MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Good luck in Game 3. A 2 game to one advantage really eases the postseason tension.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals place Victor Caratini on the 10 Day IL

The Cardinals have placed catcher Victor Caratini on the 10 Day IL after he was removed from Friday night's game in the 7th inning with a knee injury. It's being diagnosed as a knee sprain and Caratini is expected to miss two weeks.

Caratini has struggled this year at the plate and even behind it, as he's hitting just .201 on the season with 3 homeruns and 24 RBI's, hardly the production the Cards expected when they acquired him last year from San Diego. He has also struggled to throw out base runners, adequately blocking pitches in the dirt.

Yadier Molina will step into the starting catcher role during Caratini's absence and may take over full time from here on out. While Molina isn't much better offensively, he has been better defensively behind the plate and controlling the running game despite his age.

Ivan Herrera was recalled from Memphis to be Molina's battery mate the next two weeks. Herrera is viewed as the heir to the throne when Molina retires, and some thought he would make the roster in Spring, but when Molina decided to go one more year, Herrera was placed in Memphis to get every day at bats.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Dodgers shut out Braves to take NLCS lead

Ian Anderson had a one-hitter though six innings for the Braves, but the Dodgers finally broke through in the seventh getting two runs on three hits off the young right-hander. That was all they needed as Los Angeles took a 2-0 win to take a 2-1 series lead in the NLCS.

The Braves had ample opportunities to score early off Walker Buehler, but couldn't get a key hit when they needed. They chased Buehler with an out in the top of the 7th and had the bases loaded, but Dansby Swanson struck out to the end the inning.

Freddie Freeman led off the 9th with a single, eventually giving the Braves what they wanted: a chance for Joc Pederson to tie it. But Kenley Jansen struck Pederson out.

Charlie Morton takes on Julio Urias in Game 4. The Braves will turn to ace Mike Soroka in Game 5. The Dodgers are reportedly skipping Game 1 starter Clayton Kershaw and going with Dustin May for Game 5.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Damn that’s tough. Good luck in game 4


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Welp, Dodgers take Game 4 by a final score of 7-4 and now lead the series 3-1. We've got our backs against the wall.

Baseball can be so frustrating. We loaded the bases with one out in the second off Urias. Dansby absolutely crushed one, but it was to dead center. So instead of a grand slam, we settled for a sac fly.

Morton was dealing. With two out in the third, Betts reached on a Riley throwing error. And, of course, Chris Taylor followed with a homer to give LA the lead.

Will Smith (the LA version) hit a line drive that Dansby couldn't handle. Then Turner hit a grounder up the middle that Dansby did get, but Smith beat the throw to second. And, of course, Muncy then took Morton deep to push the lead to 5-1. We eventually fell behind 7-1.

Travis d'Arnaud hit a two-run homer in the sixth to get it to 7-3. An Ozuna single got us to 7-4 in the 7th. We had two on with two out and Joc at the plate. He ripped one foul before striking out.

Mike Soroka gets the ball as the Braves try to stay alive in Game 5. The Dodgers are going with Dustin May. Game 6, if necessary, would be Fried vs. Bauer. And if there's a Game 7 it would be Anderson against Kershaw.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tough spot to be in, but you can come back. I'm sure you've won 3 games in a row over the course of the regular season. No reason it can't be done in October.

Good luck.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals split series with Nationals

The Cardinals (73-53) split their 4 game series with the Nationals over the weekend and now find themselves tied with the Reds atop the NL Central Division.

The Cardinals lost on Thursday and Friday, before rebounding over the weekend to at least earn a split. Both Jake Odorizzi and Matthew Boyd struggled in their respective starts, as each were knocked around by a Nationals lineup that is minus Juan Soto for the remainder of the season. Both allowed 2 homeruns in their starts and neither made it to the 6th inning.

On Saturday, there was a pitching dual for the ages. Both Stephen Strasburg and Carlos Martinez were on point as both carried no hitters into the 7th inning. Strasburg's no-no was broken up by Dylan Carlson, while Carlos Martinez was 8 2/3 innings into his start when Byron Buxton singled down the left field line, but was thrown out trying to get to second by Tyler O'Neill. The Cards would walk it off in the 10th (1-0) when Tyler O'Neill singled to left driving home pinch runner Harrison Bader from 2nd.

