Through the postseason, I’ll be posting a GIF that summarizes the events of the previous night.
This is basically the opposite of what George Brett was feeling. The Kansas City faithful got to see a classic game that was beyond belief. But a day later, Pirates fans… they just kind of had to sit there grim and dejected as their team was eliminated.
(As you can see, @_MarcusD_ made this gif, so thank you, @_MarcusD_, whoever you are).
Brandon Crawford hit a game-changing grand slam- the first in postseason history hit by a shortstop. Madison Bumgarner controlled the game from the mound, becoming the first LHP to have a complete game shutout on the road in a winner-take-all game since one “Sandy Koufax” in 1965.
So, needless, to say, they are yesterday’s Mr. Octobers!
Standings so far (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
PP Brandon Crawford 1
P Madison Bumgarner 1
PP Brandon Moss 1*
P Brandon Finnegan 1
Through the postseason, I’ll be posting a GIF that summarizes the events of the previous night.
That’s how everybody felt, George Brett. That’s how everyone felt.
The Arizona Fall League will, this year, be a test bed for some possible rule changes to speed up the pace of play in baseball. It is, of course, an important issue, and I’m glad to see that already some possible changes will be tested. So, let’s take a look at what we’ve got here:
Batter’s Box Rule: The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat, unless one of a series of established exceptions occurs, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate. (Exceptions include a foul ball or a foul tip; a pitch forcing the batter out of the batter’s box; “time” being requested and granted; a wild pitch or a passed ball; and several others.)
A fine rule to start with. A chunk of the killed time these days is because batters step out to take some practice swings or adjust some equipment after nearly every pitch. So, on the surface, forcing hitters to stay in the box is good. However, there are some possible flaws, mainly in the fact there are a ton of exceptions, with the biggest one being the fact the batter can still call “time”. Yes, sometimes when a batter calls time it is for a good reason, but other times it is just so that they can do the aforementioned practice swings or adjustments. So, ultimately, this rule will only help if umpires cut down on unnecessary calls of “time”, otherwise the problem will remain, just in a different form.
(MORE AFTER THE JUMP)
It’s time for the MR. OCTOBERs of Yesterday.
Here’s how it goes: instead of going by day, we’re going by game. Each game will have an MVP position player and an MVP pitcher. The amount of points given are as so: the MVPs of a Wild Card game get one point, MVPs of an LDS game get three points, MVPs of a LCS game get five points, and MVPs of World Series games get ten points. Points are doubled if it’s in a Game 5 in the LDS or Game 7 of the LCS or WS.
So, last night’s Mister Octobers were position player Brandon Moss (despite losing, he was clearly the best offensive player of the game) and young Brandon Finnegan, who’s extra-innings pitching were a revelation.
Standings so far (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
PP Brandon Moss 1*
P Brandon Finnegan
The MVPs of the weekend were Doug Fister, Eduardo Escobar, and, of course, the no-hit throwing Jordan Zimmermann.
The FINAL STANDINGS of the MVP of Yesterday for 2014 are under the jump. As you can see, Clayton Kershaw won the overall title with eight MVPs of Yesterday. The highest of position players was Giancarlo Stanton, with five. The highest AL player was Corey Kluber, while the highest AL position player was Mike Trout, with four.
Lost in the Jeter last night was that, elsewhere, Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals struck out 12 in seven innings pitched while giving up just one hit. So, with all apologies to the Captain and his flare for the dramatic, Gio Gonzalez is the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings, as always… AFTER THE JUMP:
When I wrote this, it was 5-2 Yankees with one out in the top of the 9th:
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
Wolverine of the X-Men has a habit of appearing in comics he technically isn’t supposed to be in, simply because he’s popular. Well, Cal Ripken is the Wolverine of Baseball Comic Books. He’s joined forces with Batman, led the Shortstop Squad, and been the subject of a bio-comic. Also, like Wolverine, Cal Ripken seemed to be able to recover from any injury, no matter how severe. But, it’s the first similarity that I’m focusing on, because, in the comic I will be looking at today, Cal Ripken appears in a story about the 2001 New York Yankees being Superheroes.
Let that sink in. The New York Yankees, in a comic that they themselves ordered and gave away, still had Cal Ripken in their comic and had him on the cover too.
Entitled “Championship Challenge” and given out September 28, 2001, it stars, as you can see, four of the greatest stars the Yankees had that season. Mariano Rivera! Tino Martinez! Jorge Posada! And, of course, the Once and Future Captain, Derek Jeter himself. But, of course, we also see Cal RIpken on the cover, letting everybody know that the Iron Man will be there! With such Ultimate Sports Force stalwarts as Rick Licht writing and Brian Kong doing the art, this was partially made as part of the Ripken farewell celebration, and it becomes even more obvious when you realize that originally Ripken’s final series would have been at Yankee Stadium if not for the schedule reshuffling that MLB did after the 9/11 attacks.
Anyway, go below the jump to read about the story:
Clayton Kershaw was actually tied with Mark Buerhle for WAR yesterday, pitching-wise, but there is also the small matter that KERSHAW TRIPLED IN A RUN. I repeat, a pitcher TRIPLED IN A RUN. He also made a cool behind-the-back catch and laid down a sweet sac bunt, too.
So, yes, yet again, Clayton Kershaw is the MVP of Yesterday. He’s almost certainly going to win it for the season.
Standings, as ever, after the jump:
The Baseball Continuum 