2023 Baseball Post-Season

[danfrank]

Thanks for your diligence in writing up these summaries, Tee. Of course it’s true that one exciting game is just one exciting game, and not portentous of games to come. One can always hope, though. Baseball is built on hope, however misguided that hope may be.

I’m glad for Boch that he won. His place in the Hall of Fame was already guaranteed, but a 4th World Series win puts him in very elite company.

It was the lowest ratings for a World Series ever. Baseball keeps tinkering in an attempt to get more fans engaged, to no avail. In an age where people’s brains are groomed to need constant stimulation, perhaps baseball, with its requirement that watchers have some type of attention span, is no longer a cultural fit. It’s weird to think that a game that was once immensely popular is moving toward being a niche sport.

Still, wait ‘til next year!

[Mister Tee]

Well, sad to say, my evocation of Roger Angell after Game 1 bore out: it was the first game of a one-sided (and thus disappointing) series. The Diamondbacks had opportunity after opportunity to spring to life tonight, but succeeded in missing them all, and, as of about two hours ago, the Texas Rangers are finally -- 63 years from their inception -- champions of the baseball world.

The game honestly couldn't have been crueler for Arizona fans, who already labored under the burden of potential elimination. D'back start Zac Gallen pitched sensationally, well into the contest, allowing just a 5th inning walk over the first 6 innings. Meantime, Arizona batters were reaching base repeatedly against Nate Eovaldi, even putting runners at 2nd or 3rd with multiple outs to go...yet not getting a single one to cross the plate. (Including in the 3rd, when the D'backs put their first two runners on, bunted them over a base each...only to follow up with a strikeout/groundout. Analytics nerds were screaming We told you, bunting doesn't pay off!) It got so frustrating, I found myself wondering if Gallen might be the first pitcher to lose a perfect game.

Gallen, of course, started the 7th -- still holding onto a no-hitter -- but promptly surrendered not only his first hit, but his first three in a row, leading to the first run of the game. Reliever Ginkel got out of the inning without further scoring, and it was still only 1-0. But, the way the evening had been going, the outcome felt written in stone. Ginkel managed an even more heart-stopping escape in the 8th -- maneuvering past a bases-loaded/1 out situation -- but his team's luck finally ran out in the 9th against not-so-trusty closer Sewald. Sewald allowed 3 straight hits to start, which turned into 2 runs when centerfielder Thomas did an ole and let the ball roll past him to the wall. Semien's home run eliminated all remaining Arizona hope, upping the score to 5-0, with the D'backs going down meekly in the 9th.

I certainly don't begrudge the Rangers their win after so much waiting (including the 12 years since they came so-so-close in 2011). They were at least a 90 win team (and tied for best record in their division), so they feel more legit a champion than the Diamondbacks would have been. I still look askance at the very fact of two second-tier teams being the last ones standing (and cringe at hearing Rob Manfred's enthusiasm for that outcome: at a press availability the other day, he was excited that "anyone can win!"). Above all, I lament we didn't get the kind of baseball in the ultimate series that we did in the previous round, and that our lasting memory of the season is a flat set of games.

So, on to winter, with the Soto-or-not? sweepstakes itching to take center stage. Hope everyone who loves baseball finds something to fill the empty space till next Spring Training.

[Mister Tee]

A game altogether unworthy of a World Series.

Both teams are short in the starting pitching department, but seeing an opener take the mound for one, and Andrew Heaney for the other, must have made the teams dispatched in earlier rounds grit their teeth.

Texas got much the better of the match-up, since Heaney, somehow, held the Diamondbacks to 1 run over 5 innings, while a series of no-names out of the Arizona bullpen contrived to give up 5 runs in each of the 2nd and 3rd innings, making the game an early 10-0 laugher (though not such a laugher for Diamondback first baseman Walker, who botched an easy grounder to set up that latter set of runs).

Arizona did show a bit of heart, scoring 6 runs in the 8th and 9th, to make it a more respectable 11-7 final. But, much like when Baltimore did the same to Texas in the ALDS: the Rangers shrugged it off and pocketed the win.

Much of the baseball cognoscenti thinks the series is over, and, of course, it could be. But I've lived long enough to have witnessed 4 times a team has rallied from the 1-3 deficit -- 1968, 1979, 1985, and 2016 -- and, in at least the first 3 cases, the general feeling was the same: that there was NO WAY the team with the deficit could overcome this. So, stick around...though maybe don't get hopes up too high.

