Mister Tee wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:54 pm
Then we added the second Wild Card, which created sudden-death playoff games for 4 teams in each league
If I recall correctly, they only did the 4 teams per league sudden death during the 60-game 2020 season. Otherwise it was just the two wild card teams per league. I liked that better than the current format. One could argue that a wild card team got in the postseason by the skin of their teeth, so put your best guys out there and win a game to get into a real series. But now they have division winners who can get ousted by losing just two games to an opponent? It doesn’t feel right.
Brain cramp on my part. It was 4 teams total, but only 2 in each league, from about 2014 or so (not exactly sure when it began) through 2021 (2020 excluded, as you note). I agree that the teams getting in via Wild Card deserved some handicap, and I thought that was a fair system. (Though I can tell you that, as a fan of a team involved 3 times, it was incredibly nerve-wracking, knowing one starter having an off-night could send you home in a flash.)
I do think it's qualitatively worse having four teams depart so quickly; especially unfair to teams like the Brewers this year and the Cards last year, who saw their season-long work to win a division evaporate in barely 24 hours.
Mister Tee wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:54 pm
Then we added the second Wild Card, which created sudden-death playoff games for 4 teams in each league
If I recall correctly, they only did the 4 teams per league sudden death during the 60-game 2020 season. Otherwise it was just the two wild card teams per league. I liked this better than the current format. One could argue that a wild card team got in the postseason by the skin of their teeth, so put your best guys out there and win a game to get into a real series. But now they have division winners who can get ousted by losing just two games to an opponent? It doesn’t feel right.
Since I'm old, I was around when the ALCS/NLCS were introduced -- prior to that, there was no lengthy post-season; two teams won the pennant and played one another in the World Series. Starting in 1969, each league broke into two divisions, and the winning teams from each faced one another in a best-of-5 for the right to play in the Series. This led to some legendary contests -- probably the most famous the Chris Chambliss home run in 1976's Game 5 (and the subsequent harrowing trip he took around the bases, with hundreds of fans surrounding him on the field). But players didn't like the format: they thought, in such a short series, a few unlucky games could send a better team home (as it most certainly did when the 82-79 Mets toppled the 99-63 Big Red Machine). In 1985, this initial round was extended from 5 to 7 games (and immediately had impact, as the Blue Jays would have won the ALCS in 5, but KC rallied to win Games 6 and 7).
This more definitive best-of-7 CS, followed by best-of-7 World Series, prevailed until the introduction of the Wild Card in 1995 (the Wild Card was actually scheduled for 1994, but the ongoing strike that year cancelled the entire post-season), which added another round to the now-brimming post-season. Another round of 7 seemed it would have pushed the season too late, so once again a best-of-5 system prevailed, with all its capriciousness. Then we added the second Wild Card, which created sudden-death playoff games for 4 teams in each league, and finally, last year, the third Wild Card, which added the best-of-3 series for 8 qualifiers, including two teams with division crowns to their credit.
I don't like it. 2 games is hardly enough to constitute a series. Worse, you never get a chance to know the teams in contention (for anyone but local fans, learning a team's roster as a series progresses is part of the pleasure). Last year at least gave us the stirring Mets/Padres encounter going the full 3. These past two days, we've flown through the series so quickly it hardly feels as if they've been played. One might as well have flipped a coin to determine the winners.
In order:
Yet another former Yankee pitcher, Nate Eovaldi, stifled the Rays, who only scored 1 run over the two games. Tampa wasn't the embarrassment of errors it had been the day before, but its pitching was worse, and the game seemed over long before its official 7-1 final. Texas moves on for, I believe, the first time since 2011.
The Blue Jays also managed only 1 run in its two games against the Twins (yet another former Yankee, Sonny Gray, doing the scoreless honors today). Minnesota wasn't exactly an offensive powerhouse its own self -- 3 runs yesterday, 2 today. Those 2 runs are subject for discussion, as they scored after Toronto's manager lifted his starter, Jose Berrios, in the 4th inning, though he'd allowed no runs at the time. His successor served up those 2 runs in his very first inning -- evoking memories of Kevin Cash lifting an untouchable Blake Snell for a reliever in the 2020 Series, an action that led to a similar reversal of fortune. The Twins were certainly grateful, as they win a post-season series for the first time since 2002. And the Blue Jays, starting their own post-season-loss streak, go home 0-2 for the second straight year.
