60 Seasons of MLB

This is the 61st MLB season since I was born.  One of those seasons (1994) did not end with a World Series, so I have lived through 59 World Series.  If you give each team five points for every year it won a World Series in that time, and you give each team one point for every year it lost a World Series in that time, then the all-time standings in my lifetime look like this:

1.  N.Y. Yankees:  40

2.  Los Angeles:  31

3.  St. Louis:  25

4.  Boston:  23

5.  Oakland:  22

6.  Baltimore:  18

T7.  Cincinnati:  17

T7.  San Francisco:  17

T9.  Atlanta:  14

T9.  Philadelphia:  14

T11.  Houston:  13

T11.  N.Y. Mets:  13

T13.  Detroit:  12

T13.  Kansas City:  12

15.  Toronto:  11

T16.  Miami:  10

T16.  Minnesota:  10

T16.  Pittsburgh:  10

19.  Texas:  7

20.  Arizona:  6

T21.  Chi. Cubs:  5

T21.  Chi. White Sox:  5

T21.  California:  5

T21.  Washington:  5

25.  Cleveland:  3

T26.  San Diego:  2

T26.  Tampa Bay:  2

T28.  Colorado:  1

T28.  Milwaukee:  1

30.  Seattle:  0

It's amazing to think that in my lifetime, there have been exactly two World Series played in Chicago -- one for the White Sox (2005), and one for the Cubs (2016).

The Swingin' A's

Currently lead the AL West.

Top 20 Home Run Hitters of All Time

There used to be lots of lists like this when I was a kid, but I haven't seen this one in years:

1.  Barry Bonds:  762

2.  Henry Aaron:  755

3.  Babe Ruth:  714

4.  Albert Pujols:  703

5.  Alex Rodriguez:  696

6.  Willie Mays:  660

7.  Ken Griffey, Jr.:  630

8.  Jim Thome:  612

9.  Sammy Sosa:  609

10.  Frank Robinson:  586

11.  Mark McGwire:  583

12.  Harmon Killebrew:  573

13.  Rafael Palmeiro:  569

14.  Reggie Jackson:  563

15.  Manny Ramirez:  555

16.  Mike Schmidt:  548

17.  David Ortiz:  541

18.  Mickey Mantle:  536

19.  Jimmie Foxx:  534

T20.  Willie McCovey:  521

T20.  Frank Thomas:  521

T20.  Ted Williams:  521

The highest ranked active player is Giancarlo Stanton, who has 454 homers.

Game Six

As we get closer to baseball season, we still need to work on our coverage of the 2025 World Series -- the best World Series in the last fifty years.

After the Dodgers won Game Three in 18 innings to take a 2-1 lead in the Series, the Blue Jays bounced back with two dominating performances in Dodger Stadium.  In Game Four, Toronto rolled to an easy 6-2 win.  And in Game Five, a dominating pitching performance by Trey Yesavage led the Jays an even easier 6-1 victory.  And so, after five games, the Blue Jays led three games to two, and Toronto only needed to win one more game at home to take the title.

However, all was not lost for the Dodgers, because they had Yoshinobu Yamamoto ready to go.  Yamamoto had pitched a complete game in Game Two to give L.A. a 5-1 victory, and now he was rested for Game Six.  In the regular season, Yamamoto had gone 12-8 with an ERA of 2.49 in 30 starts, and he had been even better in the playoffs.  Toronto responded with Kevin Gausman, who went 10-11 in the regular season with an ERA of 3.59.  Furthermore, George Springer -- the Blue Jay leadoff hitter -- was again healthy and back in the lineup.  A booming, boisterous crowd of 44,710 showed up in Toronto to see if the World Title was returning to Canada for the first time since 1993.

No one reached base in the first two innings, and one realized that the Dodgers had scored only four runs in the last 29 innings of play.  But then, in the top of the third, the Dodger bats finally showed some life.  Tommy Edman whacked a one-out double to right, and the Blue Jays walked Ohtani with two outs to put Dodgers on second and third.  Mookie Betts normally bats behind Ohtani, but Manager Dave Roberts had scrambled the lineup in the hopes of generating more runs, so the next batter was Will Smith, who doubled to left, bringing home Edman and sending Ohtani to third.  Freddy Freeman was up next, and Gausman walked him, loading the bases with two outs for Betts.  Mookie is no longer the hitter he used to be, which is why the Dodgers now play him at shortstop.  In fact, he would go only 4-29 in the World Series, for an average of .138.  But now he came through, pulling a single into left and scoring two huge runs, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings.

Now it was up to Yamamoto to defend that lead.  He immediately gave back one run in the bottom of the third on a double by Addison Barger and a two-out single by Springer.  But that was it.  He retired the Jays in order in the 4th.  He stranded one runner in the 5th.  In the bottom of the 6th, he gave up a two-out double to Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., walked Bo Bichette, and then struck out Daulton Varsho to end the inning.

It was all magnificent, but it was also clear that Yamamoto was finished.  He'd thrown 96 pitches in six innings, allowing only five hits and one run, but he couldn't go any further.  So now the troubled Dodger bullpen had to make that 3-1 lead stand up for three more innings.

First up was Justin Wrobleski, who went 5-5 with a 4.32 ERA in 2025.  He gave up a two out double to Ernie Clement, who was on fire, but struck out Andres Gimenez to end the inning.  Still 3-1 for the Dodgers.

But the Dodgers' offense is in a deep freeze, so the pressure remains on their pitchers.  It's now the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays have had runners in scoring position in each of the last two innings, and the Toronto fans are baying for runs.  The Dodgers now turn to Roki Sasaki, who has been their best relief pitcher in the playoffs, to face the top of Toronto's order.  Springer promptly greets him with a single to left.  Nathan Lukes, who is in a horrific slump, flies out to center, and Sasaki walks the dangerous Guerrero, putting Blue Jays on first and second with one out.  But Sasaki gets Bichette to foul out on a pop up, and he gets Varsho on a grounder to second.  Three outs to go.

Still leading 3-1, the Dodgers sent out Sasaki in the hopes that he could get the last three outs -- but he couldn't do it.  Plainly exhausted, he started the inning by hitting Alejandro Kirk.  And then Barger hit a tremendous drive to left.  At first, it looked like a home run, then it looked like it would surely score Myles Straw, who was running for Kirk.  But then the ball wedged itself between the padding on the left field wall and the ground, and just stuck there.  I've never seen that happen before in my life.  It was a ground rule double.  So, Straw was at third, and Barger was at second, with no one out.  The tying runs were on base, and the Series-winning run was coming to the plate.

That was all for Sasaki.  Pretty much out of good pitchers, Dave Roberts turned to Tyler Glasnow, who had been expected to be the Game Seven starter for L.A.  Obviously, without some excellent pitching, the Dodgers were never going to make it to Game Seven.  So Glasnow entered the game.  He quickly retired Clement on a pop up to Freeman.  One pitch.  One out.

