2nd season time.

as of this post:

nats/cubs/dodgers - nl division winners
redsox/indians/rangers - al division winners

o's/jays - AL wildcard play-in game (winner goes to texas)
mets/giants - NL wildcard play-in game (winner goes to chicago)

redsox vs. indians / dodgers vs. nats - SET. (DC STAND UP.)

-all due respect to vin scully. (worth the price of mlb.tv alone.)
-braves closed down turner field by striking out justin upton & ending detroit's season in the process
-zach britton deserves more attention, even if he's given all of it
-indians pitching crew gonna hold up?
-mets pitching crew gonna hold up?
-redsox bullpen gonna die by kimbrel?
-do you realize how many homeruns were hit this season? (5587 & counting, 2nd only to 2000, by FAR the most post-steroid era. .......it's like they're using golf balls or something.)
-which of the youngsters will carry steam into next season? (trea?, renfroe?, buck?, dahl?, sanchez?)
-who are the MVPs & CYs?

it's still an even year....






R.I.P jose fernandez.

AL MVP: Trout
AL Cy: Verlander (Kluber's fine, this is a toss-up)

NL MVP: Bryant
NL Cy: Scherzer

you're crazy.

porcello?
happ?
sale?

Both he and the Dodgers will choke in the 'offs

Previous years weren't choke jobs as much as cavernous holes in the armor being exposed. LA has a real chance this year.
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Bullpen is better too.

Shame he got hurt, because he was historically great when he pitched and would've been a lock. Too many other great seasons to give it to him with only 150 innings though.

if he's not already.









honest question.

He literally just scratched the minimum playing time requirement this season, and I can't think (though I'm still on coffee #2 so I'm not trying very hard) of another bat-only guy who built his case solely on crazy-good rate stats. The competition for recognition among corner sluggers is too high - full of guys who did what he did *and* racked up the counting stats in long careers. For instance, take Votto's career and compare it to Carlos Delgado's '96-'06.

He'd basically be a nod to the 21st century emphasis on getting on base. Which would be pretty cool, but I'm not sure the writers will go for it without a whole bunch more shiny homeruns.

no one hit 50+ so it doesn't register with a lot of people

to having the lowest the AL E.R.A for a starter

Britton's season was damn impressive

I really, really hope we blow everything up and rebuild. I'm sick of us signing expensive, shitty FAs and pretending we're contenders because of it.

They've done a better job of piecing the system together over the last few years. That's not all Hahn/Williams' doing, as the stench of the Wilder scandal seems to finally be passing, but they have drafted better and made some small moves more successfully.

The reason I bring that up is that I actually think they could sell some stuff off (Shields looked like garbage, but they can get a real part or two for him) and still put a good enough team on the field to support Sale/Quintana and, in a year or two, Rodon.

But they could also go really big and sell everything. But the Central still looks open to me in, say, two years. Jumping right to the back of the line when you have one of the best 1/2 rotation punches in the league in their prime and pretty cheap for the next 2-3 years seems like a mistake.

https://twitter.com/Dbacks/status/783043820829093889

Jesus. He and Stewart really kicked that franchise right in the shins.

.

http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/519429/tigers-to-pick-up-option-on-manager-ausmus?ls=roto:DET:topheadlines

https://twitter.com/cmccosky/status/783508731698958336

https://twitter.com/JoeFrisaro/status/783687102076751873

he deserved more.

especially if marky m. got more.

how does Upton take that 3rd called strike? brutal. Verlander pitched his heart out too, Detroit just ran into a buzzsaw in Teheran.

Jays-Sox game was great too with Sanchez taking a no-hitter into the 7th in Boston against that lineup of death. Man when Hanley is locked in at the plate he's a monster.

great day of baseball.


>-all due respect to vin scully. (worth the price of mlb.tv
>alone.)

loved this pic of Vin celebrating Dodgers clinching the division:

https://d13csqd2kn0ewr.cloudfront.net/uploads/image/file/205873/cropped_vin_scully.jpg


>-do you realize how many homeruns were hit this season? (5587
>& counting, 2nd only to 2000, by FAR the most post-steroid
>era. .......it's like they're using golf balls or something.)

yeah there were a record 107 or something players with 20+ home runs this season, almost felt like the early 2000's where it seemed like every other random middle infielder was popping 20 homers.


