MLB 2021 Playoffs

Oh wow.

Tonight could be the very last game that pitchers bat in an MLB game. Sad to see, I’ve always hated the DH.

I think Shohei Ohtani may extend the streak a bit.

True, the rare exceptions like him or when teams voluntarily give it up late in the game due to an injury or something but we’ll never see another game where both teams have pitchers bat the entire game.

As long as we’re being picky, this is already rare—since it’s rare for the starting pitchers to last the whole game, and rare for relief pitchers to bat, even in the NL.

He didn’t say anything about starting pitchers.

I know, but as I said, relief pitchers usually don’t bat. So you don’t usually have pitchers batting the entire game.

I understand some people think Joe Buck is a terrible caller, but he’s not that bad. Not the greatest but serviceable.

John Smoltz, on the other hand, is a terrible color commentator. How has he lasted this long? Great player in his day but I have to mute the games in case he says anything.

Sure, some of that is on Buck, but you play the best with the hand you’re dealt, and he was dealt a busted straight against a full house.

I’m watching this delayed on my DVR. So far a good game, Astros up 7-5 through 5.

Still, better than Tim McCarver.

What a low, low bar to set.

ARod is also a terrible commentator. He can be insightful in the studio when he has time to prepare some stuff but definitely isn’t cut out for the booth. Runs out of intelligent things to say over the course of a game.

Well, the good thing about Joe Buck is that baseball doesn’t really have the equivalent of “Pass is…caught!”, which accounts for about 50 percent of all Buck’s football calls.

Except for, maybe, “Swing and a miss.”

Someone once commented that if Joe Buck had been a reporter on 9/11, he would have said, “Airplane…airplane…airplane…building!”

Astros lead 9-5 going into the bottom of the 9th.

True enough. The starter might get a couple at bats, in a close game the relievers may combine for one at bat. But this element of strategy is gone forever- do you let your starter bat in the fifth or sixth inning in a scoreless game or bring in a pinch hitter? Man on first none out, do you bring in a pinch hitter or let the pitcher bunt? All laid to rest on the altar of the almighty home run or strikeout strategy.

I’m in the opposite camp, where we recognize that pitchers hitting is an act against nature, or at the very least, mind-numbingly boring. But the compromise I’ve seen is universal DH, but when the starter is pulled, you lose the DH. It eliminates the opener role, and pushes a manager to keep his starter in as long as possible. It also creates a reason to have an extra bat or two on the bench instead just more relievers. I don’t hate the idea.

I can live with that. And, I liked how Zack Greinke came through last night as a pinch hitter.

Yes I like that idea. Or even have the DH tied to an individual pitcher. Change a pitcher, change the DH or lose it.

When Alex was still playing, it was often said that he had a great baseball brain. That he was a student of the game, and that he helpfully passed that knowledge on to the young 'uns. It’s hard to accept that as truth listening to the stream of inanities pouring out of his mouth during a broadcast. Compounding the problem is his terrible speaking voice. Who thought fans would enjoy listening to that nasal whine for three hours?

It’s a pleasure watching Brantley hit. What a pro.

He just seems to hate baseball.

(Referring here to A-Rod.)

Broadcasting is one of those things that looks/sounds easy when talented people are doing but it’s actually insanely difficult.