MLB general postseason 2020 thread

AL
1 Tampa Bay
8 Toronto

4 Cleveland
5 NY Yankees

3 Minnesota
6 Houston

2 Oakland
7 Chi White Sox

NL
1 LA Dodgers
8 Milwaukee

4 San Diego
5 St. Louis

3 Chi Cubs
6 Miami

2 Atlanta
7 Cincinnati

if i can't get a chicago cross-town world series, i'm rooting for a florida cross-state world series

lol

i watched the cardinals clinch last night, but didn't bother looking up who they were playing until this morning (reading articles summarizing all the different possibilities just gives me a headache).

...did the milwaukee brewers just make the playoffs?

they backed into it lol

I know you and I are natural enemies in this field but you gotta admit having them take out the Dodgers would be pretty fuckin funny

Imagine the outrage if the hated houston astros win the WS after sneaking into the playoffs with a losing record

I'm rooting for the astros

xp

oh absolutely. to me that's the main goal, the actual winner of the WS is a couple paragraphs down

ok yeah an Astros WS win would be awesome b/c it would possibly end this whole "16 teams make it" bullshit

even if manfred stays the course I just want to hear him say "expanded postseason was a rousing success, everyone loves it" like he does with everything else that sucks

https://i.imgur.com/0s8XOcu.jpg

Rays, Cleveland, Twins, A's
Dodgers, Dads, marlins, Reds

Indians, Twins
Pads, Marlins

Indians vs Padres WS with Indians taking the radioshack or w/e cup.

Forgot the Padres had some injuries. I’ll take the dodgers over them actually

i'll go with braves beating the twins at radioshack

ABREU MVP

general, huh

that's the other one

so they're gonna sell tickets for the games in arlington

11,500 tickets in a park with ~40,000 capacity

that Reds loss has got to fucking stiiiing

1-12 with RISP. lost 1-0.

there's another thread that's getting more action fwiw

FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF CLUSTERFUCK OF 2020

Four days of lots of baseball (with extra innings and everything) and now two days of zilch is annoying.

Especially considering ZERO off-days during the LDS. This makes no sense.

i imagine it's all about trying to avoid football

yep

but there woulda been at least one unneeded Game 3 played today?

Lindbergh on in-game playoff interviews

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/10/2/21498591/espn-in-game-interviews-playoffs-ramon-laureano

i like the image

Four days of lots of baseball (with extra innings and everything) and now two days of zilch is annoying.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, October 3, 2020 1:45 PM (yesterday)

Agreed, no playoffs on the first weekend in the month of October is 1000% bullshit.

dodger stadium is juiced

I vote for separate threads for each series

Does the WS--does the tournament--conclude before or after the election? If the beloved Astros go on to win, I'd hate to think of that as some kind of election portent.

Before... Manfred was adamant.

wtf am i supposed to do with a yankees-astros ALCS

not gonna happen

loving this morbs optimism

rooting for the yankees might be the worst thing about 2020, if it comes to that.

I think I have a low-grade PENNANT FEVER

Astros over Yankees and Dodgers again would be hilarious though

So far in the division series:

Hou-Oak: 6 homers
NYY-TB: 6 homers
Atl-Mia: Acuña hits the upper deck in right center; Rojas reaches the train tracks

— Brendan Gawlowski (@GawlowskiB) October 6, 2020

this marlins-braves game is fun so far

i appreciate that alcantara plunking acuña cost him runs

funny how travis d'arnaud got pretty good after escaping the mets

not that funny

I don't know where this postseason Astros team came from but I'm enjoying the ride

did i just hear that 16/18 runs in TB-NYY series have scored on homers? Small ball, right A-Rod?

my lord, stanton

frightening

eat shit, astros!

A's are alive... workin on TB

have to say i like this five-days-straight thing, even though it will never happen again under normal circumstances and is a bizarre shift from the previous best-of-3 round

less excited about the eight homers in every game that doesn't involve the braves

I honestly would love fewer days off in the playoffs. Force teams to use their 4th or even 5th starters!!

How can you not like the Rays?

^^^ seconded.

^^^ 3rded

i like the a's better, but ok

anyone saw that Bellinger catch?

Yes and it hurt.

That was a good game, shame the wrong team one though.

*won

A's-TB works for you guys? Bronxers excluded.

There is a very simple rule for winning playoff baseball in 2020: outhomer your opponent. Teams that hit the most home runs in a game are now 18-0 this postseason.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 7, 2020

well RIP, Oakland, yet again; let's hope someone else rips them apart

keep hoping

The Braves haven't played in the NLCS since 2001 ... I was sure they'd been at least once in the past decade.

always exciting to see former pirates go head-to-head in a decisive playoff game

probably not ideal that one of them is going on two days' rest

Can anyone here explain the oddly-angled UTZ logo on the mound? Is it spray painted? A digital superimposition? Why is it kind of...standing up...like that?

Whatever the case, as sponsors go it’s not making MLB or the playoffs look like much of a big deal.

Ok I got it. Somehow before tonight I have only noticed the Utz logo, not Evan Williams Bourbon. Or HBOMax. In the MIDDLE OF THE PICTURE.

Fuck you again Manfred.

looking forward to the radioshack WS

why didn't Snell start today?

They’ve had his number for a couple years now.

shoulda let cole keep going imo

Although another Astros vs Dodgers World Series would be hilarious, I've been wanting to see Astros vs Braves ever since the Astros got relegated to the American League.

hate to see it

So many people spared from having to root for either the Astros or Yankees.

I see you’ve been reading my livejournal!

I saw your FB post soon after I posted last night. "Thermo's been reading my FB feed!"

I've watched a bit of tonight's game. I think I actually want the Astros to win everything--a cheating, sub-.500 team hated by everyone outside of Houston winning would ensure the validity of this thing vanishes from history.

