MLB Playoffs

[Chelsea_Phil]

Verlander doing his normal playoff meltdown today.  Strange that he and Kershaw have poor playoff stats.

[O's84]

Down 7-5, Trey missed a hanging slider with a man on and would go on to strike out unfortunately.

[Just Regular]

1 minute ago, O's84 said:

Down 7-5, Trey missed a hanging slider with a man on and would go on to strike out unfortunately.

It was a tough one.     The director ran it like - replay of missed hanger 2-2, cut to Jose Altuve turning his gaze to the side, cut to Alex Bregman making stinky face, cut back to live action as Munoz finishes him off with a much nastier pitch.

[eddie83]

What a finish. Heartbreaker for SEATTLE. 

[MarCakes21]

16 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

What a finish. Heartbreaker for SEATTLE. 

Robbie Ray stinks.  Hope he's a terrible contract for them.

[LA2]

12 hours ago, MarCakes21 said:

Robbie Ray stinks.  Hope he's a terrible contract for them.

21, 21, 23, 25, and 25 million 2022-2026 (age 34).

Straight middling-speed fastball right in Alvarez's wheelhouse. By the way, there isn't much of a LHP/RHP split at all in his career stats: .980 OPS vs. RHP, .963 vs. lefties. Right-handed Seward's the closer--tough decision to pull him in the first game of the series.

Edited October 12, 2022 by LA2

[O's84]

2 hours ago, Just Regular said:

It was a tough one.     The director ran it like - replay of missed hanger 2-2, cut to Jose Altuve turning his gaze to the side, cut to Alex Bregman making stinky face, cut back to live action as Munoz finishes him off with a much nastier pitch.

I'm sure Trey knows he should have had that.  But it does happen sometimes, even to the best players.  I'm sure he's glad his team won in the end.

[86this]

6 hours ago, now said:

Just happened to glance at the Padres roster, and notice that only one backup catcher and one reliever were drafted by SD; every other player on the whole roster was acquired by trade, free agency, or purchase. Didn't SD have one of the top farm systems a few years back? They are an extreme case of parlaying prospect depth into MLB playoff assets. Recent trades (since 2019) account for 7 of 9 positions and all 4 starting pitchers. 

Thoughts?

They did have a top farm system and traded much of them for the shiny new toys other teams were offering over the past few years.

[e16bball]

2 hours ago, LA2 said:

21, 21, 23, 25, and 25 million 2022-2026 (age 34).

Middling-speed fastball right in Alvarez's wheelhouse. By the way, there isn't much of a LHP/RHP split at all in his career stats: .980 OPS vs. RHP, .963 vs. lefties. Right-handed Seward's the closer--tough decision to pull him in the first game of the series.

I think it was probably more about their pitchers’ splits than Alvarez’s. Sewald has relatively significant career splits (.633 vs RHH, .742 vs LHH), as does Ray (.759 vs RHH, .642 vs LHH).

Ray is also just the much better pitcher, so I can’t kill them too much for putting the game in his hands. 

But one other thing that cuts in your favor is that Ray has had some issues with Alvarez in their few matchups, while Sewald has mostly handled him. Not enough meetings to draw any real conclusions, of course, but I believe it was Buck that put a lot of stock in how guys have fared against certain players previously.

[eddie83]

6 hours ago, now said:

Just happened to glance at the Padres roster, and notice that only one backup catcher and one reliever were drafted by SD; every other player on the whole roster was acquired by trade, free agency, or purchase. Didn't SD have one of the top farm systems a few years back? They are an extreme case of parlaying prospect depth into MLB playoff assets. Recent trades (since 2019) account for 7 of 9 positions and all 4 starting pitchers. 

Thoughts?

They did. Each situation is unique but I also think what they did will cause a shorter window than if it is homegrown team.

That said with the Chargers leaving the Padres are really big right now. I still don’t like the idea of spending to sustain. Rarely works. 

[eddie83]

Yanks win 4-1. Cleveland made two big errors. Cleveland can pitch. They need to get more traffic on the bases. Being Captain Obvious here. 
 

I thought it was smart of NYY to start Cortes in NY in Game 2. Cleveland’s best bats are mainly LH and that plays well in NY.  

[MarCakes21]

8 hours ago, e16bball said:

I think it was probably more about their pitchers’ splits than Alvarez’s. Sewald has relatively significant career splits (.633 vs RHH, .742 vs LHH), as does Ray (.759 vs RHH, .642 vs LHH).

Ray is also just the much better pitcher, so I can’t kill them too much for putting the game in his hands. 

But one other thing that cuts in your favor is that Ray has had some issues with Alvarez in their few matchups, while Sewald has mostly handled him. Not enough meetings to draw any real conclusions, of course, but I believe it was Buck that put a lot of stock in how guys have fared against certain players previously.

What out there says Ray is the much better pitcher?  This year?  Historics? 

Sewald has a 2.67 ERA this year to Ray with a 3.71.  Ray had a great outlier year last year, and one top notch season before that but other than that, he's a 1.5-2.5 win player.

[now]

12 hours ago, e16bball said:

I believe it was Buck that put a lot of stock in how guys have fared against certain players previously.

Maybe, but it also goes back further: Davey Johnson knew Reboulet was a nemesis of Randy Johnson; and Weaver was famous for his index cards showing matchups.

[rm5678]

19 hours ago, eddie83 said:

Yanks win 4-1. Cleveland made two big errors. Cleveland can pitch. They need to get more traffic on the bases. Being Captain Obvious here. 
 

I thought it was smart of NYY to start Cortes in NY in Game 2. Cleveland’s best bats are mainly LH and that plays well in NY.  

Cleveland has only scored 4 runs in 33 innings so far this post-season. They won't win any games like that, even with their solid pitching.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, rm5678 said:

Cleveland has only scored 4 runs in 33 innings so far this post-season. They won't win any games like that, even with their solid pitching.

They've already won two games.