MLB Postseason 2024 World Series

I covered Game 1 in an Aggie Volleyball post.

I got home in time to see the end of the Dodgers/Yankees World Series Game 1.  I wasn’t enthusiastic about this matchup of two teams and their giant salaries.  I have to admit, it was a very tight, close game.  The Dodgers were down a run and tied it late.  The Yankees took a one run lead into the tenth.  With bases loaded and two out in the bottom, Freddie Freeman took the first pitch he saw into the right field stands.  Dodgers win 6-3. 

 

Game 2

The Yankees and Dodgers played some home run derby with solo home runs.  Freddie Freeman was in on that action. The Dodgers hit more homers and led 4-1 going into the top of the ninth.  With a Yankee run in, bases loaded, and one out, the Dodgers took out closer Blake Treinen to get the final out.  Dodgers win, 4-2.  However, Shohei Ohtani was hurt sliding into second during the game.  (He kept playing the rest of the series, but wasn’t the same afterward.) 

 

Game 3

Are you kidding me?  Freddie Freeman hit another home run in this Dodger victory!  They were now up 3-0 in the series.

 

Game 4

Yankee fan interference did not change the outcome of this resounding Yankee victory, but it did ensure I would be rooting against the Yankees at this point. 

 

Game 5

I started listening to this game from the beginning.  The Yankees took a quick lead and the Dodgers had no response in the bottom of the first.  I stopped listening, but kept track of the game.  As the score became 5-0 Yankees, I felt good about my decision.

 

Wait?  What?  I looked at the score later and suddenly it was tied.  (Apparently, many people had dipped out of the game early and had this reaction.)  Since I was at work, I wasn’t in a position to sit down and listen at that moment.  I saw that the Yankees retook the lead, but I had feeling that wasn’t going to hold up.  Finally, I picked the game back up, just in time to hear a Catcher’s Interference call put Shohei Ohtani on base, right before Mookie Betts drove in a run and put the Dodgers back up.  From there, the Blue crew held on and won, 7-6 and 3-1, and took the 2024 World Series.

 

I still didn’t know what had happened.  I knew Gerrit Cole was the starting pitcher for the Yankees tonight.  I was confused as to how he had given up 5 runs in the fifth, but was still pitching later in the game.  Was manager Aaron Boone doing heroin in the dugout during this game? 

 

MLB posted the entire top of the fifth inning on Youtube, which I watched after the game.  I started watching only knowing the result, not the events.  Clank!  Aaron Judge, a normally good centerfielder, closes his mitt prematurely on a looping liner.  Oops!  Anthony Volpe tries to throw out a lead runner at third in front of him, but the runner is safe on a bad throw.  The bases were loaded with no outs.

 

Gerrit Cole, steely-eyed and determined, calmly strikes out the next two batters and induces a ground ball to first.  He swaggers off the mound undamaged by his idiot teammates’ blunders and . . . Oh sh*t!  He didn’t cover first!  Cole nonchalantly motions to Anthony Rizzo, You got this, pal.  He didn’t got it.  Mookie Betts was safe and a run scored.  This was followed by four more runs.  Score tied.

 

I think this inning will analyzed in excruciating detail far into the future.  I’ll throw in my two-cents now.  Judge’s error could have happened to anybody.  It was just bad timing.  Volpe’s error, given where he fielded the ball, throwing to third was likely his best option, but Kike Hernandez was in motion and almost there.  I’m not sure Volpe could have gotten anybody out on that play without making a great play.

 

Lastly, Rizzo probably would have beaten Betts to the bag, if he’d run for it right after fielding the ball, but normally a first baseman would have been looking for the pitcher to cover in that situation.  In fairness, Cole might not have beaten Betts to the bag if he’d run for it immediately.  The point is that he should have tried.  Cole making no effort was what made that play look so bad.  Somebody made a Bill Buckner comparison, but at least he tried to make the play. 

 

What is the saying?  Once is happenstance.  Twice is coincidence.  Three times is deliberate action.  (And a Catcher’s Interference call on top of it?)  The next time the Yankees win a World Series will be the only possible exorcism of this demon, because it will haunt them from here on out.      