No. This is 2020. One bad thing will not cancel out another bad thing.
Would love to see the Rays win it all, and I could live with either either NL team (assuming I don’t ever have to see the tomahawk chop this year). But an Astros ws victory would be just another crushing blow to my psyche and victory for evil. No amount of wishful thinking could make me stomach the site of those cheating SOBs celebrating on the field.

Asshos

I've watched a bit of tonight's game. I think I actually want the Astros to win everything--a cheating, sub-.500 team hated by everyone outside of Houston winning would ensure the validity of this thing vanishes from history.

― clemenza, Sunday, October 11, 2020 7:08 PM (one hour ago)

garbage take

"Take"? Not really my thing. I express opinions--you can agree or disagree.

clem otm plus it'd be really funny

this isn't a real year! everything is imaginary

If one of the other three teams win, what will they have won? A season that probably never should have been played, a postseason that let in too many teams and was based on 60 games, and a postseason schedule that's freakish. I'm sure it would come with mixed feelings for any of the three. The Astros winning would, for me, be the perfect rebuke to the entire season.

agreed w/ Clemenza and I feel like I have more reason to hate on Houston than most of us here

anything—anything—to kill off stupid expanded playoffs

the astros winning would not be a rebuke, nor would it kill off stupid expanded playoffs

all it would do is reward the cheaters and validate their earlier title because they were good enough to win it again without (presumably) cheating

i know earlnash is still bitter about the 1981 reds getting jobbed, but there's no asterisk next to the dodgers' championship that year and ultimately the only asterisk the astros would get is in your minds #fff

I was 4 at the time... why would the dodgers have an asterisk that year?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Major_League_Baseball_season

i was -2

haha

The Dodgers '81 title has always felt a little tainted to me--not nearly to the degree of this year--because of the Reds' weird season.

I have mixed feelings on Houston's previous success, before they got caught. There's a lot of talent there, and Verlander then Cole were a big part of it. When the story broke, I didn't immediately write off their title. I wasn't sure.

I feel like the 06 Cards still have a bit of a stink on them simply because they were close to .500

I'm under no delusion that the Astros winning would stop Manfred from doing everything in his power to maintain the expanded postseason. He would probably claim in one breath that a sub-.500 team winning proves that his method allows for the cream to rise to the top and that the Astros are actually the great team they always claimed to be, so stop giving him shit about their lack of punishment. He's made it clear that he's a shameless worm who will happily abuse a crisis to get his agenda passed.

But it would still be broadly unpopular and cause an uproar and it might get the point across that the playoffs are too random to be this deep. (It would've been better if the Brewers won too.) And I'd rather it stay unpopular for as long as possible because it sucks. And I've already seen people on reddit and Twitter turning in its favor because they liked the chaos of an 8-game day.

Also it'd be really funny

the astros winning would not be a rebuke, nor would it kill off stupid expanded playoffs

I'm not so sure...the cheating and the whole way that organization handled it was a huge embarrassment for the league. There is *nobody* at MLB offices who isn't praying thet are eliminated in this series. If they were to wun the WS with a losing record to it, the blowback would be universal.

to win the WS with a losing recoord,

xposts

oops thermo, meant to link to this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Major_League_Baseball_strike

Dusty's review of Camus: "One of the most negative philosophers around." https://t.co/z9YWQlNiua

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) October 12, 2020

oh, i don't think MLB *wants* the astros to win. but all the extra money from extra playoff games -- which iirc goes straight to ownership under the current scheme -- will ease the pain nicely

also lol that for all the pace-of-play innovations last night's 2-1, 8 1/2-inning game went 3:50

but i thought all the owners were losing tons of money by playing baseball and actually we should be thankful to the owners for allowing us to have some fun during difficult year?

a couple of fantastic defensive plays in this game so far - the adames leaping catch and margot going over the wall

maaaybe if you guys had started LCS threads i wd know they'd begun by now?

i was too busy not discussing evan longoria's career to start any new threads, sorry

man the rays really do live on the edge. the difference between this and them being down 2-0 is not a lot

I guess I’m watching this L a game?

this is your happening and it freaks you out

Hey real fans!

Not sure I like their presence.

kinda dug the five-straight-days division series as a test of depth, but seven straight is too much

one off day after game 4 would be fine

Has Will Smith ever faced Will Smith?

The Braves can hit.

really changes things when you have no kenleyfidence

Has Will Smith ever faced Will Smith?

yeah in Gemini Man

As someone who's a far bigger Jethro Tull fan than I ought to be (the rare ultra-'70s band I didn't leave back in high school 45 years ago), I had no idea the Braves had a rookie pitcher named Ian Anderson.

Kiermaier really putting on a CF clinic.

Melancon has caught more homeruns this season than he has allowed.

welp this blowout got interesting in a hurry

4h12m for the clockwatchers

Wheels falling off the Astros’ bus in spectacular fashion.

What the fuck is this question? Can you find a positive after going up 2-0? Lol wut

Good job by Melancon here pic.twitter.com/vFAW1i4kcn

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) October 14, 2020

Who was that idiot?!

well here we go

Shades of the Braves game earlier...

what's going on with the altuve throwing errors? injury or yips?

yips

He (well, the whole team, but he especially) should be thankful that he's being spared from relentless heckling.

is there anything preventing the opposing team from banging on water coolers really loudly while the astros bat?

other than poor sportsmanship and the possibility of getting into a physical altercation i mean?

I watch playoffs/world series in a weird way. Once my Twins are eliminated I root for whoever eliminates the Yankees. Last year that was the Astros, and Altuve knocked in the series-ending walkoff homer. This year I'm cheering for the Rays, and I now know the Astros are a bunch of cheaters, but I still feel a little for him and his fielding errors. But just a little.

an Altuve-amount of feels?

btw some pretty impressive stuff from ian anderson this post (as ron darling would say), despite the walks yesterday

it's surprisingly difficult to make a baseball-related jethro tull reference

a cautionary tale, though, as the last rookie with this kind of playoff scoreless streak was . . . michael wacha

Anderson much more impressive than Wright

lol @ Atlanta

I hope Turner gets drilled in his next AB.

