2021 Baseball Season AKA Pandemic Baseball: The Second Wave

[Eizan 126]

Oh wow, Brewers already taking a hit before the post season even begins. 

 

Devin Williams Punches Wall

[dr. b 486]

Yeah I saw that  
 

Also just saw the news that Ohtani is done pitching for the year, so the M’s don’t have to face him on the weekend. Nice bit of luck for Seattle. 

[Eizan 126]

Thanks Baltimore! 

 

Now if Washington can also win 2 of 3 or sweep Boston. 

[dr. b 486]

No thanks Blue Jays! 
 

Pretty incredible though that the O’s won that series with Boston. 

[Eizan 126]

Last Day! 

 

Red Sox and Yankees need to lose and the Blue Jays and Mariners need to win to force a tie. Otherwise it's the Yanks and Sox for the wild card game.

[dr. b 486]

I can see the Yankees losing again today to Tampa, but the Nats are up against Chris Sale. That game seems pretty hopeless to me  I do like the chances for Seattle and Toronto to win though. The O’s and Angels aren’t very tough competition. Toronto and Seattle wins would create a 3-way tire for the second Wild Card spot if New York loses. I’ll be shocked if Boston loses though. 

[dr. b 486]

Looks like the Jays are winning today  It would take an absolutely brutal bullpen collapse to blow a 12-2 lead  It might not be your M's day though, Eizan...

 

Also, the Nats are up 5-1 on the Red Sox! Chased Chris Sale early. I really didn't see that coming. Rays/Yanks are still 0-0, so who knows what will happen there.

 

I am feeling hopeful that the Jays might be playing game #163.

[Eizan 126]

Yea, it will take a pretty big rally. 

 

I know they skipped Kikuchi starting because he's been struggling, but maybe could have given him a chance over Anderson who gave up 9 runs to the Angels last week. 

[dr. b 486]

Sox are up 7-5 now on Washington… I think the Jays’ season might be over  

[Eizan 126]

I'm kind of glad in the end it didn't matter, but I would rather see the Blue Jays instead of the Yanks or Red Sox.

[dr. b 486]

Yanks are out. Cole wasn't very good last night!

 

I'm pretty hyped for the NL WC game tonight. I think it'll be a good one. I think the Dodgers are more likely to win... but the Cards have been so hot for the last month. It would be fun to see them knock out the 106-win Dodgers in the WC game, and then the 107-win Giants in the NLDS  (Only to then get beat by the Brew Crew in the NLCS! )

[Eizan 126]

That was a interesting game last night. 

 

Who you got? 

AL: 

Rays in 4

Astros in 3

 

NL:

Brewers in 4

Dodgers in 5

[dr. b 486]

I was hoping for a tight game, pitching duel, last night. I mostly got what I wanted from it, except the starters both exited pretty early. I guess that's just how the game is played these days. Managers are so quick to go to the bullpen.

 

I'm with you on most of those picks.

 

Rays in 4 -- Depending on which version of the Red Sox shows up, it could be an easy sweep for Tampa, or it could be a 5-gamer. If all the stars align then I think Boston can knock out Tampa... but Rays in 4 seems more likely.

 

Astros in 3 -- The White Sox were a great regular season team, but the Astros as a team have so much more postseason experience. The White Sox have some great pitching, but the Astros scored more runs than any other team in the MLB this summer. That will win out over Chicago's pitching. I want to cheer for the White Sox. They have a lot of exciting young players, and it's fun to see new faces in the postseason... but they also have TLR...  

 

Brewers in 4 -- I'm also giving the Braves a game here, but I won't be shocked to see a 3-game sweep. 

 

Giants in 5 -- I have doubted the Giants all season, but I guess I have to be a believer now. 107 wins. They kept it up all season, somehow. This one should go 5 games, whoever wins.

[Eizan 126]

Well it was the Red Sox in 4. 

 

I guess I'm going to be pulling for who ever comes out of the Brewers/Braves series, because I don't like any other team left. 