[Mister Tee]

Texas goes ahead in the series on a game that turned on a few plays.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Walker led off with a double. Pham followed with a single that was hit a bit too hard for Walker to try and score on. The one person who didn't realize that, unfortunately, was Walker, as he (head down) ran past his 3rd base coach's stop sign, and was nailed at the plate. We can't know if he would have eventually scored without the blunder -- Texas got out of the inning on a pop-up and a spectacular play by Jung on a ball that deflected hard off Scherzer -- but, psychologically, it felt like this wounded the D'backs. In the very next half-inning, Texas got a 2-out RBI followed by a Seager 2-run homer, which, we understood two hours later, was all they needed to notch the victory.

That deflection may have played a part in Scherzer's departure after only 3 innings. The Texas bullpen had to manage the next 6 frames, which, with the exception of Chapman -- who gave up a run on two quick hits to start the 8th, but was bailed out by a hard-hit double play -- they did exceedingly well. Though LeClerq was gifted with a called strike on what was no-doubt ball 4 to start the 9th (the batter grounded out on the next pitch) -- another moment when the psychology went the Rangers' way.

Game 4 will see each of the teams forced to move past its trusted top-line pitchers, something they haven't needed to do most of October. Maybe be prepared for some high-scoring efforts.

[Mister Tee]

At least to start, we have a series.

The best way to rebound from a shocking late loss -- like the Diamondbacks suffered on Friday -- is to have your starting pitcher throw a squelching game. Merrill Kelly has had disappointing results over recent weeks, but tonight he was in full command: 3 hits and zero walks over 7 innings, with only a solo home run by Garver soiling the performance.

Jordan Montgomery didn't exactly embarrass himself, either. The line score charges him with 4 runs, but two scored during his final inning (the 7th), one after he'd left the mound. For much of the game, the score was a taut 2-1 affair; even after the 7th, it was a still questionable 4-1. But Arizona ran roughshod over the lesser Texas bullpen, and the final score was 9-1.

Off to the desert to see where this goes next.

[Mister Tee]

So, a quick interim note while tonight's game is underway:

According to ESPN, last night was only the 4th time in World Series history that a team has rallied to win a game where they trailed by more than 1 run in the bottom of the 9th.

The first two times were those unforgettable consecutive 2001 nights at Yankee Stadium, where home runs by Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius off Byung-hyun Kim tied the score, in games eventually walked off by the home team.

The third was Game 6 in 2011, where the Rangers -- within a strike of winning the Series -- were foiled by a David Friese triple that drove in two, and a home run by the same Friese two innings later. (In between, the Cardinals had also come back from down 2 in the 10th.)

Think what this means: every such rare game has involved either the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Texas Rangers...and, now, both. What are the odds?

[Mister Tee]

Definitely a memorable opener.

Zac Gallen has been disappointing throughout the post-season, and started off surrendering 2 runs in the 1st; I presume Rangers fans thought they were on their way. However, less characteristically, Nate Eovaldi -- who's pitched well not only this post-season, but as far back in big games as one can recall -- gave up 3 runs in the 3rd, to put the Diamondbacks ahead. Texas did tie the game on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the inning, but left them loaded afterward, and Arizona went back ahead with a Pham home run in the 4th and a Marte run-scoring double in the 5th, putting the score at 5-3.

There it stood till the bottom of the 9th, which Diamondback closer began all wrong by walking Taveras. He got past Semien, but Seager hit a ball that was gone on contact. (The TV crew had just said "He'd like to put one in the seats here", seconds before he did precisely that.) The Arizona back-up bullpen survived the rest of that inning -- thanks to 26th-man Hedges striking out on 3 pitches -- and the 10th, despite 2 walks and a single, thanks to an intervening double play. But they, like so many teams this Fall, couldn't survive Adolis Garcia. The Arizona pitcher went 3-1 on him -- I honestly thought they were pitching around him -- but Garcia went down and got a pitch that he somehow hammered out to the opposite field, ending the game to Arlington euphoria.

Garcia is turning into a wild story. Designated for assignment by the Cardinals in 2019, he's somehow blossomed as lethal power hitter in his late 20s. He's also a refugee from Cuba who (noted by ESPN) hit his game-winning shot off a pitcher named Castro.