>-which of the youngsters will carry steam into next season?
>(trea?, renfroe?, buck?, dahl?, sanchez?)

Turner is a baller, Sanchez has legit power, dunno if he's quite *this* good but haven't seen enough of him to tell so we'll see.


>-who are the MVPs & CYs?

Bryant & Scherzer in NL

Typically voters would give it to Betts but I think they might just relent to Trout's greatness this year, should be close either way. If Detroit had managed to scratch out a couple of runs yesterday Verlander would've had the Cy locked down but I think he still wins the vote.


>R.I.P jose fernandez.

still can't believe it. I would usually try to watch his starts whenever I could because he was so exciting and fun to watch pitch, but during his final start the other week I was focused on the Mets game chasing the wild card so I missed it, remember thinking damn Fernandez pitched a gem & I should've clicked over to watch. Then boom he's gone. That hit me more than any athlete/celebrity death has before, just how young and full of life he was, what a great talent he was, everything he went through to get here, then find out his girlfriend is expecting their first child, just gut-wrenching.

I get it, the viewership for a texas vs whoever series is going to not come close to anything Boston related

I get it


but heres my thing


I feel like they wouldnt sacrificing viewership to have both games closer to each other.


oh well

Not so much figuratively (17-12 in September/October) but more hyperbolically.

-Ramos is done for the year
-Harper is less than 100%
-Murphy is expected to play but he made 3 PH appearances and no starts over the last two weeks of the season
-Strasburg is likely out for the playoffs
-Various lesser pieces are banged up including Koda Glover, Michael Taylor, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Zimmerman.

Of the three seasons that the Nationals have gone to the playoffs in the last five years, this definitely feels like worst situation in terms of both roster capability and health. With the performance of this year's Cubs and the prospect of having to face Kershaw twice, expectations are expectedly lower. The Nationals betting odds to win the World Series are worse today than they were on September 1. They are the only non-wild card team for which that is true.

That said, it's the playoffs and anything can happen.

I'm ready for whatever. what's the worst that can happen, another NLDS loss?

>I'm ready for whatever. what's the worst that can happen,
>another NLDS loss?

I'm not expecting to lose, but yeah.

though Seth Lugo, Gabriel Ynoa and Robert Gsellman filled in very nicely down the stretch.

Man, we need to continue hitting long balls. Our lineup is heat rocks with Jose and Asdrubal hitting 1 and 2. Jay Bruce decided to remember how to hit the last series, but that was against the Phillies. So we shall see in them offs. With Reed (40 holds) to Familia (51 saves, best in baseball), we can realistically make it a seven-inning game. Which is going to be huge with, as I said, only one of our 5 aces able to pitch.

Best record in baseball after August 20 (27-13)

so has grandy...we need cespedes though..he's hurting bad.


>
>Best record in baseball after August 20 (27-13)

i called it kinda. i think i said 29-11 though (edit it was on 8/24 and i said 26-11)

So pumped for tonight

Unless Toronto walks it off while Britton is chilling in the bullpen. Then we can meet back here immediately afterwards and call him a dumbass. And we'll be right.

edit: O'Day against a batch of righties seems reasonable, but the principle remains.

>Then we can meet back here immediately afterwards and
>call him a dumbass. And we'll be right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DYje57V_BY

I mean. Good for Brian Duensing. But this is too clever by half at this point.

edit: They're pulling him. I'd have been kind of amped if this ended up as a Duensing vs. Liriano matchup for the decision. Because... go Twins?

"Back in 2010, he threw a no-hitter"

Oh. So you meant, like, literally.

Sac fly would have done it, but wouldn't have seemed as fitting for this version of the good Blue Jays.

Britton's really good. You want him pitching in this game.

he comes in when we thought.......and the same thing prob eventually happens.

because how long do you leave him in?

If I were an Orioles fan, I'd be working the hell out of that line. Because this only works if you score.

So the same thing would have happened, but their legendary genius of a manager lost a one-game playoff in extra innings while leaving his best reliever on the bench. So we're still going to make fun of him, I assume.