The Brewers and Diamondbacks at least played a more lively series, even if the outcome was the same. Once again, the Brewers got off to an early lead (2-0), but the Diamondbacks had a 4-run inning in the 6th from which Milwaukee never recovered. The home team loaded the bases in the 8th and got men to 2nd and 3rd in the 9th, so the tying run was right there twice...but they couldn't get anyone across, and their season ended with a deflating strikeout.
In Philadelphia, perhaps the dreariest series of all, as the Marlins just never really showed up. Technically they did better than the Rays or Jays, scoring 2 runs overall -- but that second run was an afterthought in the 9th inning of a game the Phillies romped in with 7 runs.
I'm not even sure what the match-ups for the second round are. Apparently there's no reseeding after rounds? I'll have to check tomorrow to see. I presume tomorrow will be a day off, and maybe Friday, as well? Maybe by the time play resumes, I'll care a bit more.
I’m on the road for a couple of weeks and probably won’t be able to watch much baseball for a bit. Like you, Tee, I’m not invested much at all this year. About mid-season I thought my Giants had a very good shot at a wild card spot. They were playing with a lot of spunk with several come-from-behind games. That magic seemed to disappear, though, and they limped through the end of the season.
I’m rooting for the Braves this year, partly because it should be fun to watch that powerhouse offense, but mostly because it would be nice for Jimmy Carter to watch his team win in his final days, if he makes it that far. It seems, though, that he might just live forever.
Thanks for keeping this up, Tee. I like the tradition, and I definitely enjoy it.
I can't say I watched anywhere near the bulk of today's 4 overlapping games -- the drama in DC had considerably more of my attention -- but the playoffs are now fully underway.
In the first-begun contest, played before a crowd of under 20,000 in perennially under-attended Tampa, the visiting Texas Rangers had Tyler Glasnow on the ropes from the start: filling the bases, making him throw a ton of pitches. He managed to hold them at bay for quite a ways -- somehow escaping bases-loaded situations with minimal damage, so the Rangers only led 2-0 after 5 -- but finally gave way in the 6th, surrendering 2 more (the second on an error). This was more than enough for Jordan Montgomery (who, let me be clear, I never wanted the Yankees to trade); Montgomery threw 7 shutout innings, and two relievers held the Rays hitless the rest of the way. Home field advantage is supposed to be important in this best-of-3 round, but Tampa now finds itself against the wall despite it.
Life was better for the second AL home team, hearteningly the Twins, who broke an 18-game post-season winless streak that goes back to 2004, thanks to a couple of home runs from youngster Royce Lewis, and capable work by 5 pitchers. My Yankees provided a big chunk of those 18 losses; since we're not involved this year, I can feel good about Minnesota finally getting some good October feeling.
The one game all day where a lead changed was played in Milwaukee. The Brewers had run out to an early 3-run lead, but the Diamondbacks countered with 4 on a couple of home runs, including one by their hot rookie Corbin Carroll. The Brewers looked liked they tied it on a 5th inning hit batsman with the bases loaded (the run had been put up on the scoreboard), but Arizona challenged and got the call overturned despite what didn't look like conclusive evidence. It was still bases loaded/no outs, but the batter subsequently struck out, and the next man, Taylor, hit what looked for all the world like a missile to left that, instead, landed in Evan Longoria's glove, and was turned into a line-drive double play. The Brewers were still technically right in it, till the D'backs scored two more in the 9th, but, truly, the game seemed over after that aborted rally.
In Philadelphia, the home team took an early 3-0 lead, and Zach Wheeler got them to the 7th before surrendering a run. The Marlins seem like a "lucky to be here" team, and their lackluster performance did nothing to convince anyone otherwise.
So, if you're keeping score, it's two home teams winning, two losing. The way of this first round (which I'm still getting used to) is, once you've lost the opener, you're on the edge of elimination. My recollection is, last year, Mets/Padres was the only one of the four to get to a game 3. We'll see if that's the norm, or if more of today's losers can bounce back.
