Post World Series Sports Report Part 2

 

Part 1

MLB

The playoffs have been intense as they’ve been scheduled without travel days at single sites.  Both league championships went seven games.  I did hear a commentator basically say what I’ve been thinking about this years’ shortened season.  He said it would be a legitimate championship because the best teams got in and moved on to the division round.  Let me translate that for you: If the Dodgers or Yankees win, it’s legit, otherwise, it’s not. 

 

I got to watch a few games during the day during the Wild Card round.  ESPN had Chipper Jones doing color commentary with Jon Sciambi.  It was good to hear Chipper.  The coverage was frustrating during the Marlins’ closeout of the Cubs.  With the fish up 2-0 in the ninth, news broke in over the President going to the hospital with the cold.  Is that important?  Yes . . . but, couldn’t you have waited like 15 minutes? 

 

I didn’t get to see it, but I was following along with the ticker during the 12-and-a-half scoreless innings between the Braves and the Reds.  They probably should have kept the automatic runner rule for the first couple of playoff rounds.  Trevor Bauer started that game for the Reds.  The night before, he livestreamed during an Indians’ game, doing commentary.  He’s a jerk, but I enjoyed the stream and appreciate him interacting with the fans like that.

 

I’m not going to go over the playoff games leading up to the World Series.  It was good to see the Padres in the playoffs.  I think they’ll be back over the coming years.  They now have the makings of a really good team.  The Rays did me a solid by eliminating the Yankees in the division series.  What are the Yankees missing?  Perhaps they need to pick up an ace starting pitcher, money no object.  Oh, wait.  Damn.  So much for that.         

   

I questioned how the Astros got into the ALCS.  They’d lost two of their best pitchers from last season.  Then I questioned the Rays being in the ALCS as they nearly failed to close the Astros out after going up 3-0.  The Braves blew three attempts finish off the Dodgers.  They also had an embarrassing 15-1 loss.  Having these seven games in seven days really tested all the teams in the league championship.  Once again, it amazed me how these tough grown men act like a bunch of Little Leaguers when winning or losing during these playoff games. 

 

World Series

I took a week off for this and they didn’t even finish while I was off—the nerve!  I wasn’t entirely looking forward to this since this series between the Dodgers and the Rays looked like a wipe out on paper.  The stats basically showed the Dodgers being as good as or much better than the Rays in every metric.  In sum, the Rays were basically hitting .200 as a team, the Dodgers about .300. 

 

Still, this was a victory of sorts regardless of the outcome.  This was a World Series battle between #2 in payroll, the Dodgers, versus #28 in payroll, the Rays.  As I predicted, the Rays took out #1 in payroll, the Yankees.  (Just ignore the part where I picked the Angels as the AL winner though.)  You can put together a legit contender on a budget.  Now if only there was better revenue sharing and a salary cap so that the competition was all on the field.    

 

Games 1 and 3 were no surprise as the Dodgers dominated.  The Rays won Game 2 as the Dodgers were short a starter and had a bullpen day.  (Thanks for sitting out the season David Price.  I’m sure your team will vote to give you a World Series ring and a full share.)  The stars of that game were a couple of fans in the stands who made great catches.  This is what we’ve been missing all year.  (Hearing Joe Buck stumble as the camera showed the back of one guy’s shirt, which read, “Nice swing, Bitch,” was priceless.)

 

Game 4 turned into one for the ages.  The Dodgers and Rays traded runs and the lead for the entire game.  It’s hard to call an 8-7 game a pitching meltdown, but what else do you call a game where there was only one inning where no one scored?  The game was already a classic even before the finale. 

 

Then came the bottom of the ninth.  The Rays were down by one with Kenly Jansen pitching to close it out for the Dodgers.  Kevin Kiermaier was on first with two outs.  Oddly, they pitched to Randy Arozarena, but ended up walking him to put the tying run at second.  It was an odd choice to pitch to him since Brett Phillips, a bench player with two unsuccessful at bats for the whole series, was up next.  Kenly got Phillips to a two-strike count with a couple of generous calls by the ump.    