Damn

This might be the new standard bearer for bullpen avoidance

Without checking, I'm also going to question the premise that "nobody's been pitching better for us than Ubaldo"

>Without checking, I'm also going to question the premise that
>"nobody's been pitching better for us than Ubaldo"

just *smh*

To be clear, I'm fine laying all of this at Showalter's feet. But I'll cop to not paying a whole lot of attention to the end of the Orioles season what with the big question of whether the Twins would get to 200 homers and my first experience with fantasy baseball playoffs.

>Britton's really good. You want him pitching in this game.

The offense has been asleep the past month. When Toronto announced Stroman I thought for sure the O's offense would wake up.

Nope.


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I don't think anyone could pick the game with confidence

Jays had better SP, defense, were at home
O's had better RP, offense

there is a reason why Jays only won season series by one game

we need that odor/bautista tex/toronto batflip storyline rematch for the ppl.

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I've now completely forgotten about Showalter's bullpen use.

Thanks Buck

I know, in my heart, that Pedro knows this was stupid.

Yea

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/41303/wheres-craig-kimbrel-not-in-the-game

He has a reputation over the years for smart, aggressive bullpen usage. He demonstrated it in the Orioles 2012 playoff run, hell Britton pitched two innings in a tie game on the road in extra innings in Toronto this year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR201607310.shtml

lol

Go Jays Go!

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and making racial slurs yes, fuck them, beer tossers should be in jail

isn't that how everything works?

fuck the Cubs. fuck the Giants. fuck the Mets.

DODGERS.

>fuck the Cubs. fuck the Giants. fuck the Mets.
>
>DODGERS.

.

-

Syndergaard was awesome though. dude has no fear of the big stage or the moment which is great to see.

oh well. we would've gotten slaughtered by the Cubs anyway.

He needs to be back with his brother from the Lansing Three. Y'all need rebuild with position players even even tho your pitching staff is amazing

too bad we don't get the Dodgers in the first round


would have been nice to shit on them as usual

but that's what happens when you don't win your division..team with the best pitcher wins.

love what syndergaard did tho.

that was an epic pitching duel for 7 innings or so



I actually really like the Mets too. Feels like you guys are just a season away

checkbook for Ces.


>I actually really like the Mets too. Feels like you guys are
>just a season away

and here were are... BART looked like a pumpkin patch today.

a little over a week ago, the only visible orange were caltrans workers standing around and not actually repairing all the fucked up roads here.

i hate the bay area so much right now.

.

Osunnnnnaaaaaaaa

Until they lose the 3rd and final game, Texas is not done.

BRUTAL


Tor kicking the crap out of us.

Gotta get it done now

2nd game as a Jays fan, Toronto was extremely lucky

Pillar and Zeke HR's, Texas stranding about 12,964, making a giant LOBster roll

I'm not complaining, lucky and good is a nice combination

those homeruns to the 8th and 1st hitter were absolutely heartbreaking

Not good.

before the game vs. the Mets, lol. Said he couldn't resist. I'm personally rooting for them, too. I said Giants/Rangers before the playoffs started...doesn't look like that's happening.

I'm going Dodgers-Jays. Dodgers got a pen and a deep lineup this year, both of which were missing in past years.

When things are going well and his confidence is brimming, he's great and has had some incredible games. However, far too often when he's not at the top of his game, he can't pull himself out of it and it leads to some terrible control issues...same thing today as he cannot locate his fastball, off-speed are bouncing all over the place.

this is awesome.

Indeed....Glad my Cubbies pulled it off....I was a mess watching that game....

Espinosa with three very badly needed strikeouts for CK, all with RISP.

The pen scatters 1 hit over 4 innings and 2 base-runners total...1 a walk by Blanton to Trae Turner and the other a fluke double off Jansen by Clint Robinson (first xbh in 117 ABs). Great great work, kenley's AB was comedy and his 9th was flat out malicious.

used his spidey sense to snare that ball from Rizzo too.

and I don't really fuck with Cueto, but he got squeezed on at LEAST one strike during that Baez at-bat.

thankfully it seems he is okay

doesn't surprise me atall.

3rd on the all-time active list.

The sun was peeking through clouds by 5:30. Sure the game would've gone off late...but that's fine - who really cares about the Nats or Dodgers outside of DC and LA?

