MLB: The 2017 Post-Season

[YmoBeThere]

Baseball sure can break your heart.

Almost as much as large sanctioning bodies investigating malfeasance amongst its ranks.

[Duke79UNLV77]

Seager off the NLCS roster with an injury is a big loss.

[CDu]

Seager off the NLCS roster with an injury is a big loss.

Yikes. Very tough break for LA.

[snowdenscold]

Well that was a quite terrible 12 hour period of my life: getting the UNC news + watching the Nationals Game 5.

[JBDuke]

Well that was a quite terrible 12 hour period of my life: getting the UNC news + watching the Nationals Game 5.

Right there with you. And then Duke loses another football game they could have won... Need some good sports karma.

[YmoBeThere]

One of these days, Kershaw will go an entire playoff game outing without giving up a home run.

[juise]

One of these days, Kershaw will go an entire playoff game outing without giving up a home run.

Maybe it doesn't matter this year. The Dodgers' pitchers attack the strike zone, giving up the fewest walks in the NL. That probably means more HR's allowed, but results in fewer long innings with the bases full of runners.

[YmoBeThere]

Two more wins to go. It shall be duly noted that the Cubs won the WS after being down 3-1. And I watched the Dusty Baker managed Reds give up a 2-0 series lead earned on the road and lose to the Giants 5 years ago. IOW, 3 game streaks happen...

[CDu]

Two more wins to go. It shall be duly noted that the Cubs won the WS after being down 3-1. And I watched the Dusty Baker managed Reds give up a 2-0 series lead earned on the road and lose to the Giants 5 years ago. IOW, 3 game streaks happen...

Yeah, the Cubs certainly are capable of coming back. But they are going to have to figure out how to score against the Dodgers' bullpen if they are going to do it. So far, they've not plated a run in over 9 innings against the Dodgers' pen. That's not going to get it done. Especially when the Cubs' pen is so shaky.

The Cubs actually had a really good game from their regular bullpen guys last night. But failing to score a run meant that we had to go to the 9th still tied. And Maddon went to Lackey (first time ever pitching back-to-back days), who simply didn't get it done. If the Cubs plate just one run over the previous 4 innings, they probably win with Davis getting the save in the 9th. But, alas, it was not meant to be.

Kudos to the Dodgers for dominating the second half of both games this past weekend. The Cubs now turn to Arrieta and Hendricks and hope their bats come alive to keep their season alive.

[Mal]

Yeah, the Cubs certainly are capable of coming back. But they are going to have to figure out how to score against the Dodgers' bullpen if they are going to do it. So far, they've not plated a run in over 9 innings against the Dodgers' pen. That's not going to get it done. Especially when the Cubs' pen is so shaky.

This doesn't surprise me, unfortunately. Other than a few quick bursts, the regular season offense from the Cubs this year seemed a lot more feast or famine than it did last season. And the variation in results against top notch pitching vs. the Reds and Phillies, and the non-ace starters from other clubs, felt extreme. This seemed particularly noticeable with Kris Bryant, I thought, and is of a piece with his deep struggles right now in the postseason.

I have no numbers to back any of this up, mind you. But something seems locked up with this offense right now. They're swinging at everything, they're not fouling pitches off deep in counts and getting 10 pitch at-bats, and they're definitely not squaring it up very often. A significant majority of the Cubs runs scored in this postseason have come on homers (and not exactly towering homers, but line drives down the line) and the one bizarre inning against Scherzer, wherein they scored 4 on only 3 hits, which consisted of an infield single, a soft liner to left and a ground ball down the 3rd base line.

[YmoBeThere]

Astros fans couldn't have liked those last couple of innings.

[Blue in the Face]

Astros fans couldn't have liked those last couple of innings.

Big win for the Yankees and tough lough for Houston, but as non-elimination games go, it was pretty close to must win for the Yanks. Needing to beat both Keuchel and Verlander just to stay alive for a 7th game would have been an awfully tall order. They hit Kluber pretty well, nothing's impossible, but those two guys are pretty locked in - even winning 1 of those games will be tough, so it was pretty big to pull that one out last night. It's been awhile since a post-season win that big for us.

[A-Tex Devil]

Big win for the Yankees and tough lough for Houston, but as non-elimination games go, it was pretty close to must win for the Yanks. Needing to beat both Keuchel and Verlander just to stay alive for a 7th game would have been an awfully tall order. They hit Kluber pretty well, nothing's impossible, but those two guys are pretty locked in - even winning 1 of those games will be tough, so it was pretty big to pull that one out last night. It's been awhile since a post-season win that big for us.

That was certainly reminiscent of Astros game 4 against the Royals two years ago. Luckily, it's a 7 game series and not a 5 game series. The Astros are gripping too hard right now up and down the lineup. I anticipate they will have a game where the bats break out, but it really needs to be today, and not Thursday.

