World Series Magic: Way to go Cubs!

I’ve been watching baseball since 2003. I’ve enjoyed the sport since the battles of the Red Sox and Yankees awakened my imagination and presented me with heroic figures, dubious villains, and a captivating and engaging story wrapped in an understandable and beautiful form. I’ve watched my team go from the most jinxed franchise in baseball to one of the most blessed. I’ve seen long time desolate franchises like the White Sox, Phillies, and Giants all become champions in recent years. I have even seen some of the most exciting and best baseball ever played in the history of the sport. After thinking about it, I’ve come to realize just how special Wednesday night’s game was. It confirmed my undying love for the sport of baseball. 

On Wednesday night, two denied franchises played in the seventh and final game of the World Series. The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians battled and fought to win each game, and the fight was never out of these teams. The Indians hadn’t won since 1948. The Cubs hadn’t won since 1908. They played and managed desperately, they made a few mistakes along the way, and exhausted their bullpens and benches trying to win a championship. 

That second point is the most interesting to me. With all the excitement surrounding the game, people are brushing by the fact that the Cubs won almost in spite of Joe Maddon’s managing. He pulled Kyle Hendricks much too early. Jon Lester made him look good with his performance, thankfully, and then Maddon pulled him too early as well. And what’s worse, he pulled him for Aroldis Chapman, a guy Maddon had overworked and asked too much of beforehand. He threw 41 pitches in Game 5, which was fine, the Cubs needed to win that game and it was close. But he threw 21 pitches in Game 6, in which the Cubs led 7-2 when he threw. That over reliance on Chapman was almost a fatal mistake. Chapman didn’t have his location or his velocity and was exposed by Cleveland in the 8th. Watching that game with some friends, one of whom is a Chicago native and one of whom just badly wanted the Cubs to win, there were plenty of nerves and F-bombs to go around when Rajai Davis sent Cleveland into a frenzy and gave us this all time image of Lebron James going berserk. 

I wanted the Cubs to win but I could just watch this gif on repeat for a while, it’s that good. 

After that momentary disaster, the Cubs showed, as I had been telling my Chicago friend, that these were not the same old Cubs from 1969, 1984, 1998, 2003, or any of the prior 108 years. This was a new, resilient team, and we would find out what these guys were made of. Chapman, despite being overworked, bounced back and shut out Cleveland the rest of the 8th and the 9th inning. Cleveland’s bullpen held strong too, despite allowing a runner to reach 3rd base in the 9th for the Cubs, and for the first time since 1997, extra innings were needed to decide Game 7 of the World Series. The Cubs offense rallied for two runs in the 10th, and their bullpen gave up one more run in the bottom of the inning. In years past, the Cubs would’ve folded under pressure and surrendered the lead and the championship. But this team was different. Kris Bryant slipped on the throw to first to end the game. Other years, that ball goes into the third row of the stands. This year? The throw is right on and the Cubs won.

The pub where we were watching the game had to close up before extra innings got underway, so I ended up listening to the rest of the game on the radio. Fine by me, Dan Shulman and Aaron Boone were better than Joe Buck and John Smoltz. Plus baseball was made for radio. Anyway, I listened to the game on the way home, and let out a joyous cheer when the final out was recorded. Not because I’m a Cubs fan because I’m really not. I have only one true baseball love and that’s the Red Sox. But since the Sox were not in it and because us Boston baseball fans understood the plight of Cubs fans, I wanted to see them win. I sat in my car and listened to the postgame interviews and tried to soak in the seemingly impossible dream that just became real. I wanted the Cubs to win, and I genuinely never thought they would win a championship. But here it was. They won. They deserved it. They won in spite of their manager’s maniacal use of his closer. And they beat a tough opponent that gave them everything they could’ve asked for. 

Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs and every die hard Cubs fan. They deserve this championship and the chance to celebrate at today’s parade down Michigan Avenue. Congratulations also to David Ross and Kyle Hendricks, alums of the Brewster Whitecaps who were a massive part of winning this championship. I’m thrilled to say that an organization I’m a part of helped mold champions and broke the longest championship drought in sports history. Terry Francona and the Cleveland Indians deserve all the respect in the world for playing honorably and reminding the world how amazing a sport baseball is. This was certainly one of the greatest World Series ever played (yes that countdown is next), and one of the alltime feel good stories in sports. Enjoy your championship Chicago! Ernie Banks and Harry Caray have popped the heavenly champagne already. 