But rather than put two NL games on at once tonight, MLB would rather have Nats/Dodgers game 2 start at 1pm on an October Sunday, head-to-head with the NFL. I and many would argue that's the absolute worst place to put a playoff baseball game. And we'd be right.

It's funny really - in trying to protect its advertisers and deliver the largest audience possible, MLB will actually end up hindering Its national audience potential a great deal - they must really think folks will watch them instead of football, and more specifically must think that local markets will pick them over the Redskins in DC or will tune in promptly at 10am in LA.

Speaking from a selfish point of view, this stacks the deck against us in a big way - now the Nats must win not only Game 2 but also Game 3 only 12 hours after the conclusion of their last game and after having traveled directly across the country. Both teams will be weary - so wouldn't the home team possess what little edge there is to have?

This is horse shit.

Loboton with a homer after a walk and HBP...then Murphy with a base hit to drive in Turner.

Now the shadows are out with the ball going from light to dark while traveling to home plate.

Seen this way too many times.

http://image.cleveland.com/home/cleve-media/width620/img/cavs_impact/photo/21256869-mmmain.jpg

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLOgN6sBAxI/

https://twitter.com/michaelFhurley/status/784175789969383424

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- LeBron James is all in for the Indians as they get set to face the Red Sox in an American League Division Series tonight.

Oh, sorry, wrong slogan. James, like the Indians, is calling for Cleveland to #RallyTogether.

Either way, James is getting into the Tribe's first ALDS appearance since 2007 in a big way. He's Instagramming pictures of his camo Indians hat, retweeting the Indians' tweets, and plans to be at Progressive Field in the flesh for Game 2 Friday afternoon.

https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/784053308071743488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Yes, at one time James was a Yankees fan. Maybe he still is -- the Red Sox are New York's archrival, so he'd be pulling for the Indians in this series anyway.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/10/lebron_james_all_in_for_clevel.html

Let's end this in Toronto and send them on their way back home!! Let's goooooooo

cause we got away with a few calls there i feel

cant have too many of those today

gonna have to quiet down the blue jays onslaught to make this work

atleast make this interesting

https://youtu.be/QdDJ1_ZUyLs?t=41

nice.

.

since dyson has been shakey af

I'm just going with laundry here.

On one hand if the guy has changed blah blah blah

On the other hand...

Nah...fuck that guy

If he were on my club, I would probably just go straight to "he served his time. he's not Josh Lueke" and watch him pump 98mph fastballs.

I surely understand

.

You guys had a fantastic 95 win season, best in the AL, the better league. We had a bit of luck on our side with the passed ball and error again.

Go Jays Go!

Not luck, yall played great and that put tremendous pressure on us. thats playoff baseball right there

Congratulations to Toronto sweeping Texas.

Fuck you Odor. Fuck you Andrus.

I love me some Beltre tho.

SWEEP.

swing the bat, son.

But I fully support that specific inequality.

it was basically an even distribution to all fields except the left field power alley. just ridiculous.

>But I fully support that specific inequality.

lol

Kershaw has not been a good postseason pitcher. Hill got all spazzy and rattled in game 2 and fell apart in a hurry after a good start. And now Maeda is getting rocked.

Hopefully Urias comes through in game 4.

Another year, same trend....one of the units falters and key contributors play way below their ability. The SP has now given life to Werth and Harper who have been so average this season.

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.

But damn, this shit has been great.

Everybody is making plays and coming up with hits. But now most of the big bullets have been fired. Giants staring down another 18 inning playoff game

The only thing more fun than watching Aroldis Chapman pitch is watching somebody actually get to him.

I think I finished my dissertation. Or, rather, I think it's done enough to get shipped off to committee. Now, I'm stuck watching this game 'til it finishes so I don't fuck up the story.

>The only thing more fun than watching Aroldis Chapman pitch
>is watching somebody actually get to him.

on baseball tonight Kurkjian said Chapman hadn't given up an extra base hit to a lefty all year, had never given up back-to-back hits to left-handed batters in his career & had never given up a triple to a lefty. And then Gillaspie of all people, who has never faced Chapman before, tattoos a 102 MPH fastball into triples alley. unbelievable.


>I think I finished my dissertation. Or, rather, I think it's
>done enough to get shipped off to committee. Now, I'm stuck
>watching this game 'til it finishes so I don't fuck up the
>story.

