Otto von Ballpark

Carrasco had just put the first 2 runners on base in the 6th, nursing a 1-run lead against a dominant Gerrit Cole, and the batter due up had already tagged Carrasco for 2 hits that day. Trailing 1-0 in the series, with an off day the next day, I don't think it's unreasonable to go to your pen in that situation. Especially if you view your pen as a strength (although Miller faltered badly in this spot, which could cause Francona to approach it differently in upcoming games). Another factor is bullpen composition. Sure, Carrasco got pulled earlier than you would expect in a regular season game -- but the Cleveland postseason pen now includes Trevor Bauer. And Bauer has pitched in both games so far. It's not like they were deciding to pull the starter and make up the innings with some marginal reliever. That bullpen composition factor is similar across the league right now -- the Astros have McCullers in their pen, which is probably why they pulled Verlander when he ran into his first trouble at 102 pitches in Game 1. Likewise, the Dodgers have Alex Wood, the Red Sox used Porcello on his throw day, the Braves used Sean Newcomb on his throw day, etc. Teams are going all-out to win games, which is good. It's different than the regular season, it's different than past postseasons, but I don't think it's necessarily worse. Just have to re-calibrate. Personally, I think the aggressive pitching moves are kind of interesting. They slow the game down, but it's basically just an extra commercial break -- a couple minutes where I can do something else and not miss any action. Plus you can discuss the move, look up the pitcher and batter splits, second-guess the manager, etc. The far bigger problem, to me, is still pace of play, with batters stepping out after every pitch. That's not a solid break in the action, there's no tactic to question -- that's just dragging everything out.

Former Twin Brian Dozier made his Dodgers postseason debut last night, singling as a pinch hitter to lead off the 8th and staying in the game at 2B. Unfortunately, he also went on to strike out to end the game in the 9th with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second.

Brewers are the first team to advance past the division series, with a sweep of the Rockies. Milwaukee has the NL's top seed, so will host game 1 of the NLCS. Interesting game going on right now. Atlanta, shut out in the first 2 games and trying to stave off elimination, grabbed a 5-0 lead tonight, but the Dodgers battled back to even it up at 5-5. Freeman just homered to put Atlanta back up, 6-5.

I thought the Dodgers had a quick hook with Rich Hill last postseason, but so far this year they seem to be riding their starters -- they even let Buehler continue tonight after walking the pitcher with the bases loaded and then giving up a grand slam in the 2nd. Astros are riding their starters so far. Cleveland is trying to, although Kluber didn't cooperate. So I don't think every manager is pulling their starters too early. (Although I don't even mind the quick hook as much in the NL if it means fewer pitchers batting.) We could see it swing back toward starters this postseason too as some pens get exposed (i.e. I might expect Boston to try riding Porcello a bit more tomorrow).

Sunday Oct. 7 3:37 pm CST NLDS Game 3 Milwaukee at Colorado (MIL leads 2-0) TV: MLBN 7:07 pm CST NLDS Game 3 Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta (LAD leads 2-0) TV: FS1

Maybe I am softening, or maybe I am pretty anti-Red Sox too, because I found myself cheering for the Yankees to even the series last night, and cheered their near-comeback Friday night. In any case, Yankees won last night, and their series with the Red Sox is now the only series tied 1-1 after 2 games.

Do you think Price will opt out? I think not -- he's 33, his regular seasons haven't been that great the last few years, and he is still due 4 years, $127 mil.

Not a former Twin, but native Minnesotan Brad Hand pitches a scoreless 8th for Cleveland.

If you like deep starting pitching performances, you might be rooting for a Astros-Dodgers rematch.

A rare walk from Ryan Pressly! Rare since leaving the Twins, anyway. He also recorded 2 outs in the 8th before being relieved by Astros closer Osuna (who stranded Pressly's baserunner).

Nah. They could do all right in Division II.

