What is the story about?
Happy Friday, everyone. I know this week hasn’t gone the way we had hoped, and that October baseball is now over for the Cubs, but the postseason rolls on, and we’ll still be keeping an eye on its progress as the month goes on. Today, we look at how the Astros fans turned on their own club as the disappointment of being swept out of the postseason got the best of them. We see how the Yankees proved they could win even without Aaron Judge, and how their ability to avoid rigid lineups might have helped
them best the Red Sox. We also share takes from several players who were none too pleased with how the postseason turned out for them.
So let’s just get right into it.
- Jay Jaffe looks at how the Yankees bested the Red Sox to advance to the ALDS.
- Michael Baumann explains why the Yankees were the only ones constructing their Wild Card roster correctly.
- Brendan Gawlowski shares how the Padres advanced to the NLDS, but we might not want to relive that one just yet.
- Eric Longenhagen assesses how the White Sox were able to push past the Astros and onto the ALDS.
- Karl Rasmussen had some key takeaways from the White Sox series sweep of the Astros.
- Torey Lovullo will be sticking around as the Diamondbacks manager. (ESPN)
- Andy McCullough looks at how the ABS system is already changing October baseball. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Katie Woo explains why this might be the final year of the Dodger dynasty. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Willson Contreras has some feelings about Big Data.
- Davy Andrews explains why the Orioles will have some tough times ahead due to injury.
- Henry Palettella looks at the best moments from Wild Card history.
- Ryan Phillips and Tom Verducci draft the ultimate postseason pitching roster.
- Tom Verducci looked at how the Yankees proved they could win, even without Aaron Judge.
- Astros fans weren’t afraid to share how they really felt after the team was swept from the Wild Card series. Story by Karl Rasmussen.
- Sony Gray shared his displeasure at being pulled from the Wild Card game after only 70 pitches. (AP)
- It’s very hard not to like this guy.
- Cole Jacobson looks at which parks have the best home-field advantage for the postseason.
- Keegan Matheson shares how the Blue Jays are feeling about Guerrero Jr and what their focus is for this offseason.
- Andy Nesbitt looks at how things actually got worse for the Red Sox once they got back to their clubhouse after their Wild Card loss.
- How to watch SI’s original Shohei Ohtani documentary. (SI)
- Tyler Kepner explains why a rigid bullpen blueprint ultimately sank the Red Sox. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Get ready to feel very old.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
