JotCast | FanGraphs 2025 Wild Card Chat

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FanGraphs 2025 Wild Card Chat

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Dan Szymborski

1:55

Man, Green WANTED that pithc

Sonny

1:56

If 105 wrc+ corner types are so abundant and available why has Cleveland not employed more than one at a time since the Clinton administration?

EccentricATLFan

1:56

Something I will always find hilarious is how Andrew Vaughn went from “replacement-level guy on the worst team in modern baseball history” to “a notable part of the team that had the most wins in the 2025 regular season” within 12 months.

Matt

1:58

Why must Rob Manfred schedule the game I have tickets to for 8 minutes after a meeting I can't move?

Dan Szymborski

1:58

oof

Guest

1:58

Dan, thoughts on Emilio Pagan, playoff closer?

Dan Szymborski

1:58

I'm meh, but he was better this season than he's been

drplantwrench

1:58

Rob Manfred cares about your career obviously, Matt

baseball_is_life

1:58

do you think a flip like that in vaughn is coaching related?

Brian

1:59

If I just evenly weight the WRc for the lineup today I get 80.66. For this specific lineup for CLE.

Dan Szymborski

1:59

Don't make me ghost the chat while I go through seasonal wRC+ of every individual lineup i postseason history!

The Oriole Bird

1:59

Ballpark the odds: Trout (87.2 fWAR) passes Ripken (92.5) in career WAR in 2026?

Dan Szymborski

1:59

40/60 against

drplantwrench

2:00

also not related to playoffs, but is benji gil really available for coaching jobs? should i get my hope up for the angels now that ron washington is officially not coming back

Bencle Mens

2:00

Hey Kyle Manzardo ain't that bad.

David Laurila

2:00

Ramirez, Kwan, and Manzardo give the Guardians a solid threesome of hitters, but they certainly need more. I can see Kayfus being a plus bat going forward.

Dan Szymborski

2:02

I'm not sure what Gil's up to. He's managing Mexico again in WBC. I know he was an Angels coach a few years ago, btu I'm not sure what he's been up to last year or so

The Oriole Bird

2:02

Just to check that.... Would ZiPS give Trout a ~40% chance of amassing at least 5.3 WAR in 2026?

Dan Szymborski

2:02

maybe? I don't have it open!

Josh Zerkle

2:02

Does anyone else miss the one-game wild card? Seemed like a more exciting start to the postseason and a better fit logistically.

David Laurila

2:02

What do people think? I favor the best-of-three, but the one-game was definitely compelling.

Guest

2:02

Think it's interesting that 23 of 25 FG writers think the winner of this series gets beat by the Mariners next round. Any rough estimations of what Zips would put the odds at?

Dan Szymborski

2:02

I would GUESS probably 55 mariners vs. det, maybe 60 vs. cle

Vlad's Dad

2:03

Glass cleanup delay? Who had that on their bingo card?

Go River Cats

2:03

What just shattered in the backstop?

Matt

2:03

Camera down!

cirquedusoulay

2:04

If Martinez gets a knock here, he's gotta change his walk-up music to Stone Cold's

VottoStillBangs

2:04

Camera hit by foul tip <<<< random bird

David Laurila

2:04

A home run following the smashed-camera delay would be a story.

The Oriole Bird

2:04

I thought the one-game series were lots of fun and chaotic. I appreciated how each team would have to burn their best pitcher as punishment for only being a WC team.

MyBloodyBallantine

2:04

My preference would have been to just make the wild card game a best of 3 and keep the two wild card teams. It's weird to me that winning the division counts, but only for two of the division winners.

Dan Szymborski

2:04

I don't mind it. It rewards being a BETTER division winner, not just a division winner

and I like things that incentivize teams to win more games

Oddball Herrera

2:04

One game wildcard was a bit like a shootout in hockey/football. Sure it may be fun to watch, but it sure didn’t feel like anywhere close to a measurement of who was the better team

Dan Szymborski

2:05

I think of it more as a punishment for good teams not winning more games

Neelix

2:05

Luis Robert Jr. .223/.297/.364
2025 Guardians .226/.296/.373

How did a team of Luis Robert Jrs make the playoffs? And how can we get Robert to Cleveland next year?

David Laurila

2:05

How many Tigers fans are thinking about the three-run, no-balls-hit-out-of-the-infield inning last week?

Sonny

2:05

guards ball

muxosk

2:06

Broken glass not a sound I'm sure I've ever heard watching pro baseball before

Dan Szymborski

2:06

my favorite baseball sound is still the stanton oh shit home run during COVID