MLB: Post-season

[Bullitt]

@Shoeless

Shoulda waved Gordon home. Oh well.

Thank you Royals for an exciting postseason. Let’s not wait another 29 years for the next one, okay?

The Royals have a great team. They’ll be in the thick of the chase for years to come. They’re managed well and they play the game right. Frankly, I didn’t want to admit it earlier but they scared me back in late September. The Giants are happy and grateful to have beat them. Congrats on a great season, especially after a long, 29 year wait.

[ISiddiqui]

Amazing by Bumgarner. Just amazing.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Shoeless

Shoulda waved Gordon home. Oh well.

Thank you Royals for an exciting postseason. Let’s not wait another 29 years for the next one, okay?

My heart almost stopped while the Giants’ outfield were playing Keystone Cops out there…

…he woulda been out by 30 feet.

[Kiros]

@Suburban_Plankton

My heart almost stopped while the Giants’ outfield were playing Keystone Cops out there…

…he woulda been out by 30 feet.

… and the odds of him scoring still might have been higher than what they got, since Sal Perez apparently has an enormous hole in his swing right next to his head.

(More analytically, I think he’s probably out by 10 feet, but even if you take Perez vs. Bumgarner at face value he only needs to be safe about a quarter of the time for it to be the right play. Assuming you’re ruling out the PH option. Well, I’m sure there will be a giant FanGraphs post on this tomorrow.)

[Thudlow_Boink]

Obviously, the Giants’ big mistake was not starting Madison Bumgarner in Games 2, 3, and 6. Fortunately Bruce Bochy figured out halfway through Game 7 that he should just have Bumgarner on the mound all the time.

[MLS]

I’ve loved watching this postseason and was hoping the Royals would win. Bumgarner is simply unfair.

[That_Don_Guy]

@Shoeless

Shoulda waved Gordon home. Oh well.

Back to the checklist:

Game 7, bottom of the ninth, two out, ball is hit, hold the potential tying run at third, next batter gets out, start arguments about whether or not the runner should have been sent home - check.

Oh, wait, that’s the Giants’ 1962 checklist, when Matty Alou was the runner held at third. Remember that the next World Series game to take place in Candlestick Park after that was hit by a major earthquake.

Bumgarner for SI Sportsman of the Year? (Somebody else suggested Bud Selig - I wouldn’t be surprised if they both get it.)

[JKellyMap]

@JKellyMap

Yes! I think he would have been out at home plate, but not by much.

2 questions:

1. Why did Yost call for a sac bunt (merely to advance a runner to second) when the batter was ahead in the count (2-0)?

2. On a different play, any chance Perez could have made it to first base if he hadn’t been beaned in the thigh earlier in the game?

Anyone? I think the batter in question #1was that Alcides guy, but I can’t remember for sure.

[Little_Pig]

nm

[Little_Pig]

Now that all is right with the world… The Best baseball story ever. Ever!

[BlankSlate]

@Suburban_Plankton

I just saw this stat:

Bumgarner has started 4 World Series games, and has 5 wins.

36 innings, 1 run allowed, WS ERA of 0.25. Wow.

[Little_Pig]

@BlankSlate

36 innings, 1 run allowed, WS ERA of 0.25. Wow.

Besides Madison Bumgarner, the Best baseball story ever. Ever!

[Bullitt]

@Little_Pig

Now that all is right with the world… The Best baseball story ever. Ever!

Dude, both links you posted were nothing at all what you claimed. Song searches???

Before you nm’d the first post it linked to a similar song search.

Here’s the second link, un-disguised (spaces inserted to disable the link):
http:// grooveshark.com /#!/search/song?q= Jerry+ Zaks+ The+ Hector+ Quesadilla+ Story

What are you trying to do?

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Suburban_Plankton

I just saw this stat:

Bumgarner has started 4 World Series games, and has 5 wins.

Apparently, they’ve changed it, and given the win tonight to Affeldt, who was the pitcher of record when the Giants took the lead.

I guess Bumgarner will have to console himself with 4 wins, a save, and a World Series ERA of 0.25

@Kiros

… and the odds of him scoring still might have been higher than what they got, since Sal Perez apparently has an enormous hole in his swing right next to his head.

(More analytically, I think he’s probably out by 10 feet, but even if you take Perez vs. Bumgarner at face value he only needs to be safe about a quarter of the time for it to be the right play. Assuming you’re ruling out the PH option. Well, I’m sure there will be a giant FanGraphs post on this tomorrow.)

You know, on reflection I think you may be right. In that case, their best chance might have been to send him there…but that risks making the final out of the World Series at the plate, which would have been really tough. In the end, I think it was really just a no-win situation.

The Royals have absolutely nothing to feel sorry for. They played well enough to beat 24 of the 25 guys on the Giants’ roster…they just ran up against an unbelievable, literally unprecedented, performance

[Bullitt]

Why did Affeldt get the win? More specifically, what does the rule say in this situation?

[Bullitt]

Total runs scored in the series: Giants 28 - Royals 27.

[from_a_to_z]

@Bullitt

Why did Affeldt get the win? More specifically, what does the rule say in this situation?

You can get the “Major League Baseball 2014 Official Rules” here (492k PDF). See “10.17 WINNING AND LOSING PITCHER”…

Rule 10.17(b) Comment: It is the intent of Rule 10.17(b) that a relief pitcher pitch at least one complete inning or pitch when a crucial out is made, within the context of the game (including the score), in order to be credited as the winning pitcher. If the first relief pitcher pitches effectively, the official scorer should not presumptively credit that pitcher with the win, because the rule requires that the win be credited to the pitcher who was the most effective, and a subsequent relief pitcher may have been most effective. The official scorer, in determining which relief pitcher was the most effective, should consider the number of runs, earned runs and base runners given up by each relief pitcher and the context of the game at the time of each relief pitcher’s appearance. If two or more relief pitchers were similarly effective, the official scorer should give the presumption to the earlier pitcher as the winning pitcher.

Reading that, I’d say Bumgarner, though Affeldt clearly was crucial.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@from_a_to_z

You can get the “Major League Baseball 2014 Official Rules” here (492k PDF). See “10.17 WINNING AND LOSING PITCHER”…Reading that, I’d say Bumgarner, though Affeldt clearly was crucial.

I think it “should be” Bumgarner, according to the rule…but it is never called that way. This would literally have been the first time in my 47 years that I have ever seen the win given to anyone other than the ‘pitcher of record’…it’s just ***never ***done.

And I’m pretty sure that neither pitcher cares one iota who got the win tonight…

[from_a_to_z]

@Suburban_Plankton

And I’m pretty sure that neither pitcher cares one iota who got the win tonight…

I’m confident that they don’t care because the Royals and the other playoff teams say that it’s the whole team pulling together for a win. 4 years ago, Mariner Félix Hernández received the Cy Young Award for a 13-12 record. Pitching effectiveness is more important than just happening to be pitching when a team takes the lead and holds on for the win. It’s rare, but it has happened (I vaguely remember) that someone other than the pitcher of record gets the win.

The subject of who is credited with the win can be a seemingly-endless debate. 3 years ago, Baseball-Reference.com here had 144 responses to “Rulebook Corner: Who gets the win?”

[garygnu]

Picking the losing pitcher is certainly simpler than picking the winning pitcher, hence the rule.