The next batter was Andres Gimenez, the number-nine hitter.  But even if he was retired, Springer -- who had already gone 2-4 in this game, was on deck.  Here's what happened:

Glasnow v. Gimenez:

Pitch 1:  Ball high (1-0)

Pitch 2:  Gimenez hits a sinking line drive to left.  At first, the crowd thinks it's a game-tying single, and there's a huge roar from the crowd.  But the ball is hit just a shade too hard, and it's not sinking fast enough.  Kike Hernandez, the Dodger left fielder, is charging, and he makes the catch on the dead run.  Two outs.  But Hernandez isn't finished, because Barger -- who thought the ball would drop in -- has wandered toward third base.  Now Barger is trying desperately to get back to the bag, but Hernandez never stops -- while still running toward second from his position in left, he immediately pulls the ball from his glove and throws to Miguel Rojas, the Dodger second baseman.  Rojas has a foot on the bag, just like a first baseman, while Barger is now flying back toward second in a head first slide, trying to beat the ball.  Rojas fields the ball on a tricky hop, loses his balance, and falls over backward, holding the ball up in his glove to show the second base umpire that he held on.  Barger is kneeling on the bag, helmet off, watching the umpire -- who immediately signals OUT!  The replay shows that Barger's outstretched fingers were about six inches from the bag when the ball bounced into Rojas's glove.  By the tiniest of margins, the ball has beaten Barger, and the GAME IS OVER.  It's a game ending 7-4 double play, and the Series is TIED at three games apiece.

It had been an amazingly close game.  According to the stats gurus, the Dodgers had a 55 percent chance of winning after the ground rule double put runners on second and third with no out.  In other words, at that point both teams had almost equal chances of victory.  Even after the popup, with one out and men on second and third, Toronto still had a 29 percent chance to win.  Instead, they had lost on a spectacular defensive play.  Yamamoto got his second victory of the Series.

This game was one of the best Game Sixes ever played, and it set up the first Game Seven of the World Series in six years.  And that game would be even better.

The Rest of Game Three

After we stopped blogging Game Three, the Dodgers and Blue Jays played for another nine innings.  A lot happened.  Here are some key moments.

In the top of the tenth, the Dodgers sent out Emmet Sheehan to pitch.  Sheehan was consistently terrible in the Series.  He threw four innings against the Blue Jays.  In those four innings, he allowed seven hits, three walks, and three earned runs, for an ERA of 6.75.  He was bad here.  After retiring Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenes, he allowed a single to Ty France (who had replaced the injured George Springer).  The Blue Jays sent in Davis Schneider to pinch run for France.  The next batter was Nathan Lukes, who went a miserable 4-23 in the Series.  Time and time again, Lukes -- who normally batted between Springer and Guerrero Jr. -- would help the Dodgers by making a key out between those two red-hot sluggers.  And I think Dave Roberts, the Dodgers' manager, expected him to do so again.  Otherwise he would not have left Sheehan on the mound.  But Sheehan was obviously the pitcher Lukes had been waiting to see.  He ripped a double to right field.  My immediate reaction was:  "Oh, no, that will put runners on second and third for Guerrero."  Because the ball was hit too hard to score a runner from first -- it got to Teoscar Hernandez too quickly in right field.  Teoscar whipped a throw to Edman, and when Edman threw home I realized that Schneider was actually trying to score.  But he had no chance, and Edman had another assist.  At the time, I thought that this was a catastrophic blunder by the Blue Jays, and the more I think about it, the worse it was.  The Blue Jays really needed to win Game Three -- they needed to put the Dodgers away before Yamamoto could take the mound for Game Six -- and, in a very real sense, they lost the Series when they failed to score in extra innings.  This was a golden chance, and they lost it.

In the bottom of the eleventh, the Blue Jays walked Ohtani with two out and no one on base.  (They gave him four intentional walks and an unintentional walk in this game).  Betts singled to put runners on first and second.  Now Freeman could win the game with a single, but he went for a home run and flew out to center.

In the top of the twelfth, Sheehan got into more trouble. He walked Alejandro Kirk, who was replaced by Tyler Heineman as a pinch runner.  Myles Straw tried to bunt Heineman to second, but lined out to Freeman.  Clement did advance Heineman to second with a grounder to short.  Sheehan now walked Gimenez to pitch to Schneider, who beat out a ground ball to third -- loading the bases for Lukes.  At this point, the Dodgers brought in Clayton Kershaw (!) to make the absolute final appearance of his baseball career.  It was like a scene out of a movie -- and even more so when Kershaw got Lukes to ground out to second and end the inning.

In the bottom of the thirteenth, Tommy Edman led off with a double, and Miguel Rojas bunted him to third.  Alex Call could have won the game, but he popped up.  With two outs and a runner on third, the Blue Jays walked Ohtani and Betts to pitch to Freeman with the bases loaded.  I wanted Freeman to draw a walk, but instead he drilled a ball to deep center, where it died and was caught to end the inning.

By this point, it was clear that a lot of guys on both sides were playing Home Run Derby.  In the bottom of the fourteenth, Will Smith -- who, to be fair, pretty much always swings for the fences -- absolutely crushed a pitch from Eric Lauer.  Everyone thought the game was over.  Kershaw climbed out of the dugout to begin the celebration.  But, once again, the ball died at the wall.  It had cooled down in Dodger Stadium, and the ball just wasn't carrying.  At this point, I realized that if these guys kept swinging for the fences, they could be there a long time.

And they were.  Again, to me the nine extra innings were the worst stretch of baseball played by both teams.  The Blue Jays, in particular, had a golden chance to feast on the Dodger bullpen, and could not take advantage of it.  Consider these facts.  Dodger pitchers threw 73 innings in the World Series and allowed 32 earned runs, for an ERA of 3.95.  But if you take away the 17 2/3 innings pitched by Yamamoto, and the nine extra innings of Game Three, then the Dodger pitchers allowed 30 earned runs in 46 1/3 innings.  That's an ERA of 5.83.  In other words, when Yamamoto wasn't on the mound, the Blue Jays were scoring almost six runs every nine innings.  In fact, they scored five runs in the first nine innings of Game Three, six runs in Game Four, and six runs in Game Five.  But in the nine extra innings of Game Three, they scored zero runs -- even though they didn't face a single Dodger Ace.  Here's how the Dodgers covered those nine innings:

2 2/3 innings from Emmet Sheehan (0 runs, 3 hits)

1/3 inning from Clayton Kershaw (0 runs, 0 hits)

2 innings from Edgardo Henriquez (0 runs, 0 hits)

4 innings from Will Klein (0 runs, 1 hit)

That's a nine-inning, four-hit shutout from the bottom of the Dodgers' bullpen.  All credit to Will Klein, but he only threw 15 1/3 innings all year.  If you're the Blue Jays, and you want to win the World Series, you have to score off of that guy.

But they did not.  They really had only one more chance.  In the top of the eighteenth, Klein wisely walked Guerrero with one out.  Kiner-Falefa forced Guerrero at second, and then Klein walked Daulton Varsho.  A wild pitch put runners on second and third.  The next batter should have been Alejandro Kirk.  But you will recall that he had been pulled for Heineman, who struck out to end the inning.

By now it was very late.  The Dodgers had Yamamoto warming up in the bullpen, as Klein couldn't go any longer and there weren't any good options left.  The teams had been playing for six hours and thirty-nine minutes.  It was almost midnight in Los Angeles, and almost three A.M. on the East Coast.  I had finally given up and gone to bed after Betts had popped up to end the seventeenth.  But in the bottom of the eighteenth, Freddy Freeman kept swinging for the fences.  And on the videos, you can see the fans perk up when he sends yet another fly toward that center field fence where Varsho's glove had already swallowed so many Dodger efforts.  But there's a moment where the crowd realizes that this time, Varsho isn't just camped at the foot of the wall, waiting for the ball to drop.  This time, Varsho is trying to time a leap -- but he can't quite make it, and the ball is gone and game is finally over.  Wild, exultant celebrations for the Dodgers -- and justified celebrations, because they have managed to win a game without Yamamoto.  It will turn out to be the only time in the Series that they do this.

