And so it begins....
Boston (89-73) vs New York (94-68)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ancient rivals, and all that. Most of us remember the 2003-2004 ALCS. Old folks even remember the 1978 playoff. That was then. Now?
The Yankees had their best month of the season in September and finished the season on a heater, winning 11 of their last 12. They were, in so many ways, the classic bully. It's even in the way they win. Their success is built around whacking the baseball over the fence, and beating the crap out of the weaker teams. They abused the WHite Sox and the Orioles, this past week and all year long (15-5). They went just 11-21 against Toronto, Boston, and Detroit. And of course all the pressure is on them - Yankees fans aren't happy with 94 wins. They regard that as their due. It's championship or bust, always. So Aaron Judge finds himself in a situation much like Barry Bonds around 2002. Like Bonds, Judge is the best hitter in the game - but he has now played 58 post-season games, and has hit just .205/.318/.450 in 262 PApps. (Bonds had hit .196/.319/.299 in 27 post-season games through 2000.) Bonds broke out in the 2002 post-season, and the Law of Large Numbers suggest that sooner or later Judge will have his October moment as well. But the clock is ticking, and Garrett Crochet is a tough place for it to begin.
The Red Sox traded away their best hitter midway through the season - at the time, they were in fourth place with a 37-36 record. It sure looked like they were punting on 2025. But here they are, playing with the house's money. Even without Rafael Devers for half the season they still finished third in the league in Runs Scored. Their offense resembles Toronto's in many ways. They hit some HRs, but not a whole lot - what they do is get lots of hits and put plenty of people on base. The starting pitching looks awfully questionable after Crochet and Bello, what with Lucas Giolito's staus up in the air - but that doesn't matter much in a best-of-three. And they may have the best bullpen in the American League.
Tue 30 Sep - Crochet (18-5, 2.59) vs Fried (19-5, 2.86)
Wed 1 Oct - Bello (11-9, 3.35) vs Rodon (18-9, 3.09)
Detroit (87-75) vs Cleveland (88-74)
What are the Cleveland Guardians even doing here? A few days before the All-Star Break, they were 15.5 games back of Detroit, with an ugly 40-48 record. They went on a hot streak, winning 14 of 20 to close out July - but that only got them a few games closer to the Tigers, and then two of their pitchers, one of whom was ace closer Emmanuel Clase, went on the restricted list. SO they punted, trading away their rehabbing former Cy Young winning ace, and went into September just one game over .500 and with a double digit deficit in the division. But here they are.
The Guardians did got very hot - 20-7 qualifies - in September. And the Tigers did get very cold (7-17, yikes.) But still... what are they even doing here? The Guardians don't have a bad offense for a playoff team - they have a bad offense for any kind of baseball team, period. There are 15 AL teams - the Guardians ranked 15th in OnBase, Slugging, and (naturally) Runs Scored. Did they do anything well? Okay, they did hit into fewer double plays than any team in the league. Whoop-dee-dam-doo. When you never have anyone on base....
Detroit survived their terrible July slump (losing 12 of 13) mainly because they'd built up such a huge lead in the division that there was only so much harm two bad weeks could inflict. They still had a comfortable lead in the division, and they appeared to have righted the ship, going 20-12 over the next six weeks. But then in mid-September, they had another of their Mysterious Spells, losing 11 of 12 - five of them to the pursuing Guardians, and quite unexpectedly found themselves fighting for their post-season lives. They blew the division, but were spared the complete humiliation of missing the playoffs altogether. And they do get to send Tarik Skubal against the most punchless offense in the whole American League.
