MLB Postseason GDT

[Philsmania]

I'd also like to spare a thought for Expos fans. I'm sure many of them must feel less than pleased at the success of their... successors? Washington has all but ignored their history in Montreal.

There was an article about this in the Post. There is a small handful that still follows them but most Montreal fans disdain them.

[BostonRoss]

I’ve known people who still rooted for the A’s more than 50 years after they left Philadelphia. But every former Boston Braves fan I’ve met switched to the Red Sox.

[el-pietro]

Did many A's fans also follow the Phillies, or was there a strong crosstown rivalry? I definitely have a soft sport for the A's as a former Philly team but they were playing in Oakland 16 years before I was born and moneyball was based on a season before I followed baseball.

[Philsmania]

I’ve known people who still rooted for the A’s more than 50 years after they left Philadelphia. But every former Boston Braves fan I’ve met switched to the Red Sox.

If there are any vestigal Athletics fans still around in Philadelphia, I have not met them. There used to be a Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society that even had a museum on Main Street in Hatboro until around 2010-12. It pretty much withered away along with its membership. I think most Athletic fans gravitated to the Phillies. The allure of the Whiz Kids, even though their success was fleeting after 1950, is regarded as one of the final nails in the coffin for the A's Philadelphia tenure.

More likely, there are many Phillies phans who simply adopted them as their honorary AL team. Perhaps some of these people are children and grandchildren of A's fans.

I understand from some old timers that a decent number Brooklyn Dodger and New York Giants fans used to show up at Connie Mack Stadium after those teams moved west and they elicited more sympathy than resentment. By and large, however, New York NL fans turned their back on both of those teams. According to my aunt who lived her whole life in NYC, very few became Yankee fans because of that passionate rivalry and it took a few years for them to embrace the Mets as the replacement for those two teams (really not until 1969).

[julio]

Couple of comments on the current discussion here:

I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

How many Nationals fans are you actually likely to encounter, el-pietro? I mean, you're in Ireland, right?

There is a small handful [of Expos fans] that still follows [the Nationals] but most Montreal fans disdain them.

Presumably the same small handful of fans that followed the Expos when they were in Montreal! Most Montreal fans disdained the Expos before the move.

I’ve known people who still rooted for the A’s more than 50 years after they left Philadelphia. But every former Boston Braves fan I’ve met switched to the Red Sox.

The A's moved to Kansas City 65 years ago, in 1954 (the year I was born). A's fans who actually remember the club in Philly are, by definition, in their mid-70s or older. Fans who weren't little kids at the time of the move would now be in their 80s. There are undoubtedly a few around... but sadly, fewer each day.

The Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953. Same observation as with the A's - not very many fans left who would actually remember.

[BostonRoss]

Yeah, as I said, "I've known people who still rooted for the A's," but I'm not sure any of them are alive now. My father-in-law (alive and well at 86) grew up a Boston Braves fan, but he doesn't care about the Atlanta Braves and has been a Red Sox since the Braves moved. He was 71 the first time his team won the World Series.

[Philsmania]

Here's the article that I referenced upthread.

The former Expos are finally in the World Series, and Montreal isn’t sure what...

If the Athletics and Oakland put aside this pesky lawsuit about the new ballpark and the team stays in Oakland, after 2020 it will have been in Oakland longer than it ever was in Philadelphia, believe it or not.

As I said, Nationals fans are like Braves fans. They'll probably come out in force and draw over three million next year and may even show up in some degree of force when they play the Phillies at CBP, though not to the extent that Mets fans do (most of them are New Jerseyans who believe that going to NYC is a drag, so Philadelphia is their Mets homefield). And, because the Nats were a somewhat likable and compelling team this October. I think some casual fans may adopt them as their fulltime team, including more than a few here in the Delaware Valley who have always been "meh" or lukewarm about the Phillies, similar to what we saw with the Cubs in 1984, the Braves in 1991 and Red Sox in 2004 when a lot of people became fans for life of those teams.

[julio]

If the Athletics and Oakland put aside this pesky lawsuit about the new ballpark and the team stays in Oakland, after 2020 it will have been in Oakland longer than it ever was in Philadelphia, believe it or not.

Translation: "Julio, you're getting old!" [Yeah, I know you didn't mean it that way, but for some reason, that's what popped into my head.... ]

[el-pietro]

Couple of comments on the current discussion here:

I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

How many Nationals fans are you actually likely to encounter, el-pietro? I mean, you're in Ireland, right?