But it also turned out that they only needed to do it once.

Remembering the Almost-Were's

Usually, the long MLB playoffs reveal that most teams just aren't good enough to win the World Series.  But this year, we had an unusually high number of teams that played well -- but just not quite well enough.  Before we get to the Blue Jays and the Dodgers, let's remember these three teams:

The Phillies:  The Phillies won the National League in 2022, and dominated the NL East all year.  They had a strong veteran team, with guys like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trey Turner who had been there before.  Against the Dodgers, they suffered two heart-breaking losses at home -- 5-3 and 4-3, with the second loss featuring some incredible defensive play by the Dodgers.  In L.A., the Phillies won Game Three in an 8-2 laugher, and then took Game Four to extra innings.  If the Phillies could have won Game Four -- and it was a nail-biter -- they would have forced the Dodgers to fly across the country to play Game Five in Philly.  In the bottom of the 11th, with two out and the bases loaded, the Dodgers sent up Andy Pages -- their worst hitter.  He hit a chopper back to the pitcher, Orion Kerkering, that should have ended the inning.  But Kerkering -- apparently thinking that he had to beat the runner at home (instead of throwing to first for an easy out) hurled the ball past the catcher, allowing the winning run to score and ending Philadelphia's season.  If 2025 turns out to be the last year for this iteration of the Phillies, that is a really heartbreaking way for their run to end.

The Tigers:  For most of the season, the Tigers had the best record in the American League -- then they collapsed.  They were 84-62 on September 10, and then went 3-13 the rest of the way.  They blew a 9 1/2 game lead in the AL Central and just barely secured a Wild Card spot.  Then they rebooted themselves.  They went to Cleveland and eliminated the Guardians in the Wild Card playoffs, and then played an epic Divisional Series with Seattle.  It went the full five games, and the last game was a 15-inning saga won by the Mariners 3 to 2.  Tiger fans will spend the off-season thinking about all the chances they had to win that game.

The Mariners:  After surviving the Tigers, Seattle went to Toronto for the A.L.C.S. -- and promptly took a 2-0 lead, beating the Blue Jays 3-1 and 10-3.  Up two games to zero, and with the next three games in Seattle, the Mariners had to like their chances.  But as we would all learn before the season was over, the Blue Jays are not easy to eliminate.  They struck back, beating the Mariners 13-4 and 8-2 to tie the series.  But Seattle rode an 8th-inning grand slam for a 6-2 victory in Game Five, putting the Mariners back in charge of the series.  The dauntless Blue Jays hammered Seattle 6-2 to tie the Series again, and the Mariners had to play a second winner-take-all game.  It was a classic.  Going into the bottom of the 7th, Seattle was sitting on a 3-1 lead, and was only nine outs from winning the pennant.  But the Jays rallied one more time, and Springer's three-run homer gave Toronto a 4-3 lead.  The Mariners ended up facing the exact same scenario that the Dodgers would face in Game Seven of the World Series:  down 4-3 in the top of the ninth, with Jeff Hoffman on the mound for the Blue Jays and the Toronto fans baying for victory.  Unlike the Dodgers, Seattle went down 1-2-3, and their fans were left to reflect that Seattle remains the only franchise in MLB that has never gone to the World Series.

And remember, all this drama took place before the World Series even began.

Ten Best World Series Since 1975

We are probably going to have a lot to say about the 2025 MLB season.  The quality of play throughout the playoffs, the excellence of the World Series, and the meaning of this season to Dodger and Blue Jay fans, all justify more coverage than usual.  But to begin with, let's place this World Series in context.  Tim Kurkjian, who has covered the last 44 World Series, said last night that it was the best one he has covered.  Of course, I believe that the 1975 Classic, between the Reds and Red Sox, is the best World Series ever played.  I would still rank that Series above this one, in large part due to the cultural significance of the Big Red Machine and Red Sox Nation.  The Red Sox play a big role in Field of Dreams, and Game Six of the 1975 Series drives a critical plot point in Good Will Hunting, and I don't expect this World Series to have that type of cultural cachet -- although I could see it having a big impact on Canadians of a certain age.

But what about since 1975?  What are the ten best World Series since Carl Yastrzemski flew out to end that Series.  Here is my list:

1.  2025.  We'll be discussing this Series further.

2.  2001.  The last stand of the last great Yankee dynasty.  That series had a lot in common with this one, except that the D-Backs (unlike the Blue Jays) got their game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth.

3.  1986.  Another Boston classic, and I always found that Mets team to be uniquely charismatic.

4.  2016.  The Cubs finally break the curse, although the curse remains for Cleveland.

5.  1991.  A series that was extremely beloved at the time, and Game Seven remains a classic for the ages.

6.  2011.  A great series that would have gotten a lot more cultural attention if folks in Dallas cared very much about the Rangers.

7.  2014.  The Bruce Bochy Giants were a wonderful team, and in my opinion, this was their greatest moment.

8.  1997.  If there were any Florida Marlins fans -- or if Cleveland had won this series -- this excellent contest would get more credit.

9.  1979.  We Are Family!  A fitting end to a wonderful decade of baseball.

10.  1985.  Yes, the Cardinals should have won it in six games.  But the Dodgers shouldn't have pitched to Jack Clark in Game Six of the N.L.C.S.  You have to take the bad with the good.

Month of MLB: Day 30

From a fan perspective, basketball expands as the season goes on.  You can see this in Hoosiers.  At the beginning of the season, only the most devoted fans are showing up to watch practice, gossip about new coaches, and generally tracking the performance of their favorite team.  But by the end of the state tournament, the whole state of Indiana is tuned in.

Baseball runs the opposite way.  In June, say, baseball is everywhere -- high school baseball, little league baseball, college baseball.  Thirty different major league teams, dozens of minor league teams, all going day and night.  During the summer, lots of casual fans go to baseball games, eat hot dogs, talk to their friends, and generally enjoy the Great American Pastime.  Other folks play catch, hit Wiffle Balls, or simply teach their grandchildren how to break in a new glove.  But as the baseball year goes on, the world of baseball grows more concentrated.  The schools and colleges are generally finished with baseball by the end of June.  The minors are mostly done by the end of August.  And by early September, most casual fans have moved on to football season.

By the beginning of October, the world of baseball consists of the 12 fanbases who have reached the playoffs, along with the small number of die-hards who like to watch baseball on television, even when they don't have a rooting interest.  Soon the 12 fan bases are down to 8.  Then the 8 are down to 4, and then the 4 to two.

Today, October 29, is Game Five of the World Series.  It will be the last game of the year in Dodger Stadium -- the last game of the year in the United States, for this season is ending in Toronto, Canada.  The only folks left are Dodgers fans, Blue Jay fans, and those folks who watch baseball on TV.  It's a small community -- but an intense one.  There's something uniquely cozy about watching the last few games of the season on television, and knowing that the only other people watching are people who really love baseball.  This isn't the Super Bowl, or the Final Four, or any event where folks sit around eating snacks and talking over the commentators.  We are here because we love the game, and we really want to see who will win.  It's concentrated fandom -- like how you can concentrate light to make a laser.

