Pirate Morning Report: Division Series Brief

Both the Mets and Yankees are moving on to the Championship Series. The Dodgers and Padres are going to play an elimination game today in LA. Tomorrow the Guardians and Tigers do the same thing in Cleveland. These are the first elimination games in the division series since October 18, 2022, when the Yankees beat the Guardians 5-1 to take game 5. We all know who MLB will be pulling for today to keep alive the possibility of a Yankee-Dodgers World Series. I am sure they wouldn’t mind Cleveland winning tomorrow, just so the top two seeds would be in the American League final. This would end any speculation of a format change in the playoffs, which I think should be done anyway. The dead bats syndrome continued for the two teams that got eliminated. The Phillies and the Royals scored only 3 runs total in the 2 games they lost at home. The Phillies had only 9 hits in the two games and only one of those was an extra base hit, a double. The Royals didn’t do much better getting 12 hits in the two games with 3 of them being doubles. Neither team hit a home run during the two games at their home park. This seems to be a pattern in these expanded playoffs. The Padres were shut out at home in game 4. If they are going to beat the Dodgers they better hope it was a one game thing or they will make MLB very happy when the Dodgers take the series. Stay tuned.