Game Thread: Twins (Ober) v A's (Blackburn), 9/26/23 @ 6:40 CT

[wsnydes]

Edited September 26, 2023 by wsnydes
Added A's lineup.

[wsnydes]

Time to start working on that playoff lineup!

[stringer bell]

No Willi Castro yet. I'm starting to get concerned about his health.

[nicksaviking]

That's the best looking lineup the A's have put together all season.

[Azviking101]

Thumbs down this post all you want but I’d love to see Ober struggle here. Seems they’ve made the decision on him going into the playoffs as their 4th starter and potentially opening the ALDS could be a disaster.

Twins seem to forget they sent him down a month ago cause he’s been so bad. 
 

Don't get me wrong, I like Ober, but I when you have Maeda and a chance for Ryan to open a potential second series, you have to go that route. 
 

The bullpen is looking absolutely stacked right now. They don’t need Maeda for an opening 3 game series, and holding him out of a rotation role in case a starter falters and because he had success 4+ years ago out of the pen is ridiculous.

[wsnydes]

Added A's lineup to OP.

[wsnydes]

25 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

That's the best looking lineup the A's have put together all season.

About as effective...

[GusGus11]

3 minutes ago, Azviking101 said:

Thumbs down this post all you want but I’d love to see Ober struggle here. Seems they’ve made the decision on him going into the playoffs as their 4th starter and potentially opening the ALDS could be a disaster.

Twins seem to forget they sent him down a month ago cause he’s been so bad. 
 

Don't get me wrong, I like Ober, but I when you have Maeda and a chance for Ryan to open a potential second series, you have to go that route. 
 

The bullpen is looking absolutely stacked right now. They don’t need Maeda for an opening 3 game series, and holding him out of a rotation role in case a starter falters and because he had success 4+ years ago out of the pen is ridiculous.

Ober was sent down mostly to limit innings. He wasnt great for a while but the guy doesnt get bombed. Hes usually a consistent 5-6 innings.

In the playoffs first sign of real trouble he gets pulled. Hes a more than adequate 4th option.

And he only pitches game 1 if we need to win in 3 games for WC. Otherwise it goes Ryan and then right back to Lopez and Gray.

Having Ober lined up gives us flexibility with Maeda who is experienced in BP roles and who can come in quickly to spell any of the games in WC or if not needed he can spell Ober quickly in ALDS.

[nicksaviking]

36 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

That's the best looking lineup the A's have put together all season.

 

11 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

Added A's lineup to OP.

Thanks, but now my joke doesn't make sense.

[pierre75275]

I want to see Paddock and Stewart pitch tonight 

[wsnydes]

and also, this happened...

 

[Squirrel]

10 minutes ago, GusGus11 said:

Ober was sent down mostly to limit innings. He wasnt great for a while but the guy doesnt get bombed. Hes usually a consistent 5-6 innings.

In the playoffs first sign of real trouble he gets pulled. Hes a more than adequate 4th option.

And he only pitches game 1 if we need to win in 3 games for WC. Otherwise it goes Ryan and then right back to Lopez and Gray.

Having Ober lined up gives us flexibility with Maeda who is experienced in BP roles and who can come in quickly to spell any of the games in WC or if not needed he can spell Ober quickly in ALDS.

Personally, I'd piggyback Maeda and Ober in the 4th starter role. I don't think there has been any decision about this at all. I think the decision that has been made is Ryan for the 3rd starter and Maeda to the pen for the WC series. After that, we'll see.

[Squirrel]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

 

Thanks, but now my joke doesn't make sense.

Did they ever?

[wsnydes]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

 

Thanks, but now my joke doesn't make sense.

It aged well for that 10 minutes it did though!

[wsnydes]

Just now, Squirrel said:

Did they ever?

With enough Scotch...

[Azviking101]

9 minutes ago, GusGus11 said:

Ober was sent down mostly to limit innings. He wasnt great for a while but the guy doesnt get bombed. Hes usually a consistent 5-6 innings.

In the playoffs first sign of real trouble he gets pulled. Hes a more than adequate 4th option.

And he only pitches game 1 if we need to win in 3 games for WC. Otherwise it goes Ryan and then right back to Lopez and Gray.

Having Ober lined up gives us flexibility with Maeda who is experienced in BP roles and who can come in quickly to spell any of the games in WC or if not needed he can spell Ober quickly in ALDS.

So basically what you're saying is that if Ober struggles, which we're all worried he will, Maeda can come in quick and relieve him. Why not just go with their best 4 starters? I think we can mostly agree the 4 starters we feel best about are Gray, Lopez, Ryan Maeda (in any order).

With Paddack and Stewart activated, this bullpen is stacked. Maeda will simply not be needed unless someone really struggles. Paddack and Varland can pitch multiple innings if something like that happens.

Twins are planning for a situation that might not come up and they're planning this because Maeda pitched great out of the pen 4 years ago. That's insane.

You start your best starters, Ober is a level below Ryan and Maeda right now and has no playoff experience.

And again I must end this with stating this only matters if they move on from the WC round, but if they don't none of us will care about this scenario.

[MMMordabito]

Perusing pitcher stats.

Blackie? Really? In 2023?