 

Heh, heh, heh.  I really enjoyed this game for three reasons.  One, I got to watch the Yankees humiliate themselves in front of their fans.  After the fan interference yesterday, this was wonderful.  Two, I got to watch Gerrit Cole, a sourpuss mercenary and one of the highest-paid pitchers in the game, make a mental mistake in a crucial situation.  Three, the Dodgers have now vindicated themselves after their asterisk-marked 2020 championship . . . err . . . except that the Yankees basically handed it to them in a manner that almost suggests that they threw the series.  I wonder if there will be a tell-all book that comes out 20 years from now saying that Yankee pitchers were grooving balls to Freddie Freeman.

 

(Claps hands.)  Oooh, ooh, ooh!  How delightful!  This was literally the best case scenario for my enjoyment of this series between two teams I dislike.  I looked it up afterwards.  The Yankees were number one in payroll this season, but the Dodgers were actually number nine.  That surprised me.  (Actually, this is only because Ohtani has deferred a lot of his salary until after he’s done playing.)  So this wasn’t exactly a battle of the budgets (sort of). 

 

One thing this series did was highlight the possible irrelevance of starting pitching.  The Detroit Tigers made it to the postseason by relying on relievers in the latter half of the season and one great starting pitcher.  The Dodgers were piecing together their pitching during the postseason.  In Game 5, as they burned all of their relievers, broadcasters were wondering how they were going to make it through the game.  In the ninth, they used projected Game 7 starter, Walker Buehler, to finish off the game.  The big salaried Gerrit Cole-type starters aren’t going away, but anybody below that just became a piece in filling in the puzzle of today’s pitching matchup. 

 

This was the match up that the Media and a lot fans wanted and we got a good show out of it.  The MLB, casual fans, and the Media are okay with the Dodgers and Yankees always being in the playoffs (along with the fans of those teams).   However, the league sells completion.  I’m concerned most of the owners are going to start being content with just making sure their teams make money and will only make an occasional run at a championship. 

 

The usual criticism is that these owners are all rich and they should just spend more to improve their teams.  The flaw in this reasoning is that no matter how much money you pump into the players, that doesn’t create more great players, it just drives up their salaries.  Without a cap, the playoffs are a battle between budgets and media market sizes, just as much as between the teams, which is who the fans actually show up to see compete.  We’ll see if this battle of behemoths will start a trend or if this is just an aberration.             

MLB Postseason 2024 Division and League Series

Unfortunately, I had little opportunity to watch or listen to the various series at this point.  I don’t know I was even bothering with these half-assed recaps.

     

10-5-24 Saturday

The Tigers were crushed by Indians right off the bat.  Zach Wheeler pitched a great game for the Phillies against the Mets.  Unfortunately, the Philly bullpen didn’t do as well and cost them the win.  The Royals gave the Yankees a good fight, but came up short.  The Padres and Dodgers had a great battle, but the Dodgers had too much firepower.  Shohei Ohtani had a tying three-run homer in the game.  

 

10-6-24 Sunday

Padres blasted the Dodgers though the fans got involved in that one.  The Mets and the Phillies went back-and-forth in an epic struggle.  The Phillies finally outlasted the Mets, but probably more out of fear of their own fans’ wraith than their own determination.

 

10-7-24 Monday

The Royals punched back against the evil empire and took today’s game in the Bronx.  In Cleveland, Tarik Skubal took it to the Indians and the Tiger offense took it from there for the win.

 

10-8-24 Tuesday

The Mets creamed the Phillies.  It was bad enough that I didn’t even bother listening.  I did listen to the Padres and Dodgers.  After a first inning solo homer by Mookie Betts for the Dodgers, the Padres came back with a six-run inning, which included a two-run homer by Fernando Tatis Jr.  The Dodgers weren’t done.  Teoscar Hernandez jacked a grand slam to make it 6-5 Padres.  (That guy did win the Home Derby this year.)  The bullpens locked it down, but the Padres prevailed.

