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Pirates Morning Report: What A Way To Be Eliminated

I was wrong on both games last night. I thought the Brewers would wrap it up. They were soundly beaten by the Cubs 6-0. I wrote the Phillies would extend the series. Instead, they handed Game 4 to the Dodgers on a silver platter. In a tough, hard-fought, low-scoring game, the Phillies gave the Dodgers their 2 runs to lose 2-1 in 11 innings. The Phillies took the lead 1-0 in the top of the 7th. The Dodgers were able to tie the game thanks to 3 walks wrapped around 1 single. Mookie Betts walked with the bases loaded to tie the game. The Phillies decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani to load the bases. They did this even though Ohtani has been a non-factor for this series. The worst would come in the bottom of the 11th. Orion Kerkering would enter the game with 1st and 3rd and 2 outs. He walked Kiké Hernández on 6 pitches to load the bases. Another slumping Dodger, Andy Pages, came to the plate. He swung at a pitch well out of the strike zone. He then hit a little dribbler back to the mound. Kerkering bobbled the ball, then panicked and threw the ball toward home plate about 10 feet wide and high. The Dodgers were going to the Championship Series. He should have thrown the ball to first. Even if he would have made a good throw, it appeared that the runner would have been safe at home. This was about as painful as it gets to be eliminated from the postseason. I would have to go back all the way to 1972 when Bob Moose wild-pitched the Reds to the World Series in the bottom of the 9th. The Phillies, like the Yankees, could not buy their way into the World Series. This one really has to hurt. You have to wonder if the window has not closed on this core group of players.

We have two games left. Today the Mariners host the Tigers. Tomorrow the Brewers are at home to the Cubs. These can be defining games for the Mariners and the Brewers. If they both lose, it will continue their playoff frustration and failures. Let me jinx them even further by writing I think that both will win. They will move on to the Championship Series and get the monkey off their back. We will see how much home field will help these teams. I do not think it will be easy for either team. The lower seeds could easily win both games. So far, the baseball playoffs have not disappointed. Let’s just hope that whoever advances has to earn their win. No more gifts, please. Speaking of gifts, walks have played a major role, unfortunately, in the division round. There have been 16 games, and teams have combined to give 107 free passes. That is almost 7 walks per game. We will see what factor the free pass plays in these last two elimination games. Hopefully very little, but that does not seem to be the pattern up to this point. American League tonight. Bring it on.

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Pirates Morning Report: Yankees Eliminated, Three Others Stay Alive

On a day when all four division series could have ended, only one did. The Yankees were eliminated by the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays, using a bullpen game, held the Yankees to just 6 hits. The Blue Jays used some clutch hitting to score most of their 5 runs. A tough error by Jazz Chisholm allowed the Blue Jays to score 2 runs in the top of the 7th, extending their lead to 4-1. What I think was not mentioned on the broadcast was that the umpire had to jump out of the way of the ball. It was a hard-hit one-hopper that seemed to just eat up Chisholm. The umpire may have blocked the ball temporarily; at the very least, it had to be a distraction. The Yankee season came to another disappointing end. Aaron Boone proves once again he is one of the worst in game managers in the history of baseball. As long as he is the head man, the Yankees are never going to win a championship. The other close game was the Cubs over the Brewers 4-3. The Cubs scored all 4 runs in the first inning. They barely made them stand up as the Brewers pecked away, scoring single runs in the 4th and 7th, after scoring a run in the top of the 1st. Their best chance of tying the game was in the top of the 8th. Jackson Chourio led off the inning with a double. They had 1st and 2nd with one out and the bases loaded with 2 outs but could not score. Very un-Brewer-like. The Brewers went down in order in the 9th. The Cubs lived to play another day. The other two games were blowouts. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 8-2 as their bats finally woke up. The Tigers defeated the Mariners 9-3 to force a game 5 in Seattle tomorrow.

Today the National League series continues with Phillies-Dodgers at 6 and the Brewers-Cubs at 9. Again, both series could end tonight. The Phillies certainly got the Dodgers attention last night. This could turn out to be one of those road warrior series. After all, we are not that far removed from the 2019 World Series where the visiting team won every game. Here are my guesses. I think the Phillies will force a game 5 and the Brewers will wrap it up tonight. The Tigers will send their big ace Tarik Skubal out on Friday. Even though the Mariners won the game he started last time, I think they are in big trouble. It is like that big playoff jinx is rearing its ugly head again in Seattle. No pitcher is invincible. Even Bob Gibson faltered in the 7th game of the 1968 World Series. Hitting is such a sometime thing; the Tigers’ bats could falter again. Whatever happens, it should be a great game 5 tomorrow night.