Division Series Previews and Predictions

After two outstanding Wild Card games over the last few days, the Baseball Postseason is ready to get started tonight! We have eight teams starting the division series in both the American and National League over the next two days, and this is when the best baseball is played. Let’s take a look at each series and see what I think will happen! And for the record, I’m not going to predict more than just the Division Series. We’ll start with the American League. 

Toronto Blue Jays vs Texas Rangers- Rangers in 5

This is the series I look at with the most excitement. After last year’s matchup between these two teams, capped by this Jose Bautista homer and bat flip, and the bad blood spilling over into a regular season match early this year, I am excited for this matchup! There is bad blood, animosity, and something that baseball has missed for a long time: menace. There’s a sense of competition that the sport desperately needs in the postseason, and I am excited for that. There also are talented baseball players on both teams, so we should get good play in addition to the competition. Both teams have strong lineups, good to well above average starting rotations, and shakey bullpens so I see that as a close matchup.

The Blue Jays lineup can make minced meat out of the best pitching in baseball. Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Troy Tulowitski are all able to hit homers off any pitcher in any ballpark, let alone band boxes in Texas and Toronto that will lead to more offense. Their defense is also capable, with the fifth best fielding percentage in the AL. Russell Martin is an underrated defensive catcher, and their starting rotation is talented, if a bit unproven. They have the AL’s ERA leader in Aaron Sanchez, who is coming off a masterful performance in Fenway Park against the best offense in baseball, in which he held the Red Sox to one run over seven innings. Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada, and JA Happ are also talented pitchers who will hold their own. Toronto’s weakness comes in the form of their bullpen. They have only a 4.40 ERA and despite holding the Orioles offense to only 2 runs in the wild card game, there is no clear closer or obvious stopper in the Jays bullpen. Roberto Osuna is questionable for game 1, and that will mess with the bullpen big time. 

Texas can match the Canadian offense. Adrian Beltre continues to make a Hall of Fame case for himself after a .300, 30 homer, 104 RBI season at 37 years old. Elvis Andrus hit .302, Rougned Odor provides some punch (no pun intended), and Ian Desmond is a capable all around hitter. After Prince Fielder retired, the Rangers picked up Carlos Beltran, a playoff tested future Hall of Famer to bolster the offense, and he has done just that. Unfortunately, the defense is only pedestrian, with the 9th best defense in the American League. Their starting rotation on paper is also only pedestrian without the names of the pitchers being considered. Cole Hammels and Yu Darvish are talented pitchers with huge name recognition, but age, attrition, and injury have slowed them down. Hammels has the lowest ERA on the team at 3.32, and Darvish is just getting back to full strength after Tommy John surgery, pitching in only 17 games this season. But these guys, along with Colby Lewis and Derek Holland, are skilled players with postseason experience that will show up against Toronto. The reason I’m picking Texas in this series is the bullpen. The teams are even in all positions except the closer. Osuna isn’t ready to play this series right now, while Sam Dyson (2.43 ERA, 38 saves) is ready to go for Texas. I think the Rangers have a slightly better bullpen and will scrape by the Blue Jays in 5. 

Boston Red Sox vs Cleveland Indians- Red Sox in 4

As a Red Sox fan, after the last week of the season, I am quite nervous for this series. I don’t have a ton of faith in the Red Sox bullpen and I don’t want to face Terry Francona’s team giving up home field advantage. That all being said, I’ll put my fandom and fears aside and try to be objective about this series. 

Boston comes in with the best offense in baseball. Mookie Bette, Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz all have cases to be MVP this season, while Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Hanley Ramirez all provide stronger bats than most can offer. Cleveland is no slouch offensively, but they lack the diversity of weapons that Boston has. Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez are the two .300 hitters on the team, and Mike Napoli has given a spark of power, but the Indian’s offense is ultimately a far cry from what Boston can bring. 

Boston also carries a talented pitching staff. Rick Porcello is a viable Cy Young candidate, and David Price picked up his play later in the year. Clay Buccholz and Eduardo Rodriguez are wild cards but if they come up strong, they can put Boston over the top. The rotation is shortened after the absurdly stupid decision to have All Star Steven Wright run the bases in Los Angeles on August 5th which resulted in his shoulder injury. He could return to the team for the ALCS, but he can’t help the team against Cleveland. The Indians carry a pitching stud in Corey Kluber, but he is injured and so is the rest of the starting rotation. Kluber is starting game 2 after a late season quad injury, and game 1 starter Trevor Bauer isn’t a pitching ace. Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco are also injured, and will not play in the series. Cleveland’s starting rotation is not in good shape. The bullpens are more comparable, but the injured Indians starting rotation will be their downfall. Kluber will win his start in Cleveland, but Boston’s offensive depth will take on the rotation and win the series in four games. 

