On a historic day in baseball, the Yankees, Tigers, and Cubs advanced to the next round of the baseball playoffs. This was the first wild card round that saw 3 series go 3 games and 3 of the 4 home teams win. None of the 3 games were all that close. The Padres had the best chance to win with a 9th inning threat. A horrible called third strike on Xander Bogaerts really hurt the Padres’ chances. That and the fact that Fernando Tatis Jr. had an awful day at the plate. He must have gone into the game thinking he would swing at everything. It did not work. He saw 14 pitches. He swung at 8 of them out of the strike zone. He went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. The Padres could not hit. They went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. They scored 5 runs in the 3 games. At least they could field. The Guardians and Red Sox could not hit or field. Both teams had balls go off gloves and out of hands. Yankees and Tigers won convincingly 4-0 and 6-3, respectively. Needless to say, all of the teams I wanted to win lost. I have a very unhappy crew out in San Diego with the Padres’ poor showing. On to the next round.
My feeling is that the home teams will win all of the division series. I think the bullpens of the Yankees and the Dodgers will catch up with them. The Brewers will prove that small ball can work in the playoffs. The Mariners will continue to play great baseball as they did down the stretch. These series are 5 games. Still, there is not a lot of room for error for all teams involved. The Cubs’ offense had better perk up. They were not that much better than the Padres, scoring 6 runs during the 3 games. This will not work against the Brewers. The 4 visiting teams have already experienced the playoff pressure grinder. Will this help them or wear them down? Will the layoff hurt or help the home teams. I am sure the debate will go on about that. We will see what happens during the next 7 days. So far, the playoffs have not disappointed. Another great week of baseball should be coming up. It all begins tomorrow with all 8 teams playing. That will not happen again until Wednesday. We should have a better feel for who is going to win this round by then.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 