"Oh you want to pretend to get hit to get on base the cheap way? How about 100mph between the shoulder blades?"

(not that anyone will remember that AB or anything haha)

Ok dodgers

yikes

all the dodgers have scored at least once, by the third inning

Eggs Benedict warming up.

Damn. Rays were a matter of feet from putting the series away right there.

it's surprisingly difficult to make a baseball-related jethro tull reference

hahaha, google Gerald Bostock and softball when you have a minute

Astros in 7!

“I watch playoffs/world series in a weird way. Once my Twins are eliminated I root for whoever eliminates the Yankees. “

Lol did someone get their feelings hurt?

is it you?

Baker: "They cooked me for taking Russ Ortiz out in the World Series in 2002. In today's game that would be the thing to do. Third time through the order, 6 2/3..."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 15, 2020

nah, they cooked you for giving him the ball

It was all the Rally Monkey's fault.

well

Kershaw and the third time through the order.

This Braves hitting reminds me of the 2019 Nats.

would be amazing to see ATL drop a 15 spot in this inning

will it ever be enough for you?

you love to see it

damn, we don't get to see Will Smith vs. Will Smith.

(asking again: have they faced each other before?)

Just fuckin' no with the Astros, I'm all in for Rays/Braves

I was slammed at work and couldn't see much of the game but I saw Acuña tumble -- did he leave the game, is he ok?

At the time it looked like he broke/sprained his wrist (might be my PTSD from my vert skateboarding days), but he ended up staying in and seemed fine so shrug.ascii

might be my PTSD from my vert skateboarding days

looool okay toughie

Sixth inning playoff Kershaw ... again.

How many teams down 3-0 have forced a game 6? '99 Mets and '04 Red Sox, are there more?

Starting to look like big trouble for the Rays.

I don’t feel like watching an Astros vs Braves WS.

Okay guys, Will Smith vs. Will Smith is happening right now.

First time players with the same name have faced each other in the postseason.

Will Smith prevails!

The battle of Will Smith vs. Will Smith could not have been any better.

Astros in 7!

Webb channeling his inner Kenny Powers meltdown

The Will Smith battle is why you can’t beat baseball.

Astros series setup in perfect spot for Dusty Baker to produce the playoff nut buster crushing loss across their fan-base that he has delivered to every town he has managed within before.

I am not liking the Rays situation currently.

LA

(xpost) I've subscribed to this theory the last few years that whenever every conceivable sign points to a game going one way, expect the opposite to happen; sports just doesn't make sense a lot of the time. So with 90% of baseball fans nauseous about the prospect of the Astros in the WS, wouldn't surprise me at all if the Rays win.

Stop trying to put hopeful thoughts in my head! (I realize the odds are pretty much 50/50)

like a football bouncing, we just don't know where it's going to go

clemenza otm

betting line is rays -118 and dodgers -140, both of which i find kind of surprising

Or, if you believe momentum to be a myth, probability would heavily favour the Rays. A .667 team should beat a .483 team about 63% of the time, all else being equal. The likelihood of the .483 teams winning four in a row would be--I think--.37 x .37 x .37 x .37, or about a 2% likelihood. (But I'm not sure. Does every game have to be treated independently, in which case it's the same 37% for tonight? I mean, the probability of flipping a head is always 50%, but if you step back, the probability of four in a row is about 6%.)

http://sabr.org/journal/article/probabilities-of-victory-in-head-to-head-team-matchups/

A .667 team should beat a .483 team about 63% of the time, all else being equal.

given the unbalanced schedule other things are not equal, but yeah

it's the same 37% (or whatever) for tonight, although the starting pitcher matchup will make predicting any one game by overall records essentially meaningless

both teams have scored 21 runs in the series

Even factoring in the cheating, I think the Astros are a much better team than their record would indicate.

Agree with that, and to take their record literally is, I think--putting the cheating aside--wrong. It reminds me of the ILB poll a few years ago that included the 2000 Yankees as one of the worst WS winners because they were 87-74 for the season. It was, within the context of the Yankee-revolving-door, the same basic team as the '98/99/01 teams; the core was there anyway, plus other overlap. This year's Astros team is more or less the same Astros team of the last few years--not as good, but realistically closer to the WS team than to a .480 team.

Cardinals 2006 team was probably one of their worst to make the playoffs yet won it all. Looking it up they were only 83-78 that year. Same deal though, as they were in the playoffs nearly every year those days.

Was going to mention them, too, but then I noticed they were even worse in 2007...but they do go along with the general point, though.

Even factoring in the cheating, I think the Astros are a much better team than their record would indicate.

yeah -- they won 100+ games the last three years, and even with verlander out and cole gone they're still pretty decent

This year's Astros team is more or less the same Astros team of the last few years

I don't think the Astros are as bad as their record but losing Verlander and Cole is huge

stunned that treinen didn't give up a game-tying homer there

losing Verlander and Cole is huge

I was just thinking of Cole (so more the regular-season 2020 team); you're right, they're without Verlander right now, and that is decidedly not as strong a team.

If you hate the Astros and you're bigger on karma than probability, I would think that losing tonight, after coming all the way back--as opposed to getting swept and shrugging "Not our year"--would be the best possible way to see them exit. (Unless you're a big Rays fan, where the sweep would have obviously been better.)

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?