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Pirate Morning Report: Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, In Big Trouble.

All the division series are 2 games in. Only one series is tied at a game apiece: the Tigers and the Mariners. The Yankees, Phillies, and Cubs are down 2 games to none. The team in the biggest trouble is the Phillies. They lost both games at home. I am a big believer in team psychology. The Phillies blew the NLCS in 2023. They had a 3 games to 2 lead over the Diamondbacks heading back to Philadelphia. In the last game in Philly, the Phillies had won 10-0. The Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by taking the last 2 games to go to the World Series. It is like a golfer who blows a big lead in a major tournament. Sometimes he never really recovers from it. Essentially, the Phillies are like that golfer. Two years later, they are practically the same team they were in 2023. They are going up against the big bad Dodgers this time. The numbers for the first two games of this series and the last 2 games of the NLCS are eerily very similar for both the team and individuals. In the first two games against the Dodgers, the Phillies scored 6 runs on 13 hits. They hit no home runs. This from a team that is 9th in home runs, 5th in slugging, and 4th in OPS with .759. That is the OPS average for the team. The Pirates had one player with an OPS over .759, Spencer Horwitz. But keep that hitting coach. I digress. Just can’t help myself when it comes to those Pirates. In the 2023 NLCS, the Phillies scored just 3 runs on 11 hits in the last 2 games. They hit just one home run. They have 8 players that played significant roles in all four games. Kyle Schwarber was 1 for 5 in 23 and 0 for 7 in 25. Trea Turner was 0 for 8 in 23 and 1 for 7 in 25. Bryce Harper was 0 for 7 in 23 and 1 for 7 in 25. J.T. Realmuto was 2 for 8 in 23 and 2 for 8 in 25. Alex Bohm, Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh, and Bryson Stott all played in both series. Only Brandon Marsh had one series where he did significantly better. In 23 he went 3 for 7 and in 25 1 for 5. Both years, the Phillies played over .600 at home. I don’t think the Phillies will make the comeback, but going to Los Angeles can’t hurt.

The Blue Jays and the Brewers are on the verge of getting their playoff failures off their backs. That is the key word, verge. I think it is more important for the Blue Jays and the Brewers to win Game 3 than it is for either the Tigers or the Mariners to win. The reason I think that is just how convincing the wins were for both teams. The Brewers outscored the Cubs 16 to 6, and the Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 23 to 8. The Yankees and the Cubs are going to have to find a way to stop the high-flying offenses of both teams. If somehow they can win Game 3, they still might make a series of this yet. My guess is both series will be sweeps. The Tigers and Mariners have played two low-scoring exciting games, with each team winning 3-2. The Tigers won Game 1 in extra innings. The Mariners have to feel pretty good because they won a game that Tarik Skubal started. I still look at this series as a toss-up. Whoever can find their offense first should take the series. I still like the Mariners’ chances. Whatever happens, these playoffs have not disappointed so far. I admit it would be nice to see the Phillies make a special comeback and force Game 5. They by far have the toughest uphill climb.

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Pirates Morning Report: On To The Division Series

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.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Playoffs

The Tigers and the Guardians opened the playoffs with a classic nail biter. Tarik Skubal was brilliant, going 7 and 2/3 innings, giving up just one unlucky run and 3 hits. He struck out 14 and walked 3. The only odd thing he did was walk Austen Hedges twice. Hedges is batting .161 for the season. In the bottom of the 4th, the Indians never got a ball out of the infield but were able to scratch out a run. The Indians had their chance in the bottom of the 9th. Jose Ramirez hit a sharp ground ball up the middle that Javier Baez made a great play on. He tried to make a throw from his knees. It one-hopped to the first baseman, who could not make the scoop, and the ball went down the right field line. Ramirez made it all the way to third with no one out. Will Vest got the next batter to strike out. The next batter hit a little tapper back to the mound. Ramirez was caught in a rundown, and quickly there were two outs. The last batter popped out, and the Tigers escaped with the win in the first game of the 3-game series. The good news for the Guardians: Tarik Skubal cannot pitch every game.

