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NL Wildcard Race

tomcat1

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Disappointing that the Cards have come out flat this series, if they had won 3 of 4 they could have pushed the Dodgers to the brink of missing the postseason. Maybe they'll salvage a win Sunday and remain tied.

Bolts, As a Cardinals fan, you said exactly what I should be saying but knowing that baseball is the streakiest game in all of sports I'm not giving up because even if the Dodgers remain hot and go on to win the NL West, which might be a blessing to Cardinals fans, we could still have a shot against the Rockies for that 2nd wildcard. The bottom line is the Cardinals need to start a new winning streak and they need to do this right away.
 

Bolts

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Bolts, As a Cardinals fan, you said exactly what I should be saying but knowing that baseball is the streakiest game in all of sports I'm not giving up because even if the Dodgers remain hot and go on to win the NL West, which might be a blessing to Cardinals fans, we could still have a shot against the Rockies for that 2nd wildcard. The bottom line is the Cardinals need to start a new winning streak and they need to do this right away.
Outside of an insane August, they've been an average team. The Cards rallied around the new manager but the rally has faded away. Still time if they get their shit together but whether it's the Rockies or Dodgers they'll have a tough task. Can't count the Cards out though.
 

Clayton

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Outside of an insane August, they've been an average team. The Cards rallied around the new manager but the rally has faded away. Still time if they get their shit together but whether it's the Rockies or Dodgers they'll have a tough task. Can't count the Cards out though.
Its been a crazy year, though. With what happened to Fowler, Holland and Carlos Martinez I figured this team would be well below .500 for now so the fact that they're making a run out of this is well above expectations imo.
 

Bolts

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Its been a crazy year, though. With what happened to Fowler, Holland and Carlos Martinez I figured this team would be well below .500 for now so the fact that they're making a run out of this is well above expectations imo.
With the way they started for them to be in the mix is impressive. It'd be like if the Padres had a 20 win month in June or July instead of a 5 win month, although they'd probably still be far out.
 

tomcat1

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Outside of an insane August, they've been an average team. The Cards rallied around the new manager but the rally has faded away. Still time if they get their shit together but whether it's the Rockies or Dodgers they'll have a tough task. Can't count the Cards out though.

Bolts, You are preaching to the choir and I agree with you!
 

tomcat1

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Its been a crazy year, though. With what happened to Fowler, Holland and Carlos Martinez I figured this team would be well below .500 for now so the fact that they're making a run out of this is well above expectations imo.

Clayton, Your opinion is correct!
 

Duffman

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I wish my team was as shitty as yours.

Hey your team is actually looking better, Rockies look to be losing two out of three from the Giants and I don’t have any faith that they won’t get swept considering they can’t score any runs.

And just like that the Dodgers are hot and back in first place.
 

Hitman Hart

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As an ACC fan I have loved some of those Demon Deacons teams they have had over the years and especially when Tim Duncan played basketball there. I love their fight song too!

But let's be honest, when it comes to basketball, neither NC State or Wake Forest will win the recruiting wars against Duke or Carolina until Coach K leaves Duke and ole Roy leaves Carolina. In football it's a different story when it comes to recruiting since Dabo at Clemson continues to sign many of the best high school players in the nation and I don't see this changing as long as he remains there.

eh, both Wake and NCSU have proven over the years that they don't have to win recruiting wars against the blues. Duke and UNC recruit nationally. North Carolina produces a lot of good basketball talent that Wake and NCSU have feasted on over the years. Wake's down periods in hoops have a lot to do with shooting themselves in the foot or bad luck. (see forcing out Carl Tacy in 85 and Skip Prosser's death in 2007).
 

tomcat1

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Hey your team is actually looking better, Rockies look to be losing two out of three from the Giants and I don’t have any faith that they won’t get swept considering they can’t score any runs.

And just like that the Dodgers are hot and back in first place.

Hey Duffman, Is there any team in any sport that you are loyal to?
 

tomcat1

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eh, both Wake and NCSU have proven over the years that they don't have to win recruiting wars against the blues. Duke and UNC recruit nationally. North Carolina produces a lot of good basketball talent that Wake and NCSU have feasted on over the years. Wake's down periods in hoops have a lot to do with shooting themselves in the foot or bad luck. (see forcing out Carl Tacy in 85 and Skip Prosser's death in 2007).