Game 7 bitch

https://i.imgur.com/1uGHkJo.jpg

ok, rays vs astros, who are we rooting for here?

guess i'm going rays, since they have no money, they do have arozarena, and also fuck the astros

the amazing raaaaaaaaaaaandy

7 HRs this postseason - that's your Mazda Rookie Record - driving matters

I really hate the rays but the Astros pulling a 2004 red sox might be too jokerfied even for me

Why would anyone hate the Rays

you don't have to appreciate their deranged cheapness just because they make it work or because the front office displays unprecedented ingenuity. they lack a concrete team identity because the FO refuses to hold onto 90% of their players when they start to cost money. they're a team of part-time journeymen and it's not because they have to be, it's because the FO is smart enough to make their cheapness work. when i root for a team to win i'm rooting for players, not executives and a probably also underpaid analytics department

moneyball's nothing but an excuse these days

fuck em i like the cheaters more

Kinda lame to put the onus of bad ownership on these players.

Part-time journeymen is a bit much, too.

agreed it's no fun when the Rays are good but baseball is fundamentally set up to reward that sort of teambuilding

can't root for them if i can't remember who any of them are!

it's fine, in 2 or 3 years they'll all be on completely different teams, including ones i might actually like. i'll root for them then.

Well if we are going to dislike teams for having bad owners on top of disliking teams that have too much financial power there won't be a lot of baseball left to enjoy.

i'm not talking about their owner, i'm talking about how their owner affects the entire structure of the organization, which is unique

Well if you can't enjoy or remember players that went 136 and 86 over the last two regular seasons because of that you might be knocking on the wrong door.

it's not a problem i have with any other team! well except the diamondbacks, but that's mostly because of their branding

why are you so invested in my distaste for 1 out of 30 mlb teams?

do they read ilx

i'm sorry blake snell i always pick you in fantasy

Sorry, I don’t mean to be that way. I’m just tired of seeing negative vibes everywhere I look there’s always someone hating on something or someone.

i didn't mean for that to come off confrontational, i'm genuinely interested in why people on the internet tend to get so defensive over the A's and the rays. most of the hate people have for opposing teams has nothing to do with the actual players on the teams. i don't see why it's any less valid to hate a team for an extremely shrewd FO than it is for an extremely spending one, other than... the past 20 years of internet sabermetrics fandom imposing a weird morality on analytic ingenuity. i've been reading fangraphs for fifty years, that doesn't mean i have to like teams for giving them a lot of content.

xp no worries VHS i'm being a crank

to be fair to myself i've been super positive about the astros, go astros

I’m bandwagonning hard on the Dodgers, so it’s not like I care that much, I do enjoy watching these Rays play that being said.

It’s just, I’m not going to let sleazy owners and nerdy FOs alter my appreciation of Ji-Man Choi or Ronald Acuna.

it all gets mixed in

Holding out to see if it’s somehow possible that all four of these teams lose.

i feel u

i totally get why some people feel the way x does about the Rays; but one of the main things i love about them – i don't care if it's the players doing it or the FO or analytics departments – is how they've transformed the game. the opener, for example, they took some heat for it at first – but now there's a lot of teams doing it (possibly the majority). love the line-up/bench of moving parts. i don't have a hard time liking their players either, even if they are role players or journey men (not that i would call many of their guys the later).

There’s something about Fairbanks expressions that I love. Like he’s half terrified or something.

Like watching Richie Cunningham pitch.

brilliant analysis

https://i.imgur.com/Xw9vEeM.jpg

charlie morton got two more outs and exited having thrown 66 pitches

you hate to see it

Stoked for the Rays. In case you haven't been paying attention, they dominated the league this year (.667) and have been almost as good in the playoffs (.643) to date.

The other time Tampa was in the series, that was the crazy ending to the regular season, right, where all those games were decided almost simultaneously?

Rays play some nice defense. Good defense up the middle like that saves a lot of runs over time.

Just need the damn Braves to finish the deal and get rid of the Dodgers tomorrow.

I think it would be fun to see them up against the dodgers.

I have the Jethro Tull reference for tomorrow: "Bubble in the Jungle."

Sorry, that's the best I can do.

thank you for your effort

I can never root for the Braves.

I'm rooting for the Braves tonight. Lots of players I like on the Dodgers--Kershaw, Jansen, Betts (who doesn't really feel like a Dodger yet)--but either I'm tired of them, or the teenage Reds fan from the '70s is still there.

That crazy season's-end I was trying to remember was 2011; it involved the Rays, but it wasn't the year they went to the Series (2008).

Rooting for Ronald, Ozzie, Freddie, Dansby, et al.

That was the year there was like 2 teams that were down to their last out and managed to rally back, correct?

Amazing finish.

https://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-dramatic-final-day-of-2011-season

Lot of guys to root for in Atlanta, Acuna is one of my favorite players, but the logo, the name, the chop, I have to draw a line.

Plus, I really don’t want Kershaw to join the list of greats who never won a World Series.

2011, the night of Robert Andino!

at least, despite the silly playoffs, we're going to get world series teams that belong there

Dustin May can't throw a strike. Pretty scary.

Absolute fastest I've ever seen a pitcher called to the bullpen. 6 pitches into the game.

wow, i didn't even get a chance to turn the game on yet and he's already out?!

oh, i see he's not removed yet.

He's still pitching but yeah poor phrasing on my part: 6 straight balls from May and Roberts got a guy up and throwing in the pen.

8 straight balls to lead off the game (allowing a steal in the process) and then gives up an RBI single was all you missed.

Weird how the Dodgers have a pitching staff that always ~~feel thin this season.

sitting on a park bench

What are your guys' thoughts of Travis d'Arnaud batting cleanup for the Barves?

Will definitively work very well vs the Rays staff.

interesting double play.

Riley trying to innovate the sliding skill.