One bright spot for the Astros -- if it goes to 7, they can run out McCullers, then McHugh, both of whom have pitched very well the last two games, then Keuchel, and may be even Verlander, if necessary, then close with Giles. Peacock and Musgrove are also options. I think Astros need to do everything they can to avoid pitching Devo at this point. He just doesn't have it right now. And please, only pitch Liriano against lefties.

[CDu]

Tough seeing Jake from State Farm ("he sounds unhittable") leave the mound for quite likely the last time in a Cubs uniform.

[A-Tex Devil]

Astros are gripping terribly at the plate. Yeah, the Yankees have been pitching well, but Tanaka was grooving first pitch strikes that the Stros normally kill. They seemed to be afraid to get behind in the count on a swing and miss, so they got behind by looking. George Springer and Carlos Correa look lost. McCann needs to get benched for Gattis even if Stros lose a little something on defense.

Let's hope some home field, home cookin' (maybe) and Verlander push to a game 7. Game 7, Astros will have the ability to use McCullers, McHugh and Keuchel, and perhaps even Verlander. But if the Astros can't hit, nothing will matter.

And by the way, Fox is so in the bag for the Yankees (and previously the Red Sox) that it is sickening. Joe Buck is maddening. When the Stros won game 4 of the ALDS, other than A-Rod, the rest of the studio looked like they were going to cry.

[rasputin]

And by the way, Fox is so in the bag for the Yankees (and previously the Red Sox) that it is sickening. Joe Buck is maddening. When the Stros won game 4 of the ALDS, other than A-Rod, the rest of the studio looked like they were going to cry.

Hogwash. Every year, whoever is covering X event gets complaints by fans of both teams that the broadcasters are favoring the other side.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Astros are gripping terribly at the plate. Yeah, the Yankees have been pitching well, but Tanaka was grooving first pitch strikes that the Stros normally kill. They seemed to be afraid to get behind in the count on a swing and miss, so they got behind by looking. George Springer and Carlos Correa look lost. McCann needs to get benched for Gattis even if Stros lose a little something on defense.

Let's hope some home field, home cookin' (maybe) and Verlander push to a game 7. Game 7, Astros will have the ability to use McCullers, McHugh and Keuchel, and perhaps even Verlander. But if the Astros can't hit, nothing will matter.

And by the way, Fox is so in the bag for the Yankees (and previously the Red Sox) that it is sickening. Joe Buck is maddening. When the Stros won game 4 of the ALDS, other than A-Rod, the rest of the studio looked like they were going to cry.

I am admittedly a Yankees fan but I think Fox is more guilty of jumping on the bandwagon of the team that is doing well, as well as playing to the home team. Earlier in the series I felt like they were leaning towards the Astros, and now I will admit it feels like they are a bit more towards the Yanks. It is a lot easier to say good things about the winning team and bad things about the losing team than vice versa. And no offense, but there wasn't a lot good to say about Houston last night. Obviously, that can all change very quickly.

I am loving this Yankees team. In April, I would have been happy to make the playoffs. After a few hiccups, Girardi seems to be pushing all of the right buttons - Headley hasn't been hitting then had a great game last night. The bullpen moves have generally been timely and he hasn't been overthinking things too much, which is often a fault of his. The young guys are having fun and not over-thinking things, which is the best way to win, while the vets are providing a great influence - Frazier seems to have been a perfect addition to this clubhouse.

[A-Tex Devil]

Hogwash. Every year, whoever is covering X event gets complaints by fans of both teams that the broadcasters are favoring the other side.

I have a very high threshold for this type of stuff (as a Duke fan -- given some of our own fans, and the fans that dislike us, I have to), so given it triggered me, I am comfortable in saying it is not hogwash. It was worse during games 3 and 4 of the Red Sox series and Joe Buck in general.

It's not about what team is good and the bad. It's about the excitement/disappointment for same event. It's there. Post-game studio after game 4 of the Red Sox series was like a funeral. I'll admit that in this Yankees series, only Joe Buck (beginning in Game 1) has gotten to me.

[Blue in the Face]

I am admittedly a Yankees fan but I think Fox is more guilty of jumping on the bandwagon of the team that is doing well, as well as playing to the home team. Earlier in the series I felt like they were leaning towards the Astros, and now I will admit it feels like they are a bit more towards the Yanks.

Agreed completely. I thought the Fox guys were absolutely gushing about the Stros early in the series (and to be fair, their starters were certainly gush-worthy). I similarly thought they were absolutely falling all over themselves to rain praise on Kluber at the beginning of the alds. Now they're really praising the yanks. Smoltz in particular seems to have done a pretty sharp 180 in this series. It's one thing to acknowledge that one team is looking better than the other as a series evolves, but he really seems to go all in whichever way the wind is blowing. (Didn't see much of the other alds, so I can't comment about the coverage of the Sox vs the Astros).

[weezie]

Ron Gardenhire about to become Tigs next manager. Old school style. Guess it can't hurt.