This Trade Makes No Sense: Well THAT Was Quick Edition

 

The ink is barely even dry on the 2024 season and already the trades are firing. At least let us catch our breaths!

Alright, let's see here, y'know how the theme of the 23-24 offseason was the Braves offloading contracts to save cap space [only to...take on more contracts anyway?]. I think we're here again. Because Jorge Soler still has two more years on his contract he signed with the Giants, and the Braves don't especially feel like paying that for a power hitter past his prime. So, here we are.

Jorge Soler was decent enough in a stretch run with the Braves this past season, he hit 9 homers and 24 RBIs in 49 games, as well as 2 hits in 8 postseason plate appearance, one of which left the park. But...the days of Jorge Soler hitting 40 homers and being valuable to an organization might be over. At this point he's kind of a passable power bat, he's good for you in some situations but useless in others. So I get why the Braves would want to get rid of him, there's really no need for a one-dimensional power bat going forward. 

But...trading him to the Angels...for Griffin Canning. That's not a guarantee of a fair return.

First of all, Soler in Anaheim...*could* work. Maybe he has a comeback season as a hard hitting DH/OF type, maybe he's just what that lineup needs. The Angels are rebuilding, there are some pieces that could go somewhere in 2025, Soler could be a sturdy backbone. But...if this is a rebuilding, young team with several promising young starters, Soler sticks out like a sore thumb. You want a team on the same page if you're establishing yourself, and Soler could clash with what the rest of the Angels want. I'm not saying he will, but he could.

Then Canning in Atlanta. Which means, for the second year running, the Braves have traded for an injury-prone hurler in the hopes that everything finally clicks. And to their credit, it worked with Chris Sale. It repeatedly looked like it wouldn't, but Sale was a risk that truly paid off. Canning, though...I'm not as sure of. Until 2024, Canning had never pitched a full season, thanks to injuries or some other factor. At his breakout, Canning was really strong, and had his most impressive showing...in 2020, a strike-shortened season, even winning a gold glove. Then in 2021 he gets hurt, 2022 he misses all of, 2023 he's hurt for some stretches of and this season it was clear that the injuries were still hanging over him. Despite a fuller season, Canning had a 6-13 record and a 5.19 ERA, a comedown from a relatively impressive 2023.

And the Braves said 'we'd like this'.

I mean, at worst Canning misses more time and makes them regret the deal, but what's the ceiling at this point? They're expecting Canning to be a serviceable 4th or 5th rotation guy who can at least hold offenses down? Can Canning even be that level of innings-eater anymore? And to the Braves' credit, Morton and Fried will likely be gone, they gave away Kyle Wright and Mike Soroka last year, they're down to two rehabbing starters in Strider and Ynoa, two great 2024 stories whose future value is uncertain in Sale and Lopez, and future pieces like Schwellenbach and Waldrep who, I'm guessing, will have to pick up a lot of slack next year. And now you have Canning, who...I guess represents some level of consistency in all that? Like we know he can go 32 games now, but will it cost him the majority of 2025?? This feels like it needlessly complicates things further.

And with the Braves, you also have to think about the possibility that they're only getting Canning as bait for a future trade, as they did with Marco Gonzales last year, or Jackson Kowar or whichever. Which...I guess makes sense for a GM but perhaps not for a layperson? 

I dunno, man. To me it seems like Anthopoulous is trying to long-game this but not seeing what's in front of him. If this works out somehow, I'll give him the credit. But this far out it just seems confusing and misguided. 

Either You Want it or You Don't

 

From a storytelling perspective, the right team won. 

There were so many storylines in play. The Dodgers not getting the full glory, and the full credit, in 2020. The Dodgers failing to actually win with all their big stars. The best teams never taking the glory after the playoff expansion. Ohtani finally playing for a competitor. The pitching revealing a skeleton crew. Freeman recovering from both a personal tragedy and an injury. All of this farming in a five year timeline to lead to an incredible win, and a HUGE win at that, is what baseball can be at its best. You want a full-season storyline with definite heroes? There you go. The best team won, and it wasn't an easy win, because in an alternate universe the Padres keep the leverage. The Dodgers had to become a well-oiled machine in October after breaking down throughout the second half, and they refined themselves and became unstoppable.

Watching this team keep fighting throughout this series, with all the Freddie Freeman highlights, all the incredible pitching energy from Yamamoto, Buehler and Vesia, all the quick contact moments late, was incredible. There was so much fight in this team, and they only got more hungry as the series went on. Any other team couldn't have come back from a 5-0 deficit tonight, and they not only did it, but erased any possibility of a Yankee surge. 

All things considered, this was the outcome that made the most sense. The Dodgers earned this. They fulfilled their promise to the fans from 2020, and undid the punchline of dropping early. They should be very proud.

Now...if I can be honest...the Dodgers shouldn't have won that game. I'm sorry, but there was only so much that the Dodgers themselves did that couldn't be chalked up to mistakes the Yankees made. This game had multiple fielding errors, a catcher's interference, a balk, and a pitching missed tag. And 5 runners left in scoring position. The Yankees were constantly put into position to win this game, and they refused. And it honestly sums up this Series for them. They had so many opportunities, so many moments they could have owned, and they just couldn't. 

And for all of this to happen after 4 innings of beautiful baseball, Aaron Judge shushing the haters, Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton going yard, Gerrit Cole working on a beaut and Judge robbing a Freeman homer. It felt like this team was flipping the script, at last. And then everything fell apart, and all of the flaws this team had been working to hide just burst open. And despite conscious efforts to keep at it, it just felt like something broke. 

The Yankees could have won, and chose not to. This game, this series. A more bitter person could make a case that it was less the Dodgers winning this series and more the Yankees losing it. I'm not gonna do that. The Dodgers did a lot right, and earned this win. But they were certainly helped by the Yankees blowing every last opportunity that came their way. 

You also have to think of it this way: Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Clay Holmes, Alex Verdugo, Tommy Kahnle and possibly Anthony Rizzo might all be gone next year. This season was the perfect storm, and a tip of a lot of the Boone regime's quest to make the deeper postseason. And while next year the Yankees will still be competitive, I don't know if they'll have a lot of the pieces that made themselves a World Series team, and they may be in danger of falling off. Even if they keep Soto, which'll prevent subsequent moves probably. 

So that's where we're at. The Dodgers won at the right time, and can build off of this World Series win, while the Yankees lost at the wrong time and have a rockier path to staying at this level. What a happy, joyful end to a really entertaining season. 

World Series Game 4: Wide Awake in New York

 

Fifteen years ago tonight, there was a World Series game in New York, and I was there.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, I barely stopped to breathe while it was happening. But I saw my team play in a World Series game, and I saw Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixiera hit home runs. And it's wild to me that it was 15 years ago. It's been that long.

So seeing that it was a 15 year line, to the day, from a W.S. win, and the Yanks had a do or die game tonight, I thought it would be heartbreaking if the light went out here. When things rhyme, they don't do so cruelly. There had to be a reason this all lined up. It had to be for something. And with the Freddie homer early, I got worried. I got worried I'd gotten my hopes up again.

