ALDS Game 1: A Step Towards Awfulness

 Because Rays-Astros in the ALCS worked so well last time, from the looks of last night, that's what we might be getting again this year. 

I talked yesterday about how I can't understand why a lot of people don't like the Dodgers, other than the whole 'money' thing. Similarly, I don't understand why a lot of people would be fine with the Rays winning. On one hand, yes, it is perfectly cool to root for a team that has never won a World Series, that is 100% valid, and if it weren't the Rays, I'd be there with ya [I'm a lot more partial to the Brewers in this category]. But I think a lot of people are cool with the low-budget, scrappy, young team, even though the low-budget-ness is, according to recent tweets from one Melvin "Sexual Innuendo" Upton Jr., the result of bad ownership screwing over players and refusing to put in the money for facilities. 

The Rays, to people who are not Yankee fans, are the fun, harmless underdogs that get by without money [because the ownership keeps it to themselves]. This sort of factors into why they don't like the Dodgers, cause they have a lot of money and use it on extraneous empire needs, like the Yankees do. And while on most other issues, I am perfectly in favor of the people without a great deal of money and support succeeding...come on, guys, the Rays aren't likable! I'd rather have the Red Sox win than them!

I think it's honestly just the sting of being trounced by the Yankees recently, considering how much the Yankees have spent to be great. The joke was that we paid Gerrit Cole 300 million dollars to blow a playoff game. Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena is on a standard baseline contract and he's playing like a superstar, with another huge game last night against Boston. That kind of infuriates me. I can't entirely like them if they're gonna make this look so effortless, especially against a team that crushed us a few nights ago.

Now, let me make this clear...if this DOES end up being a Rays-Astros ALCS, I will CERTAINLY root for the Rays. Because I really, really don't want the Astros to get much further, regardless of the fact that they are very good this year. The White Sox are the more likable team, they'd get a lot more out of advancing this year, and it'd just be a good, fun time. Now, granted, if the White Sox do lose, then that means there's a chance they could fire LaRussa, so it wouldn't be a complete loss.

But still, if these two landslide victories on night 1 are an indication of how the rest of these series' are going to go, I am not a fan, and I guess I'll be watching the NL games a little more closely. Which is nice, as they start today.

NL Wild Card: Money Beats Luck

 

Seeing as the AL Wild Card didn't go as planned for me, it's very nice that the NL Wild Card game went exactly as I wished it would. The single most infuriating non-Astros team in the playoff picture got bounced in an instant. It was a very good day.

And I saw a lot of people online going 'yeah, the real winner would be if a meteor destroyed Dodger Stadium and both teams got incinerated'. FIRST OF ALL...THAT IS NOT HOW METEORS WORK. There'd be a bunch of Cardinals and Dodgers going 'OW'. It's not like a gigantic explosion. I may not have a degree in science, or anything applicable to the advancement of society [screenwriting, I went to school for screenwriting], but I'm pretty sure that just a lot of people would get hurt. Which, I think, still accomplishes the primary goal of the threat, but less colorfully.

Also, and this is maybe because I root for east coast teams, I don't have a ton of issues with the Dodgers. Why should I? They're like the Yankees, except they actually get to World Series' and keep the same manager when they lose a playoff game. I don't hate anyone on the Dodgers. I'm patient with Bellinger, I love the fringe guys like Tony Gonsolin and Phil Bickford. And come on, you can't hate on Albert Pujols. It's impossible. The guy's a living legend, and now he's the cute uncle of the Dodgers clubhouse. And the media wants me to hate Trevor Bauer, but we never really found out whether it was actual abuse or just a rough sex thing. Is Trevor Bauer about to become the Johnny Depp of baseball? Like, when he's actually innocent of this one thing but enough people are saying 'yeah, but he probably did SOMETHING bad at some point'?

So the Dodgers are a very successful, very well-built team that has a lot of players that I like, and is one of now FOUR teams I don't have much of a problem with that are in the NL playoff picture. Meanwhile, the Cardinals ruptured Ryan Howard's achilles, have constantly made the playoffs in years where there was no room in the conversation for them, and annoyed the hell out of me with this 14-game streak from this year. Of course I wanted the Dodgers to win, and I'm glad they did.

It was very tense watching this game as the score was close the whole time, and it was very much a game of inches. Whose bullpen will break? Whose lineup will spark fire? Who will make a mistake first? Even though the Dodgers were the better team, they still couldn't get past Luis Garcia and Giovanny Gallegos. And the Cards couldn't get past Kelly, Graterol, Treinen, Knebel or Jansen, because DAMN that Dodgers bullpen is awesome this year. 