Mookie Betts.

lotta walks dawg

Cody Bellinger - mistakes were made

Rays vs Dodgers

barves gonna barves

at least, despite the silly playoffs, we're going to get world series teams that belong there

otm

go TBR

battle of the #1 seeds was my rhetorical nightmare but good for them, rooting for kershaw to get his smile back

acuna and albies will have many opportunities going forward i hope

Glad for Mookie, but it sucks that the Giants aren't going to be competitive in the West for a long long time.

ah well -- go Rays.

atlanta got pretty dang close to knocking out the dodgers. they're a fun team to watch.

i fucking love Urias.

Not just the #1 seeds, but, in a playoff designed for anything but, the two best records in baseball. How many times has that happened in the WC era? Not many, I'm guessing.

if you're trying to trick me into doing the math on that...

for only the fourth time in the wild-card era (since 1995), the teams with the best record in each league will meet in the World Series.

expect Manfred to bury the chances of it happening more frequently

(xpost) Close to what I meant, but it's possible that the two best records came out of the same league in one of those years (probably not, but possible); the Dodgers and Rays had the two best records this year.

Seeing as I asked the question...The two best records across both leagues has only happened twice post-WC: 1995 (Atlanta/Cleveland) and 2013 (Boston/St. Louis).

I assume Kershaw gets the G1 start on normal rest? My usual rooting interest with the Dodgers in there: two great starts from Kershaw (even if five innings), Tampa for the series.

i’m still thinking about willy adames’ pick in the first inning of game 7

https://www.mlb.com/video/willy-adames-slick-sliding-stop

it wasn't even that close!

forever unfathomable to me how hard they can throw

I want kiermeier to get a ring

I just want the dumb Kershaw narrative to end. 'Clutchness' as a concept is the plague.

For as long as he mixes in the occasional great game with lots of games where he seems to lose it in the middle innings, I don't think it will. Lots of back and forth on this in the Kershaw thread. As I said there: I don't think it's clutch or character or anything as ephemeral as that, but I do think there's good reason to believe that he presses in certain situations, and that--a totally human thing--that ends up feeding upon itself.

And, as is often pointed, his manager could have circumvented some of that by removing him a little earlier.

"pointed out"

saw somewhere that in kershaw's playoff career, the bullpen has allowed 70% of runners inherited from him to score (average seems to be about 41%)

Didn't know that was that high--obviously part of it. A lot of home runs, though.

Three ways I could see a pitcher pressing: over-thinking, second-guessing himself (related to the first), over-throwing. Same with a batter (substitute over-swinging), although I would think the mind games might affect a pitcher more.

With 11,000 people there, are the sounds I'm hearing actual (and only) crowd noise, or do they embellish?

Omg shut up about the free tacos.

pretty sure they embellish the sound. rays sticking with glasnow longer than i expected, although i guess turner will be his last batter

morbs is going to be furious about missing this game because no one started a world series thread

left him in way too long

Let’s see if they do the same with Kershaw.

Roberts can't possibly be insane enough to send Kershaw out, can he? You couldn't have a better situation to help him put this thing to rest. (Even if you end up losing the game, you'd still get something important in return...anyway, beginning to look moot.)

Yeah it’s safe to run him out there at this point

Don't get this at all. The difference between Kershaw leaving with a five-run lead after 5 or after 6 is nothing--either way, he pitched great. To give the Rays a chance to score a couple of runs next inning and bring to mind that again is pointless. I know you don't want to burn through the bullpen needlessly, but still.

Worked out ok!

It did, it did (6 pitches?). If Turner hadn't made that great play... (announcers pointed out Kershaw gave a rare smile).

he looks great, his pitch count was still very low and the dodgers pen only had one day off. i'd be tempted to let him start the 7th

I wouldn't--I'm going on the record!

Omg mookie

Mookie Betts.

What a game

Yeah no reason to bring Kershaw back.

Can't believe he took out Kershaw.

Jesus h Christ he almost threw it away

Is Globe Life the ugliest (exterior, at least) park in baseball now? It looks like a giant farm supply warehouse.

Indeed, it’s horrendous.

Love that the baseball world is united in mocking the Red Sox.

John Henry should have used the Mookie savings to sign another CB for Liverpool

Owners shouldn’t be allowed to own multiple teams.

here we go

hey we got a series how about that

daer fox i *might* be interested in a hitter's regular season stats; perhaps more interested in his postseason stats; absolutely don't care about his world series stats in 1.whatever games

sorry this hurts yr bellinger narrative

Was good seeing Lowe’s slump come to an end.

sorry guys, could we please focus on the elephant in the room...

who has the nicest ass in the WS?

asking for a friend :'''(

Not Dustin may.

kiermaier has the nicest front.

Whoever in the Rays org that was in charge of scouting Buehler did a pisspoor job.

sorry guys, could we please focus on the elephant in the room...

who has the nicest ass in the WS?

asking for a friend :'''(

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, October 22, 2020 1:28 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

: )

loving this buehler guy, just cranking high fastballs past everyone is one of the best pitching styles

who has the nicest ass in the WS?

we'll never know for sure but i feel like morbs would have been a chris taylor fan

corey seager: pretty good

randy arozarena was/is most likely a better overall player than bader or o'neill, so it was a bummer to see him go in the trade for liberatore.

― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!😂 (Karl Malone), Wednesday, February 19, 2020

just want to say i was otm here

i am happy for arozarena, but oof my stomach

is brosseau really pronounced "BRAW-so", or is this just joe suck?

You love to see it!

dumb IBB, hope that comes back to bite them

awesome game

is brosseau really pronounced "BRAW-so", or is this just joe suck?

― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Saturday, October 24, 2020 9:43 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Joe Suck, it would be ‘Broh-so’.

Speaking of suck, how many runs in the World Series has Baez has allowed in high leverage situations?

god imagine having a rooting interest in the Rays this game

Dodgers unstoppable with 2 outs and runners on

I know John Laurel and Joe Hardy keep repeating it in the booth but boy these two outs at bats by the Dodgers are ridiculous.

Perfect ending to one of the great games.

What an ending!