 

I admit, I’d been hating the World Series to this point.  Watching guys do nothing but strike out, walk, or hit homers is boring.  What I love about the game and the reason I watch are for moments like what happened next.  This kind of drama never ever gets old.

 

Of course, the bench player in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes slapped a single to right center.  Sabermetricians everywhere immediately got out their calculators to figure out where they went wrong.  Meanwhile, Chris Taylor, in centerfield, rushed in to get it.  Myself and the announcers thought it was Mookie Betts, since he plays right field and you’d think it would have been his ball.  (This also might be subtle commentary on how light-skinned he is.) 

 

Taylor took his eye off the ball as he scooped for a quick catch and throw.  The ball skipped right off his glove.  Kiermaier scored and tied it up.  With that development  and the bobble in the outfield, the third base coach waved around Arozarena.  Kiermaier later accurately described what happened next, a sniper took out Randy as he tripped halfway to home.  He was a dead duck and started back to third.

 

The throw came into the infield.  Max Muncy took the relay and threw home.  Unfortunately, Will Smith wasn’t using his knuckle ball glove as the poor throw went wide.  Smith reached back for the ball, again taking his eye off it, and executed a sweep tag, sans the ball.  The coach and Arozarena realized Smith didn’t have the ball before he did.  Randy leapt for home, belly flopped, and slapped the plate with both hands.  The Rays had won and created another great World Series moment. 

 

I couldn’t believe what I just saw.  I went crazy, folks.  Crazy.  (Yes, I’m stealing that line.  Joe Buck couldn’t get out of his own way trying to call the play.  It was beyond his meager abilities.  He can only call home runs dramatically.  If only Vin Scully had been calling the game.)  I’d been passively watching the whole game and suddenly I was yelling.  My throat actually hurt afterward.  Who could believe that this back-and-forth game would end with two errors (three, if you count bringing in Jansen in the first place), a bench player hero, and a pratfall?   Elsewhere, there were casualties.  A co-worker of mine reported he got beaten to death by his Dodger-loving girlfriend at about this time.       

 

The Dodgers came back the next day and won Game 5, 4-2.  The score never seemed that close with the Dodgers in control for the game.  Game 6 was another Dodger bullpen day.  This time it worked for them as they only allowed an Arozarena solo home run.  Blake Snell for the Rays pitched into the sixth without giving up a run.  The Rays relievers gave up the lead.  In Dave Roberts’ best managerial move (which probably saved his job if they’d lost this series), he left Julio Urias in for two-and-a-third innings to close it out. 

 

The Dodgers won 3-1 and the World Series 4-2.  I was back at work and trying to catch up from what wasn’t done while I was gone during Game 6.  I got to see only about 10 minutes of the game.  Personally, I was okay with that given the result.  I maybe saw only 15 minutes of the postgame, which I found compelling for all the wrong reasons.  Instead of a celebration, it was all controversy. 

 

Justin Turner had been pulled from game late.  Afterward, they said he had had a positive cold test and that the results hadn’t come in until during the game.  Need I comment?  Either they shouldn’t have left him play while the test was inclusive (duh) or they should have let him finish out the game.  (Or the cold testing is inaccurate and shouldn’t be being used or this little incident was all a political stunt.)  Turner still celebrated out on field and said he felt fine.  The image of the Dodgers celebrating in masks on field, where they hadn’t wearing them for the whole series, smacked of intense manufactured imaging.  (Leave it to a couple of female commentators on ESPN Radio to call the event a “possible super-spreader.” )

 

Commissioner Rob Manfred was getting boo’ed whenever he spoke to the crowd.  I’m really not sure why.  Certainly something was getting to him.  He was shaking and stuttering like he was having a stroke the whole time.  As happy as MLB had been with not having any positive cold tests during the whole playoffs, Turner’s sudden revelation came out of nowhere.  Let me put on my tinfoil hat.  It was almost like it had been forced upon them from an outside source and Manfred had been threatened into going along with it.  My explanation is as good as anybody else’s and certainly better than taking events at face value. 

