Over at @HOVG, the Wisdom and Links World Series preview!

Aside

Now at Hall of Very Good, the latest Wisdom and Links looks at the World Series in every way except what actually matters. Check it out.

My Completely-Without-Explanation 2015 World Series Pick

Posted on October 27, 2015 by danglickman

Mets over Royals (in six).

(The explanation I didn’t include: The Mets have better starting pitching, more power hitters, and Terry Collins is way less likely than Ned Yost to do something crazy like leaving a pitcher in too long.)

FALLOUT 4 BASEBALL UPDATE: “Big Leagues” Microteaser

Posted on October 27, 2015 by danglickman

Note: The following may have minor spoilers about Fallout 4.

Like many gamers, I am eagerly awaiting the release of Fallout 4, the latest in the line of quasi-50s retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic action-adventure RPGs. Heck, I’ve even splurged for the collector’s edition! But it’s not just the opportunity to fight post-nuclear abominations that have me hyped… it’s also due to the fact that this installment of Fallout will be in Boston and will feature a society (“Diamond City”) that lives in a post-apocalyptic Fenway Park.

However, it appears that Bethesda Game Studios, the creators of this installment of the series, have gone even further, and baseball will actually be a part of the game. Take a look at this leaked achievement (you can get achievements for doing special things in-game):

Yes, apparently, you can hit a homer in Fallout 4 (there’s also an achievement for scoring a touchdown, but this is a baseball blog).

And, what’s more, Bethesda has gotten into the World Series spirit by tweeting this out:

Team with most votes gets this perk. RT for @Mets, Fav for @Royals. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/wlvCFs6Hs2

— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) October 27, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

It appears that there will be a special “perk”, called “Big Leagues”, which will make it easier for you to use baseball bats and other “melee” weapons in combat, perhaps leading to what the game describes as a chance to “grand slam their head clean off!”. Needless to say, this game is rated M for Mature.

I want that vault-boy baseball uniform to wear for Halloween next year. Assuming, of course, I don’t just go with the BASEBALL ARMOR THAT IS IN THE GAME:

And, say, look behind the vault-dweller here. It looks like while the Green Monster itself has some holes in it, the hand-operated scoreboard still exists in the Fallout Universe, and there was a AL East, which is somewhat surprising since in the Fallout Universe most cultural progress (music, television, fashion, car design, etc.) ended around 1960, so I would have thought that they never would have implemented divisions in baseball there and oh-my-god-I’m-considering-the-pre-apocalyptic-baseball-set-up-of-a-fictional-post-apocalyptic-video-game-universe-this-is-the-geekiest-thing-I’ve-ever-done.

Oh, and the guards of Diamond City look like catchers or umpires, albeit ones wearing helmets that look like they just walked off the set of a Mad Max movie:

I wonder what other sort of baseball references they will have in Fallout 4? Will some Red Sox greats have voice roles (don’t laugh, Wayne Newton did voicework in the game that was set in Las Vegas)? Will there be a big friendly green monster named Wally who lives in Diamond City? Apparently the plot involves your character being put in a cryogenic freeze, so maybe they will make a Ted Williams joke?

Time will tell. Time will tell.

The MR. OCTOBERS of ALCS Game 6

Posted on October 24, 2015 by danglickman

The MR. OCTOBERS of yesterday’s ALCS Game 6 were Wade Davis and Jose Bautista (even though they lost and his poorly chosen throwing target were partly to blame).

So now, with the LCS round done, we go to the WORLD SERIES, where every MR. OCTOBER gets 10 points!