OH MY FUCKING GOD

Who are you Brett Phillips

that's an insane ending, oh man

Dodgers starting to show their true October colors.

Practically the first half-inning I watched--just couldn't get interested--but what a finish. I didn't even realize Arozarena had wiped out till the replay.

Arozarena falling over might have won them that game, holy shit

wow!

Idk why jansen is allowed in the stadium at this point

Smith never had the ball.

Local stingray in great mood.jpg

I haven't had faith in Kenley for a couple years. No faith

one of the pitches to the prior batter could've eaaasily been called a strike and won it for them

don't forget that bobble in CF. the panic of the rest of the play started there

god I love Brett Phillips, wish Milwaukee hadn't traded him

Crazy ass game

Crazy ass game

That wasn’t on Jenson

Official scorer gave Taylor the error in CF but no error at home for Smith, which seems kind.

i know it's just because i've been paying attention more this decade, but there have been some all-timer WS moments the last 10 years, like higher than average. sheesh

xp that was a double-error for sure

Jansen has turned from one of those 3Ks-on-10-pitches type of closers into one of those 90s headcases who likes to put a couple guys on just to make it interesting.

Happy thoughts for Will Smith :
A) this was only Game 4
B) Bill Buckner eventually signed a lot of autographs with Mookie Wilson and had a wonderful “Curb Your Enthusiasm” cameo

— CSTB (@cstbtweet) October 25, 2020

That wasn’t on Jenson

― (•̪●) (carne asada

Meh
He gave up hits and doesn't look particularly sharp to me. Not fooling anyone. Heart attack closer

that was a defensive breakdown at the end - CF OF bobble, then the throw was offline, which was why someone had to cut it off, then the cut-off throw was to the wrong side of the plate. will smith had plenty of time to retrieve and offline throw and return back to the plate, but i guess he didn't realize arozarena had wiped out so he was trying to save every split second. i blame that play on the CF, most of all

The entire game came down to 18 seconds. I have no words. pic.twitter.com/53W9yhMwuG

— Positive Residual (@presidual) October 25, 2020

Did you know Rays hero Brett Phillips grew up next door to Randy Savage and used to get schooled in HORSE by the Macho Man? https://t.co/z4DnebTTGY

— SI Wrestling (@SI_wrestling) October 25, 2020

lol at macho man randy taylor schooling a child in HORSE

brett phillips has an *incredible* laugh

gosh

also his middle name is maverick ffs

Amazing.

That's a good call by Buck, too.

really makes me happy that the world is learning about Brett Phillips tonight

extremely beloved in minor league circles because of the laugh and his flinch here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQKmQSyVEKE

Rewatching the play it looked like Arozarena was in disbelief at the 3B coach's send sign which caused him to falter (and to Arozarena's credit, he had every right to question that send as it was a terrible call that ended up looking genius in retrospect.)

I think he tripped on his helmet.

It was a questionable send fo sho.

Buncha dudes chasing their bud into the outfield cuz they wanna hug him real bad and he's just flying around making brrrrrr noises like an airplane. Let's all go to there. pic.twitter.com/amlFMmrQHg

— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) October 25, 2020

First walkoff error in a World Series game since the Will Middlebrooks obstruction call in 2013.https://t.co/T6w9ajDYjp

— Doug Kern (@dakern74) October 25, 2020

lol, Phillips was on an Astros farm team and they traded him to the Brewers for... Mike Fiers

Jansen missed his spot by about three feet and served up a meatball on the pitch to Phillips, this loss is definitely on him.

I flipped off the TV and missed some serious joy watching the Dodgers go up in flames.

They still could win it all though.

earl, i posted a nugget for you over here:

On This Day in Baseball History

Yeah Jansen was not succeeding at the job he was given it’s not on the D

I would argue that at least 4 players on the dodgers fucked up that play

Biggest fuck up was Roberts’ and how he played Baez anyway.

Including telling Baez he was done and then putting him back in, just before the second home run he allowed.

Jansen probably is king goat as he gave up the hit and then was not in the right position backing up the catcher when the ball got away.

Rozarena slapping home like it’s dat ass

Hunter Pence bought shots for everyone at an SF restaurant after the Dodgers lost Game 4 of the World Series 🤣

(Video via @scott__dresser) pic.twitter.com/lzZKvMWlkc

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) October 25, 2020

Glasnow pitching even worse than the score shows.

handy of the dodgers to run into an out

Glasnow, breaking out the El Duque style hide behind the arm.

Got to admit fellas, this year is probably the less amount of baseball I have watched since I was like 8 or 9.

Sad ass year.

That said, I was tied hardcore to the playoffs in '79 as I watched McNamara's band go down in flames to the Pirates and lost a $2 dollar bet to my mom on the f-in Pirates as I took the Orioles. Bitch made me pay and reminds me about it to this day. :)

Arozarena's swing reminds me of Tampa native Gary Sheffield.

well that is not a good start to an inning

feel like the entire "Kershaw melts down in the postseason" narrative refers to basically this kind of inning exactly

Cruddy D by the Dodgers.

Squeeze to the right might work here, if he got a pitch to do so.

Have no idea if this guy can lay down a bunt, probably can't as that skill is gone for the most part.

F-in terrible, you got a lefty pitching and they pulled the second basemen. You don't even have to lay a GOOD bunt just fair and to the right to score a run.

wow that's one way to get out of it

amazing by Kershaw too

That was a pretty good pitch by Glasnow at 99, might be getting relaxed.

Now at 100 pitches in the game, Glasnow finally finds his groove.

ok, I'll stop posting.

Classic Glasnow outing so far.

Muncy grooved that one...dude has some pop.

Every home run looks impressive in that ballpark.

Got to say the manta ray hat and the lime green stirrups ruin a pretty nice road uniform.

Alright this is where Dave Roberts either becomes a WS winning manager or loses his job. No pressure bud.