Do I have to do this? I know: I don’t have to. But tradition dictates, etc. So, even though my enthusiasm this year is historically low…consider this your spot for talking/prognosticating/reacting on the matter of this year’s baseball post-season.
The only Tom LaSorda comment I ever found mildly clever/insightful was when a reporter asked if he thought people would excuse his team’s falling short one year because of all the injuries they’d experienced. LaSorda replied, When it comes to injuries, a third of the people don’t care, and the rest are glad they happened to you. I have no expectation anyone (aside from maybe Sonic) will make an exception on that score for my Yankees this year. However…I choose to vent, regardless, and your price of admission will be to plow through my comments on a year where the seven plagues of Egypt seemed to beset the team.
Three of the Yankees’ five projected rotation starters -– Montas, Rodon, Severino –- were out before Spring Training had ended. Montas’ entire 2023 ML season consisted of 1 1/3 innings, all this past Saturday. Severino did “better” -- got to the mound by June -- but pitched abominably for an excruciating stretch of time (a year ERA of 6.65, from a guy whose highest the past 5 years had been 3.39), finally got it together for a few games, then collapsed in pain on the mound and had his season ended the first week in September. Rodon also arrived mid-summer, and competed with Severino for the “how badly can a good pitcher pitch?” prize: a guy coming off 2 seasons of sub-3 ERA somehow managed 6.85 -– including a final bow Friday night where he allowed the first 8 batters of the game to reach and score. Nestor Cortes DID start the season…but managed only 12 starts before he was done for the year. Substitutes Clarke Schmidt and Domingo German pitched adequately for fill-ins, but not to the level of front-line starters on a pennant-hopeful team –- though German did prove the randomness of baseball by both throwing a perfect game in mid-summer, and then leaving the team shortly after for season-ending alcohol rehab.
The name missing from this chronicle so far is Gerrit Cole. Cole deserves credit for keeping the team as afloat as it managed – he had his best Yankee season, making himself the strong Cy Young favorite. But one out of 5, no matter how good, will never do.
And all this isn’t even the injury factor Yankee fans will most think of when they shudder to recall this year. They’ll think of two barely perceptible in-game moments, over a 9-day span in late May/early June, that strangled their offense for a good part of the season.
The first came in a game against San Diego, where an awkward Padre dive back to first to avoid a pickoff somehow inflicted a season-ending concussion on Rizzo. Well, kind of. Though it was obvious to fans Rizzo wasn’t the same player after that moment -– he’d been OPS-ing near .900 prior, dropped 200 points subsequently –- the organization and doctors somehow kept getting negative tests, and kept him on the field for TWO MONTHS before finally reaching the diagnosis. This seeming recklessness outraged many of us -- they say he’s recovering, and will be back good as new next season, but the risk to Rizzo’s health/life seems unpardonable. Beyond that, from a purely practical point of view, Rizzo’s black hole stats over those two should’ve-been-IL-ed months left the team effectively without their number 3 hitter from Memorial Day on.
Which was an especial problem because of what happened to the number two hitter on a play at Dodger Stadium the weekend after Rizzo’s collision. Aaron Judge made a spectacular, game-saving catch near the right centerfield wall –- a wall, we found out, that’s one of the few unpadded ones in the sport. This latter fact resulted in a toe injury to Judge that cost him much of the remainder of the season. Technically, he missed only two months playing time (only!)…but, even when he returned, his skills were somewhat diminished: power numbers roughly the same, but batting average taking a nose dive. However you compute it, the Yankees lost two essential hitters for a substantial portion of the season. There were other issues –- Stanton and LeMahieu appeared to suddenly age/decline, rookie shortstop Volpe had growing pains, the team never solved its left field problem (or lefty power-hitting vacuum) -– but the big ones, the rotation and the meat of the line-up, proved the most deadly. The stellar bullpen for a while preserved order, but a horrific July/August –- including a 9-game losing streak, the team’s worst in decades -– put the team well out of it. They did rally in the last 6 weeks –- playing minor leaguers who show promise -– and managed to get back over .500 and extend their now 31-year streak of winning season (ESPN had been salivating over that streak ending, to which I say, fuck you, ESPN), and, in fact, finish in the exact middle of the AL pack (they’d have been second in the AL Central). But the bad vibes continued: the same day Severino went down, 20-year-old sensation Jasson Dominguez, who’d had 4 home runs in his first 4 games, suffered a Tommy John-requiring injury that will cost him probably half of next season. It punctuated this as the franchise’s most end-to-end painful season since 1979, when Goose Gossage broke his thumb and Thurman Munson died. A season fans will want to quickly erase from memory.