The second game of the day saw the Cubs beat the Padres 3-1. Even though it was low-scoring, there was no dominant pitching performance here. The Padres could not get a runner in from 3rd base with less than 2 outs. In the second inning, back-to-back doubles by Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts gave the Padres a 1-0 lead. A throwing error allowed Bogaerts to go all the way around to third with no one out. The Padres could not get him in. In the top of the 4th, the Padres had 1st and 3rd with one out and could not get the run in. After a one-out single in the 5th, the Padres went Pirates mode with 14 batters in a row making outs. In the bottom of the 5th, the Cubs went back-to-back long balls to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, the Cubs went small ball to get an insurance run. Single, sacrifice bunt, intentional walk, wild pitch, and sacrifice fly made the score 3-1. The Cubs won one for the home team.

In the early evening game, the Red Sox defeated the Yankees 3-1. Garret Crochet mowed down the Yankees for 7 and 2/3 innings. He gave up a solo home run and 3 other hits. He struck out 11 and walked none. He threw 117 pitches. Max Fried pitched just as well, going 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up 4 hits and 0 runs. Fried got the first out in the 6th inning. He had thrown 102 pitches. Aaron Boone decided to take him out, and the Yankee bullpen imploded again. Luke Weaver did not get anybody out. He walked the first batter he faced. He gave up a double and a single, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. David Bednar came in the top of the 9th and showed that he is not used to pitching in meaningful games. After getting the first two outs, he gave up a single and a double to give the Red Sox a 3-1 lead. The bottom of the ninth increased the Yankee frustration. Aroldis Chapman gave up 3 hits to load the bases with no outs. Ten of the next thirteen pitches he threw were 100 MPH or more. This resulted in a strikeout, a shallow fly ball to right field, and a strikeout. The Red Sox pulled out the first game. They used just two pitchers. In defeat, the Yankees used 6 pitchers. It should be another great game today.

In the final game of the day, the Dodgers lit up the Reds for 5 home runs en route to a 10-5 victory. Blake Snell pitched a solid 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. The Dodger bullpen ran into control issues, which allowed the Reds to make the game interesting. The Reds started the top of the 8th with a single. After getting one out, the Dodgers’ pitchers walked 3 straight batters. Another single and a walk made the score 10-5, with the bases still loaded and only one out. A key hit here would have put the Reds right back in the game. Tyler Stephenson struck out in an 11-pitch at-bat. Unfortunately, he swung at the last 3 pitches that were all out of the strike zone. Ke’Bryan Hayes, showing why he was no big loss to the Pirates, popped out to end the inning. The Reds did not really threaten in the 9th.

The first day of the wild card round went pretty much as expected. The first three games were tight, well-pitched, and well-played ball games. The Guardians lost because they were completely dominated by Tarik Skubal. They were fortunate to get the run that they did. They had a chance in the bottom of the 9th but could not get a run home with nobody out and a runner on third. This was the downfall of both the Padres and the Yankees: a failure to score with a runner on third and less than 2 outs. The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with no outs and came up empty. It is rinse and repeat today as the teams play in the same order as yesterday. I feel we will see some wins from the teams that are down. I think there will be two elimination games on Thursday. Whatever happens, it should be a very good day of baseball again.

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Pirates Morning Report: Playoff Edition

Yes, I know the Pirates played their last game of the season yesterday, but who cares? They lost 3-1. The Pirate broadcast booth was as nauseating as ever, but even they said you could not sugarcoat this season. They left out that they tried like hell to do so. What is so depressing to me is that I do not see any changes coming. I do not even think they will fire the hitting coach. I’m not sure how to spell his last name, and I’m not going to look it up. I was going to do a playoff edition tomorrow, but I needed something to cheer me up. Therefore, I am doing it today. This will give a little more time to see if I am wrong about the pitiful Pirates. But enough of them already, and on to playoffs.

