2020 MLB postseason thread

I was 17 the last time the Doyers won it.

Now I'm 49. That is a long-ass time to wait.

Also, the Lakers and Dodgers both won titles in a pandemic against Florida teams, both in 6 games.

 

Ahem.

 

The Rays aren't deciding this with some blanket "no starter should go more than six innings!" kind of edict, though. Or at least, I don't think they are. Glasnow pitched six innings a couple of times. David Price led the league in CG one year, when he was there. (With a whopping four, but still.) Their staff doesn't feature a lot of guys with endurance, but that's a chicken-and-egg thing with them - The Rays aren't going to pay for Verlander types, and they seem to have found a market inefficiency by focusing on guys with less endurance but incredible stuff.

My suspicion is that if the Rays had regularly let Snell pitch past the sixth this year, his ERA would have been higher and the results would have been negative, at which point, it would have been a Grady Little and Pedro Martinez thing again, and nobody would care that they pulled him. Even in his Cy Young season, he was right at about six innings a start, and his 2019 season featured an elbow injury.

 

Snell gave them 6 all-time WS innings in a decider. Was about to face the lineup third time around.

I do think they could make a #30for30 about decisions such as these. Call it "Gut Feeling" or something dumb like that.

Look at all the times Kershaw basically died in the 7th inning.

Nobody wants to be Dave Roberts 2.0.

 

Yes and no. And I'm actually trying to put my Dodgers hate aside here.

No in the sense that even though there were only 60 games and teams only played others in their geographical divisions, they basically sprinted through 60 games with very few days off and they had a whole new postseason to get through. We didn't have a team that technically get into the playoffs actually do anything of great consequence in the playoffs. The NL divisional series was No. 1 Dodgers against normal season wild card Padres and No. 2 Braves against the Marlins but the Marlins couldn't do anything. The AL had the Astros get through, but it wasn't that they were a terrible team. And we ended up with the two best teams in baseball squaring off.

Yes in this sense: How many teams who are surging in June/July hit a wall by August/September in a normal season? How many midseason champs actually go on to the World Series and win it? There is something about a full baseball season that really helps to shift things out and see who is built for the long haul. Dodgers in years past get through a weak Division only to have something break down in the post season. Kershaw was good this time around minus one inning. But he didn't have 30 starts under his belt either. Teams didn't play everyone across the country. We don't know what other teams might have looked like if the West could have played the central or the East go West.

I think there needs to be an asterisk but not to take anything away from the championship more as a hey, this is marking that 2020 was fucked up and this is a scenario we may never see again.

 

The best answer i can find for Snell's hook is "this is the way we've been doing it", which is the lamest answer you can give, in work or in sports.

 

Dodgers weren't shut out all season, but they also only lost 22 times including the post season and there were losses that were 2-1. Could this have been the first time?

Sure you need to hit and score runs which is how to get more than the other guy to win, but you also need to keep the other guy scoring more than you. Once Snell was pulled, the next pitcher goes double-wild pitch-infield single to go from 1 run up to 2 runs down. It may not be the only reason why but it is a big reason why.

 

You mean Grady Little 2.0?

 

There is no way for me to come to any conclusion except that Cash didn't give his team the best opportunity to win.

 

Interesting point about Snell not pitching 6 innings all season vs. not being allowed to pitch 6 innings all season. He was dealing and looked like he could keep going.
On the other hand, he hadn't been facing the Dodgers all season. Going 6 vs. Crap City doesn't equal going 6 vs. the Dodgers.
I know computers can break down anything, but stat analysis and averages include all the games. Whenever one of our writers did stat analysis in playoff previews, I wanted them to break it down to games against the top teams, not everybody.

Sticking with what worked all season is dicey as well. The Rays didn't use every reliever every game all season. The Dodgers saw Snell for 4.2 innings in Game 2. Then not again until Game 6. They saw the relievers in just about every game. It was pointed out early in the series that replacing a starter/opener early meant they got a look at most of the relievers.
Even Smoltz pointed out that the parade of relief pitchers was NOT how they played the regular season.

Does the 2020 championship come with an *?
I don't think so. I was of the opinion -- and wrote it here -- that this season was like golf's Silly Season. A lack of intensity, meaningless games, etc. But the playoffs were different. Hockey started with the playoffs and they were intense from the get-go. (I can't analyze NBA.) Baseball's intensity kicked up once the playoffs started.

 

Don’t they measure spin velocity of each pitch?

If that’s going down, it could be a factor. Unsure if they will ever share that data.

 

IMHO, here’s baseball’s problem(s) moving forward.

No one wants to watch this for four hours.

The ratio of batted balls in play to pitched balls has to be way down from the 1970s to today. Watching a pitched ball over and over that is never put in play is boring as hell.

People want to see Snell keep pitching. No one wants to see a line of bullpen guys no one knows who are good for three seasons because their arms get thrown out.

Players are boring. Same batting stance and same windup from batter to batter and pitcher to pitcher.

I have no idea if this is solvable or not, but baseball just isn’t fun anymore.

I literally watched Fargo last night before trying to watch baseball because I knew in 90 minutes they wouldn’t be out of the fourth inning.