 

10-9-24 Wednesday

Tigers win 3-0 over Cleveland . . . without me.  The game was set to be on ESPN Radio, but my local affiliate wasn’t carrying it at the start time.  I tuned in later to get a scoring update and found the game on in the seventh.  I only got to hear the end of the game.  Well, at least the Tigers won.

 

And then, I kind of lost interest in the rest of the series.  I wasn’t able to hear the games, but given the results, that may have been okay.  The Tigers and the Padres went up and had a chance to close it out, but Cleveland and the Dodgers beat them and advanced.  The Mets and the Yankees advanced.  My Phillies World Series pick was done (along with all of my rooting interests in the playoffs).  So we have New York versus Los Angles (and Cleveland). 

 

LCS

The Mets were looking like the Team of Destiny with their clutch wins.  Then they ran into the Dodgers, who clubbed them to death in Game 1, 9-0.  And blah, blah, blah.  The Yankees beat Cleveland and the Dodgers beat the Mets.  Okay Media people, it’s Christmas!  You got your dream matchup.  I hope you’re happy.  All we need now is Taylor Swift showing up a game.  Oh crap, that happened.  So, it’s officially a fix.     

 

Is what it’s like to be a casual fan?  I’m finally experiencing this.  What does a casual fan do?  He doesn’t watch.  He doesn’t listen.  He doesn’t care.  He just follows along with the final results to be aware of them.  What a hollow empty feeling. 

 

All I had to enjoy was the pleasure of hearing about Cleveland getting their hopes and dreams crushed for yet another year.  They were losers when they were the Indians, but now they have no pride, no dignity, and are still losers.  Your very name has been stripped away from you.  Your only highlight was Yankees announcer, John Sterling, coming out of retirement and continuing to call your team, “The Indians.”  Snotty, little Media pricks, the literal only ones who approve of the name change, laughingly dismissed him for it.  How pathetic it must be to be a Cleveland baseball fan. 

MLB Postseason 2024 Wildcard Series

I finally got to watch a game on TV this season.  Since losing FOX thanks to their signal upgrade and my place of employment pulling their cable, I’ve only been listening to radio broadcasts and catching random MLB.TV games.  Today’s Wildcard series game was a noon game between the Astros and the surprising Tigers.

 

This would be a series between experience (the Astros’ seven ALCS appearances in a row) and chaos (the Tigers have one dedicated starting pitcher and a lineup where anyone can be pinch hit for at any time).  There’s also the drama of AJ Hinch returning to Houston to manage against the team that dismissed him (for a scandal that his players were running, not him). 

 

I’m glad that Houston won in 2017 after the hurricane, and I’m glad they won in 2022 to somewhat redeem themselves after the sign-stealing scandal.  If nothing else, the Astros have kept the Yankees out of the World Series for the last seven years and that’s praiseworthy.  However, I was a Detroit Tiger fan in the 80’s and was overjoyed when they won in ’84, though I was less thrilled with the ensuing riot.  I’d be rooting for them.  (Of course I was a Tigers fan in the 80’s.  The team was good and there was the tie-in with Magnum PI, one of my favorite shows.)

 

The Tigers would be running out their only starter, Tarik Skubal.  He’s the AL Triple Crown winner (leading in ERA, strikeouts, and wins) and the probable Cy Young winner.  I have seen him pitch in person against the Aggies (3-24-18).  When he made it to the big leagues, he had a pretty memorable name, so I had no trouble remembering him.

 

This broadcast would feature Michael Kay, the voice of the Yankees, doing the play-by-play.  I’ve heard him a couple of times this season.  He’s really good.  (I’m enjoying a Yankees’ broadcast?  He’s obviously good.)  There was not a full house to start the game.  It filled in later, but it wasn’t a good look.  Shades of the Diablos’ Diamond Girls, the Astros have cheerleaders dancing on the dugouts.