This year, the MLB playoffs have been extremely hard fought.  The Dodgers had a brutal four-game series with the Phillies.  The Mariners and Tigers resolved their series with a 15-inning Game Five.  The Blue Jays and Mariners went the full seven games to decide the American League.  And the Dodgers and Blue Jays are tied two-all after four games -- and one of those games went 18 innings.  After losing an 18-inning heartbreaker in Game Three, the Blue Jays bounced back to smash the Dodgers 6-2 yesterday.  So now the Dodgers and Blue Jays will play best two of three for all the marbles.

Here is the Toronto lineup (note that George Springer is still injured):

1.  Davis Schneider, LF (.234, 11 HR's, and 31 RBI's in 188 AB's)

2.  Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., 1B (.292, 23, 84)

3.  Bo Bichette, DH (.311, 18, 94)

4.  Alejandro Kirk, C (.282, 15, 76)

5.  Daulton Varsho, CF (.238, 20, 55)

6.  Ernie Clement, 3B (.277, 9, 50)

7.  Addison Barger, RF (.243, 21, 74)

8.  Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 2B (.262, 2, 40)

9.  Andres Gimenez, SS (.210, 7, 35)

Starting Pitcher:  Trey Yesavage (1-0, 3.21 ERA in three regular season starts)

Yesavage is 2-1 with a 4.26 ERA in four post-season starts.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have scored only three runs in the last 20 innings, and they are reorganizing their lineup.  Andy Pages has been benched, and the lineup now looks like this:

1.  Shohei Ohtani, DH (.282, 55 HR's, 102 RBI's)

2.  Will Smith, C (.296, 17, 61)

3.  Mookie Betts, SS (.258, 20, 82)

4.  Freddie Freeman, 1B (.295, 24, 90)

5.  Teoscar Hernandez, RF (.247, 25, 89)

6.  Tommy Edman, 2B (.225, 13, 49)

7.  Max Muncy, 3B (.243, 19, 67)

8.  Kike Hernandez, CF (.203, 10, 35 in 232 AB's)

9.  Alex Call, LF (.267, 5, 31 in 270 AB's)

Starting Pitcher:  Blake Snell (5-4, 2.35 ERA in 11 regular season starts)

Snell is 3-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four post-season starts.

This is the last game where we are assured of at least one more game, so this will probably be the last live-blog of the season by me.  I will only say that I have rooted for the Dodgers for 52 years, and during most of that time I cared more about how I felt than I did about how they felt.  But this is my favorite Dodger team since I was 12 years old, and honestly I want them to win this Series more for themselves -- and their place in history -- than for me.  But if they do not win it, I will know that they were beaten by a great, great Blue Jay team.  This whole month of MLB has been a joy, and both these teams deserve their place in history.

Month of MLB: Day 29

And what a month it has been.  Last night, the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 6-5 in 18 innings, thanks to a walk-off home run by Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 18th.  At some point, I will have a lot more to say about this game.  But I will be on business travel today and tomorrow, and I probably won't be able to write about the Series for a while.

Month of MLB: Day 28

Tonight's starting pitchers for Game Three at Dodger Stadium:

For Toronto:  Max Scherzer (5-5, 5.19 ERA in 17 starts)

For Los Angeles:  Tyler Glasnow (4-3, 3.19 ERA in 18 starts)

Month of MLB: Day 27

Thoughts from the first two games of the World Series.

1.  Blake Snell has been a huge weapon for the Dodgers in the playoffs so far.  Snell was sidelined for much of the regular season with injuries, and only had 11 starts this year.  But when healthy, he is a Big Time pitcher.  He won the Cy Young Award in 2018 for the Rays, going 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA.  He won it again in 2023 for the Padres, going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA.  And in the playoffs, he has been formidable:

In Game One against the Phillies, he gave up no runs and only one hit in six innings, as the Dodgers won 4-3.

In Game One against the Brewers, he gave up no runs and only one hit in eight innings, as the Dodgers won 2-1.

So it made sense for him to start Game One here.  But it was clear from the beginning that the Blue Jays were causing many more problems for him than the Phillies or Brewers had done.  Through five innings, he battled gamely, and the score was tied at two.  However, in the bottom of the sixth, he walked Bo Bichette, allowed a single to Alejandro Kirk, and hit Daulton Varsho to load the bases with no one out.  At that point, Snell had already thrown 100 pitches, and he was plainly done.  The Dodgers had to go to their non-existent bullpen, and the results were disastrous:  the Blue Jays promptly scored NINE RUNS in the bottom of the 6th to take an 11-2 lead, and Toronto cruised to an 11-4 victory.  It was a very impressive display from the Jays, who handled Snell much better than the teams in the NL playoffs had done, and who exploded once they weren't facing a two-time Cy Young winner.

2.  That put enormous pressure on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who started for the Dodgers in Game Two.  The last time we saw Yamamoto, he was pitching a complete game victory in Milwaukee to put the Dodgers in charge of the N.L.C.S.  And the Dodgers needed a similar performance last night.

They got one.  Yamamoto pitched one of the best games we've seen in the World Series during the 21st century.  He dominated the Jays, pitching a COMPLETE GAME and allowing only one run on four hits.  He struck out eight and walked none.  He only threw 105 pitches.  It was a tribute to old-school, pre-analytics baseball, and the saying that Good Pitching Beats Good Hitting.  It was the first complete game in the World Series since 2015.  Yamamoto became the first pitcher to throw two complete games in a row during the playoffs since Curt Schilling in 2001.

The Dodger bats struggled for the first six innings, and the game was tied at one going into the seventh.  But Will Smith and Max Muncy hit solo homers to give the Yamamoto a 3-1 lead after 6 1/2 innings, and that was more than enough for the victory.  The Dodgers tacked on a couple of insurance runs against the Toronto bullpen, and tied the series with a 5-1 win.

3.  So now we go to Dodger Stadium for the next three games.  To me, it looks as though the key issue is whether the Dodgers' starting pitching can hold up against the Blue Jays' hitters.  This also feels like it could be the sort of series -- like the Blue Jays/Mariners series -- where the title will go to whichever team can win a close game at the end.

On the whole, I think teams are doing a really good job of recognizing that the regular season doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to, and the playoffs are the whole ball game.  You can see this, for example, in how the Dodgers are employing a completely different strategy for using their pitching staff in the playoffs than they used during the regular season.  Similarly, you can see how the Blue Jays are a contact-hitting team that doesn't just swing for the fences, like most teams were doing a few years ago.  These adjustments have resulted in a very high quality of play during the playoffs so far, and one of the most wide-open World Series that I can remember.