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Noah Syndergaard 8

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

P Wade Davis 8

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Johnny Cueto 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

P Matt Harvey 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5

P Steven Matz 5

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

PP David Wright 3

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

Headlines From Around The Continuum (October 24, 2015)

Posted on October 24, 2015 by danglickman

A sampling of baseball-related headlines from the Newseum, elsewhere, and occasionally some websites, with the occasional note from me on what they are talking about:

Headline: Royals beat Blue Jays in Game 6, head to World Series vs. Mets

Kansas City Star: Ready for the world

Globe and Mail: IT’S OVER FOR THE JAYS

Toronto Star: HELL OF A GAME, HELL OF A SEASON

St. Joseph (MO) News-Press: BACK TO THE SERIES

Calgary Sun: DREAM RUN OVER

Joplin (MO) Globe: AL CHAMPIONS: K.C. back in Series

Guelph Mercury: It’s over

Lawrence (KS) Journal-World: AND WE’RE BACK!

Prince George Citizen: Heartbreak for Jays

Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune: WORLD SERIES BOUND

Salina (KS) Journal: BBQ or bagels? A tasty World Series set- Royals meet Mets

Wichita Eagle: AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPS

Bradenton (FL) Herald: ROYALS RUN INTO WORLD SERIES

NY Daily News (back): K.C. BEATS JAYS TO PUNCH SERIES TICKET

New York Post (back): K.C. YA TUESDAY

Newsday (back): GOING TO KANSAS CITY

New York Times: A Mets-Royals World Series

El Vigia (Ensenada, Mexico): Van por la revancha (“They go for revenge/rematch/another chance.”)

Vanguardia (Saltillo, Mexico): La hacen cardiaca pero vuelven a Serie Mundial (I think this means basically “The heart makes it to the World Series”, perhaps saying that the Royals have a lot of heart, or something like that.)

El Nuevo Diario (Managua, Nicaragua): KANSAS CITY A LA SERIES MUNDIAL (“Kansas City to the World Series”)

El Nacional (Caracas, Venezuela): Kansas campeón de la Liga Americana (“Kansas champion of the American League.”)

The MR. OCTOBERS of ALCS Game 5 and NLCS Game 4

Posted on October 22, 2015 by danglickman

The MR. OCTOBERS of ALCS Game 5 were Marco Estrada and Troy Tulowitzki.

The MR. OCTOBERS of NLCS Game 4 were Lucas Duda and Steven Matz (basically by default).

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Noah Syndergaard 8

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

P Marco Estrada 8

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Jose Bautista 6

PP Alex Rios 6

P Johnny Cueto 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

P Matt Harvey 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5

PP Ryan Goins 5

P Liam Hendriks 5

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5

P Steven Matz 5

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

PP David Wright 3

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

P Wade Davis 3

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3

PP Kevin Pillar 3

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

Headlines From Around The Continuum (October 22, 2015)

Posted on October 22, 2015 by danglickman

A sampling of baseball-related headlines from the Newseum, elsewhere, and occasionally some websites, with the occasional note from me on what they are talking about:

Headline: Mets head to first World Series since 2000, sweep Cubbies

New York Times: Suddenly Invincible, Mets Are in World Series

Daily News (Back): ALL WORLD

NY Post (Front): WORLD CLASS!

NY Post (Back): DANIEL BROOM

Newsday (Front): YA GOTTA BELIEVE!

Newsday (Back): HOW SWEEP IT IS!

AM NEW YORK: BELIEVE IT!

Metro- New York: SWEEP

Staten Island Advance: The new Mr. October? (Murphy)

Chicago Tribune: MAGIC RUNS OUT

Chicago Sun-Times (Cubs Extra e-paper): BACK TO THE FUTURE (here meant to mean “Back to the drawing board”)

Daily Herald (Suburban Chicago): TIP YOUR HAT TO THEM

Hartford (Conn.) Courant: NEXT STOP, WORLD SERIES

The Record (Bergen County, NJ): UNSTOPPABLE

News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.): They’re gone

Jersey Journal (Jersey City): METS HEAD TO WORLD SERIES!