And then...somehow...the Yankees arrived. And played their best game in a week. I'm still in awe, kind of. I did not think this team had anything left. But basically every aspect of this team came into vogue tonight, in the best way. 

It did worry me that a chance at tying the game early was foiled by Anthony Volpe's base running. Even then I thought Volpe was trying not to repeat the mistake Stanton made last night, and despite the immediate outcry, he did what he thought was right. But the rest of the game was defined by Volpe's sheer tenacity. A HUGE grand slam to flip the game [and give the Yanks a lead for the first time in 3 games], followed by an incredible home plate slide that helped the rally in the eighth. Around Volpe, everyone else came in line. Gleyber Torres's incredible late homer, Luis Gil's surprisingly strong work after the homer, Holmes and Weaver shutting the Dodgers down, Judge finally awakening and batting Soto home, Wellsy homering because he could. It was the full team effort I'd wanted from the Yankees all series. Usually it had come down to one guy, and here it was everybody. And when everybody pitches in, this team can score 10+ runs against an enemy once thought impenetrable. 

And yes, the Dodgers still tried to claw back, and had some sneaky little hits midgame, but tonight it wasn't enough. And it's relieving to me that a Freddie Freeman homer isn't gonna be enough to keep the Yankees down at this point in the series. 

I know the other shoe could drop at any moment. I know the Dodgers very well could figure out Cole tomorrow night. But right now I'm happy the Yankees won a game and prevent a sweep. I know the odds are against us, and with things as they are it may not go to 7...but at this point, I'm along for the ride. They defied the odds tonight. Maybe they can keep doing that. 

World Series Game 3: Repeat to Fade

 

There's an old adage that an actor's nightmare is being onstage and forgetting all of your lines. So the sports fan's nightmare must be your team getting to the championship and not doing a damned thing. And that's where we're at.

The first two games at least featured an attempt to parry by the Yankees, but tonight, barring Alex Vertigo's late theatrics, had none. The offense felt lifeless. The pitching didn't seem to have learned from the first two games. Judge is still cold. Soto's now falling off. Stanton did some things to get runners in scoring position but they weren't capitalized upon. And numerous Yankees were given the opportunity to do something great and just couldn't. Over and over again. I tell you, it was exhausting to watch. Hope dying repeatedly, and in different ways. It's different from past playoff losses because at least then we actually fought back.

This is similar to the 2012 ALCS against the Tigers. Where the O's series wore us out so much that we had absolutely nothing left, and the lineup was basically dead. That's where we're at. Even if people actually pitch well, we're too worn out to actually offer anything up. 

This isn't to say what the Dodgers are doing isn't impressive. Walker Buehler's finally put it together months after being activated. The lineup is versatile and can keep getting it done. Freddie Freeman's waltzing towards a W.S. MVP. The bullpen might be the reason why they're getting this done, ultimately. I just really thought if the Yankees could properly prepare for Cleveland, we'd adopt a strategy to undercut LA. But that involves the lineup being able to do anything. And we're just not there right now, no matter what rituals the brass has in mind for the next 24 hours.

It'd be nice if the Yankees could somehow win Game 4 and stop this horrific slide. But I feel like if I get my hopes up for that it'll make a 4-game sweep even less palatable. So I'm just gonna go in with the expectation that this could be the end of the road, and hope that we actually have something to offer tomorrow. Gil on the mound, likely against a bullpen barrage. Who knows, right? 

If it's another effort like tonight's, though, I dunno if I'll be able to watch much of it.

World Series Game 2: At What Cost?

 

It's weird that a team going up 2-0 before a day off still might be in a precarious position. But that's what the Dodgers are looking at right now. On one hand, they're absolutely embarrassing the Yankees. On the other, they just lost Shohei Ohtani to a shoulder injury. And nobody knows what that means for the rest of the series, or 2025, or anything. 

And that's the conundrum a lot of managers are facing right now. Do you run the risk of losing somebody next season if they can help you win a title? That was pretty much what Nestor Cortes said when he was announced to join the World Series roster, that if he overexerts himself and needs to miss 2025, but it gets the team a World Series, then it was worth it. Which is the single most unsettling, depressing, near-dystopian thing I've ever heard. He sounded like a guy who just got back surgery from a 96-straight-hour shift at the Amazon plant. 'Well, if the company makes its target then it'll have been for something'. Good gracious, Nestor, you're a human being too!

And that was the risk with Shohei Ohtani. He has the best season of his career on a Tommy John rehab year, but at the same time...if he gets hurt DURING that rehab year, then you just look silly. Got some nice, shiny awards out of it but now he has to miss more time. And the Dodgers already have enough guys doing that, even if they're probably gonna win a World Series despite that. And look, it's not the throwing shoulder, it won't mess up the pitching rehab, but...QB1 could be off the board with the season on the line. Let's be clear, the Dodgers have plenty of people who can be the hero instead. We saw many of them come to form tonight, like Tommy Edman, Tesocar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman. Even Yoshinobu Yamamoto had an incredible night on the mound. It's not unheard of for the Dodgers to still come off like a powerful team without Ohtani, but that's not the optimal route.

Again, we'll find out what Ohtani's full deal is, they're currently saying he dislocated it but you never know if it needs more repair than that. Best case scenario he just needs a day or so off. Worst case, everybody else needs to step up.

AND SPEAKING OF STEPPING UP...dear lord, the Yankees really are testing me. Judge is colder than Maine right now. The bulk of the lineup couldn't get anything done. Once again, Soto and Stanton had to be the heroes, but it all came down to Jose Trevino with the bases loaded and he couldn't capitalize on the moment. That's pretty damning when the Dodgers have people who can make magic happen with the bases loaded and two outs and the Yankees don't. That wins championships. And right now the Yankees really aren't looking like winners. Not at all.

Hopefully a day off and a home crowd can jumpstart something in this team. It'll be Schmidt v. Buehler, and Walker Buehler has found his mojo despite the occasional imperfection. If the Yankees want to take control of the moment, they'll actually do something here. If not, there's really not gonna be much to this World Series at all.

World Series Game 1: Not Like Us

 

One of the things I noticed while watching the game tonight, and let me tell you that I watched every last second of it, was the spontaneity and randomness of the Dodger Stadium organist. They were playing stuff like 'Where It's At' by Beck, and 'Amber' by 311. I'm pretty sure they broke into the theme from Attack on Titan at one point. The big song in LA, or anywhere right now, is Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar. It's an easy hook. Four notes, twice. And it gets people going. 

Very, uh, funny a song about how another musician is pulling a Wander Franco is this lauded stadium song right now but this has been a strange year.

There was a lot of 'Not Like Us' cues during Game 1. And you have to think that the Dodgers were making a statement. Biggest series of the year against a team they have history with. Coming in here with Judge and Soto and Cole. And the Dodgers are saying 'they're not like us'. They wish they were as good as we were. They deliver when it's convenient, we deliver when it counts. 

