View Post

The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

In Major League Baseball by Rice Cube19 Comments

The BBWAA announced the writers ballot today, which will give another pool of candidates assuming the Veterans Committee actually elects somebody this cycle. Here is the link and I’ll list my preferred candidates below: Should be near unanimous: Ichiro Suzuki Will probably get in first ballot: CC Sabathia Holdover guys I’d vote for: Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Manny …

View Post

Dreamcast 97: Buy In

In by Rice Cube43 Comments

RC and AC hang out to talk about team building, Jed Hoyer’s job security, the offseason approach, and fangirl over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the World Series. If things actually happen quick we may emergency pod, but things seem slow for now so we wait. You can check out the podcast page or just click on the embedded players below. …

View Post

Team-Building Exercise

In Commentary And Analysis by Rice Cube32 Comments

Today is a pretty important day, whether you want to help preserve whatever this democracy is now or you want to try to burn down Parliament (don’t do that last one, didn’t work out so well for the last guy). I already did my civic duty but since it’ll be a while before we know what happens, I thought I’d …

View Post

The Quest to Exceed Mediocrity

In Commentary And Analysis by Rice Cube28 Comments

The Dodgers overcame their bajillion injuries thanks to the talent they amassed with a very enviable and ludicrous payroll. We can’t even poo poo that because it’s kind of what we wish the Cubs would do, and while the Cubs aren’t the Pirates or the A’s, there is a gulf between their payroll and those at the top. Granted, a …

View Post

Let the Offseason Begin

In News And Rumors by Rice Cube21 Comments

The World Series is over, unfortunately a bit sooner than I’d like since one team showed up and the other one kept tripping over themselves. Then again, it appears that full on free agency will begin on Monday, which happens to be five days after the Dodgers clinched. They already have a parade set up for Friday, which is a …

View Post

Dreamcast 96: The Dream Matchup

In by Rice Cube125 Comments

As Rob Manfred climaxes from another LA vs NY matchup, MLB will get their marquee championship event with the best team from each league, among the fattest payrolls with the brightest stars in the largest media markets in the world. Topics for this episode include: You can check out the podcast page or just click on the embedded players below. …

View Post

Pennant Chase In Progress

In Major League Baseball, Playoffs by Rice Cube113 Comments

I feel like the term “pennant chase” is used kind of to describe the race to the postseason during the regular season, but you don’t actually get to win a pennant until you are the last team standing in the league championship series. I guess you also don’t get a pennant once you win the World Series because the prize …

View Post

Stuff From Tom Ricketts

In Facepalm by Rice Cube71 Comments

Hey kids! Tom Ricketts sent us an email! Let’s have fun with it! Oct 11, 2024 Cubs Fans, There is no way to sugarcoat it – this is not where we planned to finish the season. Like our fans, we had high expectations for our team this year and early victories delivered hope for postseason baseball. But inconsistent play and …

View Post

Dreamcast 95: Embracing Chaos

In by Rice Cube62 Comments

With the playoffs underway, we yak about the games that have happened, discuss some fun tweaks to the playoff format, talk about how the Cubs can get back to the postseason in 2025 (with more coming after this year’s World Series), and some thoughts on the late Pete Rose. You can check out the podcast page or just click on …

View Post

About the MLB Postseason…

In Major League Baseball, Playoffs by Rice Cube48 Comments

So we were talking about the way the MLB playoff system is set up in the previous post, and given how three of the road teams just advanced this past week, two of them relatively easily, I guess part of the calculus is trying to figure out a way to ensure the home team has a greater advantage. Then, once …