as the Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1, last night in Philadelphia.

Martinez (3-0) struck out a season-high nine in his fifth start since signing with the Phillies during the All-Star break, allowing one run and five hits. He didn't walk a batter and threw just 87 pitches in his longest outing since August 21 last year with the New York Mets.

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I'm a sucker for Pedro Martinez, and as such I loved reading this:

 

I watched that game. pedro looked very good.

 

but so did brad penny. i am convinced that the national league is a joke this year, which makes the cubs' struggles that much more painful.

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I watched that game. pedro looked very good.

 

but so did brad penny. i am convinced that the national league is a joke this year, which makes the cubs' struggles that much more painful.

 

This year? The National League has been a lot weaker than the A.L. for a number of years now.

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i am focused on this year. the phillies did win the world series last year.

 

It's not about who wins world series -- any team can win a 7 game series over any other team -- but the AL has cleaned the NL's clock in interleague for several years now. The great success that broken-down A.L. pitchers have when they switch leagues is also ample evidence of the pretty wide gap in talent that exists right now between the two leagues.

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actually, it is.

 

I guess nobody ever explained the difference between a large and small sample size to you. You think that the fate of two teams from each league in a 7 game series is indicative of which league is better? That's pretty staggeringly ignorant.

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I think what the gentleman from Pulp Fiction is trying to get across is: how important are interleague play records when it comes to winning the World Series (assuming that winning the World Series is the point of a team's existence)?

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I think what the gentleman from Pulp Fiction is trying to get across is: how important are interleague play records when it comes to winning the World Series (assuming that winning the World Series is the point of a team's existence)?

 

The issue is which league is better, not the predictive value of the world series winner upon determining which league is better. Any team can win a 7 game series against any other team. Who wins the WS is basically a coin flip and is largely determined by luck.

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The issue is which league is better, not the predictive value of the world series winner upon determining which league is better. Any team can win a 7 game series against any other team. Who wins the WS is basically a coin flip and is largely determined by luck.

 

I was with you until that last sentence.

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I guess nobody ever explained the difference between a large and small sample size to you. You think that the fate of two teams from each league in a 7 game series is indicative of which league is better? That's pretty staggeringly ignorant.

what happened?

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I was with you until that last sentence.

 

He's pretty much right. The best team doesn't win the World Series every time. Case in point, the Marlins were not a better team than the Yankees in 2003; they gave away way too many outs with small ball and their outfield defense was pretty crappy. But they won because they got hot and were probably more well suited to winning a short series than the Yankees, and at least part of it has to do with one of their great flaws (giving away outs). Small ball is bad baseball in the long term (giving away outs limits your ability to score runs in bunches), but in a short, close series, you are increasing your chances of scoring 1 run, which is more important in that situation.

 

I don't think it's necessarily a coin flip, but the better team doesn't generally win every time, which is as it should be. Some teams are better, but just aren't suited to winning in the post season or just flat out run into a hot team or just don't have a couple of bounces go their way.

 

People have no problem accepting that in the regular season, in a 3 game series, the worst team in baseball is fully capable of beating the best team. But when you imply that when the elite teams meet up luck and chance are more important than who is better, people refuse to allow that possibility.

 

Either way, I don't know who this fellow is, but I like him.

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He said it doesn't matter who wins the World Series, and I say it does.

 

He said when determining the relative strength of the league's as a whole, the winner of the world series doesn't really matter. If Pedro and Brad Penny and John Smoltz had to face the Phillies every game they wouldn't like pitching in the NL. The Phillies are probably as good an offense as any in baseball. They aren't representative of the league as a whole.

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He's pretty much right. The best team doesn't win the World Series every time. Case in point, the Marlins were not a better team than the Yankees in 2003; they gave away way too many outs with small ball and their outfield defense was pretty crappy. But they won because they got hot and were probably more well suited to winning a short series than the Yankees, and at least part of it has to do with one of their great flaws (giving away outs). Small ball is bad baseball in the long term (giving away outs limits your ability to score runs in bunches), but in a short, close series, you are increasing your chances of scoring 1 run, which is more important in that situation.

 

I don't think it's necessarily a coin flip, but the better team doesn't generally win every time, which is as it should be. Some teams are better, but just aren't suited to winning in the post season or just flat out run into a hot team or just don't have a couple of bounces go their way.

 

People have no problem accepting that in the regular season, in a 3 game series, the worst team in baseball is fully capable of beating the best team. But when you imply that when the elite teams meet up luck and chance are more important than who is better, people refuse to allow that possibility.

 

Either way, I don't know who this fellow is, but I like him.

 

Your explanation of the 2003 Marlins proves my point. It's not a coin flip and luck does not play the largest role.

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Your explanation of the 2003 Marlins proves my point. It's not a coin flip and luck does not play the largest role.

 

I think his point is that the best team doesn't win the world series all of the time. It's essentially a coin flip on a windy day. Outside factors can change the outcome, but chance is probably more important than anything else.

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