But when Taylor walked off, it just felt nice. I could have used it about 5 innings ago, but it was nice.

I dunno what I'm gonna do in the AL, other than hope the White Sox somehow stick it out over Houston. But the NL is pretty open for me. I'd be fine with any of the four making a World Series, though arguably the more fun teams will be playing each other in Milwaukee tomorrow night. If the Dodgers repeat, that may be the most boring outcome, but it's still better than another Astros World Series. 

Tonight, some AL matchups. I am rooting for both kinds of Sox. I know, weird, right?

AL Wild Card: So Much For That

 Well I'm glad we got the heartbreak out of the way on literally the first day of the playoffs. 

I wanna go back and examine the science of how the Red Sox got that higher seed, and therefore home field advantage last night. Because we had the same record, and the Yankees won their game first, and that means it probably went down to who had more wins over the other, and...look man, maybe a lot of those wins were in May or June, back when the script was kind of flipped for both of those teams.

Am I saying that the 6-2 loss wouldn't have happened if we were in Yankee Stadium, and maybe had competent umps? Yeah, I am. Somebody pulled up a stat last night that two of Giancarlo Stanton's singles in Fenway would have been homers in Yankee Stadium. Also, Cole getting beat up is probably the result of him facing a bloodthirsty away crowd. So the smallest of stats dulled our best hitter and best pitcher, and gave the win to the Red Sox. 

...What I'm saying is that if somebody sifts through all the close Yanks-Sox games that the Sox won and all of them were down to an Angel Hernandez call, I wouldn't be surprised. 

I'm whining. Of course I'm whining. The Red Sox, at the end of the day, are the better team, and also the luckier team. The Yankees were very okay this whole season and had spurts of greatness. The Sox were a good team this season that had spurts of terribleness. Clearly, the actual good team is gonna win in a one-game playoff, unless something goes terribly wrong. And what can I say? Nate Eovaldi showed up, the offense got the best of even some Yankee titans, and it wasn't much of a contest. I can't really say we were robbed, at least not in the circumstances we were left with last night.

And so here we are. We have an AL bracket where three of the teams are ones I would rather not win anything, and also the White Sox. My best case scenario for all of this is a White Sox-Rays ALCS. Just flush out the Astros and Red Sox, take the pain away. I'm not gonna love it if the Rays repeat, but it's better than a lot of the other outcomes here. All of the fun options are in the NL, at least as long as the Dodgers win tonight. 

I no longer have a horse in this playoff race. So, uh...go White Sox, I suppose. And the Brewers, I dunno, a friend of mine started working for the Brewers this year and I want him to enjoy himself. 

AL Wild Card: The Inevitable

 
Once the Rays took hold of the AL East, there was really only going to be one outcome for the AL Wild Card game, as much as the Blue Jays, A's and Mariners wanted to think otherwise. It was always going to be Yankees-Red Sox.

And it sums up a lot of the baseball year. The Red Sox represent the first half, where J.D. Martinez went on his home run tear, Nick Pivetta returned to the baseball limelight, Barnes was a major closer in the league, and Bogaerts and Devers were contact superstars. And the Yankees represent the second half, where the streak illuminated the best of habits, Rizzo and Gallo added to the fun, Stanton and Judge took off, and Gerrit Cole had some truly mesmerizing starts. 

But the reason they're both in the wild card game is that neither of them is wholly great enough to lead. The Rays played the best kind of small-ball, building an excellent roster of efficient players without a great deal of big names. The Yanks and Sox had big names, and big moments, but also big droughts and big collapses. This game is a second chance for both of them. If this were 2020, they'd still be seeded well enough to potentially dominate in the postseason. 

And so it's really a matter of which team truly shows up tonight. The Sox may have the better contact hitters, but Gerrit Cole's on the mound. And the Yanks may have some serious power, but they also can strike out a lot, and with Nasty Nate on the mound, it could be tricky. It's going to probably come down to who pounces first, and it could be either.

I'm pulling for my Yankees obviously, despite knowing that they're a bit more human this year. They also have had the most recent momentum. But it's far from a lock, and we won't know what's going on until things truly get underway tonight.

The Stars Are Out 2021: July to September

 

Before we get into the postseason, we have to wrap up the regular season's Stars are Out customs, based off of cool gets for first pitches at MLB stadiums. Seeing as we're starting with July, how about the fella that threw out the first pitch at the All Star Game, Peyton Manning. My fun Manning claim to fame is that I was present for the last football game Manning ever played, Super Bowl 50. Always had a lot of respect for him, glad he's made a decent enough career for himself as a TV personality. 