 

In the second inning, Astros’ starter, Framber Valdez, became hittable.  The Tigers got three runs off of three singles up the middle.  In the bottom of the inning, Skubal took a liner off of his glove hand wrist.  He was okay.  In the sixth, it looked like he tweaked his back after a pitch, but again, he was okay.

 

The Tigers left the bases loaded in the seventh, but didn’t get any more runs across.  The bottom of the ninth had way more drama than I’d hoped for.  The Astros scored a run and had the bases loaded with two outs before the Tigers pulled it out with a 3-1 win.  Whew!

 

Elsewhere, the Orioles lost to the Royals.  I was sort of pleased and sort of unhappy with that result.  I had to console an Orioles-loving co-worker when I got to work.  On the NL side later, the Mets beat the Brewers.  I got to listen to Padres versus the Braves at work.  Fernando Tatis Jr. set the tone with a two-run homer in the first and Big Brown took that game.  I was working, so I did miss a bunch of the game.

 

The Tigers and the Astros were the first game the next day.  It was Hunter Brown for Houston versus the Detroit bullpen.  The Tigers didn’t have a starter by design.  It was super tense with neither side giving up anything.  Finally in the sixth, Parker Meadows gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a homer.  The coverage showed the watch party at Comerica Park cheering.  Paws the mascot was there cheering.  Hunter came out after that inning.  He talked to Justin Verlander, who wasn’t on the Wildcard roster, back in the dugout.

 

Hinch was pushing the buttons well until the seventh, when he put in rookie, Jackson Jobe, to pitch and he got one out.  There was a run scored off an infield single. Another run scored from third on a foul out.  2-1 Astros.

 

The Tigers punched right back.  With two on, they scored a run on a wild pitch.  With the bases loaded, pinch hitter, Andy Ibanez hit a bases clearing double.  I admit to an unrestrained cheer on the play.  It was pure joy.  (Though the TV coverage never actually never showed the ball hitting fair along the left field line.  ESPN wasn’t doing a good job with the production for the whole game.) 

 

In the top of the ninth, the Tigers sent up Justyn-Taylor Malloy to pinch hit.  What a name!  The seventh Detroit pitcher of the game came in for the bottom of the ninth and closed it out.  Tigers win 5-2 and advance! 

 

There was a shot of a little kid, who was an Astros fan, beating his mitt behind the Tigers’ dugout.  Oh wait, that Jose Altuve.  How’d he get over there?  The player of game was interviewed, that being AJ Hinch.  The reporter asked if this was redemption for him.  Very undiplomatically, Hinch had an ear-to-ear smile and said, “Isn’t baseball great?”        

 

During a Rangers broadcast last week, the Tigers clinched by beating the White Sox, who set the all-time worst loss record this season.  (They got booed by their own fans at a sellout at home when they won and failed to break the record on their first attempt.)  The broadcasters mentioned Jason Benetti had gone from the Sox to Tigers this season as their play-by-play man.  (And he’s really good, too.)  The guys wondered if there was a WAR stat for broadcasters.

 

Elsewhere, the Royals and Padres closed out their respective series.  (I had to do some more consoling.)  The Brewers won to force a third game.  I got to hear that the next day.  The Brew Crew took a 2-0 lead late off of a back-to-back pair of solo home runs.  I’d forgotten that I had a rooting interest in this series with Aggie great, Joey Ortiz, playing for Milwaukee. 

 

In the top of the ninth, we got our hearts broken with Pete Alonzo hitting a three-run homer that just cleared the wall.  (That was pretty clutch.)  The Mets ended up winning, 4-2.  I was momentarily afraid the announcers were about to call a riot in the stands in Milwaukee, but things settled down. 

 

I walked out a co-worker after and told her it was good timing when she called, as the game had just finished.  I’d forgotten she was a big Brewers fan.  I’d even seen her earlier in the week watching a game and getting emotionally involved.  She hadn’t been watching tonight.  One stammer from me and she knew the Brewers had lost.  She went on a rant and was now dreading having to call her mom, who was an even bigger fan.  Well, I have two disappointed co-workers, but I do have another that’s a big Padres fan, who is happy.