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2019 MLB (Non-Twins) Postseason Discussion Thread

Otto von Ballpark

By Otto von Ballpark
in Other Baseball

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Longdistancetwins Draft Eligible

Longdistancetwins

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So, we are not going to see Dozier tonight because he is being kept as the reserve catcher due to Suzuki's injury.  Meanwhile Fernando Rodney is being lit up.  Probably time for this Twins fan to go to bed...

ashbury GOAT

ashbury

Verified Member
Posted
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No Scherzer. No bueno.

Wow. They've gone from a possible sweep to potentially being on the ropes heading back to Houston. Goes to show how much value hawt taeks sometimes have. :)

biggentleben FCL Twins

biggentleben

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Posted
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Honestly, the Nationals in their starting 9, rotation, and closer/setup man have arguably the best team in the league. What doomed them was a tremendous lack of depth behind that. They got healthy as a team coming into the playoffs, which was a huge thing, but injuries have befell the team in the Series, and it could end up costing them a title.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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Honestly, the Nationals in their starting 9, rotation, and closer/setup man have arguably the best team in the league. What doomed them was a tremendous lack of depth behind that. They got healthy as a team coming into the playoffs, which was a huge thing, but injuries have befell the team in the Series, and it could end up costing them a title.

I'm not seeing how injuries and depth could be costing them a title? Their only injuries are Suzuki and now Scherzer. They've just been awful with RISP the last 2 games, and their starting pitching hasn't been too hot in those games either. It happens.

biggentleben FCL Twins

biggentleben

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I'm not seeing how injuries and depth could be costing them a title? Their only injuries are Suzuki and now Scherzer. They've just been awful with RISP the last 2 games, and their starting pitching hasn't been too hot in those games either. It happens.

 

Trea has said he's not feeling right after taking one in the happy place. Each game the Nats have had a guy or two face a significant injury delay. 

Danchat Minnesota Twins

Danchat

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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I certainly didn't expect the road team to win all of the first 5 games. The Nats are in big, big trouble with Scherzer hurt. 'Tis a shame, they might have been able to pull this with him healthy.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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Trea has said he's not feeling right after taking one in the happy place. Each game the Nats have had a guy or two face a significant injury delay. 

I've searched, and there's been basically zero reporting on Trea Turner having a lasting groin injury since that foul ball (except some Twitter jokes). He still has the finger injury, although he's had that all year. No other Nationals injury has apparently registered a media report either, except Suzuki and of course now Scherzer.

 

I'm sure some guys aren't 100% at this point in the season -- on both teams -- but there's really no "injuries could be costing the Nationals the title" narrative until the Scherzer news (and the team was clearly sliding before that point anyway).

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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That was an absolutely awful strike three call on Robles. The ump was clearly influenced by Cole’s histrionics over the Zimmerman ball 4 (which was a ball).

Automate balls and strikes calls now.

I don't think it would have ultimately mattered, but yeah, that wasn't a fun sequence.

 

From what I can tell, MLB seems pretty serious about robo-umps (testing in the Arizona Fall League right now), so I expect we will see them in MLB once the kinks are ironed out.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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I certainly didn't expect the road team to win all of the first 5 games. The Nats are in big, big trouble with Scherzer hurt. 'Tis a shame, they might have been able to pull this with him healthy.

Scherzer winning was certainly the hope of many, but I think it would have taken a shutout -- those Nats bats are ice cold right now.

 

The Astros are a great opponent, but the Nats seem to be in "Twins postseason" mode the last few games, where basically nothing is going right for them.

USAFChief GOAT

USAFChief

Twins Daily Contributor
Posted
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Honestly, the Nationals in their starting 9, rotation, and closer/setup man have arguably the best team in the league. What doomed them was a tremendous lack of depth behind that. They got healthy as a team coming into the playoffs, which was a huge thing, but injuries have befell the team in the Series, and it could end up costing them a title.

Maybe the National League.

 

But even there I think the Dodgers were a better team.

 

 

biggentleben FCL Twins

biggentleben

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Maybe the National League.

 

But even there I think the Dodgers were a better team.

 

Team? Absolutely. You'd seriously take Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler over Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin? That's quite surprising. The Dodgers have 25 guys who could step on the field at any moment and contribute. That's what makes that team so good is their depth. However, the starting 9 talent overall would certainly favor Washington. They're just devoid of depth behind it.

biggentleben FCL Twins

biggentleben

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I'm sure some guys aren't 100% at this point in the season

 

Ugh. That's the entire point. The Nats had significant players out the entire year at different times but finally got healthy just ahead of the playoffs in time to make a run all the way to the World Series after never winning a playoff series at all before. Now they get to the World Series and their ace and top catcher are both notably injured along with significant day-to-day injuries along the way that simply weren't there at the end of the season like other teams.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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 Now they get to the World Series and their ace and top catcher are both notably injured along with significant day-to-day injuries along the way that simply weren't there at the end of the season like other teams.

The bolded part is where we disagree. If there are significant day-to-day injuries for the Nats right now, beyond Scherzer and Suzuki, they are completely eluding media reporting. (And Suzuki was 3-for-30 with 11 Ks and 3 GDPs this postseason before he went down, plus negative defensive metrics and pitch framing grades for the season -- I'm not sure his absence is that much of a negative.)

 

Any "injuries might be costing the Nats the title" narrative is virtually 100% reliant on Scherzer -- and Scherzer was an important loss, but he likely wasn't going to be able to do it by himself anyway.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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Team? Absolutely. You'd seriously take Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler over Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin? That's quite surprising.

Well, you didn't say *just* rotations (or just top 3 of a rotation) -- you said starting 9 too, and the Dodgers best the Nats in that category. I agree they're pretty close, though.

 

But again, a lack of depth hasn't really hurt the Nats in this series. They're still running out their complete starting 9 (sans Suzuki the last 2 games), plus their top 4 starters minus 1 start, with no reported injuries of note beyond that. And their mediocre middle relievers have yet to blow a game (closest they came was game 4, but the Nats were already down 3 runs in the 7th at the time).

 

A far bigger problem than a lack of depth: Astros have a .849 OPS for the series; Nats .693. (And the superstar Rendon is at .573, lower than any Astro batter except Reddick.) Astros have 4 guys over 1.000 OPS, Nats only 1. And on the SP side, even before Game 5 and the Scherzer news, Astros SP had a 3.97 ERA, Nats 4.84.

 

Losing Scherzer definitely hurts, although by game 5 he was looking more like a hail mary pass for the Nats than anything.

Squirrel GOAT

Squirrel

Community Moderator
Posted
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I think I'm ready for the baseball down time. But it won't be long before winter meetings, then Twins Fest and the Winter Meltdown! (woohoo!) At that point, I start getting itchy. :)

 

Thank goodness I have reasons to be in Fort Myers frequently so can always check up on what's going on on the fields there.

Danchat Minnesota Twins

Danchat

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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Verlander is going to somehow lose his 6th straight World Series start, isn't he... that'll be a record I find unlikely to be ever broken. It's just weird how the Nationals get their mojo on in road games, but can't hit at home.

Richie the Rally Goat St Paul Saints

Richie the Rally Goat

Community Moderator
Posted
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Holy crap that's an awful call. He literally stepped on the middle of first. Embarrassing. They just refuse to overturn things, just give up replay

spending 4 minutes in a review and not even discuss the call is just astonishing.
Mike Sixel GOAT

Mike Sixel

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

spending 4 minutes in a review and not even discuss the call is just astonishing.

The kind of thing that makes a casual fan not want to watch baseball ever again.

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