The 1977 Dodgers and the 2025 Dodgers

When I was 11 years old, the Dodgers sent 98-64, won the National League, and lost the World Series to Reggie Jackson and the Yankees.  Ever since then, I thought that was the best Dodger team I've seen.  Yes, other teams actually won the World Series.  But to me, the 1977 Dodgers were actually the strongest Dodger team I could remember.  Here are their top 12 players by Wins Above Replacement:

1.  Reggie Smith, RF (.307, 32 HR's, 87 RBI's) (6.1 WAR)

2.  Burt Hooten, SP (12-7, 2.62 ERA in 223 innings) (5.4)

3.  Davey Lopes, 2B (.283, 11, 53) (47 stolen bases) (4.7)

4.  Don Sutton, SP (14-8, 3.18 ERA in 240 innings) (4.5)

5.  Tommy John, SP (20-7, 2.78 ERA in 220 innings) (4.4)

6.  Steve Garvey, 1B (.297, 33, 115) (3.8)

7.  Ron Cey, 3B (.241, 30, 110) (3.6)

8.  Dusty Baker, LF (.291, 30, 86) (3.5)

9.  Rick Rhoden, SP (16-10, 3.74 ERA in 216 innings) (3.0)

10.  Doug Rau, SP (14-8, 3.43 ERA in 212 innings) (3.0)

11.  Bill Russell, SS (.278, 4, 51) (3.0)

12.  Steve Yeager, C (.256, 16, 55) (2.9)

Now here are the top 12 players for the 2025 Dodgers:

1.  Shohei Ohtani, DH-SP (.282, 55, 102) (1-1, 2.87 ERA in 47 innings) (7.7)

2.  Yoshinobu Yamamoto, SP (12-8, 2.49 ERA in 173 innings) (5.0)

3.  Mookie Betts, SS (.258, 20, 82) (4.8)

4.  Will Smith, C (.296, 17, 61) (4.5)

5.  Andy Pages, CF (.272, 27, 86) (3.8)

6.  Max Muncy, 3B (.243, 19, 67) (3.6)

7.  Freddie Freeman, 1B (.295, 24, 90) (3.5)

8.  Tyler Glasnow, SP (4-3, 3.19 ERA in 90 innings) (1.9)

9.  Miguel Rojas, Utility Infielder (.262, 7, 27) (1.9)

10.  Clayton Kershaw, SP (11-2, 3.36 ERA in 112 innings) (1.6)

11.  Hyeseong Kim, 2B (.280, 3, 17 in 161 AB's) (1.6)

12.  Teoscar Hernandez, RF (.247, 25, 89) (1.5)

I don't have any analysis yet -- I just wanted to see what the data looked like for now.  There's a lot to think about here.

Spare a Thought for the Mariners

In my experience as a fan, nothing is more emotionally difficult that having your team eliminated deep in the MLB playoffs.  If you get this far into the baseball season -- especially if you reach Game Seven of the LCS -- you have really been through a lot with your team.  The Mariners played 174 official games this season.  They played 12 playoff games, one of which went 15 innings.  In the last game of the season, they had a 3-1 lead at the seventh-inning stretch, and were only nine outs away from their first pennant in history.  Even at the end, they still had a chance -- their season ended with Cal Raleigh, their star, the guy who hit 60 regular season home runs, who homered in this game -- on deck.  But all three of their batters in the ninth inning struck out, and Raleigh never got another chance.

Now as a fan, there is no getting over this type of loss.  It will never stop hurting.  Because you were right there.  It's not like you had no chance.  Every Mariner fan knows, in his or her heart, that their team is just as good as Toronto.  But that's not what the record books will show.

I've watched a lot of playoff series in my time, and I have rarely seen one more evenly matched, or where the players seemed to play with more serious effort.  There was enormous pressure on both teams, and both of them played well.

Mariner fans will spend the rest of their lives replaying that seventh inning.  Should they have left Woo in the game?  Should they have brought in someone other than Bazardo?  Should they have walked Springer to set up the force at every base?  I can still remember watching Tommy Lasorda -- my favorite manager of all time -- leaving in Tom Niedenfuer to pitch to Jack Clark in Game Six of the 1985 N.L.C.S.  I knew that Clark would hit the game-winning (and pennant-winning) home run, and he did.  I still think Lasorda made a mistake.  And it's possible that Seattle manager Dan Wilson -- a man who played 12 seasons for the Mariners, and who wants them to win the pennant more than anyone else -- made a mistake tonight.  We will never know.

But it is the genius of baseball that it forces difficult choices on everyone.  Tonight Wilson got caught in a basic principle of baseball -- one that Earl Weaver described years ago, in one of my favorite baseball quotes of all time:

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock.  You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance.  That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."

So you shouldn't blame the Mariners, or Dan Wilson, or Eduard Bazardo.  Give credit to the Blue Jays, who pulled off a miracle comeback and who really deserve the 2025 American League Pennant.  Give credit to George Springer, who had his chance -- and who took it.

As for the Mariners' fans, they can always take comfort in another great baseball quote:  Wait 'til next year.

Month of MLB: Day 22

Tonight we finish the American League Championship Series.  Here's what has happened so far (home teams listed first):

Oct. 12:  Toronto 1 - 3 Seattle

Oct. 13:  Toronto 3 - 10 Seattle

Oct. 15:  Seattle 4 - 13 Toronto

Oct. 16:  Seattle 2 - 8 Toronto

Oct. 17:  Seattle 6 - 2 Toronto

Oct. 19:  Toronto 6 - 2 Seattle

Seattle won the two games that were close late -- Game One and Game Five.  But Toronto has three easy wins from Games Three, Four, and Six.

Tonight the Mariners will be starting George Kirby (10-8, ERA of 4.21 in 23 starts).  In four years with the Mariners, Kirby has a record of 45-34 with an ERA of 3.58 in 112 starts.

The Blue Jays are going with Shane Bieber (4-2, ERA of 3.57 in seven starts).  During seven years in Cleveland, Bieber was a strong pitcher, going 62-32 with an ERA of 3.22.  But in April 2024, he had to have Tommy John surgery, and he was traded to Toronto while he was recovering.  He returned from surgery on August 22 and has been mostly solid ever since.

After years of being dominated by Houston, the American League has seen a long and arduous set of playoffs.  The Blue Jays took four games to beat the Yankees.  The Mariners needed five games to beat Detroit, and the last game went 15 innings.  Now the Blue Jays and Mariners have gone the distance.  Obviously, there was no dominant team in the Junior Circuit this year, but whoever wins tonight will have earned their crown.

Month of MLB: Day 21

Well, I had to do a lot of travel last week, and while I was gone there was all kinds of MLB drama.  In the National League, the Dodgers used their strong starting pitching to destroy the Brewers' lineup.  For some time, I've thought that teams were not getting as much out of their starters as they could be doing, and the Dodgers have applied that theory to these playoffs.  Look at what happened in the N.L.C.S.:

Game One:  Dodger starter Blake Snell gave up one hit and zero runs in eight innings.  The Brewers clawed back a run in the bottom of the 9th against the Dodgers' shaky bullpen, but they left the bases loaded to end the game.  Dodgers 2, Brewers 1

Game Two:  Dodger starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up three hits and one run in nine innings, as he pitched the first complete game in an LCS since 2017.  Dodgers 5, Brewers 1

Game Three:  Dodger starter Tyler Glasnow gave up three hits and one run in five and two-thirds innings, and for once the Dodger bullpen pitched well.  Dodgers 3, Brewers 1

