Let's look forward to the Cardinals Methocalypse

[InternetApex]

No, I intend to pay attention to the Cardinals this year. Specifically when they play the Cubs, but in general, because I want this to be a season that leaves them feeling frustrated and sick to their stomachs, because they are so dramatically outclassed by their division rivals.

What's cracking me up is the number of Cardinals fans I see already giving up on the season. Busch will be half empty by September.

Not likely. They'll probably still win 85 games because God sucks

Oh they will but Busch will still be half empty. Cardinals fans are so entitled now they are pissed about having to compete for the wildcard. I saw multiple comments on VEB saying "I'm not watching 162 games just to see if they can make a 1 game playoff."

Hell, last year the stadium was half full of Cubs fans during the playoffs and you could still get tickets at face value on the day of game one because a lot of them don't even really give a shit until they've at least advanced to the NLCS.

St. Louis is more of a football town really.

[PenFoe]

No, I intend to pay attention to the Cardinals this year. Specifically when they play the Cubs, but in general, because I want this to be a season that leaves them feeling frustrated and sick to their stomachs, because they are so dramatically outclassed by their division rivals.

What's cracking me up is the number of Cardinals fans I see already giving up on the season. Busch will be half empty by September.

Not likely. They'll probably still win 85 games because God sucks

Oh they will but Busch will still be half empty. Cardinals fans are so entitled now they are pissed about having to compete for the wildcard. I saw multiple comments on VEB saying "I'm not watching 162 games just to see if they can make a 1 game playoff."

Hell, last year the stadium was half full of Cubs fans during the playoffs and you could still get tickets at face value on the day of game one because a lot of them don't even really give a shit until they've at least advanced to the NLCS.

St. Louis is more of a football town really.

They're still holding out for the Hawks to come back.

[R-V]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On his podcasts last year, Bill Simmons spent a lot of time talking about football teams' "relevant games." (I'm certainly getting the term wrong.) The idea is that you measure a team based on its record in games against other competitive teams.

I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, watching day after day of lousy games between the top and bottom halves of the National League. We just don't learn all that much when the Mets beat the Braves 8-0, or the Cubs sweep the Reds, or the Pirates wax the Rockies. The 2016 National League is a historically notable mix of nine teams trying to win and six teams trying to gain draft budget. The standings don't quite fall that way just yet -- the Rockies and Phillies are hanging around .500, while the Diamondbacks have fallen into last place -- but there's an excellent chance that come October, the league will have split nicely along these lines.

What if we port Simmons's concept to baseball, creating a nine-team mini-league of the nine NL teams seeking to contend in 2016? Those teams will play about half their total schedule against each other, 74 to 80 games each. If we want to get a sense of how good these teams are, maybe it's better to isolate their games against one another. Here's how NL-Prime looks this morning:

NL' Standings

Cubs                   9  2  .818
Marlins           13  6  .684
Nationals         6  4  .600
Pirates            5  4  .556
Mets               3  3  .500
Diamondbacks  9 12  .429
Giants             7 10  .412
Dodgers           5  9  .357
Cardinals         3 10  .231


It's not like we were looking for another reason to believe in the Cubs, but that 9-2 mark against the NL's competitive class gives us one. The Cubs, in the midst of a four-game series against the Nationals that could separate them even further, are beating good teams, bad teams...everyone. It's a sight to see.

I'll admit to some shock at seeing how well the Marlins placed. Sweeps of the Diamondbacks and Dodgers gave them a boost, with an overall record of 8-2 against the NL West-Prime.

This is, admittedly, a trifle. All 162 games count, and if one of the good teams in the league goes 17-22 against the bad teams, well, that's both possible and costly. Conversely, the Mets earned a division title a year ago by going 86-3 or something against the Braves, Phillies, Reds and Rockies, and pennants also fly forever. (The Mets also went 11-8 against the Nationals, remember, including sweeps in August and September that went a long way towards deciding the division.)

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

[Bort]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On his podcasts last year, Bill Simmons spent a lot of time talking about football teams' "relevant games." (I'm certainly getting the term wrong.) The idea is that you measure a team based on its record in games against other competitive teams.