Awesome! I'm sure all 5 people who will ever read it will really enjoy it (i keed, i keed!) seriously though that's great. what is the topic again? something with medieval church philosophy/doctrine or some such, right?

Kershaw on short rest when he hasn't been back long and struggled in game 1....I don't feel great about it. Awful hard not to go with the best pitcher in baseball over a rookie though.

Fuck Murphy, this shit is beyond old.

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Blanton has been better all year and that was as big of a spot as you can get.

Every fucking year there's a capitulation. Tired of this shit.

Smh

That just doesn't happen, they always ask the field ump. SMH.

Guarantee you he was ticked off from the bench yelling at him for squeezing CK twice and he decides to make the game about himself. No place for that kind of shit man, he shouldn't see another game.

About time somebody got a big hit. I'm drained.

I don't care how great his defense is, in no goddamn season did he ever account for 6 wins
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<================== Learn the name now before everyone gets dunked on

Should've been a double play

>Should've been a double play


Heyward was the reason it wasn't a double play....His hard slide saved the Cubs....

we on even ground.

alas was not meant to be


on sabbatical.

does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

What a game......!!!!!

Another series to go....Let's go!!!!

Cubs!!!!!!!!!

dusty overly-managing the game...again.

We've been getting good, patient ABs all game. Finally paying off
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ugh.

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He was the key tonight...50 pitches, 7 outs.

and some timely hits for once. The widely questioned Ruiz trade paid off.

I understand the loss of losing AJ from an emotional standpoint but with how strong that clubhouse is and how great Doc is with handling it, I saw 0 reason not to make that deal.

bit off all my fingernails thanks to roberts milking jensen to the last drop.

So many moves tonight...Dayton really put us in a bind but Doc decided to go with Kenley in the highest leverage situation with men on for the top of the lineup...he obviously gassed in the 9th but then of course you get CK vs Murphy at that juncture, jam pop up and then the strikeout to finish it.

My fucking goodness...Doc said to expect your number to be called at any time and today epitomized that.

Onto Chicago.

Real excited for how good he's going to be.

Dodgers ain't layin down out there....

what an incredible game..

hate we had to beat Dusty...but man...Dave Roberts shot his load in that one.... the friggin analytics in the 4 run inning.... looking like some unnecessary pinch hitting..pulling Toles.... going to Ruiz..

but man...

and Kenley and Kershaw..

that was some old school shit right now... Kenley out there going 3 inning like Kent Tekulve or Goose....


crazy man..

the Cubs and the Dodgers is a major major series...

Lets not forget, Bum did it in the World Series, I still say that was the sports performance of the year.

LETS GO JAYYYYYS!!!!!!

Ump was inconsistent which makes it hard but it was inconsistent all game for both sides. Still makes it hard to get hits when the strike zone changes so much it was unfortunate Estrada made a mistake should thrown a fastball not a thirst straight change up

They are certainly good enough to knock out the Jays...I'll take that Estrada start everyday of the week

Hopefully they can get after Tomlin tomorrow because being behind against the Tribe bullpen makes it a very difficult proposition

.

either way, possibly a fire-able offense to wave a lumbering gonzalez home against a dribbler to shallow left/deep short.

on that shallow ass hit. How asinine. I HOPE, though...that he did send him and Adrian didn't call his own number.

bundy did a full-circumference strum that would make capt kirk jealous.

Poor fielding by Kendrick, terrible call by our 3b coach to send Gonzo, a bloop double, two poor throws that allow a caught out Baez to score from 3rd, a walk to Lester, Maeda barely being able to get anyone out with 2 strikes.

So damn sloppy and we're down 3 through 2 frames.

That's at least 3 hits taken away, including that last one which would have been XB's for Ruiz. Direct contrast to our fielding tonight which has essentially been responsible for 2 runs scoring.

.

He's had some shitty luck and two poor defensive plays behind him but he has responded pretty well. That being said, he's gotten away with at least 3, by my count, hanging off-speeds so he's playing with a bit of fire.

never looked in command, walked the pitcher twice, etc.

