A couple of years ago, I used a handy Excel sheet (that my math-whiz dad created) to calculate how well the Angels had to do to stay in first place and keep the Rangers from catching them.

Now, sadly, it's time to do almost the opposite calculation--how many games do the Angels have to win in order to catch the Rangers and force a 1-game playoff for the division?

This assumes that the Angels and Rangers win and lose games at the right time.

First, I've heard rumors that the Rangers have a tough schedule coming up over the remainder of the season (excluding games against the Angels, apparently).  Let's assume they go .500 over the remaining games.  That brings their total record to 91-72 for the season.  In that case, in order to also go 91-72 for the season and tie the Rangers, the Angels must go 26-14 over the final 39 games--a .654 winning percentage.

The Angels have done that before.  At this point though, with the steadily flailing offense and messrs. Mathis, Wells, and the suck-of-the-week it looks like a pretty tall order.

Now let's assume the Rangers just bomb out the rest of the season and have a 1995-esque collapse, going, say, .400.  That brings their final record to 87-75.  To beat that, the Angels have to go 22-17, or .554, over the remaining games.  That is slightly higher than the Angels's current winning percentage of .526 and so seems somewhat doable.  By that same token, if this is what the Angels do and the Rangers go .500, then the Angels will finish something like 4 games out.  Just bad enough to miss the playoffs for the second straight year but maybe not bad enough for Arte to step in and say enough is enough.

Finally, what happens if the Rangers keep on their current winning percentage of .577?  In that case (depending on whether I round the calculator down to 57% or up to 58%), the Angels have to go either 28-11 or 29-10 to tie the division.  That's a .724 or .734 winning percentage.  In other words, the Angels have to catch absolute fire to win this thing in that case.

Perhaps at some point I'll look at these calculations for getting the wild card.  As for winning the division, however, it looks like the Angels could conceivably win the division but that it will be pretty ridiculously difficult for them to do so.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news--let's hope the Angels can pull out all the stops and win this thing!

About four years ago, I posted this thread, asking if anyone had met players: http://www.halosheaven.com/2006/7/31/15431/3996  (the html editor/link provider doesn't seem to be working right; that or I'm an idiot)--And we wound up with a pretty good discussion/collection of stories.  Since it's been four years, though, and this community has grown exponentially, I figure it's time to pose the question again.

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I got hit with a bit of song-re-writing "genius" this afternoon and thought I would share with you all...flames welcome!  Need a creative outlet for all this pre-game stress, anyway....!

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My dad came up with a nifty Excel program last year that calculates what the Rangers have to do to catch us, based on our and their current record.  I've posted my findings after the jump.  Rev, I'd be happy to e-mail this to you if you're interested enough--I'd post it here but have no idea how.

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As I mentioned some time ago, I'm running through the 2009 season using MVP Baseball 2005, with rosters upgraded to 2009.  I'm trying to keep things as realistic as possible, which means that I'm using an editing tool to make the correct players injured at the correct time for the correct length of time.

The thing is that after a while, with all the injuries/etc. we had in April and early May, it's getting hard to remember exactly who got called up and sent down when.  So if anybody has a better recollection of what happened when, or where I could find info. on such transactions--I've tried The Google--please let me know!

I'm currently on April 19 or 20.  Here's what I've got as far as my own memory:

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I realized when I'd missed most of the game and came in to see the score 17-3, that I wanted to know what happened....but not in the depressing form that game recaps usually take.  Why not a musical?

Then I thought, what if baseball were a musical?

Then I remembered the very very talented staff of writers we have here at HalosHeaven, they who brought you 2008's smash blockbuster "Switch Hit! The Movie" and the somewhat less popular but still fantasitcally amazing "Switch Hit! 2: Electric Boogaloo."

So I call upon that staff again, and all those who are new here or didn't (get to) contribute last time. 

Imagine that we are producing a show or movie about the Halos 2009 season, or about a fictional yet extremely similar team and season--with the catch that it has to be a musical. I chose the title of this fanpost based on the fact that (a) we have a ton of rookie (or relatively so) pitchers and (b) those who aren't rookies are acting a h-ll of lot like freshman dumbasses.

Who appears?  What are the showstopping numbers?  Does Will Ferrell reprise his character from Switch Hit and sing "Good Night Saigon," or does he team up with SH co-star Rob Schneider in a touching duet about lost games and romances?

Have at it!

To the point: I've recently started an Angels Dynasty over at DynastyManager.  You can find it here: http://www.dynastymanager.com/teampage.php?sport=mlb&u=SeanRobinson

I ran a dynasty a couple of years ago, which is also posted somewhere here on HH, and I'm going to try to do the same in this case--to keep everything pretty realistic and see how the parallel Halos match up against the real-life team.

I might be completely and totally off base in even asking the following, so please slap me/kick me/etc. if that is the case.

I've got a problem.  I've been planning this dynasty for a while, since around mid-March, and haven't gotten to do it until now.  In the meantime, as you know, real life has intervened.

You can see what the obvious problem is here.  How do I most respectfully handle it?  Should I pretend it never happened, and keep Nick in my rotation throughout the season?  Or should I pretend he never existed and/or invent some story whereby he retired before the season began? I want to be able to feel some kind of "closure," as a fan, either way--but I'm not sure what the best way to handle that is, especially since other people are going to be following along, such that what I wind up doing is going to enthuse or anger others no matter which way I take this.

 What do you all as fans feel the best way to go is?  Am I completely off base even asking this?

According to NY Daily News, former GOP Representative Vito Fossella has plead guilty to DUI.  He was inspired by the Adenhart tragedy to do this.

The article makes it look as though this may have just been a bald publicity stunt or trivial reaction to public pressure.  But regardless, it means that at least one person is accepting responsibility for his actions in getting behind the wheel drunk.  Though Fossella appears to be not that great a person--he was keeping two separate families, apparently--hopefully his high profile and the reasons he gave for pleading guilty will lead to that many more people taking on their own accountability, too.

Thoughts?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

MLBTR Link

I do not see how this makes ANY sense in ANY way for the Halos. We let GA go, we are set with Johnny Rivers, and we have GMJ coming back a couple of months into the season, with any number of better qualified, more worthwhile prospects (Terry Evans, anyone?) waiting in AAA.

If we wanted lead legs in the outfield, we could and should have re-signed Garret Anderson. There is absolutely no sense in pursuing Jermaine Dye.

The Boston Globe has just reported an intriguing bit: The Red Sox are "not going to be a factor."

This from the mouth of John Henry, Fauxistin Owner.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/12/henry_we_are_no.html

WTF? I'm thinking this is a lie. No way the Sux suddenly go from being THE #1 favorite to land Teix to being completely out of the running.

What does this say about Ninja's offer? Or did the Skankees suddenly drop in with a blowaway offer?