laxtonto

Famgraphs did a deep dive on this this week and it looks like it is just random variation/noise than anything else

The scary problem with Texas is the longer the playoff go on the greater likelihood they get guys healthy. It looks like Sherzer is supposed to pitch a simulated game tomorrow to see how many pitches he can get to and their other starter that was out the first two series is supposed to be coming back as well here soon as well as one of their better relievers that got dinged up in the TB series. They may be streaky but most of that streakiness is their pitching running out of gas/guys in the rotation and over taxing a bad pen. If they get one or two more guys that can give them innings then they become the even scarier. Now since I said it they will get swept, but they were the team I didn’t want to face in the playoffs.

To me their defense is what is the most surprising. I thought the book on Jung when he was drafted that he was "questionable" to stay longterm at 3B? He is super solid there so far. Same with the rest of the IF and very simply they have 3 guys in the OF that either a natural CF or has over 150 games in CF like Garcia. Having an elite D is a big part of why this SP looks OK even with the number of guys they have lost this year. Nobody really talks too much about it because they mash, but thier D is a huge reason why they are were they are

Think about it this way, if Texas had a league average save percentage or just the median value of saves, they would have won 13 more games this season... Their pen has just fallen apart this year and guys keep getting hurt..

Carter was not happy for that K... and looking at it, he was right.. That kid has a hell of an eye

On to the next one

Those late inning runs....

Its been done 10 times, but not sure out of how many tries

Austin Romine, Yankees (2018 ALDS Game 3) Cliff Pennington, Blue Jays (2015 ALCS Game 4)

Giving up that run last inning....

I think the biggest misnomer for this Texas team is that since they ended up as a WC team and lost the AL West on the last day, they were "done". At one point, they were 5+ games up in the AL West and then had each of Jung, Seager, and Seimen out for a month and then most of their first half of the rotation (and then in-season trade replacements) hit the IL. And yet they still won 90 games. They were the team I was the most worried about in the WC and if they keep getting healthy they are going to be an extremely tough out for anyone