Today's Games Saturday Oct. 5 3:37 pm CST ALDS Game 2 Cleveland at Houston (HOU leads 1-0) TV: TBS 7:15 pm CST ALDS Game 2 New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox (BOS leads 1-0) TV: TBS

A lot of former Twin action last night! Aaron Hicks had a hit and a walk before exiting in the 4th inning due to hamstring tightness. He hopes to play in game 2 today. https://nypost.com/2018/10/06/why-aaron-hicks-believes-this-hamstring-injury-isnt-too-serious/ Lance Lynn pitched 2 innings scoreless relief. Eduardo Nunez was 0-for-4. Kurt Suzuki was 0-for-3 as the Braves got shut out again. (Suzuki also appeared in game 1 as a pinch hitter and went 0-for-1.) Pseudo-former-Twin Anibal Sanchez gave up 3 runs in 4.2 IP.

Former Twin Ryan Pressly retired all 5 batters he faced for Houston today, with 2 K's.

I think the Dodgers compare pretty well on paper to the AL squads. 102 Pythag wins this year, a rotation led by Ryu, Kershaw, and Buehler, deep lineup/bench, etc.

Big baseball day! Friday October 5 1:05 pm CST ALDS Game 1 Cleveland at Houston TV: TBS 3:15 pm CST NLDS Game 2 (MIL leads 1-0) Colorado at Milwaukee TV: FS1 6:32 pm CST ALDS Game 1 New York Yankees at Boston TV: TBS 8:37 pm CST NLDS Game 2 (LAD leads 1-0) Atlanta at Los Angeles Dodgers TV: FS1

But -- how's Hernandez's hair?

But the Dodgers playoff roster features Brian Dozier's glorious hair!

Actually, maybe the opener / bullpen game makes more sense in the NL. A guy who can go 2-3 innings, then get lifted for a pinch-hitter. Edit to add: especially as the home team, batting last. The Brewers did just that today, getting 3 shutout innings from Woodruff before lifting him for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the third.

Also, Hendriks has only been "great" in a small sample (1 month, 13 innings) with pretty middling peripherals too, like a 20% K rate -- the lowest of any of the pitchers they used yesterday. Trivino was at 27%, Treinen at almost 32%. I think it's absolutely fair to wonder if Hendriks was the wrong guy to open a bullpen game for them, even if you accept that a bullpen game was a fair strategy in this case.

Does anybody here have a strong rooting interest among the remaining teams? For me, my top interest is anti-Yankees. Beyond that, I primarily just want close games/series, although I have some extended family rooting for the Brewers and Rockies so I'll cheer them on too.

That's no excuse -- Oakland's playoff position was already wrapped up, they could have easily skipped those guys last weekend.

Wow, that is strange. The Brewers NLDS roster features 5 guys who were primarily starting pitchers in 2018, and while none are stars, none are slouches either -- they all had a 96 ERA+ or better this year. I guess Guerra and Peralta will work in relief. They also left off Chase Anderson, who had 30 starts of 104 ERA+ this year (although not many innings, and a much worse FIP). Stranger still, after a bullpen game today for game 1, they have announced Chacin is starting game 2 tomorrow on short rest after he faced the Cubs in game 163 on Monday.

Thursday Oct. 4 NLDS Game 1 Rockies at Brewers 4:07 PM CST Broadcasts: Fox Sports 1, international MLB.TV, and ESPN Radio NLDS Game 1 Braves at Dodgers 7:27 CST Broadcasts: MLB Network, international MLB.TV, and ESPN Radio

Counting the wild card game as its own round, Oakland has participated in 10 postseason rounds in the wild card era (since 1994), and won only 1 of them -- 2006 vs the Twins. The Twins have participated in 8 postseason rounds during that time, and won only one -- 2002 vs Oakland. (On a game level, rather than round/series, Oakland does have more postseason wins during that time, since their 6 division series losses each went the full 5 games. 12 wins for Oakland, vs 6 for the Twins.)