I thought he was mostly solid, just with a couple of mistakes and a couple of bad beats.

just looked shaky tonight. Hell, Lester isn't missing any bats tonight...but he's throwing strikes and his defense is clowning.

or is it cool enough to see their breath?

cause that looked like smoke coming out his nose lol

probably a vape eh

he was doing the discreet slowly exhale through the nose only thing

.

.

Cubs with the clutch 2 strike grand slam yeesh

.

You get Chapman out of the game and face a batter in Montero who has been struggling mightily...his first two swings showed why and then Blanton hangs the slider in the middle of the plate, very often a slump ender. Joe was a little rattled after that and then hangs 2 more.

Is what it is, Joe has been great and he'll have his chance for redemption.

chapman was the holistic threat, not montero...ultimately down 0-2 in the count and two outs.

0-2 and setup for an inside slider...didn't locate the pitch and obviously missed in the worst spot. Is what it is, I'll take that opportunity anytime and Blanton will have his chance to make up for it.

>You get Chapman out of the game

he stays in the game if we get the 3rd out. So what? He will only throw 1 more inning max. That leaves him with a little less juice for tomorrow.

you dont load the bases and hope for an out. Against anyone but the pitcher there. That puts way to much pressure on the pitcher. He cant make any mistakes at all. If he pitches to Coglan he has a free base and he can try and get him to chase. At least make him earn the walk.

We squared up a ton of pitches tonight but right at fielders combined with some very good defense by the Cubs.

Regardless of outcome, a lot of positives tonight especially with how well we saw the ball and how well the team responded overall. Needed one pitch to have a great chance to take game 1 but didn't make it. That happens, and in a 7 game series you can't allow 1 pitch to influence anything more than that game.

I trust these guys to keep fighting and Doc to continue and put us in the best position to succeed, onto game 2.

CUBS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just 9 more outs. c'mon dodgers!!!

let's see if he can get Baez.

one last inning

Amazing performances by both.

That cutter was a good 4 inches inside...it's essentially impossible to cover that much zone against a locked in Kenley. Hate the inconsistency but if anyone has to benefit, might as well be us lol.

Kershaw predominantly using fastball-slider (I counted 8 curved) but the way he was changing eye level and hitting the chalk, beautiful and when we needed it most.

As for Kenley...under 20 pitches for 2 full innings, says it all.

Each got away with a big mistake (Kersh to Baez in the 7th, hung his slider but just outside enough that it wasn't driven over Joc's head. Kenley missed a cutter right over the plate on 1-2 to Fowler when Yasmani was trying to get it up in the zone, thankfully Kenley's cut velocity and movement is enough that Fowler swung through it).

Obviously a huge game for our chances. Onto game 3.

detailed with great insight and communicates it very sharply.

Doing it every day is much harder than showing up for the playoffs. The guy is offering insight on Kershaw/Jansen right now, not going deep on the Dodgers' 40-man because somebody got an emergency call-up for a doubleheader in August.

Chris Archer was the star of last off-season, and I'd love to see more of him when his career is done. But the job gets a lot harder when you exhaust all the smart stuff you have to say and there's still four months of games left.

He's also working next to Pete Rose, who seems utterly uninterested in doing anything but promoting his job. And Frank Thomas, who isn't nearly as smart a commentator as he was a hitter. Though in fairness, explaining his near perfect pitch-recognition and knowledge of the strikezone doesn't seem easy.

>Frank Thomas, who isn't nearly as smart a commentator as he
>was a hitter. Though in fairness, explaining his near perfect
>pitch-recognition and knowledge of the strikezone doesn't seem
>easy.

... or you don't. (c) Barry Bonds

... being extremely open and available to younger Giants players who wanted to talk through hitting. Like, he was going against type and being patient and thoughtful - but that he was totally useless to them because some shit you just can't explain. And he'd give advice based on a skillset that pretty much him and a couple other inner-circle Hall of Famers possessed.

"You can train all you want. You can work on your catching and your throwing and your running. Hell, it might even be enough to get you into the majors. But, in order to be a standout, and all-star, a champion, you need more than hard work and dedication. You need something that you can't work for. You need a blessing from God Almighty."

The reason I believe ARod could translate to everyday high caliber analysis is because many of his insights (particularly when it comes to player psychology or specific situations) are transferable to any time in the season.