Until that...fateful moment, it was a pretty tense game, with heroes on both sides. Betts and Ohtani had cute moments, but Lux and Hernandez paved the way. Stanton had his mammoth hit. Flaherty and Cole had excellent starts. Both bullpens did what was necessary. Jazz Chisholm stole his way to a lead. Alex Verdugo was stellar in the outfield after his early snafu. 

I think if Boone had let Cortes pitch to Betts, we wouldn't have had this ending. Genuinely. We have at least three more games of really defining Aaron Boone's judgement, but this comes down to that decision. Going with Cortes, and walking Betts. If he brings in Tim Hill, are we still getting walked off? If he pitches to Betts are we still getting walked off? To both, I'd honestly say 'probably not'.

But loading the bases for Freddie Freeman with Nestor Cortes, who's famously recovering from an elbow surgery, on the mound...is gonna lead to an outcome like the one we got. You have to be aware of that possibility. And you have to prevent it.

Freeman's walk-off grandy is a huge baseball moment. People will remember it for years. I also think it's the last notch in Freeman's checklist to ensure a Hall of Fame enshrinement in about a decade. For a game that went to extras and had so many back-and-forth amazing moments, it's a great ending. And it's the culmination of everything that went on in that game. The Yankees are tough, they keep fighting...but they're not like us. 

Now...if that's GAME 1...I'm thinking the rest of this series is just gonna be like that. Whoever wins this series is going to have to fight for it, and will be absolutely exhausted when it's over. 

For now, let's just see how Rodon handles things tomorrow. Then I'll really start panicking.

Mickey, Jackie, Reggie, Fernando and The Present.

 

Three generations of my family, at least, have witnessed a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. The exciting matches in the 50s, the back-to-back battles in the 70s, the last minute rematch in 1981. Some of the greatest MLB players in history have played in Yanks-Dodgers World Series'. It's just as important as baseball itself. Brooklyn vs. The Bronx. LA vs. New York. East vs. West.

So going my near three decades without witnessing one myself feels a little unfair. Could you imagine a late-2000s version of this battle? A late 2010s version? A late 80s version? It's been a little while, that's for sure. But, after the Dodgers held off the Mets in 6 games, that's what we're getting again. This week, we're getting the ultimate Yankees-Dodgers series. Judge v. Ohtani. Cole vs. Yamamoto. Teoscar vs. Giancarlo. The most expensive Yanks-Dodgers World Series to date.

To be honest, this could go either way. The Dodgers have a killer lineup, where not only the big guns can kill you, but the lower lineup guys like Kiké Hernandez, Tommy Edman and Will Smith can too. Tommy Edman won NLCS MVP solely because he had important hits in nearly every game of the series. Nobody has been a better addition to this team than Edman, and all he cost was Miguel Vargas basically. So if Betts, Ohtani and Freeman fail, they've still got him. What could kill this team is the lack of pitching depth, especially in terms of starters. The bullpen is pretty good, but this team has gotten very lucky.

Whereas the Yankees have the better pitching, the better clutch hitting and the more accurate stars...and with them I'm just worried that they're gonna be too tired to leg it out for 4 more wins. The Guardians series really took a lot of energy out of them, and hopefully they still have some left for, I dunno, the toughest team in baseball. Everyone's underestimated the Dodgers, and they could be the latest and greatest.

I think it could go either way. But whatever happens, it's good for baseball, and it's certainly good for me.

As for the Mets...what a season they had. They could have been dead midyear and they hit a second wind, became incredible late in the season, snuck in very late and outdid some of the giants of this season. Unfortunately, the Dodgers figured out their starting pitching, the lineup trailed off save for Vientos, and in the end they weren't a match for them. I think the Mets have a ton to be proud of this season, and possibly a lot to build off of for next year. It just was going to take more to get over this Dodgers team, ultimately.

Alright, World Series in a couple days, and I've still got a team to root for. This is gonna be fun. 

Championship Series' Day 7: Juan Shining Moment

 

Never a dull moment, right? 

If the Yankees were gonna make their first World Series in 15 years, it wasn't gonna come easily. The 2009 playoffs seem like a cakewalk compared to this. Every game against the Guardians has been an absolute war. The second you're calm, they pull something, and it's something ridiculous you weren't expecting. And it's always people like Brayan Rocchio or Bo Naylor or Pedro Avila. And then we can do something but is it gonna be enough? Is the other shoe gonna drop like it always does? Are we gonna be embarrassed while everyone that wants us to watches laughing?

This time, though, after so many close calls and so many moments the umps took from us, all it took was Juan Soto, two men on, and the right placement. Watching that ball travel further and further back was an incredible moment. You hoped it was enough, even if you weren't sure. And then when it landed, and the realization set in...the incredible exhale.

This was already a great game for the Yanks, thanks to Carlos Rodon, Giancarlo Stanton, Jake Cousins and the defense, but those two runs stopped it from being great. It once again needed late theatrics, and after Game 3 I wasn't sure if that could happen. The Guardians are famously better clutch hitters than us, and you know they were waiting for the right pitch. In another universe something goes wrong, Thomas or Noel does something. But it didn't happen. The Yankees really outlasted, outhit and outthought the Guardians, which is something I was never quite sure we could do.

And now we're in the World Series for the first time since I started the blog. Either we're seeing a rematch of the 1970s World Series', or we're seeing a rematch of the 2000 World Series. Either one would be awesome. We have better pitching than both. But...we actually made it. I kept thinking we'd get in our own way more often than not, but...we made it. 

And now we've gotta win #28. Stranger things have happened, right?

As for the Guardians...look, they didn't make this series easy for us, and I'm thankful for that. The one thing that gave us the win was figuring out their bullpen, and everything else stymied us still. The lineup is impossible. The starters, like Boyd, Bibee on three days rest and somehow kinda Gavin Williams, were still tricky for us, as they were for anyone. Bo Naylor was the big hitter tonight, dangerous pretty much anytime he was on. There is depth to this team that makes me think they'll be at this for a while. 

I think there's a definite path for the Guardians to continue at this pace, and potentially get further in the future. Ramirez is around for a while, this infield might be as well, and the rotation is only gonna get stronger. And if Yanks-Guards is ALREADY tense...it might get even more tense as we go.

Alright, that's one spot down. Today we possibly see who gets the second one. Good luck to both!

Championship Series' Day 6: Back in the New York Groove

 

Yes, I watched it. Yes, I watched all of it.

The thing about this Yanks-Guardians series is that whoever wins is gonna need to lie down for a while afterwards. This is not a quaint series. Yanks-Royals was quaint comparatively. This is a bloodbath. There was only one real score change but the tension and drama made this quite the watch.

And it boils down to the Guardians not being satisfied with just throwing it in. This is a great clutch team, and even when you think the game's been decided they can fight back and make you regret it. I got so worried Jhonkensy Noel was gonna go yard again tonight but thankfully Dugie saved it. I got so worried Mark Leiter was gonna blow the game but he got this team out of quite the pickle late. I got worried every time Fry got up, or even Rocchio, because this team is capable of so much the second you count them out. There were so many points in the ninth where things could have gone wrong, even down to Berti bobbling the ball on the last out, but it all wrapped up cleanly.