Speaking of recent NFL Hall of Famers, here's Detroit Lions defensive legend Calvin Johnson, still a legend in Detroit, even if his career may have been shorter than the average NFL career. I'm glad Megatron still gets the crowd going over there.

Onto another sport, Cade Cunningham was the first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and the Pistons seem to have a lot of faith in this guy to turn the team around. Hopefully he's the guy to do it. 

Alternatively, Tyrese Maxey came off a fantastic 2021 playoff season off the bench for the Sixers, and is slowly becoming a major figure on the team. In Simmons' absence, we need to cement our beloved Sixers, and hopefully he keeps those numbers going. But yeah, great to see him pop up at CBP.

And in the category of NBA legends, here's Jason Kidd, who won an NBA title with the Mavericks and is now suiting up to coach the Mavs, after...coaching the Nets went so well for him [sidenote, can ANY hall of fame NBA player make it work as a coach in New York?]. He's still a hero in Texas, he's still feeling very optimistic, and hopefully the Mavs do better than the Rangers this year.

I did have an MLB one in here as well, and that's Manny Trillo, Phillies legend who was inducted into their wall of fame this summer. Kind of a cool, fringe Phils hero to showcase.

Moving towards some cooler pop culture ones...there wasn't many this stretch, but there were some. Nathan Followill is the drummer for, and one of the charter members of, Kings of Leon, a relatively cool rock band that's having a pretty decent 2021 despite some personal woes. 

Here's the big one for me. Drew Carey is a comedy legend, has been hosting Price is Right for almost 15 years, and ruled my childhood as the host of Whose Line is it Anyway. He's also famously a very big Cleveland sports fans, and got in one last first pitch for the Indians before the Guardians name change takes effect next year. This was probably the coolest one for me to make.

That's all we've got for now, maybe there'll be some cool ones for the postseason.

The Best of the Rest: 2021

 

Well, at the expense of two fanbases in particular, we have our playoff schematic, and we have our crowd of 20 also-rans. It's a depressing, maddening day for a lot of teams, both the non-competitive bottom feeders and the teams that seemed very close to breaking into the race. From last year, we have two new additions to the fold, but they are both teams who have won a World Series ring in the last 10 years. Alternatively, there are two teams who have never won a World Series in this playoff picture, and only one additional team that hasn't won in over 20 years. 

The teams that made the playoffs are a lot of the usual suspects, and so are the teams who made this Best of the Rest list.

Without an expanded playoff, eight teams that made the 2020 playoff picture are back on this list. Three of them were downright terrible this year. Everybody else is a barrel of surprises and not-surprises, and we're gonna give some superlatives for all of them, ranging from painful to mirthful. 

Most Likely to Succeed [According to the Sportswriters in February]: San Diego Padres

Most Depressing Example of Peaking Too Early: Kansas City Royals

Best Team That Peaked Too Late: For the 2nd year in a row, Seattle Mariners

Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in 2020: Oakland Athletics

Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in June: New York Mets

Biggest Proponent for an Expanded Playoff in 2022: Toronto Blue Jays

Biggest Proponent Against an Expanded Playoff in 2020: Miami Marlins

Most Willing to Settle: Los Angeles Angels

Most Blatant July Dismemberment: Chicago Cubs

Collapse That Makes a Lot More Sense When You Really Think About It: Minnesota Twins

Best Pitching Staff for a Team That Didn't Make the Playoffs: Cincinnati Reds

Worst Pitching: Baltimore Orioles

Best Farm System [Composed of Other Team's Prospects]: Washington Nationals

Biggest Anticlimax: THREE- WAY-TIE - Toronto Blue Jays/Seattle Mariners/Philadelphia Phillies 

Most Blatant Victims of a Rough 2nd Half: San Diego Padres

Most Inexplicably Reserved Trade Deadline Strategy: Colorado Rockies

Most Depressing Team to Talk About Every Few Weeks: Arizona Diamondbacks 

Most Comically-Timed Injuries: Cleveland Indians

Most Fun Last Place Team: Washington Nationals

Most Confused Youth Movement: Detroit Tigers

Most Likely to Just Accept Walk-Ons from the Public for Spring Training Next Year: Pittsburgh Pirates

Most Unwilling to Recapture the Lightning in the Bottle: Texas Rangers

Most Likely to Not End Up On This List in 2022: Toronto Blue Jays & San Diego Padres

That's the end of the road for these 20 teams. I'm gonna predict the other ten's playoff path sometime in the next few days, probably inaccurately. 

