Just a quick reminder here re: baseball

[Salukifan2]

JayStubbs is right. The cardinals only got into the last two playoffs because of dumb luck, that being said they capitilized on their lucky opportunities. Also, alot has been made on here specifically by hometown about how many games the cardinals won against teams under .500. You're supposed to win the games against teams under .500. in fact the best teams in the league usually only play around .500 against other teams with .500 records but dominate the teams with bad records. And since we're going to make fun of eachother's states, which is hilarious that this conversation has devolved into that, Ohio is America's capital of run down ****ty post-industrial towns. Akron, dayton, toledo, youngstown, sandusky, cleveland. The only town in your whole state that is prospering right now is Columbus and that because of Ohio state.

Cincinnati was also plenty lucky, it was lucky that Ludwick ended up having the year he did and whenever you get to play 81 games at the Great American Small Park you have more luck on your side than any one. I honestly believe that ballpark is the reason why the reds were so unnecessarily feared. Bruce, who hit 34 homers this year would only hit about 25 if he were playing in, say Busch stadium. Its lucky that the reds won as many games as they did when they only have two good hitters (Votto and phillips). Bruce is a great power hitter but i will never call a perenial .250 hitter a great hitter.

[Mastodon]

JayStubbs is right. The cardinals only got into the last two playoffs because of dumb luck, that being said they capitilized on their lucky opportunities. Also, alot has been made on here specifically by hometown about how many games the cardinals won against teams under .500. You're supposed to win the games against teams under .500. in fact the best teams in the league usually only play around .500 against other teams with .500 records but dominate the teams with bad records. And since we're going to make fun of eachother's states, which is hilarious that this conversation has devolved into that, Ohio is America's capital of run down ****ty post-industrial towns. Akron, dayton, toledo, youngstown, sandusky, cleveland. The only town in your whole state that is prospering right now is Columbus and that because of Ohio state.

Cincinnati was also plenty lucky, it was lucky that Ludwick ended up having the year he did and whenever you get to play 81 games at the Great American Small Park you have more luck on your side than any one. I honestly believe that ballpark is the reason why the reds were so unnecessarily feared. Bruce, who hit 34 homers this year would only hit about 25 if he were playing in, say Busch stadium. Its lucky that the reds won as many games as they did when they only have two good hitters (Votto and phillips). Bruce is a great power hitter but i will never call a perenial .250 hitter a great hitter.

Yes! We are lucky we had guys who just so happened to play well all season and win 97 games! Luck had nothing to do with the Cards locking in a wild card spot that in any other season in the 100+ year history of the game would not have existed.

[Salukifan2]

Yes! We are lucky we had guys who just so happened to play well all season and win 97 games! Luck had nothing to do with the Cards locking in a wild card spot that in any other season in the 100+ year history of the game would not have existed.

Read my earlier posts bro, i give the reds lots of props. i thought they were the best team in baseball this year. Can we look at how the cardinals are unlucky though? Allen Craig who was our best rbi man missed a fifth of the season. Our best pitcher only made 3 starts and our second best pitcher had a bad year coming off tommy john. We lost arguably our best hitter on the team for the whole year with knee injuries. Our closer blew 7 saves. 5 of those saves were blown with 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter. We also lost our veteran shortstop to elbow surgery with a month left in the season. The cardinals were the most unlucky team in baseball. Coming into spring training i truly expected the cards to run away with the division and win over 100 games. And if they didn't have all the injuries and bad luck i think they would have. But finally all that bad luck from the day pitchers and catcher reported through september is finally being balanced out now.

Is that right? No, the 2nd wildcard is ridiculous. But its not like the players are going to say, "no, we didn't earn it, Atlanta, you can play the nats." So please get off this luck bull crap.

[webbbj]

And its beyond comprehension how reds fans are using the 2nd wildcard as a knock on the cards.

No one cares that they wouldnt be in the playoffs if last years format was in place.
Just like no one cares that the reds wouldnt be in the playoffs this year if they used the playoff syatem in place 60 years ago.

Its all irrelevant now. And now is all that matters.

[redhat]

Calling it anything BUT luck is asinine...But personally, I attribute there achievements to this;

1. Having Veterans that can lead the way during tough times (like a Game 5)
2. There hitting coach Mr. McGuire (there plate approach is just brilliant imo)
3. Just pure confidence, and believing that there never out till there out.
4. And, yes, LUCK.

Do you see how you just contradicted yourself?

...the year they expand the 2nd wildcard spot, is the same year that the Cardinals finish with a record good enough for second place.

As if no other teams had a chance at the spot the Cards got. They went 12-4 down the stretch to get in. Including beating both the Nats and the Reds 2 of 3.

how can you NOT call it luck when a career .236 minor league batter scores the go ahead runs in the bottom of the 9th against the Nats.

Selective stats fallacy. Kozma hit .333 with a .952 OPS since being called up. No one knows if he can hit over a full season. But it's inane to pigeonhole him by his minor league record when he has done well when given the opportunity.

Or look at Daniel Descalso's tying hit. Just a few mores inches to the left and it would been a play that Desmond could've either turned for two, or prevented the tying run from scoring.

Just a few more inches to the right and it's an untouched ball into center field. So freaking what? A hit is a hit is a hit. There are hundreds of hits like that one every year in the major leagues. Just tipped off a glove or just short of being caught. It's not as if Descalso hit some dying quail. He stung the ball.

Of course you didn't mention the double and homer he hit in two previous at-bats.

Not to mention the fact that for Kozma to be playing at all, the Cards had to have bad luck first. Furcal out for the year.

[Redmore123]

Was the second run by the Giants tonight luck since it landed in no mans and Carpenter doesnt make an error there 99 out of 100 times?

Come on guys that rbi was pureluck right?!?

[Betterread]

Is it luck that the Nationals didn't use Strasberg correctly so that the Cards could avoid him in the division series? not exactly. They just took advantage of the nationals' mistake.
Is it luck that they made the most of sneaking into the postseason? No. They took advantage of the opportunity.
The cardinals have a far better offense than the Reds. That is not luck. That is the truth. We had better try to improve and upgrade our offense while keeping our superior pitching staff together. If we hold pat, and the Cardinals find another effective starter (if shelby miller continues to improve they don't even need a FA or a trade to find that starter) we will be in for a fight for the division next year.

[Redmore123]

Is it lucky that the Giants got that call on a double play at first base?

You may think I'm trolling but you have to understand that a baseball game is a 3 hr, 9 inning event. Now the Giants get a "lucky" hit and error that leads to a 4 run inning, and a blown call at first, why is there no outrage that the Giants are getting off easy due to luck?
Once you guys get a grip on reality you will understand that this whole "luck" thing is only making yourselves more miserable.