I don’t have a pithy Yankee-related preamble and you can’t make me have one. I hate baseball. But anyway, on to the rest of Wednesday’s playoff slate.
Thanos. Tom Brady’s Patriots (unless they were playing our savior Eli Manning). The Los Angeles Dodgers. Inevitable, all of them. Wednesday, the Dodgers took another step toward becoming the first MLB team to win three consecutive World Series since the Yankees did it from 1998-2000. The Braves won Game 1 in Los Angeles, stealing home field advantage.
It availed them naught, as the Dodgers stormed back to win three in a row even with Shohei Ohtani hitting like an actual pitcher. Infuriating.
Elsewhere, Cleveland avoided elimination and prevented the White Sox from clinching a playoff series at home for the first time in well over a century. The Pope is probably not overly happy right now. And in San Diego, the Brewers vanquished the Padres to set up a heavyweight matchup between the NL’s preeminent titans. It feels like we’re all Brewers fans now.
Cleveland Guardians 9, Chicago White Sox 3 (Chicago leads the ALDS 2-1)
Cleveland acquired Jo Adell from the Angels on August 3rd for catching prospect Jacob Cozart. Down the stretch, Adell gave the Guards some thump at the dish, with a 108 OPS+ after the trade. Wednesday, he saved their season. Adell stepped to the plate in the top of the third in a 1-1 game with the bases loaded. His second triple in as many games cleared the bases and gave the Guardians a 4-1 lead.
Chicago had their chances to come back and clinch the series. In the home fifth, the Pale Hose put runners on second and third with one out, brining the tying run to the plate in what was a 5-2 game. Kyle Teel turned on a middle-middle fastball and hammered it back up the middle at 98-mph… right into the glove of Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana.
Chicago did manage to get within two, closing the gap to 5-3. But from there, Cleveland did what you are supposed to do with a lead late in the game — tack on. The Guards put up twin runs in the eighth and ninth innings, turning what was a close game into a comfortable win that pushes this series to a Game 4. The Guards have to feel pretty good about that considering they’re sending Parker Messick to the mound, with Gavin Williams looming for a potential Game 5.
Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Atlanta Braves 1 (Los Angeles wins the NLDS 3-1)
Tyler Mahle deserved better. Acquired from the Giants on August 2nd, Mahle was nails for Atlanta down the stretch. In nine starts, Mahle gave the Braves a 1.99 ERA while averaging six innings per outing and allowing less than a baserunner per inning (0.957 WHIP). Wednesday was more of the same. An unearned run marred his ledger in the second, but from there he valiantly stymied the Dodgers. Until the seventh inning.
It seems like it’s always bloody someone new with the Dodgers. This time, Andy Pages was the hero (culprit, bane of our existence, whatever you want to call him). With the bases loaded and two out, facing a full count, Pages drove a single back up the middle. Two runs scored. Suddenly, the Dodgers were counting outs.
Edwin Díaz, who was slightly more successful than I would be getting out major league hitters during the regular season, came in for the ninth after the Dodgers bullpen had delivered 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Tyler Glasnow. Díaz effortlessly retired the Braves in order, notching his third scoreless outing of the series. If he’s on, it makes the Dodgers even more formidable. Not that they needed it.
Milwaukee Brewers 3, San Diego Padres 1 (Milwaukee wins the NLDS 3-1)
After the two clubs traded runs in the third inning, with the Brew Crew needing one win to advance to the NLCS, Milwaukee did work in the middle innings. First, Jackson Chourio added to his posteason legend in the fifth with a tie-breaking single to put the Brewers up 2-1. In the sixth, Sal Frelick tacked on a sacrifice fly to double the Brewers’ lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, San Diego (and everyone else) thought they’d tied the game. Future Hall of Famer Manny Machado came to the plate as the tying run, facing Abner Uribe. Machado turned around Uribe’s sinker, driving it to center field at 106.7-mph. But he didn’t quite drive it high enough. Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell elevated, and robbed Machado of a game-tying two-run home run. Playoff baseball, folks. There’s nothing like it.
Milwaukee wasn’t [redacted] around when crunch time hit, either. With Trevor Megill on the mound looking to close out the series, presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski warmed up in the bullpen just in case. The Miz was never needed, however. Megill shut the Dads down in order to lock down an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers. This series also gave us a bit of baseball history.
Anyway. Go Brewers, Go. My Kingdom to stop the Dodgers.
