Almost Cooperstown

First correction - the Astros bullpen pitched 26 innings out of the 54 IP by the Astros in the Series not 54. 

In addition to winning their 2nd World Series in the past 6 seasons, the Astros had the 2nd biggest season win differential (105) than their WS opponent Phillies (87). Still if not for an amazing clutch catch by Chas McCormick the narrative of this series might have been different. 

This is our last episode of season 3 and going forward we will post every two weeks during the 'off-season'

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

Will this year's World Series be one of the greatest ever?  One team won 87 games the other 107 so that's a good start.  Do the greatest World Series in history have to be 7 games? It certainly helps!  We talk about all the 7 game series' since 1950, great moments in game 7's and otherwise (last at-bat kind of stuff).   

We also discuss game times and why there are still no day games during the World Series (disappointingly) and being a west coast baseball fan is very different  especially during the World Series! 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

aXgwTC7gM63EB5P1KFPO

The 87-win Phillies are showing the world that winning 100 games far from guarantees a World Series victory.  The Mariners in 2001 won a whopping 116 games but did not even reach the WS!  This year for the 2nd time (4) teams won 100 games or more but only one is still playing - the Astros.  It didn't help the Braves (who've won 100 7x in franchise history but never won WS when they won 100 games), Mets or Dodgers. 

Winning 100 games is a little bit cool and fun for the fans since they go home happy almost 2/3 of the time. But give us a team that's hot late in the season and that's a better indicator of possible WS success than winning 100! 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

Originally the 2nd incarnation of the Washington Senators, the Rangers moved to Texas in 1972 from D.C.  The Rangers are again a team that has never won the World Series.  There's only one more team we've yet to cover with a deep dive that has not won a WS. So you can guess the next one pretty easily. 

We talk about the team history, success, lack of success, and the best players to wear a Ranger uniform. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

Aaron Judge is 6'7" & 282 lbs. of baseball amazingness.  Shohei Ohtani might be the most outstanding player in baseball this season (again) but Judge was most valuable as without him the Yankees would be watching the playoffs on TV like 22 other MLB teams.  

We put Judge's 2022 season up against some of the other greatest offensive seasons in MLB history and he compares very well. But it;'s not the best season ever.   

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

This is an extra episode since we will still drop our weekly Thursday episode tomorrow.  As we note in the podcast we needed to this as much for ourselves as for our listeners. 

It's only been a couple of days since the Mets were booted out of the 2022 MLB Playoffs by the Padres.  While it was a really fun season to be a Met fan the disappointment of being ousted early will smart for a while.  We just had to talk about our feelings - raw as they are, on the season and what's possibly in store for the team going forward.  It's hard to watch the other teams move on but as Met fans know - there's always next year! 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

Here's the episode in which we come clean on who we picked before the season. We were right more than we were wrong but had a couple of huge swings and misses.  The 2022 MLB playoffs are at the ready and we both pick our World Series participants.  For we baseball fans it's truly the most wonderful time of the year! 

Correction - Mark said that after the WC series there were only 7 game series. The Division series is best of 5 games.  And there is no re-seeding after each round. Would've been a good idea in our opinion

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

 

With the addition of records from the Negro Leagues more than 23,000 have played Major League Baseball. What's the most common name for pitchers and hitters? Hint: it's not the same. How about the most successful pitcher last names?  And the most successful hitter last names?   There are only 3 Smiths in the HOF - two that you know quite well 1 pitcher and 1 hitter.  

We whip through a lot of name that fans will remember and a bunch that they probably won't since we didn't either!  

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

It's too easy to wait until the end of the regular season to pick our winners of this seasons MLB award winners. There is a new award for 'Super Utility Player' in each league. MVP, Cy Young, Rookie-of-the-Year, Manager-of-the-Year.  We talk about all of these and even a few more.  We're sure we will get some of the right. Hopefully. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating! 

As we were getting ready to record an episode about September roster expansions and how they've changed dramatically, the news about the MLB rule changes for 2023 came out. We could not ignore them as those rule changes are and will be significant!  

If you've listened to this podcast you know we did not want to see the infield shift restricted. We've also talked about the pitch clock as well but now it's really going to be a part of MLB.  

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!