Jack Flaherty would earn his 11th win of the season in the Sunday finale as the game was no where near as dramatic as Saturday night. The Cardinals scored 3 times in the first when Lane Thomas blasted a 3 run homerun to dead center. After the Nats got a run back in the Top of the 4th on a Carter Kieboom RBI single, the Cards would chase Corbin from the game putting up 5 more runs as the Cards would end up routing the Nats 12-2 on Sunday to earn a series split.

But all wasn't great Sunday as Tommy Edman left the game after taking a Jeffry Rodriguez fastball off the shin. News on that below.

The Cardinals are off Monday as they travel to Chicago for a 3 game series with the Cubs in Wrigley to close out the month of August. Its also the last time the two clubs will meet this season.

Tommy Edman to IL with broken shin

The Cardinals received terrible news Sunday night as All-Star 2nd baseman Tommy Edman was placed on the 10 Day IL with a broken shin. Edman left Sunday's game in the 5th inning after being hit in the shin by a Jeffry Rodriguez fastball.

Edman is expected to miss anywhere from 1-2 months. Meaning he could return in October in time for the playoffs should the Cards make it, or not return until Spring Training next year.

Max Moroff had his contract selected and was recalled from Memphis. Many thought that Edmundo Sosa would be recalled, but he has struggled at the big league level this year. Moroff also gives the Cardinals a switch hitter on the bench or potentially in the lineup.

As for everyday second base duties, it looks as though Nolan Gorman and Yairo Munoz will platoon that role for the time being. Moroff could get an opportunity as well.

Tough break for the Cardinals who lose a viable piece of their lineup, a great defensive player, and one of the best hitters in the National League, as Edman ranked 5th in average at .314 when he was injured.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tough spot to be in, but you can come back. I'm sure you've won 3 games in a row over the course of the regular season. No reason it can't be done in October.

Good luck.

We swept the Dodgers during the regular season, so it can be done. One game at a time.

Austin Riley has struggled at the plate this series and now he has throwing errors in back-to-back games. So we're going back to Johan Camargo at third. Hoping he can provide a spark.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Braves stave off elimination, force Game 6

Travis d'Arnaud hit an 8th-inning sacrifice fly to break a 2-all tie to help the Braves to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLCS. The win keeps the season alive for the Braves as the series now shifts back to Atlanta. The Dodgers lead the series 3-2.

Joc Pederson hit his third home run of the series to stake Atlanta to an early 1-0 lead. But Cody Bellinger answered in the fourth with his third homer of the series - a two-run shot - as the Dodgers tied the game at 2. But the Braves bullpen allowed just two hits over the final 4.1 innings. Diego Castillo, who pitched a perfect seventh, got the win. Tyler Matzek struck out the side in the 8th after allowing a leadoff single to Corey Seager. Will Smith struck out Mookie Betts to end the game to earn his second save of the postseason.

Max Fried gets the start for Atlanta in Game 6. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Clayton Kershaw will start for LA. Roberts had previously said he would go with Trevor Bauer.

Another intense game. I need Ronnie and Freddie to wake up. Acuna has become a singles hitter in the postseason. Freddie went 0-for-5 and has just one RBI for the entire postseason. Neither has homered yet in the playoffs.

Even with the off day, Castillo, Matzek and Minter are all a bit gassed. Not sure how much I can get out of them in Game 6. Hopefully Fried pitches well.

Over in the ALCS, after dropping Game 1, the Yankees roared back to take the series in 5. So they'll be waiting in the World Series.