Tue 30 Sep - Skubal (13-6, 2.21) vs Williams (12-5, 3.06)
Wed 1 Oct - TBA vs Bibee (12-11, 4.24)
San Diego (90-72) vs Chicago (92-70)
The Padres didn't score many runs this season. They have a lot of very good hitters, but none of them had a particularly impressive season. No one was actually bad - everyone was just okay. Or pretty good. It was enough to win 90 games, because no NL team gave up fewer runs. Obviously, Petco Park has a whole lot to do with both of these factors - Petco and T-Mobile in Seattle are two of the best pitcher's parks in the game, and they're definitely the toughest places to hit in this post-season. Neither San Diego's nor Seattle's pitching is anywhere near as good as the raw numbers might suggest.
The Cubs are a well balanced outfit, one of the best teams in the NL at both scoring runs and preventing the other fellow from scoring - they're just not quite as good at these things are their division rivals in Milwaukee, which is why they have to play today. And their best pitcher, rookie phenom Cade Horton, is unavailable with a rib fracture. Kyle Tucker returned to the lineup for the final weekend - he has so far been limited to DH duty, which forces Seiya Suzuki into the outfield.
Tue 30 Sep - Pivetta (13-5, 2.87) vs Boyd (14-8, 3.21)
Wed 1 Oct - Cease (8-12, 4.55) vs TBA
Cincinnati (83-79( vs Los Angeles (93-69)
If we know one thing in life, we know this - Rob Manfred and 30 franchise owners are rooting desperately for the Dodgers to blow everyone away this post-season. If you're planning on arguing that the sport needs a salary cap, you don't need teams like Milwaukee and Cleveland in the post-season - you need the big spending bullies wreaking havoc on their poor, outgunned foes. And the Mets have already let the side down in ignominious fashion. This seems to me a good enough reason to cheer for the Reds. It would be so goddam funny to see the mighty Dodgers dismissed as quickly as possible, even if it means that Shohei Ohtani never does get to pitch in the post-season and Clayton Kershaw's brilliant career ends with him watching from the sidelines, not even needed on the active roster for this tiresome formality of a preliminary round.
Make it happen, men of Ohio!
Tue 30 Sep - Greene (7-4, 2.76) vs Snell (5-4, 2.35)
Wed 1 Oct - Littell (2-0, 4.39) vs Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49)
Boston (89-73) vs New York (94-68)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ancient rivals, and all that. Most of us remember the 2003-2004 ALCS. Old folks even remember the 1978 playoff. That was then. Now?
The Yankees had their best month of the season in September and finished the season on a heater, winning 11 of their last 12. They were, in so many ways, the classic bully. It's even in the way they win. Their success is built around whacking the baseball over the fence, and beating the crap out of the weaker teams. They abused the WHite Sox and the Orioles, this past week and all year long (15-5). They went just 11-21 against Toronto, Boston, and Detroit. And of course all the pressure is on them - Yankees fans aren't happy with 94 wins. They regard that as their due. It's championship or bust, always. So Aaron Judge finds himself in a situation much like Barry Bonds around 2002. Like Bonds, Judge is the best hitter in the game - but he has now played 58 post-season games, and has hit just .205/.318/.450 in 262 PApps. (Bonds had hit .196/.319/.299 in 27 post-season games through 2000.) Bonds broke out in the 2002 post-season, and the Law of Large Numbers suggest that sooner or later Judge will have his October moment as well. But the clock is ticking, and Garrett Crochet is a tough place for it to begin.
The Red Sox traded away their best hitter midway through the season - at the time, they were in fourth place with a 37-36 record. It sure looked like they were punting on 2025. But here they are, playing with the house's money. Even without Rafael Devers for half the season they still finished third in the league in Runs Scored. Their offense resembles Toronto's in many ways. They hit some HRs, but not a whole lot - what they do is get lots of hits and put plenty of people on base. The starting pitching looks awfully questionable after Crochet and Bello, what with Lucas Giolito's staus up in the air - but that doesn't matter much in a best-of-three. And they may have the best bullpen in the American League.
