Championship Series' Day 5: Please Don't Do This to Me Edition

 No...no, I can't do this this year, man.

I've already been through enough in 2020. Death, career change, plans going on hold, not seeing my friends, political disarray, general anxiety and depression. This year already...absolutely blows.

But if the Astros get to the World Series after losing the first 3 games of the ALCS, it might get even worse. I am really, REALLY not a fan of this horseshit. If a team decides halfway through a 7-game series that they're gonna actually compete, then they don't deserve a damned reset in Game 4. 

Carlos Correa, George Springer and Michael Brantley were responsible for the runs as usual, and Correa walked off. I'm not saying that having only 3 guys score all your runs is a bad strategy, as...look at Randy Arozarena, Mike Zunino and Brandon Lowe, but when you have a team with a lack of lineup depth or pitching getting by on the strength of three guys who've been there for years...and you're doing all this with every game being an elimination game...is your GOAL to piss off every baseball fan out there?

Cause, like, I don't think anybody wants the Astros to win again. That's not an exaggeration, it's not like the year where I thought the Orioles were in first by default because I didn't understand how to read stats. I can read the room, and the room says 'knock this shit off, Houston', and...they won't. Tomorrow night is Framber Valdez vs. Blake Snell. That SHOULD, in theory, do it...but the Rays' bullpen is now beginning to make mistakes, and so help me...whoever, if they make more in Game 6 and force a Game 7 when there shouldn't have even been a Game 5, I'm gonna be livid. Like, 2009, obviously-unmedicated-teenager levels of livid. 

In a slightly less depressed game, one game after Corey Seager went a triple short of a cycle against the Braves pitching, Marcell Ozuna went a triple short of a cycle against the Dodgers pitching.

This was one of Clayton Kershaw's classic playoff rough starts, and we'll never know if it was his back or his nerves that led to him giving up 4 runs in 5 innings, but at least he joins Dylan Floro and Brusdar Graterol in sharing the blame for letting the Braves hit 10 runs off them and go into finishing position for tomorrow's Game 5. 

Again, the Braves' offense is absolutely alive right now, with Ozuna, Freeman, d'Arnaud, Swanson, Riley, Acuna, and now rookie Christian Pache all aiding the charge. Hell, Tonight's winning pitcher was Bryse Wilson, a rookie who'd only had a few 2020 starts and held his own for 6 innings, only giving up a run, and looking like a pro against one of the best pitchers in baseball. The fact that guys like Bryse Wilson, Ian Anderson and Max Fried are looking unstoppable against a pitching staff consistently thought of as one of the best, and a lineup that looked unbeatable in June...that says a lot about this Braves team, and where they might be headed.

Tomorrow, we have a chance of both playing matches being decided. I would really, really like, at the very least, the ALCS to be decided tomorrow. Just so the long, national nightmare can be over.