 

Also, see the news about Astros possibly stealing signs again. 

[dr. b 486]

I didn't think the Sox (either of them I guess) had it in them! I figured the Red Sox would lost to the Rays, and I didn't think the White Sox would even win a game against Houston. I still expect Houston to win their series against Chicago though. From the start, I was expecting a Houston vs. SF/LA match-up in the World Series. Looking more like SF than LA right now.

 

I hope Houston, Atlanta, and SF all win tonight so we can just move along to the ALCS and NLCS  

 

I noticed headline about Tepera's comments about sign stealing stuff, but it sounds like they don't really have evidence... who knows!

[MT 900]

That was a pretty shitty call to end the Giants/Dodgers game.

[dr. b 486]

I was not up that late  It was an exciting game for what I saw of it though! One bad call wasn’t why the Giants lost, but yeah that’s usually not called a strike. He checked his swing. 

[dr. b 486]

So happy that the Astros won last night. Please just make the Red Sox go away.

 

I'm kinda hoping the Braves upset the Dodgers though. Both teams have exciting young players, but the Dodgers have been in the postseason picture a lot lately. Let's give another team some spotlight. 

[Eizan 126]

I'm in the mind set that Atlanta has to win one of these games in LA to have a shot at winning this series 

[dr. b 486]

Still a few innings left to play, but Atlanta is on the way to winning one tonight. 

 

Also the Astros came through big-time today!

[Eizan 126]

Astro's closed out the Red Sox last night. 

 

Dodgers are getting the worse luck as far as injuries go. Buehler starting on 3 days rest again in place of Scherzer, if the Dodgers win game 6 and Scherzer still can't go I wonder what they do for game 7. 

[dr. b 486]

Probably another bullpen day like game 5. 
 

I’m happy to see the Red Sox gone!

 

I’d like to see the Braves win tonight so we can move along to the World Series. 

[Eizan 126]

That sucks what happened to Charlie Morton, but to still throw 16 more pitches on a broken leg man's pretty tough. 

[dr. b 486]

Yeah that was pretty wild. They won the game, so that's huge for them, but it sucks they won't have Morton available the rest of the series. Lucky for Atlanta, Houston's pitching staff is a hurting unit too.

[dr. b 486]

Hard to tell if the Braves have enough pitching depth to win this thing... The Astros' pitching isn't stellar right now either though... I guess whichever lineup produces the most timely hits will end up winning the WS.

[Eizan 126]

The Braves only need to win one more game.

 

[dr. b 486]

 

I want them to win so Alex Anthopoulos can get a World Series championship. Wish he could have done it with the Jays in 2015…

[Eizan 126]

BRAVES WIN! 

 

Let the offseason begin! 

 

Will Freeman stay in Atlanta or will someone throw big bucks his way? Although he seems like he'd be they type of guy to take less money and stay in Atlanta. 

[dr. b 486]

Great win last night. Fried came through for them big-time. They really needed a solid start. 
 

I think Freeman stays in Atlanta, but I don’t think he’ll take too much of a hometown discount. 
 

There is already an article on The Athletic discussing 2022 World Series odds… Can we please just celebrate the 2021 season a while longer first?

[dr. b 486]

The Athletic is reporting that Buster Posey is going to announce his retirement tomorrow…

[Eizan 126]

Lot of big signings yesterday. 

 

M's got Ray, Mets got Scherzer. Bet you both miss the playoffs. 

 

Rangers spending big as well.

[dr. b 486]

The Rangers went wild. Lots of money between Semien and Seager. They’re great infield upgrades but I don’t know yet if they’ll be a good team. 
 

Ray is a nice addition for Seattle if he can keep doing what he did in Toronto. 
 

I don’t really get the Baez signing for Detroit. They aren’t ready to contend yet, are they..?

 

The Scherzer signing is interesting. I don’t get the Mets

 

The Jays got Gausman and extended Berrios. Two very nice long-term additions to the rotation. They usually aren’t such big spenders, so I like to see it.