Now onto the National League. 

Chicago Cubs vs San Francisco Giants, Cubs in 5

By leaps and bounds, this is the hardest series for me to predict. On one hand, the Chicago Cubs are the most talented team in baseball, have the NL MVP in Kris Bryant, one of the best pitchers in Jake Arrieta, a bevy of young talent, championship veteran guile in players like Jon Lester, John Lackey, and David Ross. On the other hand, it’s the Cubs. This is the most cursed team in baseball facing the team that turns into a golden team in even year Octobers, the San Francisco Giants. More so than the stigma of “It’s the Cubs”, these teams match up extremely well. 

Chicago clearly has the better lineup from top to bottom, but the Giants still have weapons in Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and Brandon Crawford. They don’t have the power of the Cubs, but they can make the Cubs rotation work and throw a ton of pitches. The real matchup is in the starting rotations. Madison Bumbgarner, the best postseason pitcher throwing right now, won’t start until game 3, but Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija are capable pitchers and can make life difficult for Chicago. The Cubs will have to face a difficult rotation, and Chicago’s bullpen will have to hold up better than the Mets’ bullpen did last night. With Aroldis Chapman in the closers spot, they can shut down the Giants in the 9th. If the Cubs are to win, the Cubs MUST win both games 1 and 2 in Chicago and the bullpen must be better than the Giants. 

I see this series as a toss up. The Giants have a winning culture and attitude that the Cubs have not proven to have and they have the pieces to take down the Cubs. The Cubs have talent and the burden of expectation from baseball fans and the longest suffering fan base in all of sports. If the Cubs are to win a championship, they must win games 1 and 2 at home. 

Washington Nationals vs Los Angeles Dodgers- Nationals in 4

This series is simultaneously interesting and boring for me. These teams are talented and Fun to watch in the regular season. However, they are horribly disappointing in the postseason. The Dodgers were supposed to beat the Cardinals in the 2013 NLCS and 2014 NLDS, the Mets in the 2015 NLDS behind the performance of Clayton Keyshawn, Justin Turner, Yasiel Paige, and others, but lost every single series, never reaching their postseason potential. The Nationals are just as disappointing, with a lost championship in 2014 and missing the playoffs last year. I expect both teams to eventually fold, if not in this series then later in the month. But I will still watch and see which of these “Next Year’s Champions” will continue to tease their fans. 

Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner, and Corey Seager lead a potent lineup against the Nationals and Howie Kendrick, Josh Reddick, and Yasiel Puig look to improve on disappointing regular seasons and help the team get a boost. For DC, Daniel Murphy takes his .347 average into the postseason with the intent of another trip to the Fall Classic. Wilson Ramos also hit .300 and is the other well performing hitter for DC. Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, two long standing DC hitters, had very disappointing seasons and look to step up in October. Harper’s season was especially disappointing. The reigning NL MVP went from hitting .330 to only .243 this season and he struggled to get into any kind of rhythm this season. If anything, the fact that Washington won 95 games this season with Harper performing so poorly is reason for more confidence. Imagine how well they’d play if Harper picked up his average.

These starting rotations are both top heavy. Clayton Keyshawn and Max Scherzer are the undisputed aces, but the rotations beyond those two are a little short. Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strausburg both have talent but have been inconsistent this year in the nation’s capitol. Kenta Madea and Scott Kazmir have some good innings in them, but they are secondary to Kershaw and not quite ace level. The Dodgers have a decided advantage in their bullpen. Washington released their closer, Jonathan Paplebon, before the signing deadline in the middle of the season, and have given Shawn Kelly the closing job. He and the rest of the Nationals Bullpen has plenty to prove. LA has a bona fide closer in Kelley Jansen, sporting a 1.83 ERA and 47 Saves. The rest of the bullpen is more dependable as welll. However, because of slightly better pitching, and the potential for Bryce Harper to break loose, I’m picking Washington to win the series. 

So there are my predictions. Onto the playoffs!