Whose bullpen is better at this point, as the starters are about cooked either way?

On one hand the Dodgers have seen a lot of the Rays’ bullpen, enough to be confident against it, especially after last night... on the other hand Jansen and Baez and Dave Roberts.

those pretzels have no salt

Imagine being able to throw at 101 mph.

Great stuff by Gonzalez.

Yes!

Beautiful

That was a hard game to watch! My liver can’t handle this.

I love you, Clayton Kershaw

Haha

Rays seem like they're in a pretty good place with Snell going tonight--get to game 7, then it's a coin flip.

i think game 7 has to favour the dodgers

yeah, i'll take walker buehler in a game 7

Let’s see with this game first. Snell can go wild.

Arozarena goin wilder!

Arozarena is how I imagined Puig’s career would go.

Ok, Snell seems to be on. That 3 pitches strikeout on Seager was gorgeous.

still pretty early in his career! but yeah, he's been magnificent so far. unless the cardinals do especially well next year, i expect their president of baseball ops (mozeliak, who is still effectively the GM) to be gone. it's not exactly fair, i guess, but arozarena becoming a hearo may be his death knell

*hero

I mean this is still a pretty small sample, relatively. He was hot and cold all season until ending it on a serious hot streak.

I just want to believe this will be forever.

He was hot and cold all season until ending it on a serious hot streak.

you talking about arozarena? he only played 23 games in the regular season (called up at the very end of august), but he hit .281/.382/.641, with 7 HRs

i think he had covid-19 earlier in the year

Just 23 games?! He was added and dropped like 3 times in my other league! (Once by me)

Am I the only one who has double robot voice during in-game ads ?

Snell is good.

i have the double robot noise too! are they going for the really bad obnoxious FM radio ad "ONE WEEK ONLY! I SAID ONE WEEK ONLY!!!!" kind of style?

Gotta love the Choi montage tho.

Normally I'm 1000% leave-him-in--especially facing elimination, especially with a manageable pitch count--but I don't know, if it's something Snell just doesn't do, maybe it's risky. I heard earlier today he hasn't pitched beyond the fifth inning in something like a year (and was generally finished after six in his Cy Young year).

Here we go!

Shapking up to be a truly spooky october for Kevin Cash, will be haunted by that decision for many moons.

(shaping)

LAD WS MVP: Kevin Cash

Mookie Betts. I swear.

look you don't get to be a World Series manager unless you're willing to make Galaxy Brain decisions

has this guy faced 3 yet?

amused by the fact that this went exactly how every single person watching assumed it would

xpost Betts, Seager, Turner

amused by the fact that this went exactly how every single person watching assumed it would

― frogbs, Tuesday, October 27, 2020 10:32 PM (twenty-four seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

A wild pitch on Zunino is pretty rare.

even The Iron Sheik knows

CASH MUST HAVE BET THE DODGERS OTHERWISE HE REALLY IS A DUMB SON OF A BITCH. #WorldSeries

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) October 28, 2020

But yeah to me the bad decision is less taking out Snell, than specifically using Anderson who has been trash against the Dodgers.

Blake Snell's final line: 5.1 IP, 9 SO, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 R

His Game Score of 69 is the best in #WorldSeries history by a pitcher who didn't reach 6 IP https://t.co/kUe3Rsw5fA #RaysUp #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/x5dOXqNq2j

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) October 28, 2020

He was dealing

No one should go three time through the lineup for the first time in a year vs the Dodgers in an elimination game, the more I think about it, the more I like the decision.

Rays have deployed their secret weapon

So who is closing for the dodgers?

It’s going to be Kershaw I just feel it

did morbs love kershaw?

normally i like to make fun of kershaw, but in his honor i will bite my tongue

Treinen

did morbs love kershaw?

yes!

I need a drink

Moookieeeeeee

The man’

normally i like to make fun of kershaw, but in his honor i will bite my tongue

I really love you z_s, but this is the only thing I've ever smh at that you posted. Who cares. Get it tonight, doyers

Sounds like it’s going to be Urias.

I’m fine with that

I’m literally shaking right now

God bless you Chaim Bloom

it will all come down to whether kershaw comes on the mound on the 9th!

lol, that would be kind of incredible

I’m 100% certain Bloom keeps Betts if the owners allow him to.

God bless you John Henry

The stress made me eat way too much ice cream.

I’m 100% certain Bloom keeps Betts if the owners allow him to.

explain

Owners obviously didn't want to pay what Betts was asking so better trade him for something before losing him as a FA.

A little tautological

swing the damn bat my dudes

They fucking did it!!!

doyers

i guess that's cool? whatever

Kershaw has a ring, I can sleep better.

congrats dodgers. urias’s two backwards k’s to seal it were badass

i went to a game at dodger stadium once c. 2008 and it was amazing and beautiful so congrats to the dodgers

Chavez ravine at sunset is magical

it really is

i sleep like shit; will this help?

nothing against the dodgers at all though, they deserve it, are very good despite their third baseman's coif, etc

Thinking of Morbs and how every year he wrote ‘see you in spring’.

also, let's not forget, fantastic uniforms

possibly the best logo in the majors

I'll recant something I said a couple of weeks ago, that the winner this year would be tainted. The Dodgers were the one team where that won't stick: big pre-season favourite, best record in baseball, and they beat the team with second-best record in the WS...Whatever happened to Mayor Jingelberries? Wasn't he a big Dodgers fan?

Sports broadcasters will have to get used to the fact that in a 30 teams league (and hopefully more soon!) 40+ years drought are the norm.

let's pause to celebrate rob manfred, who can fulfill his greatest dream for the season by handing a piece of metal to some rich guy

Turner tested positive for covid!!!!

i guess that's cool? whatever

― mookieproof, Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:40 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

The last time I watched the dodgers win the World Series it was with my grandfather and father who have both no longer with us.