It all came down to the fact that the Yankees have completely figured out the Guardians' bullpen. Tonight they got to Cade Smith, thanks to a moonshot from Giancarlo Stanton. And they did more with Clase, all those theatrics in the ninth courtesy of Volpe and Verdugo and Torres. They didn't do badly against Gavin Williams either, with Soto and Wells going yard off of him. The Yankees hitting has figured out the Guardians' pitching, and that's why they're 3-1.

Here's what's damning. Tomorrow, Tanner Bibee will be pitching Game 5 on very short rest. This organization doesn't have great luck with starting their best pitcher on low rest, and people who were around in 2016 can tell you all about that. This thing could turn again at the drop of a hat, but there's a chance we get this done in Cleveland. It's in sight. Not definite of course, but the Yankees can see the next stage.

I'm hesitant about the Yankees getting it done tomorrow because the Dodgers sure couldn't today. Jack Flaherty had such a great start in Game 1, and so they brought him back and the Mets killed him. So many Mets got a handle on Flaherty's stuff, including Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Alvarez, Francisco Lindor, and of course Starling Marte, who had a ton of really helpful RBIs throughout. David Peterson was still somewhat roughed up today, but he did way better than Flaherty, and provided the exact kind of stability the Mets needed with Senga resting.

The Mets somehow have enough life still in them that they can chase the Dodgers, a game away from the World Series, for a 12-6 victory. Even as the Mets' rotation begins to struggle a bit, they still have more going on than the Dodgers' rotation, and that could keep them alive for longer than anyone might think.

For Game 6, back in L.A., I assume we'll see Manaea and Landon Knack. Which, again, doesn't bode very well for the Dodgers. But at the same time...with the team the Dodgers have this year, you never know what kind of mound performance will be enough to get it done.

Championship Series' Day 5: You Wanted Excitement!

 

I would be madder about the Yankees losing if both teams didn't fight like the dickens to make sure it wasn't a simple game. I checked the score at like inning 7 and I was already going 'well if this is the one we lose then that's perfectly fair'. Matt Boyd was kicking our asses, and continuing his strong October [OUT OF NOWHERE], Manzardo took Schmidt yard, nobody was doing anything, then fine. Put it to rest, come back tomorrow.

Then the eighth inning happened.

Aaron Judge hitting a game-tying home run off of Emmanuel Clase is why playoff baseball is so good. And it seems like something this entire season was leading up to. Nobody could top Clase, and yet the Yankees had figured him out. Judge sends him yard, Stanton sends him yard. It was incredible. The game seemed lost, and the power couple decided it wasn't. Dugie added some insurance in the ninth, Weaver was up, it was looking good.

And...I will give the Guardians credit. Where most teams power down, they kept going. They stayed hot, all of them. The reason the Guardians won this game was that even in the ninth, with all hope basically lost, they kept chomping at the bit. They kept fighting. Volpe's dirty steal must have set them off goes, now J-Ram's pounding, Thomas is trying to go yard, everybody wants it. I think the second Jhonkensy Noel got up I kinda went...'oh crap'. And sure enough, bam.

The Yankees got so close on so many occasions to getting back to it, but it just wasn't gonna happen. The Yanks were fading as Cleveland was waking up. And so they had enough energy to fight to secure the win, while we just sort of sat dazed. 

It's not the kind of loss that can kill our World Series dreams, but it's one that concludes that getting there isn't going to be as simple as we thought. Tomorrow, Luis Gil goes against Gavin Williams. Two young phenoms with serious drawbacks. Which one will crack first?

The Dodgers were always the better team than the Mets on paper. Now the Dodgers have the momentum, and that might be enough to seal their fate.

Again, tonight had everything the Dodgers had been hoping for. Betts, Ohtani and Muncy had power moments, Edman, Kiké and Smith made contact, Yamamoto found his postseason mojo and stuck with it, and barring Mark Vientos doing his thing, the Mets were silenced. Not only was it a win, it was a big win, and the Dodgers have the Mets exactly where they want them. 

The Dodgers are going with Jack Flaherty tomorrow, and it's not clear currently who the Mets are going with. David Peterson? Senga again? Relievers? Either way, if Flaherty has as good of a game as he did in Game 1, the Mets will be waltzing right out of October.

A lot could happen tomorrow. Certainly a hell of an outcome's being set up. Let's see how it goes.

Championship Series' Day 4: Click.

 

Like the Yankees' win yesterday, the Dodgers' win tonight came down to someone who had taken the entire season to do what he'd made an entire career out of. And as likely as Anthony Rizzo's return to form was last night, Walker Buehler suddenly pitching 4 shutout innings after nearly costing the Dodgers the NLDS last week...was a little less likely. But just as welcome when it happened.

The Dodgers' game 3 victory was the culmination of everything this team had been trying to make work for the last few weeks, all at once. Kiké Hernandez in October, Tommy Edman as a contact machine, Muncy as an underrated power bat, the bullpen, Buehler, and especially Shohei Ohtani leading off. Like Judge, Ohtani has gotten a bit colder this October, but his 3-run homer was a great confirmation of the Dodgers' dominance. Buehler went 4 strong with 6 Ks, with none of the shakiness we'd seen this season. It was a full team effort, and one that felt satisfying to watch.

The Mets, meanwhile, got their ego knocked down a bit, with Luis Severino getting roughed up, the lineup shrugging, and Garrett and Megill didn't exactly keep the fort strong. Even if Francisco Lindor is doing frigging cartwheels in the infield, nothing's gonna get done if people like Francisco Alvarez get a golden sombrero at the plate. This team felt so shockingly volatile in Game 2, and now they're de-energized again. They do have Jose Quintana up for Game 4, which should be a bit more reliable, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who's coming off a commanding start against the Padres, will be on the mound. It won't be a gimme by any means.

Part of me thinks there's a chance the Mets tie it up, but tonight is letting me know this may not be as evenly matched as I previously thought. 

Also, tomorrow the Yanks hit Cleveland. Schmidt v. Boyd. We'll see how that goes for them as well.

Championship Series' Day 3: Rizzo's Redemption

 

Getting Anthony Rizzo back for the Guardians' series, as one of the few members of the team who've had any prior postseason success against Cleveland, was the ultimate blessing for the Yankees. The 1st base question that held the team back against Kansas City was solved, the veteran presence was restored, and after all that missed time Anthony Rizzo was finally good at baseball again.

The Yankees' Game 2 victory was a really promising one for several reasons. It is still worrying that our base running is so dire, and Weaver giving up a homer to Ramirez is a sign we should be cautious with him, but...instead of being another net win like Game 1 we actually took the steps this game. Game 1 was lost due to some wild pitches by Cleveland, and while this game had some terrible defensive plays throughout, it wasn't a gimme. The Yankees' offense not only got to Tanner Bibee, the Guardians' best starter, but to SEVERAL members of the to-date immaculate Cleveland bullpen. Hunter Gaddis gave up a home run to Aaron Judge, one the whole borough must have heard. Erik Sabrowski was responsible for the majority of the midgame rally. Even Cade Smith could only do so much to quell this team.

Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm and ESPECIALLY Anthony Rizzo all had great nights. Rizzo was responsible for the late RBI double that helped the Yankees cement the lead [before Judge ripped the game open]. Already the veteran 1st baseman has had an excellent ALCS, and is on track to become one of the most important Yankees of this postseason. And while Gerrit Cole did get a little dicey around innings 4 and 5, he was strong in the first few, and stifled the Guardians enough to prevent them from tying the game. The only trouble the 'pen got into was Ramirez late, but by that point it was mostly just frosting.

The Yankees, through 2 games of this ALCS, look extremely good. Thursday night in Cleveland it'll likely be Clarke Schmidt against Matt Boyd. On paper that's a game we can win, but nothing is ever simple with these Guardians teams. And if I get too comfortable now I could be into a world of pain if the Guards figure us out soon. So I'm just enjoying the moment, and hoping the Yanks can keep building on it. 

Championship Series' Day 2: In and Out of the City

 

The Dodgers this postseason only look good when they've got an actual accomplished starting pitcher to rally behind. So with Jack Flaherty on his game, they can attack. You take that away and throw in a reliever game...it may not go as well. 

And so, the Mets lineup had no trouble with the Dodgers when it was just Landon Knack standing in the way between them and glory. Flaherty they had to wait around to get him off the mound. Knack? The party commenced. Lindor had a huge hit, Tyrone Taylor had a huge hit, then after Lindor got walked VIENTOS had a huge hit. And all while Sean Manaea continued his incredible postseason run, his sweeper perfected and his credibility restored. Doing all of this in LA, and making the Dodgers look powerless even after what they did yesterday, is a huge serve, and it could be a hint that this series may not be as one-sided as the pundits are giving off. If the Mets can do this, and if the Dodgers' pitching arsenal is limited this year [eventually they're gonna have to go with Buehler again], the Mets may be alright after all.

In his first full, healthy season in New York, Carlos Rodon has flirted with greatness but hasn't completely committed. He went 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA and 195 Ks in 32 starts, his fullest and winningest season to date, but he also gave up more home runs than ever before, and wasn't quite as dominant as his 2021-22 peak. He showed moments of greatness but not the full idea of it. Even in postseason starts to this point, Rodon would strike a lot of people out but get lit up at some point.

Which is why it's such a welcome surprise that Rodon, having been given the ball for Game 1 as Cole rests from the ALDS, absolutely dominated the Guardians tonight. He struck out 9, only gave up 1 run, and looked completely on throughout the start. Comparatively, Alex Cobb struggled, loading the bases for Joey Cantillo, which led to multiple runs scoring on wild pitches. That is not something you want happening in the postseason, and those passed balls were the difference maker for the Guardians. Because both teams gave up the same amount of hits, six of them, and both teams fought back with long balls and RBIs. But after the Yankees took the lead on the passed balls, there really was no catching them.

The Guardians not only lost what could have been a close game, they lost it on rookie mistakes. And now they go into a Game 2 against Gerrit Cole, who's been very good this postseason, handing the ball to Tanner Bibee, who's arguably been better. This could be the kind of competitive, back-and-forth game we were all expecting for Game 1. 

Championship Series' Day 1: On Rushing and Not Rushing

 

The Dodgers were low on starting pitching midyear, so they traded for Jack Flaherty. The Mets were low on starting pitching in October, so they activated Kodai Senga and hoped for the best. And for everything I've said about the Dodgers' snakebitten rotation, and the number of people that have gone down in important moments...they never pushed any of them. Walker Buehler slowly made his way back and he's been doing better. Kershaw wasn't rushed back to the active roster, at least not yet. There was no effort to wake up Gonsolin or May or Glasnow for the playoffs. 

Which may explain why Flaherty went 7 strong for his strongest postseason start ever and Senga got chased while only throwing ten strikes. The Dodgers didn't want to force anyone to pitch before they were healthy. The Mets weren't going to wait for Senga to be sure, they needed a sure bet. And so, Dodgers 1, Mets 0. By 9 runs. 

It's more complex than Flaherty, as excellent as he is. The Dodgers' lineup was lovely tonight, with Ohtani, Muncy, Freeman and Betts having huge moments, and the scoreless streak continuing thanks to Blake Treinen and Ben Casparius, whoever that is. As limp as the Dodgers could seem during some moments in the Padres' series, they seem revitalized, confident and hungry now. And thus, this Dodgers-Mets series is looking...like what someone could have guessed it'd be around May. It can always turn around, and there's still at least 3 more games to see if the Mets are gonna respond, but at this moment it's looking like the Dodgers are going to be very difficult to beat.

Tomorrow, we see if the road to the Payroll Bowl becomes any more likely, or if Cleveland has other ideas.

Division Series' Day 8: The Playoffs Aren't Broken!

 

We're really going into a week of Championship Series' where three of the teams are actual division leaders who overcame first round byes. Which means this playoff season can actually fully complete whatever story was being told in the regular season, rather than suddenly go 'and then Arizona got good and beat everybody' or 'and then all these worthy teams were mowed down by a Houston team that wasn't as good as the last three'.

Even better that both of these teams started the series' landing in win-or-die formation first, and both of them clawed their way back and into the next round. It could have been easy to succumb to the inevitable, but the Dodgers and Guardians refused, and fought off lethal opposition to advance.

The Dodgers' series win happened because of a few unrelated factors. Yes, the Padres went cold for two games, that just can't happened. But the heart of what makes the Dodgers lethal postseason opponents abruptly woke up. The first blow of the night came from Enrique Hernandez, off of former Dodgers postseason disappointment Yu Darvish, who reminded everyone of how incredible he can be in the postseason. Then Teoscar Hernandez cracked another one. And it was the strength of the Dodgers bullpen that carried this team to an NLCS, regardless of how likely a Padres win was at several points. 

On one hand, the Dodgers are now going to an NLCS with a limited rotation strategy, but because of Betts, Freeman and Ohtani's work thus far, they're still the favorite.

The Guardians meanwhile had to truly fight for their win, as the series they had with the Tigers was so evenly matched that it could flip at any moment. Two comparable bullpens, two comparable scrappy lineups. Today seemed difficult for the Guardians, as Tarik Skubal was on the mound, and for a while that was enough. But Skubal got tired, the Guardians' lineup got restless, and pretty soon Lane Thomas was grand slamming everyone home. Thomas was the undisputed hero today, being responsible for 5 of the team's 7 runs, and cementing his status as one of the power pillars of this team. And while Cleveland's rotation prospered, Detroit's further deteriorated, meaning Emmanuel Clase, still bitter over his blow earlier in the week, got to be the hero again.

The Guardians went into a series as the favorite and came out by the skin of their teeth. As they head into New York they're the underdog. At this rate, they may not be for long.

As for who we're bidding adieu to..