...when other people are talking but not directly to him.

Fumbles with his hands, messes with his lips, stares out ahead of him like he's trying to read a cue card but forgot his reading glasses.

I find it really fascinating to watch.

who the hell bunts, with a man on third, and two outs?

he's lost three of his top five starters and still a win away from the World Series

and every move hurts my soul.

.

A little better with the approach at the plate with SOME of our players but I hoenstly put that up to the Jays seeing so many of their relievers so many times already than the Jays actually changing their approach LOL

Hopefully the over use of pitchers works in our favour tomorrow.

i'm at the game, and the crowd is going NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandal waited him out...exact opposite of Joc's at-bat before him.

That's why Reddick taking third was so important. Arrieta with 16 passed balls so of course he doesn't want to give away a run...on the ensuing 2-2, he hangs a curve which Grandal is out in front of and then next pitch, rather than attempt the inside curve, he throws a sink FB that stays up.

Maddon comes and gets him

4-0 DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But Pederson's at-bat was ... illustrative of that concept. Three actual strikes that he just straight swung and missed at. The first one (but that was it, right?) was Arrieta's curve, so I guess he gets a pass on that one. But that level of just plain missing isn't an as-he-matures-as-a-hitter thing or an approach issue.

It's 2016 now, and you can be a productive hitter and strike out in more than 25% of your plate appearances. But I kind of expect that's not going to change about Pederson's game.

He has a giant hole on the inside half of the plate when he's loading up and trying to drive the ball out. There have been stretches this season and certain games where he has shortened his swing and it results in above average ABs; however, old habits certainly die hard.

That's not too shabby. Less defense, but you can pencil him in regularly against righties. A perfectly fine career.

He's progressively done a better job of controlling his swing on the outside of the plate (he just exhibited said improved control by chopping a lefty slider down the line) so hopefully that relative success and positive reinforcement begins to translate into impulse control on the inside. He has a very close connection/relationship with Doc so if anyone can change those habits, it's Doc.

I laughed out loud. Baseball is delightful.

i'm starting to believe.

3 more outs.

That was so enjoyable to watch.

Fortunately, Rich settled in after his 2nd inning jam (finally starting locating his outside off-speed and then his fastball becomes so much more effective) and then his battery mate gives us a cushion after we apply some pressure on the base paths to make Arrieta question his off-speed control.

Up a game, long way to go. Urias, game 4 is yours.

Dodgers gotta give him some runs like tonight.

He really hasn't pitched much at all recently though even going back to the end of the regular season. Hopefully he's sharp. We'll see if the moment gets to him or not. Personally I love his ability and have faith in him to get the job done.

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http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/jason-heyward-cubs-painful-woes/

It would be difficult to overstate just how bad Heyward was offensively in 2016. He hit .230 and finished 66th in total bases (only one full-time player, Miami shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, had fewer total bases). Only eight outfielders this century have played every day and slugged .325, like Heyward did. And Heyward had this disastrous season at the time when baseballs flew out of ballparks at a near-record rate.

More than 65 percent of the pitchers Heyward has faced this year are fastballs, one of the highest percentages in baseball and by far the highest percentage of his career. Pitchers are not ever bothering to change speeds against him. They just throw fastballs in full confidence that he can’t catch up. They attack Jason Heyward much in the way they attack opposing pitchers.

Tuesday’s game provided a revealing and, for Heyward fans, painful example. He was sent in to pinch-hit against the Dodgers’ Joe Blanton, who is a slider-first pitcher these days. According to Pitchf/x numbers, Blanton only threw his fastball 21 percent of the time this year.

But with Heyward at the plate, Blanton threw a 90-mph fastball over the inside half of the plate. Heyward watched it go by for a strike. Blanton then threw another 90-mph fastball over the inside half of the plate. Heyward watched that one go by for a strike, too.

Then, Blanton threw his slider, and Heyward swung and missed it by about 200 miles. It was as bad an at-bat as you will ever see from a good player, a crushing illustration of just how far Heyward has fallen.

- Joe Posnanski

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https://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_1200w/Boston/2011-2020/2011/10/12/BostonGlobe.com/Sports/Images/13theoro.jpg?uuid=b7mmpvTpEeCmF-FwGdUshA

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faced the minimum after three innings, got into a little trouble in the fourth after falling behind 3-0 to Encarnacion -- then brought it back with a DP grounder.

him getting a scoreless 12 outs is huge.

