MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 12

It's kind of crazy to think that we're onto our sixth weekend of baseball in the MLB Tournament of Champions, but here we are on this Mother's Day.

The 2016 Cubs lost only their third series of the tournament so far, but snapped their losing streak on Wednesday and still hold the best record in the tournament, though they are matched by the 1970 Orioles, 1986 Mets, and 2001 Mariners who have also logged 22 wins thus far. Most divisions have at least one team that is pretty clearly the elite team in the division, with the exception of the NL West, where the 2007 Rockies lead with an 18-15 record.

It's a busy weekend though as we have three divisional matchups. This includes the second set of completed home-and-homes in the National League, but we have no doubleheaders or wraparound series this time around. This also means that the aforementioned Mets are done with their byes after today.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's head to the diamond!

2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Finals Predictions

Wednesday night saw a pair of Game Sevens to determine the final matchups in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and both were thrillers from what I saw. The defending champs are still alive and making a late push, while some of the lower seeds have, on the whole, had a pretty successful postseason. So with one more round to go before we hit the Cup Final, let's take a look at our upcoming matchups.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 11

The MLB Tournament of Champions marches onward as we're now a third of the way through the regular season portion of the tournament.

Every Major League franchise has a representative playing through a somewhat compressed 92 game schedule through mid-July, thankfully with some byes here and there to reduce wear and tear, but in some instances rest is barely there. I feel bad for the '95 Atlanta Braves, who are in the midst of a 34 day stretch without a day off, something that would not be allowed in actual Major League Baseball. But the Braves are playing well, and they're just past the halfway point of that stretch.

Speaking of playing well, all of our divisions are still being well-contested, which is to be expected in May. But the largest division lead coming into this round is the 2.5 game lead the 2016 Cubs possess over the 1975 Reds, tied with the lead the 1995 Indians hold over the 2015 Royals. The AL West, meanwhile, is pretty top heavy, with just a game and a half separating the top three teams. The aforementioned Cubs continue to hold the best record in the tournament as the only team with fewer than 10 losses, while the 1993 Blue Jays hold the dubious distinction of being the only team that has yet to hit double digit wins.

This time around, we have three divisional matchups on the docket, including a matchup between the aforementioned Indians and Royals. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 10

I find it almost hard to believe that I'm on my tenth round of games for the MLB Tournament of Champions, but here we are.

Every division so far is still pretty tightly contested, with the largest disparity between first and second in any one division is the 2.5 game lead the '01 Mariners hold over the '89 Athletics. I think the best division though, top to bottom, is the NL Central. The '16 Cubs continue to hold the best record in the Tournament as the only team still with fewer than 10 losses, but they're only a game and a half up on the '75 Reds, who just swept the '71 Pirates, who are still only a game under .500 despite that, plus you have the '05 Astros with a respectable mark just 3.5 games out.

Speaking of those '71 Pirates, they get a chance to catch their breath after getting swept, but the bad news is that this is their second bye as we see our first set of rematches of the tournament. It's a set of rematches that include a pair of divisional matchups, one of which requires a wraparound weekend series (sorry, Atlanta). The American League is also running rematches this round, but there are no divisional matchups over in the junior circuit.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Enjoy this weekend's games!

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 9

Time flies. We're into the month of May already, and the MLB Tournament of Champions rolls on. Thankfully, it has done so without degenerating into thug baseball.

We've had a lot of crazy games and crazy series already that I wish I could have gone more in depth on, but with 1380 games to simulate, that would just be too much. That's why I've at least made sure to link all of the box scores in here, and I encourage you to look into some of these, because there have been some good games.

The 2016 Cubs are still by far the best team in the tournament with only six losses, while every other team has at least nine. Crazy things do happen though; the Cubs did lose a couple straight series a week or two ago before going on break then going on a tear. We also just saw the '86 Mets, who had been really good, drop three of four games. And with another two and a half months left, a lot can change.

This round, we have five divisional matchups that can really change the outlook of things. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

Unwritten Rules versus Thug Baseball II

Photo from Getty Images (Photographer uncredited)

Three years ago, I wrote about the stupidity of baseball's unwritten rules. After last night, I need to write a sequel.