I really thought the Padres were going back this year. At their peak they were deadly, and their October energy really made me think they'd have enough to outdo the Dodgers. They just picked the wrong time to go cold. Even Xander Bogaerts, who was having a pretty decent series, couldn't get anything done last night. I get that momentum only lasts so long in the playoffs these days, but I really thought the Padres had figured it out. Fortunately, I do think this team has enough to still compete next year, with a still young core that could keep the rest of the division at bay for a while.

The 2024 Tigers were an incredibly fun baseball story, a team that went from zero to hero, defied the odds and became postseason titans when nobody thought they would. There was always going to be an ending to this story, it was only a matter of when. Let's be real, if this lasted all the way to a World Series win, Rob Manfred would be doing some meddling to make sure it never happened again. The Tigers were powered by momentum and Tarik Skubal, and once an opponent could figure out how to beat both of those factors, they were cooked. Still, there was so much that impressed me about this team, including the young, anonymous stars like Parker Meadows, Tyler Holton, Wenceel Perez, Trey Sweeney and somehow catcher Jake Rogers, who got a lot done this series despite struggling during the regular season. Will they be back in full force in 2025? Who knows. If they can turn this into the competitive run fans have been waiting for from them, that'd be pretty cool, but in this division nothing's guaranteed.

Mets-Dodgers kicks off tomorrow. The Haves vs. The Haves...who until recently Had Not [Been Good]. Should be interesting either way. 

Division Series' Day 6: The Script Flips

 

As it turns out, if you complain enough that people aren't showing up, they eventually do. And that's how we get a Game-5-forcing Guardians win led by David Fry, Jose Ramirez and Emmanuel Clase. You complain enough, and they eventually start hitting.

The Tigers have been more of a match for the Guardians than anybody thought, and with Reese Olson, Trey Sweeney and Riley Greene providing cover for most of the game, it was getting slightly worrying that the Guardians wouldn't be able to offer up a rebuttal, once again. I'm still worried about the power of the first round bye, and the Guardians are the kind of team that I figured was better than the bye slump. And if the Tigers won this game, I'd be drafting a letter to Rob Manfred that he'd no doubt be throwing straight into the shredder. So thankfully, this soon became the David Fry game at the expense of the Guardians' bullpen.

The Guardians are a great team, and they could definitely go deep if they're able to get past Game 5. Now...I used to be more definite that they WOULD be able to hop this hurdle, and with the Tigers starting Tarik Skubal in Game 5 it may be way more difficult for them to do so, but I still favor Cleveland. If they lose, take your pick, you can blame it on the bye or you can blame it on Skubal. 

The last time the Yankees were in the ALCS with a team that was not the Houston Astros was 2012, 12 years ago. It came after a very tight ALDS with Baltimore that, quite frankly, we shouldn't have won. By the end of that we were exhausted, and had no energy left. There is a very big chance that the Yankees' first ALCS in 12 years could be against the very team that swept us then, the Detroit Tigers. This is, however, a very different Tigers team. Much younger, much scrappier, much more unpredictable. And the thing is that even if the Guardians make it instead, that's also a scrappy, young, unpredictable team as well. So either way, it will not be easy to win our first ALCS in 15 years. 

But I think about how tense those first two games were against the Royals in New York. It was neck and neck, biting back and forth. And then I think about these two in Kansas City. Close, but manageable. It took us time, but we figured them out, thanks to great pitching from Clarke Schmidt and Gerrit Cole, and great offensive work from Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto. Once Luke Weaver closed the door, the haze lifted, and this team waltzed to homefield advantage in an Astros-less ALCS. I couldn't believe it in a sense, but seeing as the Royals were a tough but still beatable opponent, I'm happy it came that easy to us.

The bye tried to hold the Yankees back, and it couldn't. We'll see how they do against whoever comes out on top in Cleveland this weekend. But I'm excited for the prospect of a Yankee team that *could* go further, for once.

Somebody inevitably had to be the bridesmaid in this AL Central scuffle, and it needed to be someone like the Royals. They had a wonderful season, finally succeeding where other Matt Quatraro teams had failed and running into the playoffs, then taking down Baltimore. They had great moments in this series, courtesy of people like Cole Ragans, Salvador Perez, Michael Massey and Vinnie Pasquantino. Even tonight, Tommy Pham still went 3 for 3, with three solid hits. Even when this team is down, somebody like Pham keeps chasing, which is EXACTLY WHY YOU GET SOMEONE LIKE PHAM. 

The Royals will be back with a vengeance next year, hopefully with a fully healed Pasquatch, a more October-ready bullpen, and possibly even a bigger year from Witt? The sky seems to be the limit. 

Tomorrow, we get to see who'll be hosting the Mets next week. I still think it'll be San Diego but you can never quite count the Dodgers out, can you?

Division Series' Day 5: Who Forgot to Show Up

 

...Is this really gonna be so simple? The Tigers are really cornering the Guardians with Game 4 at home?? This is what it's coming down to?

I didn't really think this series was gonna go like this. Twice now the Guardians have failed to show up in the runs column, and it's to the detriment of more great pitching. Ramirez, Thomas, Kwan, Naylor...aren't really having great series'. The Tigers just ran their bullpen again today and they couldn't get through that. Which means the Tigers are within inches of getting to a Championship Series with literally ONE STARTER to their name. Remember, we criticized the Diamondbacks last year for having two. This is just Tarik Skubal and the rest. Jeez.

The Tigers are winning this series because their scrappy, small-baller lineup just keeps coming through for them. Tonight Spencer Torkelson had the hero moment, lengthening the lead late. Torkelson is in his third season and is now FINALLY beginning to figure out this whole 'hitting at an MLB level' thing, and the Tigers must be thankful it's happening in the postseason. 

The Tigers could close it out tomorrow. How wild is that? I don't think the Guardians are gonna make it that easy for them, but...you never know at this rate.

I think this Mets-Phillies series was just a matter of how well you handle the pressure of success. Neither of these teams performs well as the overachiever. The Mets spent the last few years, thanks to Steve Cohen, as the alpha of the division, overspending in order to achieve something, which left them...nowhere. So after Cohen's most modest offseason, where all he really did was bring on a few small pieces in J.D. Martinez, Harrison Bader, Sean Manaea and Jose Iglesias, the Mets finally achieved their full form. They were never gonna win it all from the top. They had to become the underdog. And they had to do it by beating the alpha, and then the second alpha, of the division. 

The Mets beat the Phillies because for the first time this decade, the Phillies were no longer the underdogs. They had to be the favorite. And they couldn't do that. They always work better from behind. And so, the Mets kicked their asses. All they needed tonight was a grandy from Francisco Lindor and another surprise dominant start, this one coming from Jose Quintana. The bullpen held it down, Diaz signed it and mailed it. And just like that, the Mets are back in the NLCS for the first time since 2015, and we all know how that went. I'm honestly really happy with this team, and I kinda wanna see how far this goes now.

Year 1 of the Phillies taking the first round bye. Didn't go well, did it, Rob?

