The Mariners blew out the Blue Jays 10-3 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in ALCS. You could say that modern ball beat old-fashioned ball last night. The strike out a lot, home run a lot Mariners did exactly that. They struck out 14 times while hitting 3 home runs. The home runs accounted for 8 of the 10 runs the Mariners scored. It did not hurt that the Blue Jay pitchers gave up 6 walks and hit one batter. Four of the seven came home to score. The Blue Jays continue to make contact, striking out only 5 times, but it is not producing at the moment. The Mariners’ bullpen did the job again. In the last 6 innings, they gave up 1 hit, walked 4 while giving up 0 runs. In order to get back to Toronto, the Blue Jays will have to win 2 of 3 in Seattle. The Dodgers and Brewers opened the NLCS with a nail-biting thriller. The Dodgers prevailed 2-1. There was the strangest double play in major league history. As Yogi Berra would say, there was also déjà vu all over again. Teoscar Hernández’s baserunning blunders contributed mightily to the strange double play. While he was on 2nd base, he misread a line drive that dropped in for a single and did not score. Now, I am willing to give him a pass on that one because you do not want to get doubled off second. But what on earth was he doing on the next play that allowed the Brewers to pull off this bizarre double play? The bases were loaded with one out when Max Muncy lifted a deep fly ball to center field. The ball went off the glove of Sal Frelick, hitting the wall and back into his glove. This was not a catch. Thank God the left field umpire ruled this correctly or there would have been even more confusion. Hernández was properly tagging at 3rd. Then he started to go. He took about 3 steps and then for some reason went back to the bag. This cost him dearly as the relay throw beat him home since a force out was now in play. Will Smith on second was clueless as to what was going on. The Brewer catcher simply trotted to third base to complete the double play. Pretty simple when you read it just now. At the time, nobody could figure it out, even the announcers. Way to make everybody look bad, Teoscar. Blake Snell was dominant for 8 innings, giving up only 1 hit, striking out 10 with no walks. Freddie Freeman hit a homer in the 6th to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 9th, the Dodgers opened the inning with a walk and single. A sacrifice bunt put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. For the 2nd straight game, a team decided to walk Shohei Ohtani to load the bases to face none other than Mookie Betts. WHAT THE HELL! Ohtani was 0 for 2. Mookie Betts walked again to force in what turned out to be the deciding run of the game. DOUBLE WHAT THE HELL! Why on earth do you want to face Mookie Betts with the bases loaded? Walks continue to be a big factor in post season 2025. There were 22 walks in the 2 games last night. The Brewers rallied in the 9th, but it was not enough as Brice Turang struck out with the bases loaded to end the game. He struck out on a very high fastball.
I have no idea what will happen the rest of the way in the Dodgers-Brewers series, but if the Brewers lose in 7, this will be the game that got away. It will be game two tonight in Milwaukee, with the Brewers desperately needing to win. Speaking of being desperate, the Blue Jays will need to dig deep to get back into this series. The Mariners are just 2 home wins away from going to their first World Series. They will take it up again on Wednesday night. You just got to love playoff baseball.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 