Talkin' Baseball

 On Saturday, the Diamondbacks responded to the walkoff Rangers win with a blowout victory by themselves. They took Texas to the cleaners, pounding them 9-1, with the only Ranger run on a solo homer by Mitch Garver. Merrill Kelly had a very strong outing for the D-Backs, recording the win while throwing 7 innings, only giving up one run on that home run.  Unfortunately, it didn't go so well for Texas's Jordan Montgomery, who up to this point was 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in the postseason. He is now 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA after going 6+ innings, giving up runs on a Gabriel Moreno solo shot, a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. single, an Evan Longoria single, and after being pulled with runners on, a Corbin Carroll single. He did pick-off Tommy Pham on second base however, getting him with a daylight play. The Arizona bats exploded this game, as the D-Bacls hit 16-for-37, while the lowly Rangers only hit 4-for-31. Nonetheless, Evan Carter has kept his streak alive and has reached base in every postse...

 Yesterday night the Rangers hosted the D-Backs in game 1 of the 2023 World Series. The starting matchup for game one was Rangers' Nathan Eovaldi against Zac Gallen. Both pitchers were solid in the regular season, posting ERAs of 3.63 and 3.47 respectively. Scoring opened in the first inning when Evan Carter hit an RBI double, scoring Corey Seager. He was later driven in on an Adolis Garcia single. But the D-Backs weren't held down for long, and in the third inning struck at the heel of the Ranger Starter, tagging him for three runs on two singles, a sac bunt, and a triple.  The Rangers tied up the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI walk by Mitch Garver, but Tommy Pham led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo shot that put Arizona back on top. In the top of the fifth, a single and a double put up a fifth run for the D-Backs and knocked Big Game Nate out of the game for the Rangers struggling bullpen. Dane Dunning was first out of the bullpen for Texas and finis...

 A few days ago, the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies 4-2 in game 7, and the 84-win team is now in the Fall Classic, which will start tomorrow. Ketel Marte won the MVP, slashing .387/.406/.681. More contributers to the series were Corbin Carroll, Gabriel Moreno, and Geraldo Perdomo.  Like the Rangers, Arizona was down 3-2 in the series and then  won the last two games on the road. They are now playing the Rangers in the Fall Classic, and though the match doesn't look great for them, we'll see. Afterall, they did sweep the Dodgers. The scores of the games in the NLCS were as follows: Game 1:  5-3 Phillies Win Game 2:  10-0 Phillies Win Game 3:  2-1 D-Backs Win Game 4:  6-5 D-Backs Win Game 5:  6-1 Phillies Win Game 6:  5-1 D-Backs Win Game 7:  4-2 D-Backs Win So even though they were outscored 30-21, the D-Backs are the ones moving on. World Series game 1 is this Friday at 8:03 PM ET.

 The ALCS ended yesterday in a very anticlimactic game. Max Scherzer went 2 2/3 innings giving up two earned runs before Jordan Montgomery came in to get the win. Cristian Javier took the loss for the Stros, giving up 3 earned runs in only 1/3 of an inning pitched, as the final score was a toppling 11-4 win. The series had been interesting this whole time, as the Rangers took the first two games by scores of 2-0 and 5-4. They then went to Arlington, where they dropped the next three games by scores of 8-5, 10-3, and 5-4 respectively, with the last of those games being won on a three-run homer by Jose Altuve in the ninth inning. And then the Rangers smoked the Astros yesterday, sending them to the World Series. In the series, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Yordan Alvarez (who hit 1,2, and 3 in game 7) seemed to be the powerhouse of the Astros, hitting a combined 8 bombs in the series! The Rangers were led offensively by Adolis Garcia, who through boos (because of the whole Bryan Abr...