By now, you've heard about the infamous slide into Dustin Pedroia from a couple weeks ago (and here's a video that includes the slide from MLB Network in case you haven't seen it). It was a reckless slide, to be sure, but I don't think it was a dirty one.

Of course, none of that matters, as the next day the Red Sox went after Machado.

[Video from MLB.com]

Supposedly, this was the end of it. Barnes got suspended for his attempted assault and Machado moved on from it. But then yesterday in the second game of a four game set at Fenway, the bad blood was renewed.

[video from MLB.com]

I included the later home run as part of the video because that just adds to the lore of it all, and is the best response to this kind of thuggery. And that's what this is. It's thug baseball.

Photo by Michael Dwyer (AP)

I find this whole situation somewhat ironic; the last post I wrote with this title was surrounding a play involving Manny Machado of all people, who seems to keep finding himself in situations like this. He handled the heat of the moment perfectly well, saving his revenge for on the field where he took his sweet time trotting the bases after his home run. And he saved the brunt of his anger for after the game with a profanity-laced tirade, which I'm fine with (and Lee Elia probably is too).

The Red Sox, meanwhile, need to be condemned for this. The argument I've heard for Chris Sale throwing at Machado last night stemmed from Mookie Betts getting hit last night. The other justification I've heard for Sale's pitch was that at least he didn't aim at Machado's head. That's fair to a point, but Sale threw at Machado's knees, which he has an injury history with, so the argument is invalidated in my eyes.

Here we get to the crux of the argument and the first part of this post's title. It has long been the unwritten rule of baseball that revenge is meted out by plunking an opponent. You slide hard into someone, you get drilled. Your pitcher hits the other team's best hitter, your best hitter needs to brace for one to the ribs. The players police the game, that whole thing. To an extent, I get it. You need to protect your superstars, and these unwritten rules are supposed to be in place to allow for this.

Photographer uncredited (Photo from Deadspin)

But the problem is this: it's 2017. We should be beyond advocating for assault with a deadly weapon, because evilly wielded, that's what this is. Most pitchers know better than to throw at someone's head, but the knees still seem to be okay. Both are dangerous, and taking a 95-plus mile per hour baseball to the back, ribs, or butt is still not pleasant either. And yet many players, coaches, and fans seem to still be okay with this. I see it fairly often among the racist, homophobic [crap]heads who follow the Cardinals, even though they aren't fully representative of the fan base. Yet it's ingrained into the culture of baseball, and that's the hardest thing about this.

It's hard to fight against a clear cultural norm, where the players, coaches, and even a lot of the former players-turned-analysts condone and endorse. It has to start with the younger generation, but they're being influenced by the current and previous generation who all say it's okay. But throwing at guys serves no purpose. I guess I could justify throwing in tight at a guy, but not intentionally hitting them. The only other way that can change is with a top down order from Rob Manfred, something I don't see coming. So until players wise up, we're going to continue seeing the caveman tactics of assault for slights both real and imagined, and eventually, someone is going to get hurt by it. I just hope it's not something career ending or life threatening when it does happen.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 8

It's the beginning of May, and we're well into the MLB Tournament of Champions!

I've tried to keep these roundup posts relatively simple just based on the sheer amount of data that I'm trying to mine through. Writing up recaps of over 1000 games would be insane, so I'm keeping it to finals and pitchers of record. It's a shame, because we've seen a good number of games, including a fair share of walkoffs and extra inning affairs.

Through all of these, the 2016 Chicago Cubs have retaken their place as the best team in the tournament with a 14-5 record. No other team has fewer than seven losses, though the 1986 Mets and 1970 Orioles have matching 15-8 records. These records will matter, as at the end of the 92 game gauntlet we're setting up the playoffs as Major League Baseball does it, with each division winner getting a bye beyond the Wild Card Round. But we've got a lot of baseball left before we reach that point.

This time around we have six divisional matchups. Two of them required me to mess with the schedule, and it thus means we're going to have a pair of wraparound weekend series. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to the action!