This should be the best baseball playoffs since they expanded the fields. Three of the four wild card series are toss-ups. I do not think anybody will be surprised by who wins the Tigers-Guardians, Padres-Cubs, and Red Sox-Yankees series. The Dodgers will be the solid favorite over the Reds. The Dodgers have already helped out the Reds by not putting Clayton Kershaw on the wild card roster. I pity any left-handed pitcher on the Dodgers in this series. They had better be perfect. Kershaw had a solid year for the Dodgers. He has an ERA+ of 118, and they recently tried him out of the bullpen. The Dodger bullpen is their weakest area. I cannot imagine the rationale for not having him on the roster. Maybe they want to give the Reds a fighting chance. Even so, I do not think the Reds will pull off the shocker. I know predictions are a dime a dozen. I have not a clue who might win the other three series. The Padres and Cubs split the six games they played against each other this year. In the other two series, there is a decided edge. The Red Sox beat the Yankees nine out of 13 times. The Guardians beat the Tigers eight out of 13 times. We will see if that has any meaning in the playoffs. Here is the one prediction I will make. No matter who wins the wild card round, that is as far as they are going. I feel that all four bye teams are going to win their respective series and face each other in the Championship Series. Speaking of predictions, I did not do badly on my preseason predictions on the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers. I said the Mets would not make the playoffs. I said the Yankees would not make the playoffs. Wrong on that one. Despite some significant bumps in the road, the Yankees did much better than I expected. I said the Dodgers would not be as dominant as everybody said they would be. I said they would make the playoffs but not the World Series. So far, so good on that one. I feel that at least half of the wild card round will go three games. That has not happened since the expanded playoff formula. It will be great just watching some solid baseball being played. After watching the Pirates desecrate the game 162 times, it will be like being in Shangri-La. Tuesday, the fun begins.

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Pirates Morning Report: Just One More Game To Go

It was another great pitching performance that gave the Pirates a 3-1 victory over the Braves. Bubba Chandler went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 6 and issued no walks. He threw 86 pitches. Chase Shugart, Justin Lawrence, and Dennis Santana finished up in grand style. Together they gave up just one hit, striking out 6 and did not walk a batter. The AAA boys had a big game. They went 5 for 12, including a Henry Davis home run. The only bad thing about this game was the nauseating optimism coming from the Pirate broadcast booth. This Pirate team has big problems. Having some lousy players come up with good performances in meaningless games is no reason to sound optimistic. It is time to get real here. Let’s take a look at how bad this team is position by position. The following rankings are determined by Baseball Reference. Remember there are 30 teams in baseball.

The Pirates have the 26th best catcher. Those duties have been split pretty much equally by Joey Bart and Henry Davis. Bart has 303 plate appearances and Davis 276. The 1st base position is ranked 15th. Spencer Horwitz’s recent batting surge has helped move this position to the top half barely. Spoiler alert: This is the only position that is in the top half. Nick Gonzales and Adam Frazier early in the season have played 2nd base the most. Combined, they rank 27th in baseball. Even with Ke’Bryan Hayes’s outstanding glove, the 3rd base position is ranked 21st. The Pirate shortstops, led by IKF, come in at 20th. Tommy Pham has played the most in left field with 420 plate appearances. With his recent slump, the Pirates rank 20th. Oneil Cruz, with all his offensive and defensive issues, ranks 27th when it comes to centerfielders. Bryan Reynolds, who has appeared in right field the most, is ranked 21st. Andrew McCutchen is ranked 29th as a DH. To put this in perspective, McCutchen is a worse DH than Cruz is a centerfielder when compared with others at the position. Anybody see the glass half full here? The body of work here borders on the embarrassing. If the Pirates do not make any changes, they would probably set the record for bounce back seasons by their players. These rankings are based on each player’s overall play, including fielding, hitting, and baserunning. The Pirates, through most of the season, have had 13 position players on the team. It makes you wonder if they should keep any of them—maybe 3 to 5 at the most. What will most likely happen is that all but 1 or 2 will be on the team next year. But let’s hear some more optimism from that shill of a Pirate broadcast booth. Thank God it is over today.

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Pirates Morning Report: It Was Like Old Home Week

The Pirate offense exploded for 9 runs on 14 hits with 3 walks. Spencer Horwitz is on a tear right now. Last night he went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. The AAA boys went 3 for 14 but did have an RBI and scored 2 runs. The Pirates did all of this against none other than Joey (I Guess The Braves Need Pitching) Wentz. He was making his 13th start for the Braves. Wow! In his last 7 starts, he has given up 25 runs in a little over 29 innings. Another wow! He was relieved by Hunter (Getting Revenge) Stratton. He came in during the top of the 5th with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs. He promptly walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. He gets out of the jam by striking out Pham and Suwinski. He gets Nick Yorke to ground out to end the inning. Stratton, you the man. Charlie Morton is scheduled to start on Sunday. There are former Pirates everywhere on this team. No wonder they missed the playoffs.