If Wake and NCSU have proven over the years they don't have to win the recruiting wars why don't they beat the blues on a consistent basis?

Carolina always wins the in-state recruiting wars in both football and basketball until this past football recruiting season when NCSU got the best of them.

In basketball Coach K recruits on the national level and evidently he can sell ice cubes to eskimos with the talent he keeps reloading with.

Recruiting and winning championships have a close correlation. In football,Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State always win the recruiting wars in recent years and all three of them end up as the best teams in all the land most of the time.
 

tomcat1

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Cardinals Fans, Don't you just love our bullpen? I'm embarrassed but I'm not giving up on my team until the math tells me that I have to.
 

Duffman

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Hey Duffman, Is there any team in any sport that you are loyal to?

I’m not a blind homer who thinks his team can do no wrong and is afraid to be real and call out their faults if that’s what you’re asking. I call it as I’ve seen it and as I’ve seen the Rockies blow it down the stretch. I have 20+ years of data to back up my statement if you want documentation.

But no I don’t have faith that they can hold on because they haven’t proven they can, and blind faith makes you stupid. The Rockies don’t even have a division title in their history so what is there that makes me believe this year will be different? They choked last year in the playoff game against Arizona and so far this year they had the lead in the division and choked it away, back to back shut out losses, that’s just plain bad.
 

Bolts

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I’m not a blind homer who thinks his team can do no wrong and is afraid to be real and call out their faults if that’s what you’re asking. I call it as I’ve seen it and as I’ve seen the Rockies blow it down the stretch. I have 20+ years of data to back up my statement if you want documentation.

But no I don’t have faith that they can hold on because they haven’t proven they can, and blind faith makes you stupid. The Rockies don’t even have a division title in their history so what is there that makes me believe this year will be different? They choked last year in the playoff game against Arizona and so far this year they had the lead in the division and choked it away, back to back shut out losses, that’s just plain bad.
There's a difference between being an honest fan knowing they have faults and just doubting them all the time and trashing them at any loss or near loss. Seems like you're always Debbie downer with the Rockies, thinking they're done even if they are in 1st. I don't blame you for thinking the Dodgers will still win the division because I'm expecting that too, but they've had a few MVP caliber players and some good starters including one who could finish top 3-5 in CY Young voting. It's not all doom and gloom, try to enjoy the good in a competitive season.
 

Duffman

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There's a difference between being an honest fan knowing they have faults and just doubting them all the time and trashing them at any loss or near loss. Seems like you're always Debbie downer with the Rockies, thinking they're done even if they are in 1st. I don't blame you for thinking the Dodgers will still win the division because I'm expecting that too, but they've had a few MVP caliber players and some good starters including one who could finish top 3-5 in CY Young voting. It's not all doom and gloom, try to enjoy the good in a competitive season.


If I can use an analogy, let’s say you have a person that works 365 days and is late 300 times. Now the next year they work 365 days and are late 200 times and now want a raise because they improved their attendance. However you as a boss why would you give it to himjust because they improved their attendance a little bit, they’r still late more often than not. They haven’t shown you why you should believe they’re going to drastically improve their attendance and deserve a raise, just because they’re a little better doesn’t mean you can count on them to show up on time the majority of the year. That’s the Rockies for me.

They haven’t proven that they can finish a season without choking( and I’m not talking World Series or bust, let’s start with the division title first which they’ve never won) and so I’m not going to just blindly believe they’re better because they look better when it doesn’t matter. I want them to show me something so if I put my trust in them they’ll back it up.
 

Hitman Hart

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If Wake and NCSU have proven over the years they don't have to win the recruiting wars why don't they beat the blues on a consistent basis?

Carolina always wins the in-state recruiting wars in both football and basketball until this past football recruiting season when NCSU got the best of them.

In basketball Coach K recruits on the national level and evidently he can sell ice cubes to eskimos with the talent he keeps reloading with.