Mookie don’t let the shittiness of Manfred and the owners ruin everything for you.

um WHAT

Holy crap Justin Turner was pulled because he tested positive for COVID-19?!

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 28, 2020

Last time the Dodgers won the World Series I was watching with my dad while I was sitting under the dining room table

The Dodgers were the one team where that won't stick

yeah

i can't really pull for the dodgers cause they're a boring win at this point but otoh it'd be really weird if a team that's been this good for this long never won a WS. they deserve to have their greatness officialized one way or another, so i'm glad it happened during a season i wasn't taking seriously. and i'm extremely happy for kershaw, just wish puig was still there too. now i hope they crumble and suck forever so some newer funner younger teams can usurp them in the NL

the #2 payroll team beat the #27 payroll team, with the Rays' entire payroll roughly equivalent to Betts+Kershaw earnings for the year.

sadly, the Dodgers are the kind of team that will all show up at the White House and eat a spread copious Mickey D's with Trump.

but I'm happy for Dodgers fans who have suffered through the last few decades.

that's always kind of a weird day when you win the World Series and find out you have COVID

This is a long ass speech.

"I'm going to the infirmary ward!"

I don’t think they would go to the white house also the fact that the rays’ owners don’t spend money is their own problem

kill thr filibuster

it's ruining baseball

wait, what? wasn't turner just in a heap of people without mask?

congrats doyers

also good luck doyers

Yeah, better it goes to franchises that actually spend like the Nats or Dodgers.

but I'm happy for Dodgers fans who have suffered through the last few decades.

lol

I just hope we never see a 60 games season ever again.

'55, '59, '63, '65, '81, '88, and now 2020.
What a year. What a season. What a team.
Congratulations @Dodgers

— Vin Scully (@TheVinScully) October 28, 2020

MLB fans welcome to boooing the commissioner as a seasonal chaser

it's kind of funny that the doyers ended up winning both of the asterisk WS years ('81 and 2020)

Lol what’s wrong with Manfred

okay now I'm bummed they won because we might've gotten to see how they'd treat a COVID outbreak on a baseball team right before GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES

sorry, that was a dumb way to put it. i don't actually think of them as "asterisk years". this was a crazy fucking year. but they all tried, and the dodgers played really well and deserved it. but still, just that they won both of the "weird" years

okay now I'm bummed they won because we might've gotten to see how they'd treat a COVID outbreak on a baseball team right before GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES

not to get all tin-foil hat, but maybe they deal with it by not letting the test results known until mid-game?

I think manifred has his own voice in his earbuds tbh. He’s talking like he hears himself talking and is confused

and just lie about why Turner got pulled? yeah you could probably do that

I just hope we never see a 60 games season ever again.

what we're about to see is massive layoffs

no need for scouts when there are no games (and video everywhere); no need for salespeople when there are no season tickets to sell; no need for coaches when there are no short-season minor league teams

'95 was shortened by 18 games; it has 11% of an asterisk.

xpost It started already

take sides: gary bettman vs rob manfred

(obviously boo them all)

But yeah part of why I rooted for the Dodgers so much this season, other than Kershaw and Betts fandom, is really because of how they got cheated in 2017. At least it gives me a sense of restoration.

Bettman has a longer path of destruction

Manifred is just a toady

I'm taking Manfred because Bettman will outlive us all and will still be doing the same speech routine under the boos in 2176 and he's not a man he's a vampire he scares me.

If the owners in MLB suddenly caved and said we need to pay the players more manifred would start dancing but bettman is from the stern school

Wild how these little trolls end up here

wild how you imagine that MLB owners would ever cave

I don’t imagine! That’s the thing I’m saying that manifred is a true mouthpiece

ok fair

oof

. @Ken_Rosenthal: “He tested positive yesterday. They got those positive results back this afternoon. Ran a test today, came back positive again. This is NOT a case of a false positive… he was asked not to go on the field. He insisted upon it, the Dodgers insisted upon it.” pic.twitter.com/GG7PTbluuo

— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) October 28, 2020

That's going to undermine sympathy going back to the Houston WS just a little bit...How could he/they be so stupid?

(I don't mean to be callous, obviously I hope he's fine, but geez.)

Absolutely shameful.

they, for sure

i guess they collectively thought

[the value of justin turner in this one game, playing free, without a mask] > [the collective risk of any covid-19 it spreads]

flags fly forever, i guess

actually flags are notoriously annoying to deal with and have to be put up and taken down all the time, it sucks. they get beat up too

The Justin Turner story is blowing my mind. If 10-15 Dodgers players go on to test positive then this should be as big a scandal as the Astros trash can banging was. I want to be happy for the Dodgers finally winning but I think we're only scratching the surface of this story and it could blow up in their faces big time.

Just scratching the surface, yes--did they know before the game? Wouldn't they time the testing so you'd have results before the game, rather than the 7th inning? That doesn't make sense.

There's a long Rosenthal story in The Athletic that I haven't had a chance to read yet.

"MLB said it learned in the second inning that the result of Turner’s test from Monday had been inconclusive; the league had been shipping hundreds of tests from Texas to its lab in Utah each day, and the results typically came back in the early evening. Once the uncertainty about Turner arose, the league asked the lab to expedite his test from earlier Tuesday. When the result came back positive, league officials told the Dodgers to remove Turner from the game.

Why didn’t the league exercise an abundance of caution and get Turner off the field immediately after learning he might be positive? Apparently, because inconclusive results are not uncommon, and the standard procedure was to run a second test.

Would Game 7 have been played on Wednesday if the Rays had rallied to defeat the Dodgers? The league said it would have reviewed the matter with its medical advisors, but similar circumstances during the regular season normally led to postponements."

More:

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/mlb/news/justin-turner-covid-positive-test-timeline-dodgers-world-series/r1rqb78k3e1r18gbfq1ork5k7