MARCO’S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2020: WHO’S GOT THE MOJO?
This ultra strange, one-of-a-kind baseball season unfolds in all its eccentric improbability. Now we are dealing with the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, where all the teams that fought so hard to finish first in the division ...are almost exactly equal to the teams that finished second or just barely made it into the playoffs. Talk about a low threshhold of motivation!
The first round is 2 out of 3 with the higher seeded team getting all home games. Anybody can beat anybody 2 out of 3, home park or not. (The Astros promptly went out and proved that against the Twins.)
Some quick thoughts about the playoff setup :
1/ It strongly favors the teams with 2 or 3 strong starters. If you can get two strong starts you might win the whole round.
2/After the Wild Card Round you have a couple of off days to reset, and then you play the rest of the playoffs without days off...(except maybe 1 before the World Series starts?) so that favors a strong team that can eliminate their opposing number quickly and earn themselves some off days to rest their pitching.
3/to win the World Series a team has to win 3 games in the best of 5 divisional series, then win 4 games in the 7 game ALCS or NLCS, then 4 games out of 7 in the World Series. With no off days you better have some depth in your bullpen. And the teams with at least decent pitching in the 3/4/5 spots of their rotation have a lot better chance of surviving the marathon. If you try to play a lot of bullpen games you may be screwed.
4/Look at the teams with 3 strong hitters in the lineup and a couple more guys who can hit one out for you now and then...in this era of no-small-ball you have to hope the launch angle crowd can deliver for you.
5/If you watch the playoffs I hope you like strikeouts. A lot. Atlanta vs. Cincinnati had a 13 inning game with what...37 Ks?
Rundown so far:
YANKEES WIN!...oh goody, the Yanks beat long-suffering Cleveland and we get to slobber all over ourselves and think up new rhymes for Urshela what a happy fellow. MLB is so glad the Yankees rose from the dead and got into the playoffs after they caved in September when all their stars were on the IL.
You thought the Garret Cole vs. Shane Beiber matchup was a classic set up for a double no hitter in the first game or something? Sorry! Beiber coughed up furballs and the Yankees hit them to the moon. Gleyber Torres and Cole owned game one.
That second game in Cleveland was pretty good. Longest 9 inning game in history. Not just playoff games...ALL games ever played. 4 hours and 50 minutes. And add on 76 minutes worth of rain delay. Who needs a life when you can spend it watching one baseball game? 19 total walks in that contest. Most Happy Fella hit a big grandslam to remind the Indians why they never let him play for nine years. Then he started a crucial double play from the seat of his pants later on. Yanks scored two in the ninth to take the lead and sent Chapman out there to nail it down.
Tampa Bay...remember them? Don’t worry about it...nobody else does either. They had the best record in the AL by far and are number one seed in the AL playoffs. The Rays feature a whole lot of real good pitchers and a bunch of hitters nobody ever heard of. All they do is win with this ridiculous combination. They just spanked the young Toronto (now Buffalo) Blue Jays and held serve. Next up...the Yankees and watch the beanballs fly! These two hate each other...especially this year after Aroldis tried to kill somebody.
The Houston Enemies pulled a rabbit out of the hat in Game One against the Twinkies. With the Twins infield in the shift and the runner Carlos Correa getting a huge lead off first, shortstop Polanco pulled his quick throw to second on a ground ball and the error with two outs led to a fateful 3 run rally that beat the home team. That pretty much sealed the Twinkie’s Fate. They didn’t hit at all in the next game and went meekly like lambs to the slaughter. 18 straight playoff game losses for the Twins. At least they didn’t lose to the Yankees again.
That means Oakland/Chicago is the only AL series tied up. Jose Abreu got the Sox off to a strong start with a homer off phenom Jesus Luzardo and the home town team was routed in Game One. Giolito looked way strong in his start for the Chisox. Game Two was the reverse as the A’s got contributions from long-slumbering Khris Davis and Marcus Semian. A’s win that one 5-3. Bassit had a strong start for Oakland. Both these teams live by the home run. Expect quite a few long balls in Game Three later today.
The NL started up a day later than the AL so only 1 game has been played. Dodgers beat up on Milwaukee 4-2. Game 2 is Kershaw vs. Woodruff? And the Brews are short a couple of starters, including Mr. All American Ryan Braun who is being venerated by the media and fans for his stellar sportsmanship and love of humanity. If he does play in Game 2 it will be the first time 5 former MVPs have ever appeared in the same regular season or playoff game. (Braun, Yelich, Betts, Bellinger, Kershaw).
I don’t think L.A. will blow this series but its a weird year.
Chicago Cubbies vs. the Miami Nemesis. The Twins have the Yankees as their special Boogeymen and the Cubs have the Marlins. The Marlins won the first game at Wrigley and lost Starling Marte to a broken hand. Who is the Man for Chicago? Who is Master of Jockstraps? Somebody has to step up on that team. Can’t Justin Heyward give them a weight room Pep Talk or something? They do have Yu Darvish feady to go, and then Lester. But the Marlins are loose, loose loose because nobody thinks they can win.
The Cardinals beat the Padres 7-4 in Game 1. St. Louis scored 4 times in the first with Goldschmidt hitting a 2 run homer. The Cardinals have a great bullpen and they look poised to discipline the upstart Pads, who made some atrocious baserunning mistakes that cost them in the first game.
The most competitive series in the NL should be the Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds. The first game lived up to the hype with a 13 inning zero- zero tie until Freddie Freeman won it with a big hit. The Reds had many many opportunities to score with runners in position with none or one out. They failed every single time. They didn’t bunt even in classic bunt situations, letting their free swingers strike out and fail to advance anybody again and again. A pitiful performance. I don’t know, but if my team was sriking out 19-20 times a game I might try a bunt or two once in awhile.
The Reds also made some truly horrible decisions on the base paths and deserved to lose this game.
I went into this post season hoping for a Series between somebody like the Reds vs. the White Sox just for variety’s sake, but these young teams aren’t looking that good. The Reds have some strong starting pitchers though and could rally. But I think that first game loss will finish them mentally. Especially the way they let it all slip through their fingers. The White Sox have an injured Eloy Jimenez and a seriously slumped up Luis Roberts. Not looking good for a repeat of the famous Black Sox series of 1919, when the Reds beat the Black Sox who were trying to lose games.
So the odds say get ready for Dodgers vs. Yankees...just like everybody predicted...except me.
Somebody will find the mojo...and it could be the Braves, or the A’s or even the Rays. I just hope baseball keeps playing. Are you not entertained?
--Marco