If you’ve set a snooze alarm, this is where I start talking about other teams.
I’m not sure the way the Yankees waned was worse than what the Cubs endured. Chicago’s beloved team seemed a sure thing for the post-season at Labor Day – analytics had them at 90-something percent. But they lost relentlessly and drearily in September (while on my Chicago trip, I saw them drop a 1-0 game to the Diamondbacks, which turned out pretty crucial), and were eliminated this past Saturday. The Mariners were a bit more a long shot, coming up from behind…playing valiantly the final week, but finally getting squeezed out of the complicated AL West/wild card roundelay the same Saturday evening. For a while, the Padres and danfrank’s Giants showed some signs of aspiration to at least a Wild Card, but both sputtered out down the stretch. This is not even to mention other teams that came into the season with hope but floundered at early points -- the Mets, who managed an even worse season than their crosstown rivals (without as much excuse), and the Angels, who continue to squander perhaps the best 1-2 line-up punch: the great Ohtani/Trout pair has never seen a minute of post-season play.
At last, to the winners.
The Rays got off to a stunning 26-6 start, and had many people talking about them early as the best team in the sport. The praise was premature, as, while the team made the playoffs, it was as a Wild Card, not division winner. Even more surprising, the team that overtook them was not, of course, the Yankees, nor the team you’d probably have guessed second -- additional Wild Card team Toronto –- but the Orioles. The Orioles, who’d won only 83 games last year (and considerably fewer in seasons just prior), rocketed to 101 wins and the AL best record. It’s questionable if they’re actually that good –- Pythagorean system says they over-performed by 7 games, and should actually have finished second to the Rays –- but they’ve drawn the bye and will watch other teams slice and dice one another over the next few days.
The other AL bye went to Houston, but not in the wake-us-when-it's-over way they’ve coasted the past few seasons. They spent a lot of time out of first place this year; in fact, they actually tied Texas for best division record, and won only on the head-to-head decider. This minor accomplishment somehow entitles them to a first round bye, as well, since Minnesota won 3 fewer games in romping to victory in the consistently pitiful AL Central. Minnesota will be hosting Toronto in the first round, despite Toronto having a better record, and Tampa will be playing host to Texas. Texas not managing one more win in the final series could prove very costly.
But, after last year’s outcomes (if you’ve forgotten: Padres over 100-win Mets; Phillies over division winner Cardinals), these short series can have weird results, so I don’t hazard much prediction. I mean, Tampa should wallop Texas…but the Phillies should never have made it to the Series last year.
Over in the NL, the Dodgers got off to a slow start (back while I still had hope for my own team, they had about the same early June record), but ended up with 100 wins once again. Which is only good enough for second seed in the NL, as the Braves put together a stellar offensive season –- 7 players over .800 OPS, 3 over .900 (including the super-impressive power/speed combo offered by Ronald Acuna Jr.). The Braves of course are just two years removed from a Series victory, but that was in a fairly mediocre (88-win) regular season. It remains to be seen if they can duplicate it in a year when they’re expected to dominate.
The Brewers’ 92-70 record seems more pedestrian in that company (though its better than two AL division winners), and they will have to prove themselves in the initial round while the Dodgers and Braves twiddle their thumbs. Milwaukee will host the Diamondbacks, and should be favored (understanding that, these days, “should” is a loose construct), and the Phillies will get a visit from the Marlins, who slipped into the post-season while the Cubs stumbled. The Marlins should thank both NY teams –- the Mets for playing dead earlier this week, and the Yankees for gifting them one of Clay Holmes’ few last inning meltdowns all year: the game that was their margin of playoff qualification.
Okay: that’s where we stand entering the games-all-day portion of the schedule. I promise, way less Yankee content from here on. Hope to see some of you weigh in with your thoughts on this season and post-season.