[TeejMoore]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Detroit Tigers April ‘21 Recap

April was a month to forget for many Tigers fans, as at its conclusion the Tigers sit dead last in the AL Central, 13 back of Chicago. Sitting at 8-19, the Tigers bats struggled early while pitching was actually quite good, and then in the waning moments of the month it switched on them. They are 3-7 in their last 10, and in their last game(First game of a 3 game series @Yankee stadium) they gave up 17 runs with 9 homers. After the first road trip dropping 8 in a row after winning the first two in Cleveland(In which they own the season series with) they had a 9 game losing streak that has put them in this position that they are in now. Now that I have recapped a month I will look to go into more depth with series by series, as I will begin to wrap up this series with the Bronx Bombers. Looking forward to the month of May, the Tigers play more home games than away, so they will look to turn the tide back in their favor this month.

Injury Recap

This team was hit HARD by injuries in the first month, and it led to some struggles offensively as well. The list is as follows, with remaining time on IL:
Matthew Boyd, Head Contusion, 13 days
Miguel Cabrera, Broken Leg, 35 Days
Victor Reyes, Torn Hamstring, 57 Days

These three injuries to major starters have definitely hurt the club coming out in the first month, as the offense has been lackluster and the pitching has struggled as of late. Brought up from Toledo to fill these voids were RHP Erasmo Ramirez who was having a great start in Toledo, OF/3B Jacoby Jones, and OF Christin Stewart. The Tigers look to hopefully get Boyd back soon as he has been their go-to ace, and the other two would definitely bolster a lineup that has sputtered at times.

Players of the Month

Offensively, Harold Castro has been great at the dish for the Tigers, hitting .320, as the only Tigers through the month of April with an above .300 average. Only rivaling him would be Jonathan Schoop, who had 5 HR and 13 RBI, with a .223 average, but Hittin’ Harold has been a catalyst for the Tigers so far. The pitcher of the month of April would most definitely be Matthew Boyd. And even though in his last start he had to leave in the fourth inning against CWS, he put up a 2.68 ERA, with a 1.11 WHIP in 37 innings pitched. Hopefully the upcoming months lead to more success and more candidates for player of the month as the Tigers look to claw their way back.

Now with 2 games left in the Bronx, your Probable Starters for Saturday and Sunday are Skubal(3-1, 3.95) v Taillon(2-3, 1.64), and Mize(0-4, 4.50) v Kluber(3-0, 2.65)

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals drop series to Cubs

The Cardinals (74-55) dropped their 3 game series with the Cubs and now find themselves still tied with the Reds in the NL Central Division.

The Cardinals avoided the sweep by winning Thursday's series finale in 15 innings when rookie Ivan Herrera delivered a 2 run double in the Top of the 15th to move the Cardinals ahead 6-4.

Tuesday and Wednesday the Cubs bats were hot as they just connected with timely hits and homeruns and the Cardinals just couldn't do the same.

The Cardinals will now return home for a 3 game weekend series with the Nationals.

[TeejMoore]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tigers(8-21) Swept by Yankees(19-9)

In what started as a blowout Game 1 for the Bombers, Game 2 was the only game with intrigue in this series. In a 9-8 loss, the Tigers put up 7 runs in the first two innings before chasing Taillon after 2.1. However, as good as it started, the Tigers would give up 3 solo HRs with Skubal in his 6 inning performance, as those were his only runs, but the bullpen imploded. Giving up 4 in the 7th to tie it. It went until the 11th where runs were traded, and the Tigers would leave the bases juiced in T12 only to have Farmer give up the walkoff walk with the bases loaded.

Game 3 was rough from the gun. Mize continues to struggle, as he gave up 8H and 7 ER through 4, and the bullpen continued to give up 10 runs, as Tigers pitching once again gave up 6 Homers to the Bombers in their Pony League Field. Tough misses against one of the best offenses led to a 17-4 defeat at the hands of the Yankees. 10+ LOB for the Tigers both games, as they will look to limit the big hits defensively, and execute better offensively. The hits are finally coming but not when they need them.

