What team is your team like??? Part II

Here's the second half of what teams remind me of what teams and why.....

Sports, event ones as rickety as ours, are based on comparisons.  The best arm since....the fastest runner since....etc.  It can quite literally go on forever.  So I start thinking to myself, which team in the majors would each of our league teams match up with and why?

Grisslies - Twins.   Ya, you thought I'd do the '92 Jays, right?  Not so Much.  I was down to the Money Ball A's or the Twins.  The Grisslies in their best years are within a game of .500 at the half way point and have a great second half.  In the not so good years, completely tragic in the 1st half and a struggle to get to within a game or two of .500 in the 2nd half.  Then we have the one tragic season being abysmal in both the 1st and 2nd half.  The Twins kind of meander along playing unspectacular ball.  They're fundamentally sound, but not raising any eye brows until its too late.  In '87 they became the 1st team to win the World Series with as few as 85 wins in a season.

 And in 1991 they joined the Braves in going worst to first which has only happened a hand full of times.  And never have those teams met in the World Series.  As mentioned this was the best game 7 ever, as Jack Morris pitched 10 scoreless innings to get the 1-0 win.  Now the Grisslies are only two years removed from their lost - season of anguish.  Grisslies V. Hurtin' Units final?

Tap Masters -  The 1976 Chicago White Sox.  This was an easy one.  And its not just the White Sox. And its not just the 1976 Sox. Its the August 8th 1976 White Sox.

One man does not make a team.  I know that.  But when I see the Tap Masters I only see shorts, and you know why.  Look hard at the pic below.

And the White Sox are the only major league team in history to wear shorts in a game.  Incidentally, the Sox won that game.

Hot Tub Woody's - Pre 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.  The Dodger in the 30's, 40's and much of the 50's were the bum.  Dem Bums!   The Dodgers routinely broke the hearts of their fans.  The Dodgers went to the World Series against the BoSox in 1916 and lost. Boston would win again 2 years later then not for 89 friggin years.  Then they went to the Series again against the Cleveland Indians.  And lost.  Its been 95 years and Cleveland hasn't won another championship.  Then we have them going to the Series and meeting the Yankees 7 times in 15 years between 1941 and 1956 and losing every single god forsaken time.

The Dodgers are legend. When Jay-z raps that he bleeds blue, he's not talking about 'rap royalty' (like some fools think) he's talking about they Dodgers.  Dodger Blue.  "I bleed Dodger Blue" was a well known expression for decades.  Nearly 60 years after moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, the team is still woven into the fabric of the City of New York.  The Dodgers were the 1st to develop a minor league system.  They were the first to integrate baseball.  They started spring training.  The Dodgers are more known for their contributions to the greatness of the game than they are of any specific win.  The Woody's are the Dodgers.

Dusty Cleats - Post 1920 Indians.  Those poor Cleats.  I really don't understand it.  They've had one fabulous season, arguably the best season ever.  The Indians last won the World Series in 1948.  If your doing math in your head, I'll let you know that if you're younger than 67, then you weren't alive when they last won. Hard to imagine eh?  The Indians have been near greatness, but never near enough.  If you are any kind of ball fan, you'll have seen "The Catch".  This was the catch before Devon White's "The Catch".

You may remember it was Willie Mays, on the dead run with his back to home plate.  He somehow, magically out ran the ball and caught it on the warning track.  The track was 480 ft from home plate at the Polo Grounds.   You may remember that the ball was hit by Vic Wertz. Wertz played for Cleveland.  They witness greatness, but didn't get to savor it.  The Giants had 97 wins in '54 and .630 winning percentage.  The Indians were one of the all time great teams, gaining 111 wins and a ridiculous .721 winning percentage.  But no championship.

Sons Of Pitches - 1980's Blue Jays.  This is kind of a dicey one.  You can't really trend or fully profile a second year team.  It takes time to figure out "who you are".  So this is kind of a "i have no opinion but here's what could happen view" and a lot of it is driven by the character of the roster.   First off, the 1980's Jays did not have a good start....67-95 in 1980, 37-69 (strike year) in 1981 and 78-84 in 1982.  Then the break through....over .500 in '83.  Having the 5th best record in all of baseball in '84, but being unable to over come the marvelous start by the Tigers who began the season 35-5.