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ): HOW SWEEP IT IS! (This was used by other papers as well)

Panama City (FL) News Herald: MVP Murphy leads Mets to World Series

Times Union (Albany, NY): Mets move on

Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.): CLEAN SWEEP

Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY): METS MANIA

Augusta (GA) Chronicle: MOVING ON

Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA): SWEEPING SUCCESS

USA TODAY: CUBS SWEPT BY METS IN 4 (A ironic echo of how the Back To The Future 2 USA TODAY said “CUBS SWEEP SERIES IN 5”)

Journal-Star (Peoria, Ill.): CHICAGO HOPE VANISHES

Naples (FL) Daily News: FOR CUBS, IT’S DO OR…. NEVER MIND

Daily Southern (Tinley Park, Ill.): Met their match

Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa): Wait until next year

Omaha World-Herald: Cubs’ dream swept away

El Vigia (Ensenada, Mexico): No se cumplió la profecía (“The prophecy is not fulfilled.”- not doubt referring to the Back To The Future Cubs joke)

El Nuevo Diario (Managua, Nicaragua): Los Mets en la Serie Mundial (“The Mets in the World Series”)

Primera Hora (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico): Los Mets en la Serie Mundial (“The Mets advance to the World Series”)

Headline: Blue Jays send ALCS back to Kansas City for Game 6

Globe and Mail: ESTRADA GEM KEEPS BLUE JAY HOPES ALIVE

National Post: JAYS NOT DONE YET

Toronto Star: EXTRAORDINARY ESTRADA

Kansas City Star: Coming home

St. Joseph (MO) News-Press: BLUE JAYS FORCE GAME 6 AT KAUFFMAN

Calgary Herald: JAYS WIN TO FORCE GAME 6

Junction City (KS) Daily Union: Volquez struggles as Blue Jays force Game 6 in ALCS

Calgary Sun: Going back to K.C.

Lawrence (KS) Journal World: 3-2

Canada’s Metro Papers: 1 DOWN, 2 TO GO

Wichita (KS) Eagle: Royals’ bats silent as Blue Jays win Game 5

Edmonton Journal: JAYS FORCE GAME 6

Guelph Mercury: Jays still alive after 7-1 win over Royals

Chronicle-Herald (Halifax): Kansas City, Here We Come

Hamilton Spectator: Blue Jays win keeps World Series hopes alive

Waterloo Region Record: Still in the game

La Presse (Montreal): Les Blue Jays S’accrochent (“The Blue Jays hang on” or “The Blue Jays cling”)

Ottawa Citizen: JAYS FANS A LITTLE LESS BLUE

Prince George Citizen: Estrada gets it done for Blue Jays

El Nacional (Caracas, Venezuela): Los Azulejos no se entregan (“The Blue Jays do not surrender”)

Coming in future weeks: Breaking OOTP, Red Wings programs, Bizarre Baseball Culture, etc.

Posted on October 22, 2015 by danglickman

As the postseason slowly starts to wind down, here’s a preview of what can be expected in the coming weeks:

The Return of “Breaking OOTP”, beginning with MARIO vs. BACKYARD BASEBALL.
The return of the lookback at Rochester Red Wings programs, including the early 90s, a program from the 1970s, and so on.
BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE finally returns, with one of the Ultimate Sports Force comics.
The long-awaited and oft-delayed return of the Baseball Continuum Continuucast
When Fallout 4 comes out, I’ll have a rundown of baseball elements in it, as post-apocalyptic Fenway will be a location in the game.
World Baseball Classic updates/projections.
And my votes for the IBWAA awards will be revealed.

So keep an eye out!

The MR. OCTOBERS of ALCS Game 4 and NLCS Game 3

Posted on October 21, 2015 by danglickman

The ALCS Game 4 MR. OCTOBERS were Liam Hendriks (even though they got blown out, he by far had the best pitching performance between the two teams) and Lorenzo Cain.

The NLCS Game 3 MR. OCTOBERS, meanwhile, were Jacob deGrom (he could have done better, but…) and Yoenis Cespedes.

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Noah Syndergaard 8

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

PP Jorge Soler 6

PP Jose Bautista 6

PP Alex Rios 6

P Johnny Cueto 6

P Edinson Volquez 5