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TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Frayed Knot Sep 26 2018 01:04 PM

Shed a tear for the final TWiB of the season Oakland's late night loss in Seattle on Tuesday both clinched the AL West for Houston and pretty much kills any chance that they had of hosting the WC card. Yanx are now 2.5 up (3 in the loss column) with five to play - four to go for the A's - and they hold the tie-breaker. The A's lost by allowing two runs to Seattle in the 8th, one more in the 9th, then two in the 11th. This was all after leading 6-3 and later 8-5 Familia didn't pitch but apparently Blake Treinen remembered that he was a National and therefore is pre-programmed to cough up late runs when the weather starts to turn chilly. The Mariners used ten different pitchers who got, in succession, 4, 2, 9, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, and 3 outs, but the last five held the A's to one hit combined so it's tough to complain.

Frayed Knot Sep 26 2018 01:11 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

The NL side, on the other hand, got more interesting on Tuesday night Rox won while the Dodgers were losing, which puts the Rox ahed of the Cards for the #2 WD slot and brings them to within a 1/2 game of the Dodgers Also, the Cubs lost while the Brewers were thumping the Cards which brings the Brewers to within 1/2 game of the long presumptive NL Central champ Cubbies. The Cardinals can't win the Central so they'll have to either catch the Brewers (-4.0 so unlikely) or the loser of the COL/LAD race (-0.5 and -1.0) Brewers vs Cards again today. Then the Brewers host [u:11ebissk]the Tigers[/u:11ebissk] for their final three. Hey, somebody's gotta play IL on the final weekend. Cards are at Wrigley for their final three games but the Cubs still have two more vs Pirates before that. Rockies are home for the Phils x2 and the Nationals x3 Dodgers have one more in Arizona before heading to SF for the final three where you just know the Giants would love to fuck them over

Frayed Knot Sep 27 2018 01:56 AM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Whilst he was in the midst of throwing a gem, Jack had one of his records tied tonight as Colorado's German Marquez began his game by striking out the first eight Phillies of the game. That ties the post-1900 record held by deGrom (2014) and also Jim Deshaies (1986) deGrom, you may recall, had his streak broken by allowing a hit to the opposing pitcher. Marquez tonight got a soft come-backer from the #9 hitter (Pivetta), and promptly threw it away for an error.

Frayed Knot Sep 27 2018 09:41 AM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Brewers & Cubs both clinch playoff spots, NLC still to be decided with the Cubs holding a slim 1/2 game lead. Rox win, Dodgers lose, Cards lose, so Rox take over West by 1/2 game. LAD leads Cards by a full game for WC #2 The networks would hate it, but I'd be up for seeing either/or of the Cubs & Dodgers sit out the post-, and/or see them have to fight each other in the WC play-in game in order to advance. Mets, btw, are 4.0 games in back of Philly with 4 to play so we could theoretically catch them (and "win" 3rd place with head-to-head as a tie-breaker) as the now sub-.500 Phils are in the midst of a serious September crash (6-18 following a 13-14 August.

bmfc1 Sep 27 2018 12:16 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Can we leave Steve Bartman alone already? Last night a foul ball was caught by a Cubs fan (at Wrigley) while preventing Anthony Rizzo from making the catch. Of course, the fan is being compared to Bartman (this time, the ball was in the stands, Rizzo didn't throw a fit like Alou, and the Cubs still won the game). http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=24809057

Frayed Knot Sep 27 2018 07:57 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

bmfc1 wrote: Can we leave Steve Bartman alone already? I always wanted to know how the guy next to Bartman, who also went after the ball with the same degree of both enthusiasm and lack of awareness of the ongoing play, got off un-outed and un-vilified. Bartman probably wonders too.

MFS62 Sep 28 2018 12:13 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

John Gibbons is out as manager of the Blue Jays. (This could have been in the Mets in other unis thread) And this writer explores why. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/ ... clear-why/ Later

Frayed Knot Sep 29 2018 10:33 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Not surprisingly, the Dodgers & Giants are taking their final series very series-ously despite SFG being long out of things. First the Giants held back Madison Bumgarner for two days so he could pitch Friday night's game vs LAD. Nice try but it didn't work as the Dodgers got him for 3 runs and 2 HRs in an eventual 3-1 win. That win means the Dodgers will at least play past Sunday as the worst they can do is fall into a play-in game (w/StL) in order to determine who advances to the WC play-in game (vs MILW/CHIC) Today the Dodgers had Kershaw going but that hasn't worked well either. Even after given an early lead (LAD led off 1st & 2nd w/HRs) it was 5-5 after six And the Giants just brought closer Mark Melancon into the game in order to try and snuff a bases-loaded/two-out Dodger rally in the 7th. It's the right move of course (why wait until the 9th?) but, let's face it, it's not a move we often see. ... AND PH'er DAVID FREESE LINES OUT TO END THE INNING Bottom 7, 5-5, in the city by the bay. I wonder if the stadium is playing Marty Balin tunes between innings?

