Baseball 2021

What a classic nail biter last night in SF. That’s what an elimination game should look like: tight pitching, low scoring, outcome hinging on literally every pitch. Bellinger came up clutch, Dave Roberts played the pitching equivalent of “let’s try some s**t” that worked, and the Giants didn’t give in or give it away. Logan Webb was excellent for his side, made some very big pitches in critical situations to give his team every chance to win.
Except for Urias’ mistake to Darin Ruf, the LA pitching was superb.
A very high quality baseball game which could easily gone the other way.

 

@astroevan I didn’t think anybody left would take Dodgers past 6, I’ll gladly eat crow if Braves can win 2 more. Atlanta took advantage of base running miscues by LA in game 1 and an error by Corey Seager (it was scored a hit, but scorekeepers changed years ago and are home team shills). Throw in Justin Turner was unable to play (he did pinch hit) due to a neck injury and my Dodger friends have been eerily silent.

 

Another downer is that thanks to Houston, Moneyball has gone from “here are ways we can improve a baseball team using data” to “here’s how billionaires can hoard their money and get the full support of nerds while doing so”.

Teams are now run like hedge funds with a seeming desire of "post-winning". Each recent season is setting records for the number of teams with 100+ losses (2021 had four!). This year there was a record number of teams with 110+ losses (two!). And as a result, teams like my Orioles are probably going to lose another 110+ games next season as part of their never ending rebuild...led by a former Astros assistant GM.

The saddest thing about their whole cheating saga was that people cared more about banging garbage cans (which was obviously illegal but also hilariously cunning) rather than their entire front office being misogynistic VC ghouls who saw everything down to domestic violence as a market inefficiency.

 

I'm watching, but I keep saying over and over to myself "we could have beat those guys." As I write this, Atlanta is up 3 games to 1, but I'm remembering a decade ago, when St. Louis was down to their last strike...twice...in Game 6, but miraculously somehow won it, and the trophy the next night, thanks to a hometown hero named David Freese.

 

Well, there was this one time where Joe shut up for a good minute and almost 15 seconds…..and then it was Tim McCarver who broke the silence from the broadcast booth.

 

That “bullpen game” strategy didn’t work out so well for Snitker and the Braves in Game 5.
Here’s my problem with the bullpen game strategy. One of the characteristics of a successful bullpen over the course of the regular season is the limited number of plate appearances teams get against them. In a three or four game series, you might see their best arms 2 or 3 times, then again in a week, then not for months. In a best of seven, familiarity breeds contempt, and adjustments. If you know you’re gonna see these guys every night, the opportunities for effective adjustments goes up. Unless you’re Mariano Rivera’s slider incarnate, or some other pitch you know is coming and still can’t hit, major league hitters are there for a reason. One of those reasons is they can figure out the average major league pitcher’s stuff, given enough at bats against them. That, and Snitker tried to squeeze three innings out of a starter who had absolute no business whatsoever starting a WORLD SERIES GAME! I think he really opened the door to what could be a monstrous Houston comeback to win this thing….IF the Astros get better pitching from their own staff. I guarantee their hitters aren’t gonna be concerned about who’s on the mound for Atlanta. They’ve been there, done that, taken their best shots, and are still standing. The Crawford Boxes are beckoning.

 

Congrats to the Braves and their fans. Cardinal spring training reporting dates are yet to be determined, but the Rays and Orioles pitchers and catchers are due to be there on Feb. 15th.