[Squirrel]

1 minute ago, Azviking101 said:

So basically what you're saying is that if Ober struggles, which we're all worried he will, Maeda can come in quick and relieve him. Why not just go with their best 4 starters? I think we can mostly agree the 4 starters we feel best about are Gray, Lopez, Ryan Maeda (in any order).

With Paddack and Stewart activated, this bullpen is stacked. Maeda will simply not be needed unless someone really struggles. Paddack and Varland can pitch multiple innings if something like that happens.

Twins are planning for a situation that might not come up and they're planning this because Maeda pitched great out of the pen 4 years ago. That's insane.

You start your best starters, Ober is a level below Ryan and Maeda right now and has no playoff experience.

And again I must end this with stating this only matters if they move on from the WC round, but if they don't none of us will care about this scenario.

As I said above ... I don't know that they've made that decision yet for the next series ... I think Maeda to the pen was for the first series where they only need 3 starters. We'll see what happens next. But I'd piggy back them ... maybe give Ober 4, then Maeda 5, or something like that.

[PDX Twin]

Misplaced confidence!

Let's get one stinking win in the wild-card series first. Then, lets win a second game to take the series. Then, let's see who the best available starters are for the next round.

We may need Maeda in the second inning of the first game. We have enough quality pitching that we don't need to try to game out how everything has to work a week in advance.

[Craig Arko]

I predict that, if necessary, Maeda will not forget how to start after 1-2 relief appearances. If necessary.

[GusGus11]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

No Willi Castro yet. I'm starting to get concerned about his health.

 

 

[RickOShea]

1 hour ago, wsnydes said:

Time to start working on that playoff lineup!

Yeah, Rocco will need a fresh supply of darts.

 

40 minutes ago, Azviking101 said:

Thumbs down this post all you want but I’d love to see Ober struggle here. Seems they’ve made the decision on him going into the playoffs as their 4th starter and potentially opening the ALDS could be a disaster.

Twins seem to forget they sent him down a month ago cause he’s been so bad. 
 

Don't get me wrong, I like Ober, but I when you have Maeda and a chance for Ryan to open a potential second series, you have to go that route. 
 

The bullpen is looking absolutely stacked right now. They don’t need Maeda for an opening 3 game series, and holding him out of a rotation role in case a starter falters and because he had success 4+ years ago out of the pen is ridiculous.

I’d love to see Ober struggle here. 

Just to prove a point?  By hook or crook time.  Anything or anyone to help get the job done, should be getting support.

[Azviking101]

21 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

As I said above ... I don't know that they've made that decision yet for the next series ... I think Maeda to the pen was for the first series where they only need 3 starters. We'll see what happens next. But I'd piggy back them ... maybe give Ober 4, then Maeda 5, or something like that.

If they move on then Lopez and Gray would be in line to pitch games 2 and 3 in the ALDS. If the opening series goes 3 games then next series goes 4, 1, 2, 3 and then Twins have a decision to make if ALDS goes all 5 games.

[Azviking101]

2 minutes ago, RickOShea said:

 

 

I’d love to see Ober struggle here. 

Just to prove a point?  By hook or crook time.  Anything or anyone to help get the job done, should be getting support.

No, not to prove a point. If Ober struggles then it's a lot less likely they write him in as the 4th starter. I don't see how anyone could have faith in Ober potentially opening the ALDS if they reach the next round.

It seems like Maeda has already been penciled into the bullpen. With the way the bullpen looks as of today, it's a mistake. They need to have the best 4 starters lined up, but they're pausing because Maeda had success 4 years ago

[Road trip]

Ober struggling?  Last 5 games...

Aug 15:   2 runs in 5 innings
Aug 22:  2 runs in 5 innings
Aug 27:   5 runs in 4 innings (yup, I'll give you this one)
*** arm rest / reset***
Sept 15:   2 runs in 5 innings
Sept 20:   2 runs in 5 innings

Seems to me Ober has been remarkably consistent, in a pretty good way.  The Twins were in a good position to win all of his starts except Aug 27.  Even Lopez has a clunker in his last 5 starts.

I can see why some consider Ober our 5th best starter.  It's close after the top 2.  However, I also think Ober (or Maeda, or Ryan) is likely the best 5th starter in MLB this year, and would be a solid #3 on most teams.

[CRF]

Looking forward to seeing Stewart back in the pen. Hopefully he's close to, or at 100%, and is ready to eat a few innings when he's needed. No ill will towards Floro, but I won't miss him. He might clear anyway and end up with the Saints next season. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 hour ago, Squirrel said:

Did they ever?

Out of curiosity, is there anything wrong with not making sense?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Good to see Blackburn is still pitching...

[Craig Arko]

35 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Out of curiosity, is there anything wrong with not making sense?

Lewis Carroll wrote books both on symbolic logic and Alice in Wonderland. There seems to be room for both sense and non-sense in a life.

[RpR]

At THIS point, I am thinking that IF, the Twins win at least 4 of 6 games, thoughts on post season make sense; IF the Twins win only 3 of 6, some thing is  back firing and just winning one of the post season games is still expected; IF the Twins will less than 4 of 6, winning just one of the post season games is a step foreward but nothing for certain.

 

To put it in perspective of reality though:  Matthew 6:34 is “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”