Would you believe I met a couple of Nats fans in Cork just two weeks ago. It was after a football game here and I almost spilled a drink on them and spilled a bit of one of their drinks as I bumped a table trying to get up from a bench. I offered to buy them a full drink to replace it but they said it was cool and they appreciated my A's hat. I said... well actually I'm a Phillies fan... anyway I told them I hoped they lose the World Series. I guess they get the last laugh now.

I'll be in the US next week, in the midwest but probably not too many Nats fans there either,

But Its more the internet, I've already seen comments on facebook and twitter and I'm sure it will get old really quickly. Up there with all Philly sports fans are terrible people who throw snowballs at Santa Claus.

[andyb]

It will be annoying to hear all the talk about the Nats winning without Bryce, even though not re-signing Bryce was really all about having Soto and Robles ready to play, freeing up money for Corbin. Kind of like if the Phillies think that Bohm is the answer at 3B, we really should not spend any money there because we have 6-7 years of low cost production that will free money to spend on other things.

Maybe it will motivate Bryce in his age 27 year as well. I think his numbers will bounce back and forth the next few years, but there is probably a decent chance he has one more 1000 OPS season in him.

[Philsmania]

Here's a question. If you are starting a team from scratch, who's your first pick, Soto or Trout?

Fivethirtyeight piles on Harper this morning and addresses how having Soto enabled to replace Harper with someone who is actually better and suggests soon the debate will be whether Soto or Trout is the face of baseball.

Who Needs Bryce Harper When You’ve Got Juan Soto?

[flyers19rw]

It will be annoying to hear all the talk about the Nats winning without Bryce

That sort of stuff is so weak. They won; their fans should enjoy it while it lasts. Throwing shade at Bryce sounds like the comments made by an ex-spouse about their former mate.

[julio]

But Its more the internet, I've already seen comments on facebook and twitter and I'm sure it will get old really quickly. Up there with all Philly sports fans are terrible people who throw snowballs at Santa Claus.

Hey, you go on Facebook or Twitter at your own risk. The tradeoff for keeping up with old friends is that you enter an environment (an open sewer?) where all manner of foolishness, misinformation (accidental and deliberate), and hostility to... well, to pretty much anything you might think of... is prevalent. Social media has made it easy to keep up with old friends and family - but at the cost of giving a worldwide platform to the absolute least-common-denominator ugliness of human behavior. I'm not at all sure it's worth it.

[andyb]

Here's a question. If you are starting a team from scratch, who's your first pick, Soto or Trout?

Now you pick Soto. Trout is going to making lots of money and at some point he dips to being a 2-4 WAR player making close to $40 million a year. Soto has 5 more pre-free agent years under the current system. He is not as good of course, but in 5 years he'll probably be better and in those 5 years he'll be paid $100-$150 million less. Age matters, and the money they make under the current system matters.

[el-pietro]

If its for one game, one season I pick Trout. But Soto has a longer career ahead of him so even if he never reaches Trouts current level its still smarter to pick the younger player given you can get 15 years from him

What about Acuña vs Soto? Its not clear to me which of them is the better player. Probably if you get Acuña on his current contract you take him.

We're going to see a lot of them over the next half decade plus.

[schillingfan]

I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

I'm sick of this already and it hasn't started. I can't imagine how Bryce feels.

I also can't believe that Houston didn't bring Cole into the game in the 7th. Greinke has been awful the third time through the lineup.

Was Grienke at third time around the line-up yet? He was only at sixty some pitches through the sixth inning and had only given up one hit? He had finished sixth very strongly. Nats seemed to have Harris’ number.

[Lawman]

Yes, he was at 3rd time in the line-up.

[zambonir]

Greinke still left as the winning pitcher. Harris allowed his second run as well as the losing run. The question is why didn't they use Cole at some other point. Easy to say that it's obvious now though, to use your ace as a reliever on short rest. When it goes bad (like with Kershaw) it seems just as obvious not to.

The fact that Corbin only made one start in the series (and had one more day of rest than Cole to boot) worked out very well for the Nats. As did scratching Scherzer. Astros really lost the game by not getting to him early though.

[zambonir]

btw there was a short-lived, viral, mostly tongue-in-cheek campaign to move the A's to Philly.

https://twitter.com/bringyourasgame

Bring Back the A's

Meanwhile, a thoughtful piece about Harper

And now a word about Bryce Harper

[tom81]

Here's a question. If you are starting a team from scratch, who's your first pick, Soto or Trout?

None of the above. I pick Alex Bregman who plays a more important position and in under contract for as long as Soto.