Frayed Knot Sep 30 2018 12:55 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Nice potential for a double play-in game situation on Monday with the Cubs & Brewers tied for 1st place in the NL Central and the Rox & Dodgers atop the West. All four teams are in the post-season but, thanks to an actual meaningful distinction in winning the division vs just the WC, a tie in either case will require a Game #163 and there could be two. The potential Dodger/Rockies game would be at 4:00 (EDT) on Monday while the Cubs/Brewers match will be at 1:00 if both games are needed, but will move to a 4:00 start if it's the stand-alone contest Rox are at home today but may have to face Max Scherzer (or maybe Erik Fedde, there seems to be some indecision there still) The Giants have blown two chances at home to deal a serious blow to their rivals but have one final shot today: Andrew Suarez vs Rich Hill In Chicago, it's Mike Montgomery for the Cubs against the Cards' Jack Flaherty Milwaukee, which has put themselves in early 3-0 holes for two days in a row against the lowly Tigers, goes with deadline pickup Gio Gonzalez against rookie Spencer Turnbull making his 3rd ever ML start And the NL starts first this year so the actual WC game is slotted for Tuesday night, so a quick turn-around for the survivors here.

Frayed Knot Sep 30 2018 08:59 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Well, thanks to a couple of blowouts [12-0 Dodgers, 7-0 Rockies - both in the 6th] we're almost certainly seeing an NL West champion/WC game tomorrow The game will be in LA and the loser will need to get on a plane right afterward for either Milwaukee or Chicago who will host Tuesday's WC game whoever the Central WC team wind up being. Things are still a bit more up in the air in the Central where the Cubs and Brewers are sporting 2 and 3 run leads

Benjamin Grimm Sep 30 2018 09:52 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Will (or would) this be the first time in MLB history that we've had a one-game, do-or-die, tie-breaking playoff game where the losing team will live to see another day?

Frayed Knot Sep 30 2018 10:00 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

I think so, yeah, because under the old WC system there was no need for an extra game unless it meant in the playoffs or out. But now the difference between division winner vs WC winner is so great that deciding that via some arcane tie-breaking criteria would be criminal (the NFL does that but that's their problem). In the meantime, all the drama is shifting to tomorrow because there's none left today: LAD 14 - SFG 0 (final); COL 11 - WAS 0 (8th); CHC 10 - StL 4 (7th); MIL 10 - DET 0 (8th)

Frayed Knot Sep 30 2018 10:11 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

And the Braves have just lost their final game meaning they'll be the lowest seed of all the NL division winners and will face the eventual West winner in the NLDS ... whoever that turns out to be. The WC survivor will then face the Central winner in the NLDS ... whoever that turns out to be. Worst record yet will go in as the most rested ... nice job if you can pull it off.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 01 2018 10:54 AM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Baseball Reference says that there's a Miami at Pittsburgh game on the schedule for today. MLB.com doesn't mention it, and ESPN.com says it was canceled. Strange.

Frayed Knot Oct 01 2018 06:53 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Baseball Reference says that there's a Miami at Pittsburgh game on the schedule for today. MLB.com doesn't mention it, and ESPN.com says it was canceled. Strange. That was a rain-out reschedule which stayed on the sked as long as Pitt had an outside shot at things, but was officially canceled more than a week ago.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 01 2018 07:50 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

Brewers lead the Cubs 3-1 after 8.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 01 2018 08:25 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

And it's over! Brewers win the NL Central. Cubs are the top Wild Card and will host the Dodgers or Rockies tomorrow.

Frayed Knot Oct 01 2018 09:17 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

And the Brewers will have the home field advantage throughout the NL side of things. All those who predicted Milwaukee with the NL's top record for 2018 come on up an collect your prize. btw, one RBI for Christian Yelich in the game (and none for Javy Baez) which means that Yelich winds up one RBI (plus one HR) shy of the triple crown. Yelich lost his share of the HR title on Sunday as Nolan Arenado hit two (and three over his final two games) but won the batting title by 23 points. Arenado is of course also playing a regular season game today so he can add to that total but so can his teammate Trevor Story who is tied w/Yelich at one HR behind so the HR title is oddly still up in the air. And speaking of these being regular season games: - the expanded rosters rule applies in a game such as this which could mean wildly different substitution possibilities for one side over the other (reason #457 of why they need to straighten out that rule) while the WC game tomorrow between today's losers will revert back to 25-man squads - but they're going with the six umpires today as if it's a post-season game, a quirk which I suspect has more to do with an agreement with the ump's union than anything else

Centerfield Oct 01 2018 09:48 PM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

.323 batting average bitches!!! Woooooo!!!!! Awww. That's adorable.

Frayed Knot Oct 02 2018 12:22 AM Re: TWiB Notes - Sept 24-30

And the Dodgers win their sixth straight NL West title. This also leaves the Rockies in the same boat as their co-expansionist team, the Marlins, as having never won a division title in now 26 seasons. Nor has either ever topped 92 wins in a season although that hasn't stopped them from having three WS appearances (2 MIA, 1 COL) and two wins (both Marlins obviously) between them. LAD was up 5-0 until Kenley Jansen surrendered HRs to the first two batters* in the 9th. He settled down after that but it was a slog of an inning * Arenado & Story - so Arenado still wins the HR title, by one over Story and two over Yelich