They pack their bags and head to Boston now to wrap up the 9 game roadtrip, and look to at least go for 4 wins on this very tough early draw.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

I think I did this before, actually my last season on '21, but I hadn't updated in a while and was trying to post the events of my franchise to lead up to where I was actually (consider it my need for things to be organzied), but I'm actually finished with my 2023 season and just don't feel like typing out series by series to catch up and then catch up to where I am now, so I'm just going to post how the season concluded. Not sure if anyone cares about all that, but I wanted to share anyways...LOL


The season came to a shocking and frustrating crash and burn for the Cardinals. We lost 4 of our last 15 games, but thankfully the Reds were struggling just as bad and over the course of our final 9 games, we beat them 6 times to eliminate them from the division. HOWEVER, the Brewers went on a streak that saw them win 15 of their last 20 and actually finish the regular season tied with us atop the National League Central division. Not only that, the Braves had the same record as us and the Brewers resulting in a one game playoff for the 2nd wildcard between the Braves and whomever lost in game 163 between us the Brewers.

Unfortunately, we were absolutely dominated by the Brewers and lost 10-3 to lose the division and be forced to play game 164 against the Braves for the wildcard. And we lost..8-4...as Ronald Acuna Jr hit a grand slam in the 7th that made blew the game open from 4-2 to 8-2. We got one back in the bottom of the 7th and one in the 8th, but that would be it. Our season had come to a jolting end.

Heading into the final 20 games of the season we led the Reds by 3 1/2 games and the Brewers by 8. We lead the Braves by 5 over the second wildcard and we lost out on that. I felt completely confident that we were playoff bound, even if it was in the wildcard. But baseball, as we all know, is a game of streaks and we hit one of the worst streaks of the season at the most inopportune time.

Not to make excuses, but we also got bitten by the injury bug over that course. We were already without Tommy Edman for the regular season, but we then lost Harrison Bader to a broken arm suffered crashing into the wall. We lost Paul Goldschmidt to sprained ankle, although he returned for the final 5 games of the year. We lost Giovanny Gallegos to a shoulder injury that would've kept him from the regular season and Kirby Yates to an elbow injury that lost him for the season.

But despite the injuries, we had our chances, but our pitching staff just blew up. Jack Flaherty's final 3 starts saw him pitch a combined total of 14 innings allowing 6 homeruns and I don't remember the total number of runs, but I think it was 20. Our bullpen couldn't get anything done as Daniel Norris and Roberto Osuna couldn't get key outs in big situations. We lost 5 games during that stretch in the 9th inning.

Completely frustrating. So now we will start to look forward to the offseason to see how we fix the holes that plagued us this season and get back to the playoffs.

Thanks for reading and I'm picking up my updates with the playoffs and going forward. I'll try to keep things updated for those who like to follow along, if there is anyone.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

2023 season is over, time for the playoffs

The 2023 season has come to a close with the Cardinals (90-74) missing the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 years (missed in 2021).

The Cardinals fell apart at the end of the season only winning 4 times in their last 20 games. Even with that they found themselves playing a game 163 with the Brewers for the National League Central division, with the loser playing the Braves for the 2nd wildcard. The Cardinals lost to the Brewers and then to the Braves, both games in St.Louis, to watch the 2023 postseason slip away.

Frustrating end to a season in which the Cardinals had high hopes.

Here are the matchups for the 2023 MLB playoffs:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

WILDCARD GAME

A's at Astros

ALDS

WC @ Yankees
Angels @ White Sox


NATIONAL LEAGUE:

WILDCARD GAME

Braves @ Padres

NLDS

WC @ Dodgers
Brewers @ Mets


The Dodgers will be looking to repeat as champions and win their 3 World Series in 4 years.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

2023 Postseason Results

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

WILDCARD GAME

A's defeated Astros


ALDS

Angels defeated White Sox (3-1)
Yankees defeated A's (3-2)


ALCS

Angels defeated Yankees (4-3) *came back from 3-1 deficit


NATIONAL LEAGUE:

WILDCARD GAME

Braves defeated Padres

NLDS

Brewers defeated Mets (3-2)
Braves defeated Dodgers (3-0)

NLCS

Braves defeated Brewers (4-0)

2023 WORLD SERIES

Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Angels

GAME 1: Braves win 8-3
GAME 2: Braves win 8-1
GAME 3: Braves win 2-0
GAME 4: Braves win 3-2

The Atlanta Braves are the 2023 World Series Champions