MLB: October 2017 — Welcome to the Postseason

The Game Room
581

I would not go so far as to say this whole WS has been a joke, but I must admit I’m not enjoying it much. Not just because of umpires (strike zones have been questionable), but quite frankly, all the home runs are getting boring. It’s as much about juiced balls, a short porch and worn down pitchers as it is about great hitting.

And while I’m at it, Clayton Kershaw is obviously a HOF pitcher, but watching pitch drives me a little crazy. He could be called for a balk every other pitch with runners on base. He never sets! It’s pretty much all one motion when he brings his hands to his belt, then rocks back and delivers.

582

I gave up in the 8th. I had a feeling it would go extra innings and I was too tired to watch. Should be an interesting game 6 for sure.

583

And a 28 hit, 7 home run game isn’t great baseball. It might be fun for the fans of the two teams, but it’s just a mess for everyone else.

I’ve never seen so many pitchers with great sliders throw so many crappy sliders. Pitchers on both teams say the ball is different from the regular season and I’m starting to believe it. The Astros players even did a blind-folded test with Lance McCullers jr. and he could discern the new balls by feel. Something ain’t right.

584

Puig has guaranteed the Dodgers will bounce back, so the Astros might as well give up.

585

It’s not juiced balls. I don’t buy that. This is how people hit now.

Swinging for the fences is just how it is. Note that overall scoring was not up this year, and was not up in the World Series until yesterday’s fiasco. Hitters are not hitting better overall - they hit more homers but don’t hit for average very well.

586

First, you’re right about today’s hitters. That said, I was reluctant to buy the juiced ball theory until every Astros pitcher, some Dodgers and even Jessica Mendoza said the WS ball is different. They all agree it’s smoother. Some say the seams are lower and it’s wound tighter. Is that why there have been so many home runs? Is it why so many sliders are just spinning? I don’t know, but I believe the ball is different.

587

How would any of those people know if the ball is “wound tighter?” I have no opinion, but wonder how they can say that.

I also heard (for the first time) that the “seams are lower” from a fanatic in a bar with whom I watched the game 4. How do they know? Who started this crap. If it’s true, who ordered it so? I have a hard time believing that MLB would order the balls changed in mid year. Anyone seen any scientific articles on this other than people just “talking?”

588

Oh, those home runs are just as annoying as all those baskets and touchdowns we’re forced to endure every week. :rolleyes:

How is that not fun for any fan? I wanted to ban the Giants from all World Series due to their boring, boring, boring WS games at 1-0, 2-1, etc. Here’s hoping there’s more home runs tomorrow (and maybe) Wednesday.

I go with Astros winning it tomorrow. Rooting for Dodgers, but picked Astros because I thought they were one of two teams that could hose them (Nationals & Astros).

589

I agree. Verlander was brought in specifically to pitch in must win games. If he losses (barring a low scoring Dodger shutout) then his acquisition will be seen as a failure.

Tomorrows game will be in the mid 60s. There should be fewer HRs.

Hou 3 LA 1…Dodgers buried on Halloween.

590

What on earth do you mean, low scoring, 1-0, 2-1 Giants World Series games? You might be thinking of another team?

In 2002 they set the record with the Angels for most home runs — a record only beaten with this year’s series. And their games in the last four series did not have many low scoring games. Game by game, these are the scores (Giants score given first):

2002 SFG vs ANA: 4-3, 10-11, 4-10, 4-3, 16-4, 5-6, 1-4
2010 SFG vs TEX: 11-7, 9-0, 2-4, 4-0, 3-1
2012 SFG vs DET: 8-3, 2-0, 2-0, 4-3(10)
2014 SFG vs KCR: 7-1, 2-7, 2-3, 11-4, 5-0, 0-10, 3-2

23 games in all, and only 2 games had 2 or fewer total runs. The Giants were shut out only once, and they shut out the opposing team 5 times.

11 games out of 23: high scoring games — 8 or more total runs.
10 games out of 23: normal score — 4 to 7 total runs
2 games out of 23: low scoring games — 3 or fewer total runs.

591

I was wondering that myself, as it didn’t square with my memory, but was too lazy to look it up. Personally, I like a sharp, low-scoring, tactical game vs a shootout home run derby, but I’m sure I’m in the minority with at least modern baseball fans.

592

Me too, I’m with you, I prefer a tactical game.

That said, though, I am enjoying this series. It’s a wild one. Game 2 was wild. Game 5 was wilder!

593

It’s kind of like the NBA All Star Game (thought, not nearly as comical). This scoring is not all thanks to amazing offense.

I would definitely expect pitchers to be able to tell if the ball’s seams were raised or lowered significantly. As for estimating how tightly it’s wound, maybe just bounce it off the floor? I don’t know, maybe it’s a crazy conspiracy theory, but most pitchers on both teams are buying into it.

594

Again, only one game in the series has been unusually high scoring.

I am reminded of the 1993 World Series, when Game 4 went 15-14 Toronto. The next day, Curt Schilling pitched a 2-0 shutout for the Phillies. You just never know.

595

Agreed. Nothing in the first few games or even the first few innings of game 5 would give us any indication of juiced balls. That said, pitchers seem to be suggesting that the ball does indeed have a ‘slicker’ feel which might make it harder to grip and control, especially as the sweat starts to flow in later innings.

I think the more valid explanation is that both lineups are good and Minute Maid Park is known to be a launching pad for baseballs. But even so, some of the balls that were hit - Gurriel’s for instance - would have been out of the old Polo Grounds.

