Thank you. That is somewhat reassuring.
The problem comes when you’ve got Team A in a really tough division that plays more games against better teams. Their record will be worse than Team B in a bad division with one other good team - they may win the wild card spot with a better record than Team A but have played more games against poorer opponents. Winning the division is still the most important determining factor IMO.
Of course, the 2021 AL East seems to indicate that isn’t a huge problem.
The Dodgers and Giants also had a playoff series in 1962. The Giants won that one, too.
The stat-heads can argue about that one. It was a 3-game series to determine the winner of the pennant after they finished tied, but the games were considered part of the regular season from a statistics perspective.
True, but there’s no perfect system.
No surprises for me today: I thought the Astros would/will take care of the Sox and the Rays would/will take care of the, uh, other Sox.
I sorta expect both series to be 2-0 leads for the Stros and Rays. Will be interesting to see if they can slam the door shut or whether the Soxes can come back
When Randy Arozarena stole home in the 7th sure, pitcher Josh Taylor had been very nonchalant between pitches. But catcher Christian Vázquez wasn’t looking carefully for it, and he gave a late warning to Taylor. But then also, 3rd baseman Rafael Devers saw the whole play develop in front of hime and he gave no warning.
All of the Red Sox were asleep on that play. Ridiculous.
The Rays were really locked into all aspects of that game. I’m sure the Red Sox thought they were, but the Rays have developed a good system for winning. Their infield swallowed up a few balls that I was sure would get through.
The “system” defensively is just that the emphasize acquiring very good fielders, and they put a lot of work into positioning.
Playoff teams are disproportionately good at fielding, just as they are pitching and hitting. The seven best teams by defensive efficiency this year are all postseason teams. The top half of teams by that measure include almost all the playoff teams AND the teams that just missed, like Seattle, Toronto, and Oakland. The only postseason team that’s not a good defensive team are the Red Sox, and I don’t think anyone thought they were a top notch playoff team.
Tonight we get the two teams with the best records in baseball. And four games today, it’ll be a busy day.
Regarding that steal (and steals of home in general): could the throw home ever be considered a pitch? Is it automatically not a pitch if the runner is going? Or if the throw home was a little lower, would the batter have been out on strikes with the count already 1-2?
OK, I think I answered my own question. Looking more closely, I see the pitcher hops off the rubber before making the throw, so it isn’t a pitch in this instance.
Is it just me or is fielding really becoming a science in baseball in this era of analytics and video from all angles? Defenses have always shifted positioning as long as I’ve watched baseball - the concept is nothing new. But the accuracy with which they can predict a hitter’s tendency seems to have improved quite a lot - just seems like there’s a lot more shifting and depth. Is this actually happening or am I just remembering the baseball of the 80s, 90s, and 00s inaccurately?
Man the Sox second baseman turned one of the most impressive DP’s I’ve seen in a while - basically tagged the bag and threw while keeping his right leg on the bag. No jumping, just throwing it while standing on one leg.
I’m listening on the radio. If that was Sox as in White Sox, I’m glad to read that!
Yep, sure was. Great, great play.
I’m switching back between ATL-MIL and Sox-Stros – definitely glad I got YouTube TV 
Wow, Morton just struck out the side, batters 1-3.
Bases loaded and 1 out → GIDP, but at least the Red Sox got two runs to kick things off. The Tampa pitcher must be a little rattled. I hope.
It’s absolutely true.
Teams would always have done this if they’d had access to the data. See, people think “analytics” is new. It’s not. It’s just that people have more access to facts.
Michael Wacha’s pitching? Good God, whatever you do, just don’t bring him in with a tied game in the 9th.