This postseason has been a complete bust for me. I got to see three of the Wild Card games that I went down to my dad’s apartment to watch. Other than that, I could only listen to radio coverage when I had an Internet connection at work. However, I’ve mostly been absorbed with current events and haven’t listened; I’ve only been keeping up with the scores.
The first two games were the Padres versus the Cubs. I was pleased that the Orioles’ color commentator, Ben McDonald, was working those games. I enjoy his Southern accent and enthusiasm. I had a rooting interest in the Padres, but I wasn’t desperate to see them win. I took down a few nearly unreadable notes. To give you an idea of diligent I was, I forgot to write down the final score for both games. (The Cubs would win the series.)
I might have been more interested in watching the ticker in the corner of the coverage that was showing the other series, the Tigers versus the Indians. After the Dodgers dismissed the Reds in two games, they switched the schedule to broadcast the Tigers and Indians in the afternoon. Here I do have a rooting interest for the Tigers as a longtime fan. I watched this game more intently and enjoyed the Tigers’ victory. It was nice revenge after their incredible collapse in the regular season to hand the Indians the division.
Elsewhere, the Yankees beat the Red Sox in the Wild Card series, but amusingly fell to the Blue Jays in the Division round. (It was amusing to me, at least.) Also in the Divisional round, the Dodgers dismissed the Phillies. The Brewers eliminated the Cubs. I also have a rooting interest in the Brew Crew with Aggie great, Joey Ortiz, and former Chihuahuas manager, Pat Murphy.
The Tigers played the Mariners in what turned out to be an epic battle. The series went to a fifth game. Tarik Skubal pitched well, but so did the M’s. This one went well into the night to the tune of 15 innings, but the Seattle fans carried their team to victory. This was the second lengthy extra innings game of the postseason. MLB might want to reevaluate their stance on not having the automatic runner after the regular season. [Post World Series Edit: You haven’t seen anything yet, pal.]
After that full series and nearly double-length Friday game, the Mariners had to travel across country to Toronto to play the Blue Jays on Sunday. Not only did the M’s win that game, they won the day game on Monday. Fatigue will not deter the Team of Destiny, until they went back to Seattle and got clobbered in Games 3 and 4.
In Game 5, down 2-1, Cal Raleigh homered to tie it. After 3 walks, Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam to win it. (And I missed it. I’d walked out of the room when it happened.) Back to Toronto, this series would go the full 7. In the seventh inning with Seattle up by a run, George Springer hit a 3-run homer that won it for the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, the Dodgers dismissed the Brewers in four. Shohei Ohtani personally ended the Brewers in Game 4 with 3 home runs and got the win pitching with 10 strikeouts.
Both season previews that I got in March picked the Blue Jays to finish in last place in the AL East, so their appearance in the World Series was highly unexpected. Meanwhile, I noticed a couple of members the sports Media trying to drum up support and viewers for the Dodgers. They were saying what a great team they are and you should really watch their greatness.
The Media promotes the Dodgers all year and are well aware how unpopular they are because of the franchise’s free spending. They want to justify their coverage and their support for the Player’s Union against a salary cap (since they interview players all the time). You have to love the Dodgers. You simply must. The MLB isn’t the NFL. The Sports Media has no interest in doing comprehensive baseball coverage; they just want to cover the Dodgers and the Yankees.
In spite of their long series, the Blue Jays were the surprise Game 1 winner in Toronto, 11-4. It was called a Dodger “pitching implosion.” Ohtani did homer. I noticed that Ty France was playing for the Jays. He was actually pretty productive as a pinch hitter. The Dodgers came back with a 5-1 win in Game 2. Will Smith had 3 RBI’s.
Then, the disaster occurred. Game 3 went 18 innings. Shockingly, we’ve done this before in the World Series between the Dodgers and the Astros. That one took much longer because there wasn’t a pitch clock then. This one was a 6-5 Dodger win off a Freddie Freeman home run. Ohtani was on base 9 times in the game. (He was issued a lot of walks in extra innings.)
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer off of Ohtani for a Game 4, 6-2, Blue Jay win. It was Vlady again in Game 5, as the Jays began the game with a pair of homers and won, 6-1. Back to Toronto, the Dodgers took Game 6 behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s pitching in a tight, 3-1, game. A double play with the tying runs on ended the game.
The finale in Game 7 took 11 innings. The Dodgers came back in the game to tie it in the ninth, and then win it, 5-4, on a Will Smith home run. Yamamoto won the MVP for getting three wins in the series. I didn’t see any of this. I didn’t even listen to most of it, even when I had the opportunity. I just wasn’t into it. I’m only documenting this (in a half-ass way) because I was covering the season and should finish it.
This is the first repeat World Series winner in quite a while. So much for saying that, “Money isn’t buying championships in the MLB.” Next season, the Dodgers are going to buy all of the major free agents and carry $2B in deferred salaries. They’ll start stockpiling extra players in Triple-A.
It was just a lousy weekend for sports for me. Saturday, the NM State Volleyball girls were unexpectedly swept by LA Tech, a team that was winless in conference. Everyone seemed to be playing, so I have no explanation.
Vanderbilt lost to Texas. Former Aggie star quarterback, Diego Pavia, led a three-touchdown comeback in the fourth quarter and the team almost recovered an on-side kick to continue the game. From a disappointment standpoint, I’d almost rather they’d just gotten blown out. I did not have following Vanderbilt Football on my Bingo card, but they’ve been on national TV three times this season.
Aggie Football got creamed by Western Kentucky. I don’t even want to talk it. In the evening, Connor Zilisch with his 10 wins came in second in the NASCAR Xfinity Championship to Jesse Love with his 3 wins. The Chase format really picks the true champion. The World Series was on the radio and then powered down for the night right before first pitch. Nobody else on the dial was carrying the game. I was intermittently following along with the scoring. Everyone was very excited about the game and said it was one of the best World Series ever.
I’m partly angry I couldn’t watch for yet another year. I might be even more angry that it was another World Series where I didn’t like either team and had no rooting interest. Last year, it was the Dodgers and Yankees, two teams are easy to either love or hate. This time, I still hated the Dodgers and their big payroll, but also disliked the Blue Jays, because I didn’t want Canada to beat the US again, as they did in hockey earlier in the year. Whoever wins, we lose. I like so many other MLB teams. I got spoiled over the last 20 years with rooting for teams I liked.
On Sunday, I reluctantly watched the NASCAR Cup Championship, expecting the worst. It almost happened. Denny Hamlin, my second most disliked driver, was about to finally cruise to his first championship. With three laps to go, the driver I was rooting for, William Byron, blew a tire and brought out a caution. Hamlin made the wrong choice on tires in pit lane and ended up losing to Kyle Larson. I wasn’t even happy with the defeat. The coverage had made sure to mention Hamlin wanted to win for his dying father.
(Why the dislike for Denny? He’s antagonized the fans, he’s a whiner, and he’s been overly aggressive at times. These are sins that winning a championship will paper over. However, he also started a race team pretty much just to give my least favorite driver, Bubba Wallace, a seat. That one I’m not going to let go on.)
Next weekend, I still won’t have an Aggie Sports event to go to, and then too many to go to the following week. Hopefully, I won’t be as disappointed. Baseball related, maybe I’ll do a Hot Stove special next month.
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