Game Four: With the Brewers on the brink, the Dodgers rolled out Shohei Ohtani to pitch Game Four.  Last year, Ohtani's first with the Dodgers, they didn't pitch him at all.  But this year, they gave him 14 starts -- usually pulling him after a few innings.  He only threw 47 innings all year, but he was ready to go in the playoffs.  He beat the Phillies in Game One of the Divisional Series, and he was great against the Brewers on Friday night:  two hits and zero runs in six innings.  He walked three and struck out 10.  But of course, Ohtani is not just a pitcher -- he bats leadoff for the Dodgers.  This time, he led off the bottom of the first with a home run.  In the fourth inning, he blasted a home run over the right field pavilion and completely out of the stadium -- only the ninth time in the history of Dodger Stadium that a home run has left the building.  And finally, in the 7th, he homered to left-center field -- his third home run of the game.  Dodgers 5, Brewers 1.  It's one of the most amazing games played in the history of baseball -- and underscores the fact that only Babe Ruth can seriously be compared to Ohtani in terms of all around baseball talent.  There literally has never been anyone else like him, and he was rightfully named the N.L.C.S. MVP.  But it shouldn't be lost that once again, the Brewers' offense was completely stymied by Dodger pitching.  When it was all over, the top of the list of National League Pennant Winners during the World Series Era looked like this:

1.  Dodgers:  23 (8-14 in the World Series)

2.  Giants:  20 (8-12)

3.  Cardinals:  19 (11-8)

4.  Cubs:  11 (3-8)

5.  Braves:  10 (4-6)

6.  Reds:  9 (5-4)

7.  Phillies:  8 (2-6)

8.  Pirates:  7 (5-2)

Meanwhile, over in the American League, the Blue Jays rolled into Seattle down two games to zero.  Unlike Milwaukee, however, Toronto's bats woke up on the road.  In Game Three, the Blue Jays hammered out five home runs and 18 hits in a 13-4 laugher.  In Game Four, they tacked on two more homers (and 11 more hits) in an 8-2 win.  So by Friday night, the series was tied at two games apiece.

The stakes for Game Five -- potentially the last game of the year in Seattle -- were enormous for both teams, and the game itself was excellent.  Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2d, but the Blue Jays pushed across runs in the fifth and sixth to take a 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 8th, with the Mariners still down 2-1 and facing the prospect of being swept at home, Cal Raleigh came up to the plate.  Raleigh is the star of this Mariners team -- the only switch-hitting catcher to ever hit 60 home runs in a single season.  Now the huge crowd at T-Mobile Park pleaded for him to save their season.  Remarkably, he did -- golfing a low pitch in a huge parabola into the left field seats and tying the game.  Smartly, Seattle went for the kill after that -- a few batters later, the bases were loaded for Eugenio Suarez, who already had a solo homer in this game.  Suarez settled the game with a Grand Slam to right, sending the Seattle fans into well-deserved ecstasy.  The Final Score was Seattle 6, Toronto 2 -- and if that turns out to be the last game of the year in Seattle, at least the Mariner fans had an evening of joy.

But, of course, the American League title has not yet been decided.  Seattle leads three games to two, and both teams are now back in Toronto for the wrap up.  The Mariners can win the pennant tonight with a victory, or the Blue Jays can win and force Game Seven.  Here are the lineups:

Seattle Mariners (90-72):

1.  Julio Rodriguez, CF (.267, 32 HR's, 95 RBI's)

2.  Cal Raleigh, C (.247, 60, 125)

3.  Jorge Polanco, DH (.265, 26, 78)

4.  Josh Naylor, 1B (.295, 20, 92)

5.  Randy Arozarena, LF (.238, 27, 76)

6.  Eugenio Suarez, 3B (.228, 49, 118)

7.  J.P. Crawford, SS (.265, 12, 58)

8.  Dominic Canzone, RF (.300, 11, 32 in 243 AB's)

9.  Leo Rivas, 2B (.244, 2, 9 in 90 AB's)

Starting Pitcher:  Logan Gilbert (6-6, 3.44 ERA in 25 starts)

Toronto Blue Jays (94-68):

1.  George Springer, DH (.309, 32 HR's, 84 RBI's)

2.  Nathan Lukes, LF (.255, 12, 65)

3.  Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., 1B (.292, 23, 84)

4.  Alejandro Kirk, C (.282, 15, 76)

5.  Daulton Varsho, CF (.238, 20, 55 in 248 AB's)

6.  Ernie Clement, 3B (.277, 9, 50)

7.  Addison Barger, RF (.243, 21, 74)

8.  Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS (.262, 2, 40)

9.  Andres Gimenez, 2B (.210, 7, 35)

Starting Pitcher:  Trey Yesavage (1-0, 3.21 ERA in three starts)

Yes, you saw that correctly:  the Blue Jays are starting a pitcher who had only three MLB starts in the regular season.  Yesavage is a rookie who began the year with the Dunedin (Fla.) Blue Jays in Low-A baseball.  After striking out 55 batters in 33 1/3 innings, he was promoted to the Vancouver Canadians in High-A baseball in May.  In Vancouver, he had 33 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings over four starts.  So he went to the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he had 46 strikeouts in 30 innings.  So they moved him up to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.  There he had an ERA of 3.63 and 20 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings.  So they brought him up to the Big Club, and he bedeviled the Yankees in the Divisional Series, striking out 11 and allowing no runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched as the Blue Jays rolled to a 13-7 victory.  He was not so successful in Game Two of this LCS -- giving up four hits and five runs in four innings of Game Two, as the Mariners rolled to an easy 10-3 win.  So it's a risky move starting the 22-year-old in this game, and you have to think that the Blue Jays will have him on a short leash tonight.

One more point:  the Mariners are the only team in MLB that has never appeared in the World Series.  In 1995, they reached the ALCS but were beaten by the Indians.  In 2000 and 2001, they had awesome teams, but lost back-to-back ALCS's to the Yankees, who had one of the greatest teams of all time.  This is the first time the Mariners have ever won three games in the ALCS, so this is the closest to the World Series they have ever been.  On the other hand, the Blue Jays haven't been to the World Series since 1993, so their fans will be very pumped up tonight.  It should be a great game.

Month of MLB: Day 16

The Dodgers take a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series thanks to a COMPLETE GAME by Yoshinobu Yamamoto.  He was spectacular:  111 pitches, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts -- and NINE INNINGS PITCHED.  He beat the Brewers -- on their home field -- by the score of 5 to 1.  It was spectacular, and it was the first complete game in a League Championship Series since 2017.

So after two games each, the League Championship Series look like this:

Milwaukee 0 - 2 Los Angeles

Toronto 0 - 2 Seattle

Tomorrow is a travel day for the National League, while the Blue Jays head to Seattle for Game Three, which will start at 7:08 PM Central Time.

Month of MLB, Day 13

 I'm not sure I can remember a more dramatic collection of Divisional Series.  The Phillies were eliminated on a heartbreaking play in the bottom of the 11th, when they were so close to forcing a Game Five in Philly.  The Tigers pushed the Mariners for over five hours, before finally losing 3-2 in the bottom of the 15th.  And, after falling behind two games to nothing, the Cubs fought back with two wins in a row before losing 3-1 in Milwaukee.

So now there are only four teams left:  the Dodgers, the Brewers, the Blue Jays, and the Mariners.  The Dodgers are a traditional power.  But the Brewers haven't reached the World Series since 1982, the Blue Jays haven't been there since 1993, and the Mariners have never been there.  Remember these facts when they shut down MLB in 2027 on the grounds that we need more parity.