 I'm sorry. I need to get some anger out. Today the Rangers lost again to the Astros, and now have almost zero chance of making the World Series. The Astros scored in the first on an Alex Bregman homer. The Rangers struck back in the fifth on a Nathaniel Lowe solo shot, tying the game at 1. The Astros proceeded to score again in the top of the sixth, before Adolis Garcia cranked a three-run nuke to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead. Nobody scored for a while, and in the bottom of the eighth, Bryan Abreu drilled Garcia with a pitch, and Garcia started screaming at Martin Maldonado and the benches cleared. Abreu was ejected for plunking Garcia intentionally, Garcia was ejected, and Dusty Baker was ejected. So now there were runners on first and second with nobody out, and guess what? The Rangers couldn't score. It seems that they can never put a game away. Anyway, in the ninth, Jose Leclerc gave up a single to Yainer Diaz, who was pinch-hitting for Jeremy Pena. Fine. Well then, Jon Sin...

 On Thursday the Phillies took the last game of the NLDS 3-1 and beat Spencer Strider and the Braves, eliminating them. Since I don't care too much to go into major detail, I will just state basic facts. Castellanos was on fire, hitting .467 and setting a record, hitting multiple jacks in games 3 and 4 (a combined four). It was unfortunate for the Braves, who gave up a combined 20 runs and only scoring a measly eight. Austin Riley was the main source of offense for the Braves, hitting .353 with two homers, including the go-ahead two-runner in game two and a solo shot that gave the Braves the lead in the fourth inning of game 4. He drove in three of the eight runs, and scored two of his own. While the Phillies beat them thoroughly, it's still sad to see a team that good fall to a team that they were 14 games ahead of. My bracket is totally screwed. Nonetheless, the Phillies are now playing Arizona, quite the favorable matchup for them. I would also like to add that every series ...

 Even more impressive than the Rangers thumping Baltimore was the 84-win Diamondbacks beating the snot out of the Dodgers. In three games, the team from Arizona outscored the 100-win team 19-6! They had great pitching performances out of Merril Kelly, Zac Gallen, and Brandon Pfaadt, whereas the three Los Angeles starters (Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller and Lance Lynn) all got thumped. I was watching the highlights for game three, and I saw something particularly interesting. In yesterday's game, Gabriel Moreno hit a homer, but it was a foul ball. When they called him back, he hit a longball to left-center on the very next pitch. The Arizona offense hit a combined 9 bombs, including four in the last game, all in the third inning, scoring all of their runs for that game. Maybe they are a team to be reckoned with. They will meet either the Phillies or the Braves in the NLCS.

      Tonight the Astros topped the Twins by a score of 3-2, defeating Minnesota in the series 3-1. It was a tough loss for Minnesota, and I expected more out of Joe Ryan. For some reason, he only went two innings. I don't know why the manager did that, but I'm sure they had a good reason. If not, then that was pretty, pretty, pretty... dumb. Caleb Thielbar took the loss for the Twins and somehow Jose Urquidy got the win. Well, now Houston will play Texas in the CS. Hee-hee. Houston playing the state they're located in. Kinda funny. I know as a writer I shouldn't be biased, but I'm totally rooting for the Rangers to smash them. Now, I need to go to bed. Thank you for reading, and I'm sorry Houston fans. 

      Yesterday at 9:53 p.m. Central time, Jose Leclerc struck out Jordan Westburg. This was the last out in the Rangers sweep of the Orioles, and the 101 win team went packing for the long and bitter winter. The Rangers dominated the O's, outscoring them by a total of 21-11 in the three games played. Texas ended the series with a 7-1 win over Baltimore and seven sparkling innings out of Nate Eovaldi, who ended the season poorly. Good job Rangers, and good luck in the ALCS!

Now that we're through the wildcard rounds, I want to predict who will win the World Series. Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job last time I wrote on this. I think I had the Cubs winning their division. Nonetheless, I will now make a hopefully much more accurate prediction, starting with the AL. ALDS (5 games): (1) Orioles vs. (5) Rangers I correctly predicted the Rangers defeating the Rays in the wildcard series. They outscored the 99-win team 11-1 in their two game sweep. Now, they have a bit of a tougher task. Baltimore has been insanely good this season, and I actually really like what they've done with all their young players. They had great seasons out of rookie Gunnar Henderson, catcher Adley Rutschman, and a breakout season out of outfielder Ryan O'hearn. I mention these three in particular because they are my favorite players on this team, and they did help the team surge this year. The Rangers scored by far the most runs in the American League, scoring ...