Then 5 division crowns in 8 years, 2 pennants, 2 World Series.  There's your story.  Is it condensed into a season?  Does it play out over several seasons?  Right now I think they're the '82 jays.  In a month they could be the '83 Jays.  Just best hope they don't become the '92 Jays in September.

Gruesome Devils - 1981 Expos - After quite a nice run of success in recent years, the Gruesome Devils are finally having a down year.  Now with being toward the bottom of the totem pole comes the second guessing.  The batting order should be shuffled, player positions need to be adjusted, need more power at the bottom, gotta start throwing to bases instead of cutting it off....etc, etc, etc....everyone has an opinion.  So let me take you back to the ultimate second guessing.  1981, the strike season.  The Expos earned a trip to the post season and had to beat the Phillies to get to the League Championship Series against the Dodgers. The Expos lost game one, but won games 2 and 3 to put themselves on the verge of winning the best of 5 series.  They needed only one of the last two games in Montreal.  Montreal would get throttled 7-1 in game 4 setting up the deciding game.  Tim Raines would score on a double play ball in the bottom of the 1st and then Buris and Valenzuela hung up zeros until the top of 5.  Rick Monday went 1st to 3rd on a Pedro Guerrero single and would score on a ground out.  Zeros again until the top of 9.  Jim Fanning.  Poor, poor, poor Jim Fanning went to the pen and brought out Steve Rogers, their #1 starter to start the 9th.  He would have to face Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Rick Monday.  In game 3 of the series a complete game 4-1 victory for Rogers, Garvey was 2/4, Cey 1/4 and Monday didn't play in favour of Ken Landreaux who was 0/3.  So, Garvey, Cey and expect a pinch hitter.  Rogers got Garvey.  Rogers go Cey.  No pinch hitter.  Monday would launch a home run giving the Dodgers the lead.  When Fanning left the Expos he would never manage another club again.  But is this fair?  Well, the Expos still had to bat in the bottom of the 9th.  And they didn't face Fernando Valenzuela.  Nope they faced Bob Welch who later would win a Cy Young, but during that season had never pitched out of the pen until post season. Welch would end up with the save in game 1 and game 5.  Bookends.   Bad luck for Fanning.  Good luck for Lasorda.  The second guessing could have ended up either way....its baseball, there's no right answers, just opinions.

Sliders - 2005 Yankees - So this is good news and bad news.  The 2005 Yankees finished in a dead heat with the Boston Red Sox and were awarded the division on a better head to head record.  See?  That shit happens in the Majors too!  But the Yankees were an interesting conundrum for any baseball aficionado.  See, we all know that offence is nice, but you need defense to win championships.  Every once and a while, a magically good offense can overcome a mediocre defense, but NEVER can you win with a poor defense.  Until 2005.  So....I don't know if people know the stat WAR, I'll explain.  You can Defense WAR, Offensive WAR and Total WAR.  WAR means Wins above replacement.  What is a replacement?  You most 'ready' guy in triple A.  Probably someone with some limited major league experience, that's sitting around waiting for an outfielder to break a bone in his hand.

 Or....someone from out waiting list.  So, Bryce Harper right now has a WAR of 6.16.  That means that replacing him with a major league ready but minor league player, would cost your team 6.16 wins over the course of the season.  Seem low?  Will consider that his replacement would score SOME runs and drive in SOME bases and he wouldn't be batting in Harper's clean up spot.  Someone else would get those RBI opportunities and while they wouldn't cash as often they'd still get more than they're used to.  In baseball, one guy doesn't make as much difference as you think.  So the Yankee's starters we a collective -130 in defensive WAR in 2005.  The only one with a positive number was Alex Rodriquez at 1.16. The bad news was they threw the ball all over the place.  The good news was they won the division!  Pick your poison.