Through the postseason, I’ll be posting a GIF that summarizes the events of the previous night.
The favorites are losing, bullpens are imploding, clearly, the stage has been set for interactions like the below:
Game-by-game:
O’s-Tigers: Kevin Gausman and Delmon Young.
Nationals-Giants: Joe Panik and Jake Peavy.
Dodgers-Cardinals: Matt Carpenter and NOBODY (nobody pitched good enough last night this game to get a Mr. October)
Angels-Royals: Yordano Ventura and Eric Hosmer
Standings (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
P Kevin Gausman 3
PP Delmon Young 3
PP Joe Panik 3
P Jake Peavy 3
PP Matt Carpenter 3
P Yordano Ventura 3
PP Eric Hosmer 3
P Andrew Miller 3
PP Nelson Cruz 3
PP Mike Moustakas 3
P Jered Weaver 3
PP Brandon Crawford 1
P Madison Bumgarner 1
PP Brandon Moss 1*
Through the postseason, I’ll be posting a GIF that summarizes the events of the previous night.
Much like Nori Aoki here, the Royals had a bit of an unusual way of getting there, but in the end it worked out for them last night.
Meanwhile, as for the Orioles/Royals game, here’s a artists rendition of the Orioles’ 8th inning:
Now that we are in the LDS round, each Mr. October gets 3 points.
For the Orioles-Tigers game, the Mr. Octobers are Andrew Miller (pitching, for his excellent relief work) and Nelson Cruz amongst position players (for his home run, 2 hits, and 3 RBIs).
In the Angels-Royals game, the Mr. Octobers are Mike Moustakas (for his game-winning homer) and (despite his team losing) Jered Weaver for pitching.
Standings so far (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
P Andrew Miller 3
PP Nelson Cruz 3
PP Mike Moustakas 3
P Jered Weaver 3
PP Brandon Crawford 1
P Madison Bumgarner 1
PP Brandon Moss 1*
P Brandon Finnegan 1
Here are my predictions for the 2014 ALDS and NLDS series:
The Orioles are a good team and have a flare for the dramatic, and also seem to like giving the middle finger to any sort of baseball logic and sense. However, I do not think they can beat the Tigers rotation. Their only shot will be to get to the soft underbelly that is the Detroit bullpen. However, it’s entirely possible that the Tigers’ won’t give them that chance. Tigers in 4.
The Royals/Angels series is a bit less clear, partly because I haven’t seen them “live” as much as I’ve seen the O’s and Tigers, but also because they are very different teams (while the Orioles and Tigers have more-or-less the same approach as each other). The Royals, as we saw during the Wild Card game, are an old-style team that loves to bunt and steal, while relying on pitching to try and make up for all the times that might fail (the Royals actually were one of the worst teams in the league in certain offensive categories this season). The Angels are more of a standard modern team at the plate, with a big-name lineup that was the league’s most productive offense, led, of course, by Mike Trout. Their pitching, however, is nowhere near as big-name as their lineup. With such different teams going at each other, and with strengths going against strengths, this could be anyone’s series. That said, I think the Angels are the better overall team, so I think they will win it. Angels in 4.
The Cardinals/Dodgers matchup is one that has happened many times before- they are two of the flagship teams of baseball and stalwarts of the National League. They met last year in the NLCS and the Cardinals won in 6, but I think this time it’ll be different. The Cardinals no longer have postseason man-god Carlos Beltran, Michael Wacha is still recovering from injury (although certainly the Cardinals maintain a very deep rotation) and Yadier Molina isn’t fully healthy either. The Dodgers, meanwhile, now are another year wiser and experienced, and, oh, right, have Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke all nice and lined up to pitch in order. If not for the fact Hyun-Jin Ryu is going to be coming off an injury and that Dan Haren has long had trouble against the Cardinals, the starting rotation situation for the Dodgers would look almost as good as Detroit’s looks like against the Orioles.
While the Cardinals do have the advantage in bullpen, experience and overall team depth, all of that might mean diddly-squat, though, because this is a best-of-five series and to win the Cardinals will likely have to win at least two games against the 1-2 punch of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke (there are rumors that Don Mattingley will try to go with a 3-man rotation). I don’t think they can, even with Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn. Dodgers in 5.
The Nationals hold a edge against the Giants because of the Wild Card game. Because the Giants had to play that, they probably won’t be able to have Bumgarner pitch until Game 3. Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson, of course, are also perfectly good (and Ryan Vogelsong has his moments), but they aren’t Bumgarner. The Nationals, meanwhile, will have Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez. So, advantage in the rotation. Nationals also hold the advantage in offense, with a deeper lineup that features two players (Denard Span and Jayson Werth) who were top-10 in batting average in the NL this season and with Bryce Harper having heated up after the All-Star Break and Adam LaRoche. While you can never count out Buster Posey and the rest of the Giants, I feel like the Nationals will win in 4.
So, there you go.
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 Baseball Continuum 