    

Corey Seager won the MVP.  He was completely nonplussed by the award (or maybe freaked out by Manfred having a near seizure in front of him).  He did deserve it.  (I looked up the stats.)  However, I was shocked Mookie Betts didn’t win it.  Mookie certainly hot dogged like he was going to be the MVP.  He paid off the Taco Bell promotion with a stolen base for the second time.  Every time he scored, Mookie did a little dance at the plate.  (Shouldn’t the unwritten rules mandate getting buzzed for that?)  He was constantly promoted by FOX during the game and by the MLB on their website.  (Perhaps because the rest of the Dodger batting lineup was white?  After all, a baseball commentator recently said, “Baseball was too white.”)  Unfortunately, he hadn’t done enough nor had a signature moment.  Mookie may have been quietly rooting on a Game 7 just have another chance.  He could at least take solace in knowing that his salary this year was more than the Rays’ entire payroll. 

 

(I’m not really sure about that number.  I heard it on the radio this morning.  I’d say maybe during a normal season, but probably not this shortened season.  They did say that Giancarlo Stanton’s mansion cost more the Rays’ payroll.  That I can believe.  Certainly Stanton’s spent enough time in it rehabbing his constant injuries.) 

 

Another thing I heard on the radio was Mark Teixeira literally saying what I said the baseball media would say: the Dodgers winning meant this made it a legitimate championship.  By implication, any other team winning it (except the Yankees) would have diminished value.  I’ll say that the postseason was totally legit and then some with the expanded Wild Card round and the no off days neutral site series.  The regular season wasn’t, but by virtue of the expanded playoff field, probably every deserving team (and then some) got a chance.  It’s not like there haven’t been other truncated seasons.     

 

Everyone has mentioned that it’s been 32 years since the Dodgers’ last championship.  I’d bring up that it’s been eight years since the Guggenheim group bought the team and tried to buy a championship.  That’s been the source of my animus.  I will admit that the organization eventually started doing it the right way by developing prospects, retaining good players, and making impact free agent acquisitions.  (And using lots of money to do it.)  I used to be a Dodger fan.  Maybe someday they’ll win me back over.   

 

With this win, the Dodgers are likely not going to repeat next year unless they spend a bunch more money on fresh arms.  The postseason format this year and ever since 2000 has been too exhausting for teams to repeat in consecutive years.  I guess this opens the door for the Yankees next year.  Sigh.  I had a pretty good run this century with World Series winners that I liked.   

 

To wrap up, I don’t have any comment on the regular season.  It’s not really worth discussing, but congrats to the Cardinals and the Marlins for weathering a storm of positive cold tests and missed games to make it into the playoffs.  The playoffs themselves were pretty good.  I’d pick the Padres as the most charismatic team that I’d like to see more of.  The Wild Card round was fun with baseball in the morning for me.  The marathon format of both league championship series produced some great drama. 

 

I’m not doing to say I really enjoyed this World Series or the result, but I have to smile remembering it.  Like Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair in 1975, though the Red Sox lost that series in the end, Randy Arozarena putting both hands on home plate to win Game 4 and the heroics and antics that proceeded that moment will be what is iconic.      

 

Pre-Hot Stove Season Talk

Is there such a thing?  There is now.  Just in case civilization collapses later this year, I’d like to bring up a couple of things to look out for in the offseason.  Actually, three things.  Number 1 with a bullet, will there be fans in the stands next season?  I don’t know how long any sports league can last without in-person paying customers.  (Wait.  The WNBA perhaps?)  Issue #2, remember that this little season basically got rammed through without player consent?  I’ll assure you that the players do.  Look for strike talk.  This issue will tie into Issue #1 with the owners’ revenue.  Issue #3, minor league baseball was rubbed out this year and they were also unhappy with the owners’ contraction edict.  MiLB can’t play at all without fans in the stands either. 

 

Maybe here’s the real reason why Manfred was nervous.  

 

I’ll write more as these stories develop.