Toronto and Seattle begin things tonight.  They both joined MLB in the same year -- 1977, a great year for sports.  Here's how they've done:

Toronto:  3,855-3,856 (.4999), 2 World Championships, 2 Pennants

Top Nine Blue Jays by wins above replacement:

1.  Dave Steib:  56.8

2.  Roy Halliday:  48.0 (only Blue Jay with a retired number)

3.  Jose Bautista:  38.4

4.  Tony Fernandez:  37.5

5.  Carlos Delgado:  36.8

6.  Jimmy Key:  29.6

7.  Jesse Barfield:  29.5

8.  Vernon Wells:  28.7

9.  Pat Hentgen:  26.5

Toronto's record in the ALCS (2-5):  1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2015, 2016

Seattle:  3,689-4,022 (.478), 0 World Championships, 0 Pennants

Top Nine Mariners by wins above replacement:

1.  Ken Griffey, Jr.:  70.6

2.  Edgar Martinez:  68.4

3.  Ichiro Suzuki:  56.4

4.  Felix Hernandez:  49.8

5.  Randy Johnson:  39.0

6.  Alex Rodriguez:  38.1

7.  Kyle Seager:  37.0

8.  Jamie Moyer:  34.4

9.  Robinson Cano:  23.9

Seattle's record in the ALCS (0-3):  1995, 2000, 2001

Month of MLB, Day 11

Let's take some time to appreciate the Dodgers/Phillies series.  In my 50 years as a Dodger fan, I've seen the Dodgers play the Phillies in the playoffs six different times.  The Dodgers beat the Phillies (in heartbreaking fashion) in the 1977 and 1978 National League Championship Series.  The Phillies upset the Dodgers to win the 1983 National League Championship Series.  And then the Phillies dominated the Dodgers in the 2008 and 2009 NLCS.  So the Dodgers had not eliminated the Phillies since 1978.  The Phillies also had the home field advantage.  But the Dodgers overcame those challenges.  Here is how they did it:

Game One:  The Dodgers have a few good pitchers, and they have to use them with great care.  So they opened Game One in Citizens Bank Park with Shohei Ohtani on the mound.  After not pitching at all in 2024, Ohtani started 14 games this year, but he only threw 47 innings, going 1-1 with an ERA of 2.87.  I think the Dodgers were just trying to get him in pitching shape for the playoffs, and that approach mostly worked.  Ohtani got off to a rough beginning -- giving up three runs in the second inning.  But he calmed down after that, and finished with a quality start:  6 innings, 3 runs, 9 strikeouts, 1 walk.  Meanwhile, the rest of the Dodgers fought back with a two-run double from Kike Hernandez in the top of the 6th, and a three-run homer from Teoscar Hernandez in the top of the 7th.  The Dodgers got through the last three innings by using Tyler Glasnow (who started 18 games) and rookie Roki Sasaki (who started 8 games) to get eight of the last nine outs, and the Dodgers won 5-3.

Game Two:  This game was the epic wheel play struggle that we discussed the other day.  The Dodgers' troubled bullpen almost blew a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth, but the combination of the wheel play and Sasaki -- who retired Trey Turner to end the game -- allowed the Dodgers to escape Philly with a 4-3 win, and a 2-0 lead in the series.

Game Three:  Out in Dodger Stadium, the Phillies finally got their offense going.  Former Nat Kyle Schwarber blasted two home runs.  The Dodgers were forced to use Clayton Kershaw, their former ace who is retiring at the end of the season, and the Phillies hammered him for five runs over two innings.  When it was over, Philly had an easy 8-2 win.

Game Four:  This game was probably going to be the decider.  It seemed highly unlikely that the Dodgers would lose two games at home, fly across the country to Philly, and beat the Phils on Saturday Night in Game Five.  If L.A. was going to advance, they had to do it yesterday.  

For us Gen X fans, MLB put on a wonderful show.  First, they scheduled the game for 3:08 PM Dodger Time, which meant that most of the game was played in beautiful sunlight.  Second, the Dodger fans -- who are much rowdier than when I was a kid -- really understood the gravity of the moment and were in good voice all night.  Third, the Phillies broke out the old powder blue uniforms from the 1970's.  They normally wear these uniforms as a home alternate -- but, of course, that makes no sense; they were originally meant to be worn on the road.  So you would watch this game and almost believe that you had returned to 1978.  And I have very fond memories of that year.

As for the game itself, it was a cracker.  Glasnow started for the Dodgers, and he was spectacular:  6 innings, 2 hits, no runs.  The Phillies went with Cristopher Sanchez, and he was also great.  After six innings both teams were tied at zero.  In the top of the 7th, the Dodgers went to Emmet Sheehan -- yet another starter they are bringing in from the bullpen.  J.T. Realmuto greeted him with a single.  Max Kepler forced Realmuto at second, but advanced to second himself on an error.  Nick Castellanos doubled Kepler home, and Philly had a 1-0 lead.

They didn't keep it long.  With one out, Alex Call walked and Kike Hernandez singled him to second.  That was all for Sanchez, who was replaced by Jhoan Duran.  A groundout by Andy Pages advanced the runners to second and third and brought up the top of the order.  The Phils decided to intentionally walk Ohtani (who went 0-4 in the game) to load the bases for Mookie Betts.  With the Dodger fans howling, Betts worked out a walk, and the game was tied.  The Dodgers had a chance to blow the game open, but Teoscar Hernandez struck out.

With the game tied at one after seven, both teams settled in for a battle of attrition.  The Phillies' bullpen prevented the Dodgers from getting even a hit in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings.  The Dodgers responded by once again turning to Sasaki.  This time he was spectacular:  three innings, no hits, no walks, no runs.  And so it was still 1-all going to the 11th.

In the top of the 11th, the Dodgers got a scoreless inning from Alex Vesia, who is just about the only relief pitcher that they still trust.  But clearly the Dodgers were running out of arms, and the pressure was on to do something in the bottom of the inning.  Here's what happened.

The Phillies were pitching Jesus Luzardo, another starter moved to the bullpen for playoff purposes.  Luzardo had pitched well in the 10th.  He started the 11th by striking out Freddie Freeman.  Tommy Edman, batting fifth, singled to left.  Dave Roberts sent in Hyeseong Kim to run for Edman.  Will Smith lined out to center.  Two outs.  But then Max Muncy singled to center, sending Kim to third and keeping the Dodgers' chances alive.  At this point, the Phillies pulled Luzardo and sent in Orion Kerkering (8-4, 33.30 ERA in 69 appearances) to face Kike Hernandez, batting 8th.  Hernandez walked, loading the bases for Andy Pages, who was batting .042 in the series.

Meanwhile, let's talk about what I had been doing.  For years now, I have been suffering from a worsening case of the "yips" as a sports fan.  I can still watch hours and hours of sports -- so long as I don't really care much about the outcome.  But if I have a strong rooting interest, I find it extremely difficult to sit still and watch the game -- my pessimism is so great that it's a struggle to stay in front of the TV.  I skipped Game One altogether.  I could watch Game Two, because even if the Dodgers lost the series would still be tied at one apiece.  I skipped Game Three.

