Day 50

Fresh Start_50: Bring out the brooms

Over the weekend the MLB playoffs have been quite interesting. In the AL both series was entertaining for different reasons. The Toronto Blue Jays made quick work of one of their rivals the Texas Rangers. Many of you may know about the fight between Jose Bautista and Rougned Odor in May was a small storyline in this series to the players and a bigger one to the insane fans up north. The Jays have been one of the hottest teams in the playoff, and their bats came alive to put it lightly for Toronto. The Rangers had no answer for the fireball offense of Toronto. Roughned Odor fittingly was involved in the last play of game three in Toronto, throwing the game away and the series away, with a throwing error that would win the game for Toronto and put just one more notch in this rivalry and next year the series will mean more. This is one of the reasons why the game of baseball brings more drama than your daily noon soap.

In the other series in the AL between the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, less dramatic on the field and much more off of it. With the loss last night in Boston, the Red Sox have been swept and that means that would be the last time Red Sox, and baseball fans everywhere would see David Ortiz play in a game. This whole series had two storylines and one of them being Big Papi, the other is how the Indians would play with all of the injuries they currently have. If you didn’t know the Indians don’t have their power hitting left fielder Michael Brantley, Starters Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco, while also not having their starting catcher for the ALDS Yan Gomes. The team that I haven’t believed in all season, and just like Cleveland sports have been doing all year (despite the Browns) have had an “us against the world” mentality. The “Windians” have kept winning and with Gomes coming back for the Championship Series this will be an offensive explosion and should be fun to watch. The Boston Red Sox who have had a great offense all year, showed their Achilles heel with their lack of pitching. If you didn’t know—pitching wins in the playoffs. Boston who paid David Price a boat load of money in the offseason, didn’t show up yet again in the playoffs, and for me have solidified his name on the overrated list forever. If you are the Boston front office, you have to wake up this morning, out of the playoffs and look in the mirror at your team. This team needs good pitching so they can win in October.

In the National League the games have been entertaining to say the least. Starting off in Washington the first game was a pitcher’s duel that ended early in the fifth, turned into a bullpen game and ended in the Dodgers favor 4-3. Game two was rained out on Saturday, and played Sunday night, the game was another pitcher’s duel. Despite giving the probable rookie of the year Corey Seager his second first inning home run in as many games, the Nationals were helped by their MVP candidate Daniel Murphy and back-up catcher Jose Lobaton. Game three the Nats exploded for eight runs, thanks in part to two veterans for Washington—Jason Werth and Ryan Zimmerman. Werth is batting .417 with an .833 slugging percentage, one homer (which he hit in Game three), and two RBI’s. Zimmerman in this series is batting .455 a 1.084 OPS, and two RBI’s, leading this team back into this series. In game four Clayton Kershaw will start in Los Angeles in a winner take all game. Kershaw will need to throw a gem against a hot team, while also silencing his critics in relation to pitching in the post season.

Now for the main event, the series that has the baseball world salivating at just the site of the teams. The Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants have been absolutely phenomenal. Game one in Chicago between Jon Lester and Madison Bumgardner was nothing short of what was advertised, ending with a Javier Baez hitting a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth. Game two was the game that surprised us all with Jeff Samardzija not being able to go two innings giving up four runs. The game last night, which I couldn’t stay up for unfortunately, was an all-time classic game in October. Madison Bumgardner gave up a three-run homer against his opposite number Jake Arrieta and was his only mistake. Arrieta pitched well going six only giving up two, but that’s where it got fun. In the bottom of the eighth the hero in the Wild Card game Conor Gillaspie, hitting a go ahead triple against Alrodis Chapman. Brandon Crawford would add an insurance run against Chapman making it 5-3 going into the top of the ninth. Giants closer Sergio Romo facing the heart of the Cubs lineup. Then the matchup of the night with Romo and Chicago’s probable MVP candidate Kris Bryant hit a two run game tying home run, making the Chicago dugout go into a frenzy. The game would go into the thirteen inning were the battered and beaten Joe Panik stepped to the plate with Brandon Crawford after a leadoff double. The underrated second baseman would hit an absolute bomb off the right field wall, winning this classic and surviving for one more day. The Giants have now won twelve straight elimination games. Both game fours are on Fox Sports One starting at 5PM EST. BE THERE!

Sources:(mlb.com, espn.com, baseballreference.com, cbssports.com)

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