I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, watching day after day of lousy games between the top and bottom halves of the National League. We just don't learn all that much when the Mets beat the Braves 8-0, or the Cubs sweep the Reds, or the Pirates wax the Rockies. The 2016 National League is a historically notable mix of nine teams trying to win and six teams trying to gain draft budget. The standings don't quite fall that way just yet -- the Rockies and Phillies are hanging around .500, while the Diamondbacks have fallen into last place -- but there's an excellent chance that come October, the league will have split nicely along these lines.

What if we port Simmons's concept to baseball, creating a nine-team mini-league of the nine NL teams seeking to contend in 2016? Those teams will play about half their total schedule against each other, 74 to 80 games each. If we want to get a sense of how good these teams are, maybe it's better to isolate their games against one another. Here's how NL-Prime looks this morning:

NL' Standings

Cubs                   9  2  .818
Marlins           13  6  .684
Nationals         6  4  .600
Pirates            5  4  .556
Mets               3  3  .500
Diamondbacks  9 12  .429
Giants             7 10  .412
Dodgers           5  9  .357
Cardinals         3 10  .231


It's not like we were looking for another reason to believe in the Cubs, but that 9-2 mark against the NL's competitive class gives us one. The Cubs, in the midst of a four-game series against the Nationals that could separate them even further, are beating good teams, bad teams...everyone. It's a sight to see.

I'll admit to some shock at seeing how well the Marlins placed. Sweeps of the Diamondbacks and Dodgers gave them a boost, with an overall record of 8-2 against the NL West-Prime.

This is, admittedly, a trifle. All 162 games count, and if one of the good teams in the league goes 17-22 against the bad teams, well, that's both possible and costly. Conversely, the Mets earned a division title a year ago by going 86-3 or something against the Braves, Phillies, Reds and Rockies, and pennants also fly forever. (The Mets also went 11-8 against the Nationals, remember, including sweeps in August and September that went a long way towards deciding the division.)

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

AHAHAHAHAHA!

[Quality Start Machine]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

[InternetApex]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

It could. Let's look at those numbers in late September and see what we can find out.

[Quality Start Machine]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

It could. Let's look at those numbers in late September and see what we can find out.

How's the 27th at 1:30 in the afternoon?

[Canadouche]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

Smarter people may disagree, but I've really come to believe that the postseason is a total crapshoot. I don't think anything can prepare us for what might, or might not, happen.

[flannj]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

Smarter people may disagree, but I've really come to believe that the postseason is a total crapshoot. I don't think anything can prepare us for what might, or might not, happen.

Thanks.

[Tonker]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

Smarter people may disagree, but I've really come to believe that the postseason is a total crapshoot. I don't think anything can prepare us for what might, or might not, happen.

Thanks.

Groundbreaking stuff.

[InternetApex]

Anyway, Cardinals suck. We have proof.

[Saul Goodman]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

Smarter people may disagree, but I've really come to believe that the postseason is a total crapshoot. I don't think anything can prepare us for what might, or might not, happen.

Thanks.

Groundbreaking stuff.

Absolutely staggering.

[Canadouche]

From Joe Sheehan's latest:

On the other hand, special circumstances call for special tools, and I think it will be fun to monitor NL-Prime throughout the season, to give us an idea of how the non-tanking teams are doing against each other.

It could also give a clearer picture of who will/won't succeed come the postseason.

Smarter people may disagree, but I've really come to believe that the postseason is a total crapshoot. I don't think anything can prepare us for what might, or might not, happen.

Thanks.

Groundbreaking stuff.

Absolutely staggering.

Thanks! I'm thinking about starting a blog, where I can collect all my thoughts in an organized manner.

[Slaky]

 Bump for a Sunday ass whooping at the hands of the Pirates and Jordy Mercer or whatever.

[Quality Start Machine]

Please, just fuck these guys. They're already 4 behind in the loss column to the Cubs, and they are only going to fall further behind.

At this point they're going to have to duke it out for the Seligcard. They don't fucking matter.

No one thinks this is true.

You with me yet?