It's so cool that one year into the Munetaka Murakami experience he's hitting postseason home runs. That was not his intention. He specifically wanted to play for a lower-tier team, like in Japan, and be a crowd favorite. And then suddenly he immediately becomes a playoff fixture. And he just hit a home run off one of the best pitchers in the AL. One Hundred.
The Sox are the true underdog team of this postseason, and there really aren't a ton of underdog teams in the running. Braves, Dodgers, Yankees, Rays, none of them are really underdogs. Brewers maybe? Cause they're a less expensive team? But they're still the best team in baseball. The White Sox squeaked in, have a ton of young talent, took down the Astros and are now leveling Cleveland with their best guys rested. They shut out the Guardians, needing only a few hits to do so, and now have an edge going into Monday, where it's probably Davis Martin or Sean Burke getting the ball. The complexity of the pitching staff is really impressing me, because Anthony Kay and Jordan Hicks can step in for a spot job and Grant Taylor can work a 4 inning save. There's no rules.
I will say, Gavin Williams vs. this offense may result in a much tighter game, but I'm still down for whatever happens here.
[yawn]
Yeah, I know some cool things happened in this one, Tarik Skubal pitching a gem, Kyle Tucker finally coming alive, all that, but...this is so boring, guys. Dave Roberts said that he's already planning the pitching rotation with the NLCS in mind. Like, that is such a pompous statement. He already thinks he's winning this season. If the Braves had any mind, they'd make him regret that, but as we just saw, they needed three games to take out a Phillies team that couldn't hit, and wasted their best starters so that A.J. Smith Shawver could get shelled in long relief. Today it might be a similar strategy honestly, while the Dodgers have Blake Snell out there.
Look, if the Braves weren't still hitting I'd be more worried. Albies had a late homer to rally a bit. The backup catcher had a homer. There is life in this team, and I think that if they somehow work a split to ensure Chris Sale can pitch, they could do some real damage. But this might be tough to do given how well planned out the Dodgers are right now.
What a difference a couple of days makes, right?
The Yankees got all sorts of hits against the Red Sox, and their bullpen, and the Rays put out their best starter and mostly avoided the bullpen and we couldn't get shit done. Drew Rasmussen looked incredible. 10 strikeouts, 8 innings, 1 hit, and said hit was immediately extinguished thanks to Austin Wells trying to leg out a triple with the heart of the order coming up. The Yanks pinch-hit Stanton in the 9th, they would have done it with Wells on second and brought in Volpe or somebody as a defensive sub. So much changes if Wells is content with a double, but alas...
My hope is that Rasmussen was the worst of this. He's gone deep with a no-no against the Yanks twice in the last two weeks. Famously we do a lot better against Nick Martinez, and Freddy Peralta, despite that September upswing, is not god anymore. Game 2 Monday night will have Cameron Schlittler on the gosh darned mound, and that'll make things very tough for a Rays team that only mustered one run, on a Jonathan Aranda solo shot, off of Cole and friends.
I still have hope, but that was pretty damn bleak, gotta say.
Brewers-Padres might be the most competitive series of the four. The Brewers are the best of the best, but the Padres are hotter than hot right now. If this game was played in San Diego, that go-ahead homer by Ty France woulda counted, but because of that rinky-dink ass stadium in Milwaukee with a closed roof, that was merely an easy out. It sure makes the possibility of a Rays-Brewers World Series even more fun. Rob Manfred wants Yanks-Dodgers again, but how about two really low-market teams with old-ass stadiums fighting for dominance? Make him rip his hair out.
Anyway, this one was exactly what you wanted. Miz looking electric, striking out 6 but still allowing 2 runs. Chourio being the hero and tying the game with that huge homer. Phenomenal back-and-forth bullpen work. A thrilling conclusion where France almost sinks the game. So much really cool stuff. I'm definitely pulling for Milwaukee here, but the Padres could be a decent match for them.
Today we've got another Dodgers game, which Dave Roberts tells me they're planning to win 5-4 in order to set up a washed narrative before the sweep on Tuesday, and some more fun in Milwaukee. I'll try and sneak some in, in between watching football.
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