September 2021 in Review [feat. Bryan de la Cruz]

 

Wow, I actually kept these Month in Review posts going the whole season. Says a lot about a year without major employment for me, I suppose.

Anyway, September was a fairly interesting month, as the playoff picture shifted, some new heroes emerged, and some major storylines seemed to converge.

First off, let's cover the 5 predictions I made for September 2021:

1. Right now the playoffs are looking like this- Rays-White Sox-Astros-Yanks/Red Sox, and Braves-Brewers-Giants-Dodgers/Reds. I predict that they're not gonna look like this in a month. Someone is gonna sneak in. Well, in the NL, someone certainly did sneak in. And in the AL, while I'm writing this a few days before the final bell, the Red Sox' wild card spot is not guaranteed right now. 

2. One more absolutely huge rookie call-up for the road. I'm not thinking Rutschman, but somebody big. It's September, let's go crazy. Shane Baz. And he's been on fire ever since the call-up.

3. The Mets will once again succeed in sweeping someone out of playoff contention, other than themselves. The only contender the Mets won a series against in September were the New York Yankees, and they still made the playoffs. 

4. Both the AL East race and the NL West race will have a surprising outcome. Honestly, not really. The Dodgers didn't overtake the Giants, and the Yankees still held out long enough to snag a wild card spot, but not to overtake the Rays.

5. One very important figure for a competitive team will miss the playoffs with an injury. I'm counting Devin Williams. Not that he wounds the Brewers' bullpen too much, but what they could have been with him and a functional hand, man...

So, with all that zaniness implied, let's talk about 5 Things from September 2021 That No One Could Predict:

1. The St. Louis Cardinals. Okay, maybe you could have predicted that they got hot in September, that's what always happens, but a sixteen game winning streak? An absolute leap to a playoff spot? Overtaking season hopefuls like the Padres and Reds? I don't think anybody could have called that, especially with the at-the-time disappointing trade deadline they had. It is gonna be very interesting to see how they square off against the Dodgers. 

2. The Seattle Mariners. Even if they somehow miss the playoffs and the Red Sox keep the spot, which definitely could happen, this month has been absolutely huge for them. They went from a third place team hiding behind Oakland for a spot that was never gonna be theirs to absolutely on fire, on the strength of Mitch Haniger, Ty France and Kyle Seager, and getting inches from their first playoff berth in 20 years. Even last month I was writing them off. No matter what happens next, they still fall into this category.

3. Juan Soto catches fire. Alright, again...you could have guessed that Soto would be good at baseball. But in the month of September he was absolutely lethal, hitting .404 with a 1.256 OPS, 38 hits in 94 at bats, and only 9 strikeouts. It is the month that drew the eyes of the baseball world, and gave him way more MVP attention than before. While his case may be a bit too-little-too-late, he's still had an amazing AGE 22 SEASON.

4. The absolute collapse of the San Diego Padres. I was expecting them to miss by a few games, for it to be close, but not only did they fall completely out of the race, their core imploded, their pitching staff got beat up, and their two marquee stars started fighting with each other. This is a far cry from the sunny, joyful Padres team that was being set up last year. Hopefully they can rebound to some extent in 2022, but will the top two teams let them?

5. Noah Syndergaard actually pitched this season. Yes, an inning, but still. 

And, then the antithesis of that, 5 Things From September 2021 that Most People Probably Could Have Predicted:

1. Braves stronghold over the NL East, and, tied to that,

2. Phillies collapse. Look, no matter how the season started, no matter how things progressed...the Braves were always going to be a better team than the Phillies. The Phillies were just okay, and had some good stretches throughout. The Braves were a great team with rotten luck, including Acuna getting injured. Their ability to rebuild their outfield with trades and make it even better was the stuff of GM legend, and getting to the playoffs at the Phils' expense was a foregone conclusion from there. 

3. No more Mike Trout. Yeah, could have called that. See ya in 2022, Mike. Hope you're healthy for more of it. 

4. Cedric Mullins giving the Orioles their first 30/30 season, and subsequently being the only good player on the team this year. 

5. Rays and Astros landed into very promising playoff seeds. I am hoping for other teams to win, though.

And, since there's a whole other predicting the playoffs post I need to do, let's end on the 5 Most Important Players of September 2021:

1. Juan Soto, Washington Nationals

2. Max Scherzer, Los Angeles Dodgers

3. Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals

4. Robbie Ray, Toronto Blue Jays

5. Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

That's all that remains to predict for today. I'll be out for the next few days, but expect a Best of the Rest post by the end of the weekend.