The 2023 Running Baseball Thread

Was last year the first time that the teams who played each other in the World Series also played each other in their final game of the regular season?

 

This is a terrible meme, because the Phillies are exactly the type of roster that wins a World Series.

They have 10 guys that have been an All-Star at some point. They have a multiple MVP winner. They have three guys who have won rings. Every hitter in their lineup has an OPS+ 104 or more

And they were literally good enough to be there last year, and won more games this season

 

When was the last time both Championship Series ended in sweeps?

 

Their bullpen is completely meh though. I watched this team take so many leads this season only to see the pitching give it right back in the next inning.

 

But ball go boom.

 

Ball go boom indeed. Question is, how much longer will ball go boom? Will ball go boom throughout this run to a world title or will it be like last year where ball stopped going boom after game three and these guys were colder than Phil Jurkovec at one of those milk jug softball toss games at the fair.

I still can't believe I was at the World Series for game four and saw the no hitter thanks to winning the Phillies ticket lottery.

 

The Phillies have played eight playoff games and have allowed like 16 runs, including two shutouts. While I share BYM2's concerns about their bullpen, their relievers must have been getting people out the last two weeks.

 

I was mostly kidding. They certainly seem capable of running hot and cold, so the offense could disappear quickly. As Gee pointed out, the pitching has been very good in the playoffs, too. It helps that the good version of Nola has been showing up. That can change quickly, too.

 

To be fair to Nola, who has gotten on my nerves for totally different reasons, he's had a lot of starts over the last three years where he's pitched perfectly fine -- like six innings of shut out or one-run ball -- and still lost because they didn't get him the runs.

 

I'm not buying this right now, either. Dominguez is really the only reliever who scares me at this point. Strahm, Alvarado, Soto, Hoffman, Lorenzen, Kerkering -- all have been very effective in the postseason. And Kerkering is an up-and-coming monster with that slider.