The issue here is that this team peaked in June. Usually the Phillies peak in, like, October. But this year they wanted to try being good from the start of the season, and that's not really sustainable to win championships anymore. So I think, if the Phillies are gonna suck at any point in the year next year, it probably should be April or May, y'know, just get it out of the way. So you can do what all the young, hip teams are doing and just spontaneously become good midyear and take that to the end.

I'm...a little frustrated. Because with everything this team has accomplished and accumulated, you'd think they'd have figured out how to leg it out by now. The worst version of this team got the furthest. It is all about conserving momentum, and it gets harder and harder for the Phillies to do this every year. It was especially hard for them with the first round bye. By the end, only little hits, Kody Clemens pinch hit shit and Ranger Suarez getting out of tough situations were keeping this team alive. And against a Mets team with this much momentum, that is not enough.

Next year's team needs to learn from this. This could have been the year. And we decided to not let that happen. 

This Royals-Yankees series has been inconsistent, back-and-forth, all over the place and completely nebulous. Luckily, Giancarlo Stanton is inevitable.

The Yankees aren't completely wowing me yet this postseason. They've had good moments, but Judge has gone cold, first base has been inconsistent and the starters have been human. But what I can say about the Yankees that I can't say about the Phillies is that the Yankees have shown up. When they needed to tonight, the bullpen jumped into action and Stanton went yard. This was a Schmidt against Lugo game, one that very easily could have gone Kansas City's way, but we outlasted them, and we somehow took a series lead over a team that's amassed all this momentum.

If the Yankees slay the Royals, they slay the first round bye. Nobody can do that. But maybe we can. Cole up tomorrow. Maybe it'll be our night. 

When it became clear that the Dodgers were putting up a 'pen game against Dylan Cease, I kinda figured the Padres were advancing tonight. Except that didn't happen. The Dodgers' bullpen held the Padres to 7 hits and no runs. 8 guys got up there and none of them gave up a run. Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda, Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson, Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Landon Knack and Alex Vesia all got up there and did exactly what they were supposed to do. And, as such, since no starter got lit up, the Dodgers just needed to hit, and that's exactly what they did. Mookie Betts had a big night, Max Muncy had a big night, Will Smith and Gavin Lux. This was the kind of full team performance we were waiting for, and against the still-tough Padres bullpen as well.

This series goes to a Game 5 in LA, and that's gonna be a tight matchup. I still think San Diego miiiight have the edge, but you can never count out the Dodgers' lineup. This one could be separated by inches.

Some AL series' could end tomorrow. I think only one will, but I don't know if it'll be the one I'm hoping does.

Division Series' Day 4: Can't Bye Me Love

 

The theme I am getting from the eastward NLDS is 'keep it simple, stupid'. The Phillies are roaring in with this big, brash, immaculately crafted team with the better record and the bigger highlights, and the Mets are winning because they're just playing better baseball right now. It's John Henry vs. the steam drill. Technology and saber metrics and planning don't mean shit if they can hit and pitch better than you.

And that's where we're at. The Mets are winning this series while pitching Sean Manaea, and getting 7 and a half innings out of him. And they're getting production out of Alonso, Vientos, Nimmo and Winker while the Phillies struggle to wake up Harper, Bohm, Schwarber and Turner. The Mets have the contact game down, the power game down, the stars hitting and the rotation, cheaper, being efficient. And that's all you need. The Phils took all this time practicing hitting Manaea's sweeper at BP and couldn't get it done. Nola's been working to avoid nights like this all year and he still gets lit up. All the best planning and forethought doesn't mean anything if the other guy gets you without thinking.

The Phillies are going into Game 4 with the prospect of Ranger Suarez on the mound. If this were, like, May? I'd be confident. I'm not. GG Mets.

It's odd that a week that starts with a mugging can get worse, but it did for Walker Buehler. Lost an expensive watch in a scuffle with a tough, then goes to pitch the NLDS and gets rocked by Tatis and friends. I just think this really isn't his year. You have to hope he picks things up in 2025 but he really couldn't find a steady ground all year. And he's kinda all the Dodgers have right now in terms of valid starting options. Yamamoto, Flaherty and Buehler, three very flawed guys. 

The Padres did end up with the win, but it was close. Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez had huge offensive moments, and gave Robert Suarez a very daunting task. But thanks to great moments from Xander Bogaerts, Kyle Higashioka, Tatis, and David Peralta, who's gone from a replacement level depth OF option to one of the most pivotal hitters on the Padres' lineup this year. He may be destined for enshrinement at Chase Field, but Peralta's having his most pivotal postseason of his entire career, and he's doing it with the San Diego Padres. Absolutely wild.

Tomorrow the Padres could put this thing to bed and return to the NLCS for the first time since 2022, and if they do so they might just be favored to win it. All they need to do is hope that Martin Perez is as good in the postseason as he's been down the stretch.

We could end some series' tomorrow. I'm secretly hoping for a Phillies comeback but we may get some answers tomorrow.

Division Series' Day 3: Failure to Communicate

 

Like Phils-Mets Game 1, Tigers-Guardians Game 2 was a ferocious pitching battle where it was so defined by two really unhittable starters, in this case Tarik Skubal and Matt Boyd [LOOK AT HIM GO!], that you knew the hit had to come some time, and it would still catch you off guard. For a while, Justyn Henry Malloy was the only Tigers hitter to get anything done today, and it was some amazing defensive work from the Guardians to keep the score low all game. 

Which is why when Emmanuel Clase got up in the ninth, it felt like it was pointing towards a Cleveland victory. The Guardians' bullpen is better than Detroit's, and Clase doesn't give up many runs. And yet Kerry Carpenter blasted a three-run bomb off of him to blow the game open in the ninth. It took so long for anyone to get through the armor of Emmanuel Clase, and now somebody does in the playoffs. And now the Guardians are panicking. They've got to go to Detroit now, the series tied, and hope they can still get something done, even with the superior bullpen. There's a crack in it now, and they're hoping that's the extent of it.

Meanwhile, the Tigers proved that they still have some life in them, which could make the next 2 games very interesting.

Game 1 in the Bronx, the Yankees proved they could parry attacks. Game 2 proved that they also could forget to.

There were so many situations where the Yankees could have done something this game, and they just didn't. Judge and Soto were way quieter tonight. Rodon was strong enough but isn't perfect this year. And the Royals were able to keep pounding against us, with big moments from Salvador Perez, Tommy Pham, and utility man extraordinaire Garrett Hampson, who's been having a great postseason. Right now the Royals' starting pitching is looking more reliable than ours, and odds are we're getting Seth Lugo on Wednesday, which won't be much easier. If we have Clarke Schmidt and they have Lugo, and Lugo's been better recently...look, I'm not thrilled with our odds.

It'd be amazing if what happened Sunday happened again, and the Yanks caught fire like mad, but...I'm getting worried again. The last two days have given me this idea that the bye might still be a momentum-killer, and I'd love to be proven wrong.

Back to the NL series' tomorrow. We'll see who takes the next lead.