I hope this is the beginning of a well-fought, engaging set of contests. But there's always the fear a great game 1 like this could presage a flat series, a la 1988 -- the Kirk Gibson homer lives in lore, but, as Roger Angell wrote, it should have been the final game of a great series, not the first game of a dull one. Tonight will give us our first inkling of which way things will go from here.

[danfrank]

Well, that was certainly an entertaining Game 1, with lead switches, drama in the bottom of the 9th, and extra innings. I LOVE all the stolen bases, and the Dbacks style of moving runners along instead of relying on homers. For that reason I’m rooting for them. Of course homers decided the game. Damn if Corey Seager isn’t a PLAYER. He’s earning that monster contract, while the Dodgers watch and weep.

Could be an entertaining series.

[danfrank]

I had a similar thought last night, wondering how many experts, as the postseason began, predicted a Rangers/Diamondbacks World Series. My guess was nobody. Who, beyond the fans of these two teams is excited about this series? Not many, for sure. If baseball is trying to keep more people engaged, this seems to be the wrong way to go about it.

Having said all that, good for the Diamondbacks. I like their scrappiness.

[Mister Tee]

Now we're down to 2 teams, a Series match-up you could have made a lot of money betting on pre-season. Or even 3 weeks ago. Baseball wanted more teams having a shot, and they've got it, in spades. If this makes us old-timers unhappy, reducing the regular season to a footnote...well, I guess that joins the list of lost things we lament, about which no one under a certain age gives a damn.

Oh: the game.

A nice taut one, really all the way. Arizona took a lead in the first on a ground-out. The Phillies matched that with a 2nd inning Bohm homer, then went ahead on a 4th inning double that, again, scored Bohm. The D'backs roared right back, scoring first the tying, then the go-ahead run on a pair of two-out singles in the top of the 5th. By this point, both starters were out of the game. Arizona managed to push across 1 more run on a sac fly in the 7th, but a 4-2 lead didn't feel especially comfortable...especially when the Phillies put 2 runners on with 1 out in the bottom of that inning, with Turner and Harper coming to bat. Diamondback reliever Ginkel came on and got each of them to fly harmlessly to the outfield. And that was, basically, the game: the Arizona bullpen allowed no base runners over the last two frames, and the Diamondbacks were NL champs before 11:30 East Coast time.

Stats guru Katie Sharp tells us the combined 174 wins between Texas and Arizona are the lowest win total of any World Series combo in history. My own sad perspective is, Arizona won only 2 games more than my Yankees did -- in a season described locally as a catastrophe. If parity was what the rulers of baseball were looking for, it appears they hit the jackpot this week.

[Mister Tee]

Today's games weren't much as entertainment -- in each, the ultimate victor scored early and tacked on, so that, by the end, there was barely any drama. But, in terms of results, it was a wonderful day: the Diamondbacks pushed the NLCS to a Game 7 tomorrow (double game 7's? Be still my heart!), and the Astros not only went down, they did it in ugly, embarrassing fashion. I can relax and enjoy whatever happens from here on.

Aaron Nola, who'd been pitching exceptionally well all post-season, started for the Phillies, and gave up 3 runs in the second (2 on solo home runs)...and that was basically the ballgame. The Phillies got 1 back on a Marsh RBI in the 2nd, but the D'backs added single runs in the 5th and 7th, and that was all she wrote, as the Phils only managed 3 base runners after the 5th. Pfaadt and Suarez will face off in Game 7 tomorrow night to see who travels to Arlington on Friday.

Yes, Arlington, not Houston -- it feels so good to be able to say that. The match-up going in seemed to favor the Astros, as Max Scherzer has been way less than impressive in recent playoff appearances (including last week), while Cristian Javier has been a post-season stud. The line on Scherzer wasn't exactly wrong -- he was gone after 2 2/3, having allowed 2 runs -- but Javier proved stats are always prone to correction, as he fell flat from the get-go, surrendering 4 hits and a walk -- 3 runs -- on only 1 out before Dusty Baker removed him. His immediate successors, Maton and Brown, got through the first 3 innings with only 1 more run scoring (a Garcia home run, of course), but Houston's bullpen roulette finally came a cropper when J.P. France gave up 4 runs in the 4th, Garcia yet again upping the score with a crushing 2-run single. Texas, meantime, had brought in Jordan Montgomery on 2 days rest to get his team through the 5th, at which point the regular bullpen took over. By the time Lowe added a 2-run homer in the 6th, the game was officially in laugher territory, 10-2, counting outs till an ensured pennant. Oh, there was one final step: ANOTHER Garcia homer in the 8th (he was the easy series MVP choice). And maybe a little bitter coda: Altuve hit another home run off LeClerq in the 9th, which barely registered. I'm petty enough to have laughed at that.