.

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the Encarnacion long out was lucky tho

man on 2nd with no outs. Donaldson and Encarnacion go down swinging. It's all up to Tulo, now.

Cant lie.

Back to back ALCS appearances for my Jays. Can't be mad at that.

EE and Jose might have been their last at-bats as Toronto legends. Hopefully not.

Jays were already asking Reds about Votto. Told them not to trade him without calling them LOL

I'm happy for the Cleveland Pro Baseball team. We hung in there throughout this LONG ASS SEASON and made it. Terry Francona is my guy for life. I knew we could do it all year and told y'all we could pull it off.

He was clearly safe.

Just get the call right.

Freeze the damn frame when his finger touches, the glove hasn't touched AG yet

Great switchhitting SS with some pop. Great glove, range and arm. Always smiling.

Instead Toles completely sails it...run scores and the runners move up. Good fucking grief, done Urias no favors tonight.

at least barry bonds' weak ass dribbler connected when trying to gun-out sid bream.

smh

Chose the worst time to make undoubtedly his worst throw. Pressure tends to do funny things.

Mistake after fucking mistake man

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Baez out there serving up ducks.

Get his ass out of there. They are all over him.

He's been so inconsistent in big games

Damn near perfect in game 3, awful in game 4. Shit.

Had chances early and made some poor poor plays defensively to put us into bad positions and the Cubs took advantage. Hats off to them, now we have to respond tomorrow.

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And as any good hitter should, Russell crushes it. Worst part is as long as you miss down or outside, Russell hasn't been able to even get close to the slider all series.

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He put them on Then two infield hits that could've/should've been outs scored them. Frustrating as hell.

As the pressure has ratched up, we've had our buttons come undone on critical plays while the Cubs have continued to make plays and be consistent defensively.

Line out to Kike at 2nd who for some damn reason doesn't know that AGon is playing off the base on 1st and so he looks there before throwing to 2nd which allows Fowler to get back to 2nd and avoid the inning ending DP.

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This team has completely choked in the field the last 3 games.

The defense has completely capitulated since game 4. Toles with 2 huge fucking errors...this one cost us a run, potentially 2 outs, and 20 pitches.

Reddick picked off 1st...the two teams have gone in completely different trajectories since game 4 in terms of sound play. We've made mistake after fucking mistake.

It's one thing to battle and lose hard fought games. It's another to suck and get your ass kicked.

You can't make as many mistakes we have, esp in the field and crucial bullpen ABs, and expect to beat a very good team (which imo is defined by consistency).

A recipe for disaster against this Cubs team which has crushed fastballs all season

Can't change speeds or eye level...no chance for consistent outs.

Unless Clayton instantly finds a feel for his curve (just threw it for a strike for the first time this game on his 10th attempt, 1/11 overall, in the 5th inning), you have the best fastball hitting team in the league against predominantly fastballs.

On the other side, Hendricks is completely in his zone with 4 runs to play with and then Chapman behind him.

Basically season over.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/illinois/chicago/wrigleyfield/?cam=wrigleyfield_hd

And now the World Series. Cleveland vs. Chicago (Cubs).

coming out my eyes......My Cubs. I'm in shock. Thinking about my old man (RIP). He turned me into a Cubs fan when I was rooting for the White Sox as a kid.....LOVE.....

We are headed to the World Series.....!!!!!

We had 2 tremendous pitching performances to win 2 games but you cannot make as many mistakes as we did vs a very good team and expect to win a series. Our major flaws (the back-end SP and worst OPS against lefties) were completely on display and then some of our key strengths (the pen and defense) capitulated as well.

Always dissapointing to lose at this stage but overall I'm pretty happy with the season, especially with all the injuries. Team showed a lot of resilience, Doc managed his tail off...certainly have some key building blocks in place. Congrats again to the Cubbies.

unlike previous years where they underachieved, Dodgers showed some balls in the NLDS and made it a series through three games against Chicago. Cubs just better, even without the Dodgers' mistakes.

It sucks to lose having not put the best effort, but at least it's not like LA peed it away.
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