Re: Kershaw, I feel for the guy. Arguably one of the top pitchers of his generation in regular season play but struggles in the playoffs. I think in some games he’s just been slightly out-pitched, but one thing that I’ve noticed in some of his late-game meltdowns is that his command deteriorates. Kershaw is sometimes thought of as another power pitcher like Curt Schilling or Randy Johnson, but he’s not really that kind of pitcher. Yes he brings heat, but Kershaw’s approach is to mix in the fast ball with three or four other off-speed pitches. He relies more on his off-speed pitches to get hitters off balance, whereas Schilling and Johnson and others have less pitch selection but rely more on consistent location of the same 2 or 3 power pitches. I don’t have stats handy but I’d say Verlander is probably more of a power pitcher than Kershaw (or has been throughout his career). He tends to use his heaters to set up the 12 - 6 o’clock breaking ball. My point is, Kershaw’s approach is more complex - and sometimes that might work against him. Reminds me a little of Greg Maddux in that respect, who also under-performed a little bit during the post-season.

596

It’s an entertaining series but I have to agree that I’d rather watch a pitcher’s dual and good defense, games in which one mistake can be pivotal. To this day I still think that the 1991 WS between Atlanta and Minnesota was the best I’ve ever seen for that reason.

597

Of the seven home runs hit on Sunday night, two were probably helped by Minute Maid Park’s dimensions: the homers by Correa and Puig into the front rows of the Crawford Boxes in left. The rest probably would have been homers in most MLB parks, and a few of them, like Springer’s and Gurriel’s and Altuve’s, would have been homers anywhere.

Apart from that left field porch, Minute Maid is not really much of a “launching pad” at all. Its park factor for home runs is 1.009, which is basically average for a Major League park (14th out of 30 parks), and this number is as low as it is precisely because it’s dragged down by the Crawford Boxes.

598

Kershaw is great. When he’s on his game, he is unhittable. He was close to that in game 1.

But in the postseason he falters. Almost all of his postseason series are un-Kershaw like. It’s remarkable. It’s really baffling. Because his falterings date back, consistently, to 2008 (IIRC, or 2009). It is very bewildering.

I think the root cause for him is mental, and then that manifests itself in mechanical flaws such as release point or overall mechanics being off. Given more opportunities I’m confident he will turn it around, and when he does, on this Dodgers team, they will be unbeatable in a 7 game series. Maybe Kershaw comes back for a game 7, and if he is Kershaw-great, forget it, it’s over.

But his postseason struggles are flabbergasting, because he is so great.

I liken it to Barry Bonds’ postseason performances with PIT and SFG. Before 2002 they were like Kershaw’s postseasons. Dramatically underperforming. But then in 2002 Bonds was Bonds, and he was great. It was tremendous to see, especially as an SFG fan.

and 2002 still hurts, even now, 15 years and 3 World Series Championships later

I sent an email to friends early this morning comparing Kershaw and Bumgarner in the postseason. I’ll get that and copy it here. There is almost no comparison.

599

Back in post #512 I gave only a part of Kershaw’s postseason series performances. On review the only series I omitted was his stellar 2013 NLDS series (I added his 2017 World Series in post #580. But all of his other postseason performances are clearly un-Kershaw-like.

From that email I sent to friends:
**This has been a fun World Series so far. But with all this talk of the greatness of Clayton Kershaw on FOX-TV by Buck, I wanted to look up some data (baseball-reference dot com).

Kershaw or Bumgarner in the postseason? You decide.

Kershaw’s complete postseason series are these:
• 2008 NLCS vs PHI: 0-0 record, 4.50 ERA
• 2009 NLDS vs STL: 0-0, 2.70
• 2009 NLCS vs PHI: 0-1, 9.45
• 2013 NLDS vs ATL: 1-0, 0.69
• 2013 NLCS vs STL: 0-2, 6.30
• 2014 NLDS vs STL: 0-2, 7.82
• 2015 NLDS vs NYM: 1-1, 2.63
• 2016 NLDS vs WSN: 1-0, 5.84
• 2016 NLCS vs CHC: 1-1, 3.00
• 2017 NLDS vs ARI: 1-0, 5.68
• 2017 NLCS vs CHC: 1-0, 2.45
• 2017 WS vs HOU: 1-0, 5.40 (through game 5)

Bumgarner’s complete postseason series are these:
• 2010 NLDS vs ATL: 1-0 record, 0.00 ERA
• 2010 NLCS vs PHI: 0-0. 0,00
• 2010 WS vs TEX: 1-0, 0.00
• 2012 NLDS vs CIN: 0-1, 0.00
• 2012 NLCS vs STL: 0-1, 0.00
• 2012 WS vs DET: 1-0, 0.00
• 2014 NLWC vs PIT: 1-0, 0.00
• 2014 NLDS vs WSN: 0-0, 0.00
• 2014 NLCS vs STL: 1-0, 0.00 (MVP)
• 2014 WS vs KCR: 2-0, 0.00 (MVP)
• 2016 NLWC vs NYM: 1-0, 0.00
• 2016 NLDS vs CHC: 0-0, 0.00

Cumulative postseason performances:

Kershaw: 12 series, 23 G, 118.0 IP, 7-7 record, 4.50 ERA, 59 ER.
Bumgarner: 12 series, 16 G, 102.1 IP, 8-3 record, 0.00 ERA, 0 ER. You read that right, ZERO earned runs.

Kershaw or Bumgarner in the postseason? I take Bumgarner any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Kershaw is a great pitcher, but in the postseason he‘s no Madison Bumgarner.**
I still think the root cause for him is mental. But seeing that it goes back consistently to 2008 and 12 postseason series, he may never overcome this.

When the pressure is on, some people, otherwise great, just wilt. Dare we say that about Clayton Kershaw? He’s a wilter? He’s a choker? He may have a chance to reverse that if he pitches strong in game 7.

600

A game where Toronto scored 15 runs (6 in the 8th inning) on zero homeruns.