Recruiting and winning championships have a close correlation. In football,Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State always win the recruiting wars in recent years and all three of them end up as the best teams in all the land most of the time.

Wake has been susceptible to down periods. late 60s/early 70s, late 80s/early 90s, 2010-present. When Wake has been good, save for a great year every now and then, they still weren't on the level of Carolina and Duke. UNC and Duke are two of the top five CBB programs of all-time.

NCSU is a weird story. NCSU was a powerhouse from 1945 to 1990. The godfather of ACC basketball and basketball in NC was NCSU's Everett Case. They have 2 natty's, but they really fell off after 1990 and haven't even come close to recovering.

My overall point was that Wake and NCSU don't have to beat UNC and Duke in recruiting battles to run good programs. If being better than Duke and UNC year in and year out is the goal for your basketball program, then you're going to have a bad time b/c no one can do that.

also, Carolina (and Duke for that matter) only win the recruiting war in-state when its a consensus top 35-top 40 kid. When the kid is ranked outside of the top 40, UNC and Duke usually aren't interested, and those kids usually end up @ Wake, NCSU or some other ACC school. This was basically the blueprint of Wake's basketball program from 1990 to 2010.
 

tomcat1

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Wake has been susceptible to down periods. late 60s/early 70s, late 80s/early 90s, 2010-present. When Wake has been good, save for a great year every now and then, they still weren't on the level of Carolina and Duke. UNC and Duke are two of the top five CBB programs of all-time.

NCSU is a weird story. NCSU was a powerhouse from 1945 to 1990. The godfather of ACC basketball and basketball in NC was NCSU's Everett Case. They have 2 natty's, but they really fell off after 1990 and haven't even come close to recovering.

My overall point was that Wake and NCSU don't have to beat UNC and Duke in recruiting battles to run good programs. If being better than Duke and UNC year in and year out is the goal for your basketball program, then you're going to have a bad time b/c no one can do that.

also, Carolina (and Duke for that matter) only win the recruiting war in-state when its a consensus top 35-top 40 kid. When the kid is ranked outside of the top 40, UNC and Duke usually aren't interested, and those kids usually end up @ Wake, NCSU or some other ACC school. This was basically the blueprint of Wake's basketball program from 1990 to 2010.

You and I could talk for hours about the history of ACC basketball. Yes indeed Everett Case was the godfather of ACC basketball and he recruited so many great high school players from the state of Indiana they almost sang 'Back Home in Indiana' instead of our national anthem before all of their home games. The ACC tournament was played in Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh for many years because they could put 12,400 fannys in the seats there and no other ACC school could come even close. That was then and this is now. I agree with you that Wake and NCS don't have to win the recruiting battles against Carolina and Duke to run good programs but to run GREAT programs they do and it's as simple as that. One of my favorite ACC basketball sportswriters puts it this way which is totally correct: "Carolina and Duke just reload every year with the nation's best high school basketball players and NCS and Wake get the leftovers." I will never be convinced otherwise until NCS and Wake can start beating Carolina and Duke on a consistent basis which they have not done in years.
 

Myles

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This year was awesome but I'd probably put us at about a 20% chance of making the playoffs right now.
I'd be closer to 50% chance. We'll be fighting it out with either the Rockies or the Dodgers for the last WC spot.
 

Myles

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There's a difference between being an honest fan knowing they have faults and just doubting them all the time and trashing them at any loss or near loss. Seems like you're always Debbie downer with the Rockies, thinking they're done even if they are in 1st. I don't blame you for thinking the Dodgers will still win the division because I'm expecting that too, but they've had a few MVP caliber players and some good starters including one who could finish top 3-5 in CY Young voting. It's not all doom and gloom, try to enjoy the good in a competitive season.
Heck, he does the same when they win. - They won last night, but they'll lose tonight.
 

bksballer89

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It is now down to 4 teams fighting for 3 spots.

Dodgers, Rocks, Cards, & Brewers.

Well more like 3 teams fighting for 2 spots. Got to believe the Brewers are safe. 3 games up on the Cards/Dodgers

1 team will miss out
 
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