Today I want to discuss the Pirates management team. We found out this week that Ben Cherington’s contract runs through the 2027 season. This makes his firing after this season much less likely. He has secured one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. He also has secured the worst offense in baseball. The big question is, is it Cherington or is it Nutting? Is it live or is it Memorex? Were Cherington’s hands so tied by Nutting’s unwillingness to spend that he really could not improve the offense? Even going with that premise, I still think that Cherington should be fired. He, along with most of the Pirates front office, should go. Players just have not developed under this regime. In fact, they have all gotten worse over the last 4 years. The list just goes on: Ji Hwan Bae, Henry Davis, Oneil Cruz, Matt Gorski, Liover Peguero, Jack Suwinski, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Alika Williams, Rodolfo Castro, Travis Swaggerty, and Canaan Smith-Njigba. The jury is still out on Nick Gonzales, Billy Cook, Nick Yorke, Cam Devanney, and Tsung-Che Cheng. The Pirates have had pitching blunders too. Tyler Glasnow, Quinn Priester, and Clay Holmes all went on to post much better numbers with other teams. If this isn’t evidence that the player development department needs to be totally cleaned out, I don’t know what is. Anybody associated with hitting instruction should be fired. This was a team going into the 2024 season that thought they were going to contend for the division title. They did not even come close in 2024 and 2025. This leads to the final question: Should Don Kelly be retained? The short answer is no. Sure, he is an improvement over Derek (The Shadow) Shelton. A Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader would have been an improvement over Derek Shelton. My apologies to the cheerleading profession. The problem with this team is the same as it has always been. They look like they have a lot of good young talent. It just never seems to develop. The other constant failure is that they can never get the one or two pieces needed, either by free agency or trade, to put the team over the top. It has been going on for 6 years under this regime. It seems like it would be a no-brainer that changes need to be made. Only time will tell, but I am not optimistic.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates Must Have Had A Plane To Catch

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Lost: The game was delayed for 1 hour and 22 minutes. Once the game started, the Pirates were in a big hurry to lose. They swung at 24 balls out of the strike zone and struck out 14 times. Only 3 of those strikeouts were over 5 pitches. Despite all the strikeouts, the Reds’ pitchers only threw 112 pitches for 9 innings. Compare that with 122 pitches the Pirates threw for 8 innings. The Pirates made 6 outs swinging at the first pitch. The game took 2 hours and 16 minutes to play. The Pirates were probably going to have to pay extra for their flight to Atlanta if they made the plane wait. I am sure the orders before the game were to swing at anything close to the plate. The Pirates had 3 hits and only 2 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They got the run in the 8th by concession. The AAA boys were 0 for 7 with 4 strikeouts. They followed orders and made the other 3 outs on 3 pitches. Braxton Ashcraft gave up 8 hits in 4 and 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, he gave up 4 of those in the same inning, enabling the Reds to score 2 runs. It would be all the runs they would need with the Pirates pressed for time.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was the rain delay that put the Pirates in a time crunch. It is the only plausible explanation for the Pirates’ hitting approach. They struck out 11 times in the first 6 innings. They had two hits. They put nine balls in play. They did a little better after that, only striking out 3 more times in the last 3 innings. By then, they knew they had plenty of time to catch their plane. They scored a run in the top of the 8th. Spencer Horwitz had a pinch-hit double with no outs. He moved around and scored on two ground outs. I guess they felt no need to pinch-run for him this time. The big play of the game came in the top of the 9th for the Reds. Bryan Reynolds took a 3-0 fastball and lifted it 348 feet to right field. He needed to hit it 352 feet. Noelvi Marte timed his jump perfectly and snagged the ball just as it was heading over the wall. McCutchen swung at the first pitch, what else, and flied out to right field to end the game.

Next Game: Tonight, the Braves in Atlanta. The season mercifully comes to an end with 3 games in Atlanta. The only team more disappointing than the Pirates may be the Braves. They spent a lot more money than the Pirates did to stink. Since these games are meaningless, the Morning Report will take a little different format. I will give a brief summary of the game and then discuss what the Pirates should do in various areas once the season is done. I want to do this before the season ends because I want to get it out of my system while there is still time. I have a sinking feeling that none of what should happen is going to happen. Thank God this is the last weekend.