 Yesterday night, the Phillies thoroughly beat down on the Marlins 7-1, to complete the fourth playoff sweep this season in only 4 series. They had a nice start out of Aaron Nola, who went 7 scoreless for the win. Another big moment of the game was when Bryson Stott put it away, smashing a grand slam to give the Phils a 7-0 lead. They are going on to face the Braves in the NLDS, who they defeated last year.

 Tonight the Brewers fell to the Diamondbacks for the second straight time and are now out of the playoffs. Arizona was backed by a good start out of Zac Gallen, something Brandon Pfaadt was unable to do in game 1, even though they squeaked out a win. But in both games, Milwaukee scored first. They were up 3-0 in game 1 and 2-0 in game 2 before giving up a combined 11 unanswered runs to the sixth seed. Oof. The Diamondbacks are now moving on to face with the only other playoff team left in their division: the Dodgers. I want Arizona to win so badly!

 Today the Twins beat the Blue Jays 2-0. Sonny Gray got the win for them today, going 5 scoreless frames. They are also moving on and will face the Astros in the ALDS. Royce Lewis had a good two games for the Twins, mashing two homers and driving all three runs the Twins scored in game 1, and walking and scoring today. Good luck Twins in the next round.

 Just now, the Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-1. They won both games of the wildcard series, and outscored Tampa Bay 11-1. They had amazing pitching performances from both Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi, who threw a combined 13 2/3 innings and allowed just 1 run. The rookie stud Evan Carter went 3-4 with two doubles, a homer, 3 walks, and a hit by pitch. Now they are going on to face the Orioles in the ALDS. Good luck Rangers.

 I stand corrected. Royce Lewis is a machine on the field. In only 58 games this season, Lewis hit .309 with 15 homers, 52 RBIs, and 4; count 'em, 4, grand slams.  Today was the first game of the wildcard series, and the Twins duked it out against the Blue Jays. I'm sorry to say, but I thought the Twins had no chance (and still don't think they'll win the series). But, nobody except for Royce Lewis hit 2 homers (off of Kevin Gausman!) as the Twins won 3-1 tonight. I guess I was wrong. Though still maybe not a Star of MLB,* Royce Lewis is just awesome and I love the guy. He is so solid through his 70 games that I would consider him one of the better third-basemen in the league. *Not a Star of MLB because he has only played in 70 career big-league games. However, per 162, Lewis is mashing 39 homers on 25 doubles and driving in 132 runs. Insane stats!

 When I started this blog, I wanted to write solely about baseball, but I didn't have a good name. The first thing that popped into my head was a song. So I named my blog the name of the song.

 I would just like to tell you that my eighth place fantasy team, The Atlanta Scareds, just won our fantasy championship. Since we were the last playoff spot, I had to beat the first-place team (11-5), the fourth place team (11-4), and the second place team in the championship (9-7). Due to injuries and starters making their final appearances, I can't really give a definite roster, but I will show you what it was at the start if the week, as this was closest to my roster all season: JT Realmuto (C) Freddie Freeman (1B) Zack Gelof (2B) Austin Riley (3B) Nico Hoerner (2B, SS) Bryce Harper (1B, OF) Aaron Judge (OF) Kerry Carpenter (OF) Ketel Marte (2B) Esteury Ruiz (OF) Kris Bryant (OF) Tyler Stephenson (C) Sonny Gray (SP) Zach Eflin (SP, RP) Joe Ryan (SP) Cristopher Sanchez (SP, RP) Chris Bassitt (SP) Jose Berrios (SP) Ryan Pepiot (SP, RP) Max Fried (SP) Adam Ottavino (RP) Trevor May (RP) Tyler Rogers (RP) Reynaldo Lopez (RP) AJ Minter (RP) Josh Hader (RP) Trevor Stephan (RP) Chase S...