Perspectives: Playoffs, Round 1

By Paul Semendinger

October 4, 2024

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On Tuesday, for the Tuesday Discussion, we set out our playoff predictions. I had the Astros and the Orioles winning their series. There is a reason I never make predictions... The whole exercise is silly. It can be fun, but most of the time, most people are wrong.

Anyway, on to bigger and better things!

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Bring on the Royals!

The Yankees should be reaching out to the members of the 1976-78 teams to have them at the stadium on Saturday night as the Yankees open the playofs against the Royals. Chris Chambliss, Graig Nettles, Sparky Lyle, Mickey Rivers, Roy White, Lou Piniella, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Fred Stanley, Ed Figueroa, and Dick Tidrow should all be there. The moment is too perfect.

It would also be the perfect time make an announcement that Graig Nettles and Roy White will be getting included into Monument Park in 2025. They have deserved this for a long long time.

And there isn't a better time to do this.

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The Yankees path to the World Series first goes through Kansas City and then through either Detroit or Cleveland. All three are teams the Yankees should defeat. It is, absolutely, "right there in front of them."

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Sports and gambling are way too tied together now. I fear that one day we're going to have a big betting scandal that involves fixed games, pre-determined outcomes, and the like. Once sports loses its legitimacy, there is no reason (in my opinion) to watching it any longer. I don't wish to spend my time watching games that aren't real.

This is why sports comes down so hard on players, coaches, referees, etc. who cheat. The legitimacy of the sport must remain intact.

Pete Rose is baseball's all-time hit king. But he bet on baseball. He should not be in the Hall of Fame. Sorry Pete. You knew what you were doing. You knew the consequences of your actions. The fact that he passed away doesn't change what he did. It also doesn't change the fact that baseball (and all sports) need to take a hard line on players or managers, etc... betting on games.

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Michael King can win 20 games a season for the next 40 years and I'll still support the Juan Soto trade. That was the smart trade at the time. In the same way, I never blamed the Yankees for trading Jose Rijo because he was in the deal that got them Rickey Henderson. If you're going to trade for a generational talent, you will need to give up talent.

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If Vlad Guerrero, Jr. is available in the off-season, I'd trade Jasson Dominguez for him without hesitation. Dominguez might become great. Guerrero already is. And Guerrero is still young. He will be only 26-years-old next season.

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The ads on the batting helmets are horrible. I hate this, but the gig is up. Is there anything that baseball won't sell at this point? We will soon be seeing ads on both uniform sleeves, on the hats, and on the pants. Why not put ads on the players' bats?

Why put up a charade any longer that they are somehow not selling out in as many ways and as often as they can?

If I owned a team, at this point, I'd go all in. It's silly not to. Fans will protest for ten minutes, they'll say it's wrong, and then everyone will move on.

If I owned the Yankees, they'd now be playing at Home Depot's Yankee Stadium. Each entrance would be sponsored. "Let's Meet at Bank America's Gate 2." I'd put ads on every base. "Ground ball to short, Volpe throws to Toyota's First Base...he's out and the side is retired."

If you listen to a game on the radio, it's almost that bad already - so much of the game is sponsored. In the stadium right now, each strikeout gets the P.C. Richards whistle. It's a complete and blatant money grab.

I do not want to hear from the Yankees this winter that any player or any collection of players are too expensive.

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I am enjoying hearing John Sterling on the radio again. Once he retires for good, after this World Series, hopefully, I'll miss him.

A lot.

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Let's Go Yankees!