So now it was Game Four, and I knew the Dodgers had to win.  My first move was to go radio silent for two hours.  The advantage of this move is that by the time you check in, one team or the other could have a big lead.  Instead, it was 0-0 in the top of the 7th.  I checked in later and saw the Dodgers tie the game in the bottom of the 7th.  I hoped to see the Dodgers win in the bottom of the 9th, but they didn't.  After the bottom of the 10th, I turned off the TV.  I wandered the house, trying to figure out how much longer the game would last.  When I turned on my iPad to check the score, the Dodgers had runners on 1st and 3d with two out in the bottom of the 11th.  So I turned on the Dodger radio broadcast in time to hear the walk that loaded the bases.

This, then, is the situation:  The bases are loaded.  There are two outs.  The Dodgers' worst hitter is at the plate.  Dodger Stadium is going nuts.  And I'm in my bedroom listening to Dodger Radio on my iPad.  I was pleading with Pages not to swing at all and hope for a walk.  Meanwhile, on the TBS broadcast, they were reminding the viewers that the force was available at any base.

And I think it's that force play that Kerkering must have had in mind when he saw Pages hit a slow dribbler toward the mound.  All Kerkering has to do is pick up the ball and throw back to the catcher.  The inning will be over.  But Kerkering bobbles the ball.  It's not a huge bobble.  There's still plenty of time to throw Pages out at first.  Realmuto, the Phillies' catcher, is standing on home plate -- pointing to first, because that's where the throw should be.  But Kerkering was apparently still thinking of that force at home -- and by now Kim, the pinch runner, who broke with the pitch, is about to cross the plate.  So Kerkering hurls the ball toward the plate.  He misses everything -- Realmuto, Kim, the umpire -- and the ball goes to the screen.  Kim comes home, Pages makes it safe to first, and the Dodgers win the series, three games to one.

Once again, the series had turned on a tricky defensive play.  In Game Two, the Dodgers pulled off a perfect wheel play to kill the Phillies key rally.  In Game Four, Kerkering lost track of the situation and tried to make an impossible play at home instead of an easy play at first.  It's precisely the type of challenging play that should resolve a playoff series, and this year it was the difference between the Dodgers and the Phillies.

In the nightcap, the Cubs dominated Milwaukee 6-0 to force a Game Five in that series.  So the Divisional Series now look like this:

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

Milwaukee 2 - 2 Chicago

Philadelphia 1 - 3 Los Angeles

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

Toronto 3 - 1 New York

Seattle 2 - 2 Detroit

This has been a really good year for the Divisional Series.  We had no sweeps and two Game Fives.  Here's the schedule:

Friday, October 10:

7:08 P.M. Central:  Detroit at Seattle (FOX)

Saturday, October 11:

7:08 P.M. Central:  Chicago at Milwaukee (TBS)

Month of MLB, Day 10

Four potential elimination games yesterday, but only one team was eliminated.  Here were the scores (home teams listed first):

Detroit 9 - 3 Seattle

Chicago 4 - 3 Milwaukee

New York 2 - 5 Toronto

Los Angeles 2 - 8 Philadelphia

So the Yankees are eliminated, and the Divisional Series look like this:

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

Milwaukee 2 - 1 Chicago

Philadelphia 1 - 2 Los Angeles

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

Toronto 3 - 1 New York

Seattle 2 - 2 Detroit

Blue Jays reach the ALCS for the first time since they lost the ALCS in both 2015 and 2016.  I had completely forgotten about those Blue Jay teams, even though I not only watched them -- I wrote about them for the HP.

Two more games in the Senior Circuit today (all times Central):

5:08 P.M.:  Philadelphia at Los Angeles (TBS)

8:08 P.M.:  Milwaukee at Chicago (TBS)

It is, of course, unbelievably silly to make the folks in Milwaukee and Chicago stay up until 11:30 P.M. Central to find out who won their game.  Almost no one actually sit up, by the way -- the whole Central Time Zone is usually in bed by 11 P.M. Central Time.  That Milwaukee/Chicago game would actually get more attention if it started at 1 PM Central than it will by starting so late.  And that's a real shame, because the quality of play has been very high so far.

Month of MLB, Day 9

If you get a chance, you should watch one of the videos on the Internet breaking down the wheel play that the Dodgers used to get Nick Castellanos at third in the top of the ninth in Game Two of the Phillies-Dodgers series.  You will recall that Castellanos had just hit a double to make the score L.A. 4, Philly 3.  There was no one out and Castellanos was on second.  At that point, I commented:  "Now the Phillies should win."  In fact, at that moment, the statistical gurus at FanGraphs showed Philly with a 45 percent chance of victory.  I think it's safe to say that throughout my life as a fan, I have always treated a 45 percent chance of losing as a likely loss.  So my instincts were exactly right.  Now at this point, the Phillies decided to bunt Castellanos to third -- but they were thwarted by the Dodgers' wheel play.  Here's what happened:

1.  Before the pitch, Max Muncy (the third baseman) charged home, and Mookie Betts (the shortstop) raced to third.  Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman (the first baseman) also charged home, and Tommy Edman (the second baseman) raced to first.

2.  The bunt came down the third base line toward Muncy.  Muncy scooped up the ball, turned, and fired toward Betts at third.  He had to lead Betts, who was still moving toward the bag.

3.  Betts caught the ball only seconds ahead of Castellanos, who was flying down the basepath.  Because it wasn't a force play, Betts had to tag Castellanos.  In the split second remaining, Betts planted himself at third and tagged Castellanos, whose momentum was so strong that Betts flipped over.

On YouTube, there are some great videos by baseball types breaking down this whole play -- what should Muncy do, what should Betts do, and so forth.  I learned some interesting stuff.  For example, this play rarely comes up -- the Dodgers had only done it once during a game all season.  But Betts insisted they should do it, and when the time came, every member of the Dodgers infield knew exactly what they were supposed to do.  On the other hand, several of the commentators noted that the Dodgers had shown the wheel play on the first pitch, which was a ball.  Some of them said that since the Phillies knew the wheel play was on, they should have called off the bunt and let the batter try to slash the ball up the middle, where there were no defenders.  There were also long and technical conversations about what Castellanos could have done to prevent Betts from beating him to third.

But my favorite observation was when someone pointed out that as soon as the ball was bunted down the third base line, Freddy Freeman started running to second base.  At first, this made no sense to me -- why is the first baseman so eager to get to second base?  Then someone explained that Freeman had to cover second because Edman (the second baseman) was at first -- if Freeman hadn't raced to second, that base would have been unguarded, and the batter could have trotted down to second while the Dodgers were forcing Castellanos at third.  I hadn't even considered that possibility, and I was awed to realize that some old baseball players figured all this out years ago -- probably in the nineteenth century.

Anyway, the wheel play lowered Phillies' chances of victory from 45 percent down to 21 percent.  It was the key play in the whole game, and it's amazing to see how much you can still learn about baseball when you are my age.

Today is the last day of the year where we get four baseball games.  Depending on what happens, it could also be the last day of the Divisional Series.  Here are the games (all times Central):

2:08 P.M.:  Seattle at Detroit (Seattle leads 2-1) (Fox Sports 1)

4:08 P.M.:  Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs (Milwaukee leads 2-0) (TBS)

6:08 P.M.:  Toronto at New York Yankees (Toronto leads 2-1) (Fox Sports 1)

8:08 P.M.:  Philadelphia at Los Angeles (Los Angeles leads 2-0) (TBS)