Two of the five AL East clubs made the playoffs, and both will begin their quest for the World Series later today. The Rays and Rangers play at 5pm ET, the Yankees and Tigers at 8:30pm ET. Let's round up some notes from the only division with four 81+ win teams in 2011…
- "It's a big priority, for obvious reasons," said Red Sox GM Theo Epstein to The Boston Globe's Michael Vega when asked about getting big money free agent signings John Lackey and Carl Crawford back on track. "We're going to leave no stone unturned, really, with all of our players and the organization as a whole."
- Orioles owner Peter Angelos is trying to convince Andy MacPhail to remain with the team in a decision-making or advisory role, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. MacPhail was expected to walk-away from the team after the season.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post wrote about the Yankees and their transition from a team that relies on experience to one with youth in important spots.
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo!Sports broke down Evan Longoria's walk-off homer in Game 162, which sent the Rays to the playoffs for the third time in four years.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos is trying to convince Andy MacPhail to remain with the team in a decision-making or advisory role. Whhhhhyyyyyy??????
Peter Angelos hire Andy Mac for your law firm! I want him gone!
Because Angelos + Mcphail = <3 <3 <3
Adam Dunn for Carl Crawford? Lets do it.
find a way to get quentin involved and i’m on board. adrian gonzalez can fix adam dunn
don’t the chisox already have an overpriced “fast guy” that can’t steal bases? *cough* Rios *cough*
Longoria for MVP? He’s got my vote.
As a Yankee fan he could even get my vote over Granderson..
Well, no, but Longoria did exactly what an MVP does and carried that team offensively. Great player and way under-rated.
Next person to say Ellsbury for MVP is getting punched in the teeth.
.244 batting average can’t make you MVP unfortunately…Verlander for MVP
You’re missing the point as to what Most Valuable Player stands for and average has nothing to do with that. That’s what a batting title is for.
I agree with both of you and give it to Verlander, but if Longoria gets it, I wouldn’t be upset at all.
does a .304 wOBA in september? longoria’s was .444
then again, the yankees didn’t need it in september and the rays desperately did
amen, same can be said thats what a Cy Young award is for.
You obviously were not paying attention.
1.Girardi had made quite clear the beginning of the week when he said that the last game of the season would be pitched by the non-playoff roster pitchers and that Robertson, Soriano and Rivera would NOT pitch.
2.He also used most of his pitchers the night before in a 14 inning game, that he could have laid down and used the bench players instead of his starters
3. More to your point, it’s absolutely ludicrous for anyone to expect Girardi to lead his team to the AL East crown and then expect him to win the Wild Card for the Red Sox.
Boston simply blew it.
You, as a Braves fan should recognize a colossal choke job when you see it.
Just going to love it if it ends up Yanks and Rays in the ALCS and the Yanks lose, man the irony, oh sweet, sweet irony.
Yeah, as people fail to mention, the Braves had an 8.5 game lead, so a half game really isn’t that far off as both teams blew it in September, just more people made note of the Sox because they had to World Series title over the Phillies last March.
Anything’s possble, as the Rays did take the season series from the Yanks. One small caveat, this time around the Ray will be playing the Varsity not the AAA team that finished the season.