THERE'S ONLY ONE POSTSEASON (thread for 2019)

god almighty

After all the talk of superteams, it's starting to feel like this is the year that the Astros blow it too.

Insane

he’s *still* in!

And Kelly stays in for mop up duty?

Can someone remind me where is Kenley Jansen in all this?

On the bench where Kersh should've been?

Joe Kelly is still pitching. The story now is the poisoning of every other Dodgers pitcher that led to this.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) October 10, 2019

Roberts getting boo’d?!

Oh - here’s Jansen!

just in time, dave

That was thrilling.

I think at some point we need to just accept that the kershaw playoff thing is real

I think you and I concluded that it was real last year. You're well past a small sample size by now. (The realness of it wouldn't be so evident if he didn't play for a team that was always in the playoffs.)

Fuck

I'm so happy right now

Via baseball savant, there were 3 balls hit during the regular season to right field with approximately the same exit velo and launch angle at dodgers stadium and they all stayed in the park.

— Adam (@schwabera) October 10, 2019

I was going to ask if Scherzer was available for an inning if the Nationals scored one, but it's kind of moot now.

that’s the smith flyout? xp

Why baseball is the best sport.

I have had so much fun tonight

That's the HR, surely

Whatever the shipping costs to the antipode of Chavez Ravine, it would have been money well spent https://t.co/OKauSK7EpG

— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) October 10, 2019

The Nats/Expos have never appeared in a best-of-seven postseason series in 50 combined seasons.

— Cliff Corcoran (@CliffCorcoran) October 10, 2019

Dreading the notion that the Yankees might be the last super team left.

Uh, the Rays are still very much in this!

Might!

Hitchin my bandwagon on the Rays. That being said I wouldn’t mind seeing Scherzer winning a ring.

Rays' prospects after tomorrow (uh, today) do not fill me with confidence

meanwhile back in the St Louis clubhouse

Here’s what Jack Flaherty had to say about the pitch that hit Ronald Acuña Jr. in the bottom of the fifth: #stlcards pic.twitter.com/lw6C0i3JIw

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) October 10, 2019

so, go Nats

I'm rooting for the Nats against Cards for sure. Their big three SP's won't be able to pull double duty for the entire series, but on paper the Nats look like a much more talented team than the Cards.

I like the Nats' radio guy - Curly W is in the books!

+ the idea that they would go to the WS after ~not signing Harper is **kisses fingers**

re Kershaw

Except for the many, many times he hasn’t. https://t.co/YDzUwN6rbm

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) October 10, 2019

btw I recommend Sciambi & Mendoza on ESPN Radio for the NLCS. Clearly beat other options.

Joe buck is back, the bonus
it's on FOX Saturday night.

I loved Ernie this round!

Soto-Alvarez would be a nice WS sidebar. But, Cole notwithstanding (and he's gotta have a mediocre start at some point), I'm far from confident about the Astros tomorrow. If they had Cole and Verlander ready, that'd be different.

I think it's irrational to deny, or even try to smooth over, that Kershaw has not, on the whole, been very effective in the postseason. In almost a full season's worth of innings, his ERA is almost two full runs higher than his seasonal ERA. It's not character, no one's saying anything like that. These things sometimes feed on themselves. He had some bad outings early on, and I imagine he presses.

Mind you, I didn't think the HR pitch to Rendon was bad--Rendon went way down to get that, and he seems quite locked in right now.

I was a bit exaggerating my manager quip earlier but barely, Kershaw is dealing with a manager who was ready to put Joe Kelly back in the 10th of a deciding game. I don’t think it tells the whole story, but I’m still not certain he’s been well managed.

good Christ I feel terrible for my dodger fan friends, but that was an incredibly in-character postseason meltdown for this team.

In past seasons there were games where he was left in for an inning too many and melted down, that's partly on the manager. But in this game, everyone knew going in that Kershaw would follow Beuhler, he had all the time he needed to prepare for that, and couldn't deliver.

Most of the HR's he's allowed in the PS were terrible pitches thrown at the worst times, Rendon's HR off a good pitch is the exception, not the rule.

Sheehan has been taking a turn for the moronic for a while now. I have no idea how anyone can still defend this Kershaw thing as bad luck or small samples or better competition.

I'm a little torn abt the Flaherty comment

easy to say the game was over but these guys aren't thinking like that in an elimination game...regular season that's totally out of line but in a game 5 pitchers are trying to forget it's a blowout, and that guy was just terroroizing them.

the whole "Kershaw has some strange condition that makes him unable to pitch in the post" thing is a bit weird to me. his postseason ERA is 4.50, which is obviously not good, but the way people talk about him you'd think it was 6+. he's facing good offenses, he pitches a ton of innings...idk I don't think you really need an additional explanation on top of it

like yeah, his blowups seem to always come in elimination games. but still

Why is Howie Kendrick batting?

— Curtis King (@CurtisBlow304) October 10, 2019

that pitch to Rendon, while very low looked to be smack dab in the middle of the plate though. it was a shite pitch. followed by another

(more of a xp to clem)

i always liked Howie when he was a Dodger. happy for him. go Redbirds

What is a bit frustrating with Kershaw is that Seager had a .390 OPS and Bellinger had a .549 OPS and half the bullpen (Urias, Kelly, Baez, Stripling) was beyond awful and yet he seems to be portrayed as the main culprit of this disastrous NLDS.

and aj pollock went 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts!

i love michael a. taylor's expression after he came up with the game-ending diving catch

pleasantly baffled

lol yes he looked like he wanted permission to celebrate

and aj pollock went 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts!

ouch! i missed a few games from that series but that is prettty bad

i'm still reeling from the fact that kelly faced two more batters *after* the grand slam

i mean it didn't really matter by then, but wtf

when you grow up in missouri or are involved with something related to it, you have to say fuck a lot. it's not a good thing and it's a source of guilt, but

Mike Shildt:

“The [Braves] started some shit. We finished the shit. And that’s how we roll. No one fucks with us ever. Now, I don’t give a fuck who we play. We’re gonna fuck them up. We’re gonna take it right to them the whole fucking way. We’re gonna kick their fucking ass.” pic.twitter.com/2J7jyJc60O

— STLSportsCentral (@stlsportscntrl) October 10, 2019

i don't think that's missouri so much as it's baseball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-6RYPRlqZk