Tue 30 Sep - Crochet (18-5, 2.59) vs Fried (19-5, 2.86)
Wed 1 Oct - Bello (11-9, 3.35) vs Rodon (18-9, 3.09)
Detroit (87-75) vs Cleveland (88-74)
What are the Cleveland Guardians even doing here? A few days before the All-Star Break, they were 15.5 games back of Detroit, with an ugly 40-48 record. They went on a hot streak, winning 14 of 20 to close out July - but that only got them a few games closer to the Tigers, and then two of their pitchers, one of whom was ace closer Emmanuel Clase, went on the restricted list. SO they punted, trading away their rehabbing former Cy Young winning ace, and went into September just one game over .500 and with a double digit deficit in the division. But here they are.
The Guardians did got very hot - 20-7 qualifies - in September. And the Tigers did get very cold (7-17, yikes.) But still... what are they even doing here? The Guardians don't have a bad offense for a playoff team - they have a bad offense for any kind of baseball team, period. There are 15 AL teams - the Guardians ranked 15th in OnBase, Slugging, and (naturally) Runs Scored. Did they do anything well? Okay, they did hit into fewer double plays than any team in the league. Whoop-dee-dam-doo. When you never have anyone on base....
Detroit survived their terrible July slump (losing 12 of 13) mainly because they'd built up such a huge lead in the division that there was only so much harm two bad weeks could inflict. They still had a comfortable lead in the division, and they appeared to have righted the ship, going 20-12 over the next six weeks. But then in mid-September, they had another of their Mysterious Spells, losing 11 of 12 - five of them to the pursuing Guardians, and quite unexpectedly found themselves fighting for their post-season lives. They blew the division, but were spared the complete humiliation of missing the playoffs altogether. And they do get to send Tarik Skubal against the most punchless offense in the whole American League.
Tue 30 Sep - Skubal (13-6, 2.21) vs Williams (12-5, 3.06)
Wed 1 Oct - TBA vs Bibee (12-11, 4.24)
San Diego (90-72) vs Chicago (92-70)
The Padres didn't score many runs this season. They have a lot of very good hitters, but none of them had a particularly impressive season. No one was actually bad - everyone was just okay. Or pretty good. It was enough to win 90 games, because no NL team gave up fewer runs. Obviously, Petco Park has a whole lot to do with both of these factors - Petco and T-Mobile in Seattle are two of the best pitcher's parks in the game, and they're definitely the toughest places to hit in this post-season. Neither San Diego's nor Seattle's pitching is anywhere near as good as the raw numbers might suggest.
The Cubs are a well balanced outfit, one of the best teams in the NL at both scoring runs and preventing the other fellow from scoring - they're just not quite as good at these things are their division rivals in Milwaukee, which is why they have to play today. And their best pitcher, rookie phenom Cade Horton, is unavailable with a rib fracture. Kyle Tucker returned to the lineup for the final weekend - he has so far been limited to DH duty, which forces Seiya Suzuki into the outfield.
Tue 30 Sep - Pivetta (13-5, 2.87) vs Boyd (14-8, 3.21)
Wed 1 Oct - Cease (8-12, 4.55) vs TBA
Cincinnati (83-79( vs Los Angeles (93-69)
If we know one thing in life, we know this - Rob Manfred and 30 franchise owners are rooting desperately for the Dodgers to blow everyone away this post-season. If you're planning on arguing that the sport needs a salary cap, you don't need teams like Milwaukee and Cleveland in the post-season - you need the big spending bullies wreaking havoc on their poor, outgunned foes. And the Mets have already let the side down in ignominious fashion. This seems to me a good enough reason to cheer for the Reds. It would be so goddam funny to see the mighty Dodgers dismissed as quickly as possible, even if it means that Shohei Ohtani never does get to pitch in the post-season and Clayton Kershaw's brilliant career ends with him watching from the sidelines, not even needed on the active roster for this tiresome formality of a preliminary round.
Make it happen, men of Ohio!
Tue 30 Sep - Greene (7-4, 2.76) vs Snell (5-4, 2.35)
Wed 1 Oct - Littell (2-0, 4.39) vs Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49)