It'll always be a weird post-season to me -- all the division winners now officially gone -- but at least a not-unhappy ending to the year remains possible.

[Mister Tee]

Derek Jeter, on the TBS booth crew this year, said before the series began he was picking the Rangers in 7 because Houston, shockingly, had a losing record at home this year. So this no-home-field thing didn't fall from the sky.

This series has certainly rescued the post-season from dreariness. There's been real elation and real despair, with genuine rivalry blended in. Adolis Garcia, the center of Game 5's controversies, was booed mercilessly by the Houston crowd, and he responded with 4 strikeouts in his first 4 at bats. Then, in his last time up -- Ah, let's hold off on that a moment.

Nate Eovaldi started for Texas, and, though he gave up a first inning run, pitched commendably in general, getting his team into the 7th with only 2 runs surrendered. Framber Valdez has performed poorly in way too many post-season appearances, including in this series Game 2, but he did better than expected; his only blemishes over 5 innings were a solo home run by Garver and a 2-run porch job by Heim (the stats folk say it would have left only two parks: Minute Maid and Yankee Stadium).

That gave Texas a precarious 3-2 lead into the 7th, where their iffy bullpen was summoned. Surprise choice Sborz took over for Eovaldi with a man on, and he got Brantley to end the inning with a double play. Texas managed an insurance run in the 8th, on a Garver double, but, after Friday's events, no one felt comfortable with a 2-run lead.

Especially when Sborz put two batters on to start the bottom of the inning. The horror of a Friday replay had to be in the minds of the whole Texas team, especially when the newly-summoned LeClerq walked Tucker to load the bases. But it was smoother sailing from there, as LeClerq got a lineout and strikeout to take his team to the 9th still up 4-2.

Houston reliever Montero didn't record an out, and part of that was his fault -- he gave up a single and a walk -- but, in between the two, Altuve butchered a ball, so the bases were loaded with no outs. Corey Seager, having a frustrating series, got an RBI the hard way --a Stanek pitch hitting his foot, driving one in. But the coup de grace came from, of course, Garcia, who answered all the booing by putting one into Crawford Boxes for a cleansing grand slam. Bonus: the suddenly huge lead meant Bochy didn't have to stretch out his ace reliever for 4 outs. Andrew Heaney retired the Astros in order, to send us to Game 7.

So...the Championship Series round continues, with two potentially clinching games tomorrow. The post-season pulse has definitely picked up.

[danfrank]

Until 4 years ago, when the Nats beat the Astros in the World Series, there had never been a 7-game postseason series in which the visiting team won all 7 games. Could the same thing happen in this year’s ALCS? I’m hoping so, with the Astros on the losing end once again. We’ll see tomorrow.

[Mister Tee]

Quick take on Phillies/D'backs game 5, which returned us to the mode of the earlier series. The Phillies scored twice in the 1st on some piddly plays -- Schwarber reached on a dribbler to start things off; Harper scored the second run when Arizona completely fumbled a double-steal attempt (Harper showing full Pete Rose flair in crushing Moreno at the plate). In Warner Wolf's old phrase, you could have turned your sets off there, as Zach Wheeler continued his impressive playoff pitching, allowing only a solo HR (to last night's hero Thomas) in his 7 innings...but, just to be sure, Schwarber and Harper added solo home runs (don't these guys ever get tired of hitting them out?), and Realmuto iced it with a 2-run shot in the 8th.

So, we're in elimination territory, with both series possibly ending in the next 36 hours...or the ever-tantalizing prospect of a Game 7 somewhere. Stay tuned.

[Mister Tee]

A footnote that the league has suspended Abreu for two games -- starting now, but he'll appeal, meaning next season. So, the idea that Abreu's pitch was intentional is official ruling.

But...the ones to come out it most punished are the Rangers, which reinforces the idea that Houston is the team of the devil. Aren't those stories supposed to end with the devil claiming some awful repayment?