Division Series' Day 2: Not Gonna Be That Simple

 

Expecting a Mets-Phillies series to be conventional is a lot like expecting a Todd Phillips movie to be conventional. It's just not gonna happen. 

The paint that these two teams traded during Game 2 was the result of an entire season of sniping at each other. The Mets have routinely had the Phillies' number this season, and now they have the momentum as well. Yet the Phillies have the better team, the better rotation, and the better bench. So anything can happen. And in Game 2, just about everything did. Two excellent starts from Cristopher Sanchez and Luis Severino, some amazing long ball moments from Bryce Harper and Pete Alonso, several lead changes [one happening the moment I flipped the channel back], several close calls, and the Phillies' bullpen again letting the team down.

This game came down to two players: Mark Vientos and Nick Castellanos. On one hand, Vientos very much played the part of the hero, hitting two home runs at pivotal points, forcing the game to go to the bottom of the ninth, and cementing his status as a starring player for this Mets team. On the other hand, Vientos did two things that wounded this team. The first was bobbling an easy ground ball that led to the sixth Phillies run scoring in the eighth. Then in the ninth, he didn't communicate going for a fly ball, nearly trampling over Brandon Nimmo, and essentially knocking the wind out of him. These are rookie moves, and he needs to grow out of them.

Nick Castellanos, though, rose to the occasion when he could have made mistakes. He had a welcome knock late, after Harper's. Then in the ninth, after the game was already tied, he had an incredible diving catch that reminded many of the 2022 postseason. And then, as the came came down to him, he took a very tired Tylor Megill to the back wall and brought Turner home for the win. This win happens because Castellanos was THE guy when we needed him.

And so, the series is tied. We shouldn't have had to fight quite as hard for it, but we got there. And now we head to Queens, where the Mets will try to take the leverage back again.

As for the other matchup, uh...Padres-Dodgers is gonna be the Yanks-Sox of the 2020s. Both teams are competitive, both teams have legends playing for them, both teams have had ebbs and flows, and both teams have strived to one-up each other. The Dodgers took down the Padres on the way to a ring in 2020, the Padres retaliated on the way to an NLCS [that they arguably should have taken] in 2022. And now here we are again.

This Padres win should be a wake up call for the Dodgers. Trying the same things with less starting pitching and an emphasis on just throwing Ohtani out there and hoping it'll work is not a winning strategy. Jack Flaherty struggled tonight against a hot lineup, while the much older Yu Darvish thrived in the high-pressure environment. Ohtani, Betts, Freeman and Smith were all hitless, while the only starting Padre without a hit was Jake Cronenworth; Machado, Bogaerts, Merrill, Higgy, even Peralta had huge moments.

And of course it all comes down to Fernando Tatis Jr., who had a 2-homer night, and reestablished himself as the main attraction in San Diego. Some Dodgers fans were throwing trash at him, there is absolutely no place for that. He's a great player, you can boo him, you can wish he wasn't as good, don't go throwing shit. That's not a good look for the fanbase. If you had a team that could hit 6 homers right back you wouldn't be throwing trash. The Dodgers should be able to bounce right back, a lot like the Mets and Phils did, and they just...couldn't tonight. The Padres just kept hammering them down, and the end result was an overwhelming win for SD. After what the Dodgers did last night, that's not a great sign.

And now the action moves to San Diego, where I assume the home crowds will make things difficult for Dodgers fans. The Dodgers were always gonna be here. The Padres had to fight, and many fans thought there wasn't a chance of getting back here. They're gonna be a lot thirstier, and a lot louder, than many Dodgers fans who likely have next year to look forward to anyway. For the Padres, this could be the shot. So they're gonna savor every moment. Game 3 could be a continuation of that. 

Tomorrow, the AL matches continue. We'll see if anyone's able to fashion a lead.

Division Series' Day 1: Immediate Tension

 

The difference between a great September story and a great October story is that if a great September story doesn't have any goddamned starting pitching, it's never gonna become a great October story.

The Tigers were fun to watch, and it was wonderful to see them take out the Astros, but eventually you realize that all they really have right now in terms of viable starting options is Tarik Skubal. Aside from that, many of the other starters made appearances during Game 1 against Cleveland. Reese Olson, Keider Montero. Neither did especially well. Olson gave up the homer to Lane Thomas. 

The Guardians also have some starting depth issues, but they at least had someone like Tanner Bibee ready for today, and he absolutely delivered. And then once he's out, you just give it to the bullpen and...forget it. The Tigers will have Skubal on Monday, and that will help, but aside from that...they kinda have to hope the lineup comes through, and against a more uniform pitching staff, I dunno if it will.

The Guardians' bats really came out today, though. Thomas, Ramirez, Kwan, Fry, the whole bunch basically. They're hungry and ready, and they want an ALCS. The Tigers could rally, as they tend to, and I think Game 2 will go better for them, but they don't have enough to outlast the Guardians in 5 games.

Mets-Phillies Game 1 was all about pitching leverage. How do you utilize good pitching, and when does it steer you wrong. Kodai Senga only needed a couple innings, but aside from a leadoff Schwarbomb he had the Phils right where he wanted them. Save with David Peterson. The Phils' hitters would later complain that the shadow coverage at 4 PM made it difficult to really see anything for the first 7 innings, and it's a viable complaint, but the Mets' pitching was also very good.

Zach Wheeler also made it difficult for the Mets for 7 innings, mostly due to his own consistency today. It was a truly excellent postseason performance, and I wish the bullpen hadn't spoiled it for him. Ultimately, the Phils let it get away from them, and the still-strong Mets pounded away in the 8th. We did it to ourselves, and it's not a position we want to be in for Game 2 tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, Yanks-Royals was tense as hell. Two really good teams just going back and forth. Cole gave up some runs early, the Royals' bullpen gave up some late. The big heroes had moments to deliver and didn't. People like M.J. Melendez, Gleyber Torres, Garrett Hampson and ALEX VERDUGO SOMEHOW were the heroes. Torres had a sharp homer early to get things rolling. I wish that Judge wasn't off tonight, because we got very lucky walking 2 guys home and he could have given us a hand at any point, but I'll still take the win. We fought for it, we earned it. I can breathe easy. The next one, with Cole Ragans on the mound, won't be much easier.

Similarly back-and-forth was the Padres-Dodgers Game 1, a match between two teams with history who both want to one-up each other. It didn't shock me at all that this was a competitive one. Machado would do something huge, Ohtani would do something huge, Bogaerts would add on. I kinda figured Dylan Cease would hold down runs a little better but all things considered it's not solely the reason the Padres lost.

I think the Dodgers were a little bit more successful in their late-game rallying. Tommy Edman would come on and bat some people home. Anytime the Padres would be in position to do so, they...wouldn't. And believe me, they tried. Michael Kopech loaded the bases, Blake Treinen made it sticky late, but the bullpen remained spotless. As good as the Padres' bullpen was this season, the Dodgers' bullpen already is having the better October.

We'll see if the Padres strike back tomorrow, along with the Phillies. But man, this was a fun start to the proper postseason opening.