THERE'S ONLY ONE POSTSEASON (thread for 2019)

He did ok, anyway. Not gonna win very often when you only get one hit, as I am the first to think

good job on that Judge fly, dejuiced ball

The Nationals remind me of the '85 Royals. No analogy's perfect, I know that--you can quickly identify many differences. But:

1) Good-not-great regular season: Nationals won 93 and a wild-card spot, Royals won 91.
2) History of postseason disappointment.
3) Veteran-heavy--the Nationals are the oldest NL team, the Royals had the second-oldest lineup among position players in the AL. (They did have a young pitching staff.)
4) At least one resident superstar/franchise player: Brett for the Royals (sure HOF'er and MVP candidate in '85), while the Nationals split that in two (sure HOF'er in Scherzer, Rendon the MVP candidate).
5) An emerging superstar: Soto and Cy-Young-winner-at-21 Saberhagen.
6) The Royals beat a team with 99 wins, the Blue Jays, and a team that won 101, the Cardinals. (James argued at the time that he couldn't understand why the Royals were underdogs vs. the Blue Jays. Pure homerism--there's no way the Royals were better than the Blue Jays on paper.) The Nationals, if they were to win, would get past the Dodgers and either the Astros or Yankees--even tougher.

Two key differences, one a minus for the Nationals, one possibly a plus:

1) The Royals had Quisenberry; the Nationals' bullpen, though pitching well right now, is a little iffy.
2) The Harper thing. Not out of personal vendetta--Harper always seemed to be liked by most of his teammates--but just as a motivating factor, I'm sure a bunch of Nationals would love to win so they could say "Hey, we've been here too."

And a third: I don't think the Royals had to contend with a Godzilla like Cole waiting out there.

We did not wave towels at baseball championship games in the '70s. That just would've been fucking embarrassing.

I did have one of those plastic space helmets tho

I do like these games clipping along...I'm going to send my theory to James's reader-questions section, see if he agrees. I think I'll, uh, soften the reference to him--he's got pretty thin skin.

Smoke and mirrors for Greinke so far.

What a pick by DJ

judge with the casual laser from right center

"Like a good Gleyber, Torres is there." - Yankees radio guy.

Gambatte Tanaka-san

Jesus. These fox guys were just attempting to explain WAR. Nearly lept out the window.

68 pitches...I think it's silly to take out Tanaka.

ffs i cannot have a nyc/dc world series

MLB just posted that Tanaka is currently third all time for lowest postseason ERA, minimum seven starts, behind Koufax and Matthewson.

"Like a good Gleyber, Torres is there." - Yankees radio guy.

― timellison, Saturday, October 12, 2019 9:46 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I assume you mean NYS broadcasters association hall of famer john sterling

Yes. They are an enjoyable listen.

It is kinda hilarious that the year after Harper moves on the Nats actually start going somewhere in the playoffs.

Did not get a chance to see the game tonight, but Tanaka is fun to watch pitch. That dude is just business on the mound. Tanaka seems like one of those rare players that does get the most out of his abilities, he really knows how to pitch.

timellison, fer chrissake

went into a semi-coma in the 2nd last night

Houston lineup, too

Six of nine Yankees on the field at the end of last's night's game earning >$684k

you know you love it

yes I am conveniently discounting Stanton (replaced by Maybin) who played 18 games this year

Yankee sweatshop

lol

otoh Stanton+Ellsbury+Happ = $65m :-/

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27834957/washington-nationals-adam-eaton-says-seinfeld-key-big-hit

Nothing is worse than that Italian gibberish Sterling does for Stanton home runs. I’ve actually enjoyed Stanton being out of the lineup in that I don’t have to hear it.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) October 13, 2019

I hate it so much

Somehow he passed on “Stanton drops the Mike”

Giancarlo Stanton is hurt.

Vaguely excited for the game

So happy Maybin is starting
Stanton can go f an uncle

At one extreme, there's letting a team go up 10-0 in the first inning; at the other, "God, no, back-to-back hits!"

i'm sure that wasn't all -- had to believe Paxton wasn't sharp

Gopherball Justin

ESPN Radio crew sees a lot of covered-mouth conferring in NYY dugout

JV pitch tipping?

The walk was the killer--he had him 0-2.

I thought Paxton looked okay. I'm hoping Boone pays for this as (if? gulp...) the series goes deeper, but they're carrying 13 pitchers, so maybe it's no big deal.

Paxton was first pitch ball to nine of the twelve batters he faced.

BIG MAY

who, Gio Urshela had a big May?

SPRINGER DINGER!

lol I almost coulda thrown that pitch

So this sounds pretty bad

might be time to net the dugout

past a diving Gregorius!

jeter woulda had that, he couldnt move left

this has got the pace of a 4.5-hour postseason klassik

dugout reaction to that looked pretty bad

ordinary 4-6-2 for the last out

Correa waves his finger, Kate Upton jumps around.