2021 MLB Postseason: AL & NL Championship Series Games

[rondoman]

I think the Braves are toast. You can't lose a closeout game with your ace on the mound vs. the other team's bullpen, especially with Scherzer and Buehler on deck. and especially when the same team beat you in the LCS last year after being down 0-2 and 1-3.

 

Scherzer is done.

 

Dodgers have now lost Kershaw, Muncy, Turner, Kelly and effectively Scherzer in the last four weeks. This would be the collapse of all collapses if the Braves lose.

[jason21nl]

Houston about to give the league and everyone a big middle finger.

[yourout]

Houston about to give the league and everyone a big middle finger.

 

They are much more mechanically sound at the plate than the Brewers are.

Very few have the stupid high front leg lift and a lot less moving parts.

[jason21nl]

Houston about to give the league and everyone a big middle finger.

 

They are much more mechanically sound at the plate than the Brewers are.

Very few have the stupid high front leg lift and a lot less moving parts.

 

Helps when you have the AL batting champ batting 7th in your lineup. That’s nuts

[brewcrewdue80]

Just a note. I remember liking Kyle Tucker around the top of my draft rankings in 2015. Why? The guy made me think of Yelich at the plate. Kudos to his success and maybe some faith Yelich can get back to being the upside of 2015 himself.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I believe the Astros as a team were among the mlb leaders in fewest strikeouts as a team offensively. And they were also top 10 in walks and led MLB in OBP. They give you tough at bats across the lineup and they put the ball in play.

 

One of the best ways to defeat shifting is to simply make alot of contact and not give the opponent half your outs via striking out.

[SomewhereInTime]

The Dodgers have made each of the last nine postseasons.

 

They have spent over 2 billion on payroll during that time frame & won 61 more regular season games (like 7 per season!!) than the next best team.

 

Yet, they have only mustered a single pandemic weirdened World Series & are on the verge of postseason elimination once again.

 

It's almost enough to make one think that maybe the MLB postseason is predominantly determined by randomness so there isn't really any compelling reason to get too bent out of shape about the results thereof.

 

Part of it is how exclusive the MLB postseason is compared to others like the NBA playoffs. Only 8 of 30 are playing a series and 6 of them are division champions. Then you add in the fact that a good percentage of the games are played many months prior to the postseason. Some teams get off to slow starts and trade for better players or they get injured players back and you end up with much different teams than what you have early in the season. Is it the randomness of the postseason or the randomness of the regular season where urgency to win each individual game is much less?

[Joseph Zarr]

I just love the Braves lineup in the Batter's Box. They are so dang disciplined overall. Like the anti-Brewer lineup. I wish our pitching was gifted their plate discipline. My guy, Albies, just fought off 3 tough pitches. Takes a low Ball 4 to load the bases up 4-1 here in the Bottom of the 6th. This team just has that post-season flow going.

[Joseph Zarr]

What a showing by Matzek to preserve the lead. Awesome stuff.

[yourout]

So Solare was out with covid but was not vaccinated. If I was a teammate of his I would be pretty pissed at him.

[DuWayne Steurer]

how is that hitch in Jansen's delivery not a balk?

[yourout]

Down go the dodgers.

If it wasn't going to be the Brewers or the Giants... the Braves would have been my next choice.

[bthurley19]

And the streak continues, every team that has eliminated the Brewers in the playoffs has at least made the World Series.

[Yaz]

LET'S GO ASTROS!!!! Btw I will gladly buy and ship some garbage cans to the Astros to use to throw off the Braves in the World Series!!!!

[PinaMadness]

It might still be a bit premature to write off the Dodgers - I believe ATL was up 3-1 in last year's NLCS, too. Still a big hill to climb - but the Dodgers can roll out Scherzer and Buehler for games 6-7 and it's the Braves who will likely see some key innings have to be pitched by guys who aren't near the top of their rotation early in games.

 

I’m not writing off the Dodgers, but I think the Braves are showing that they are a much more formidable team than a lot of people expected.

They were always a formidable team that just underachieved the first half of the season and then turned it around and played to to the level of their capabilities. Much like the Cardinals.

[PinaMadness]

Took the All Star Game? That’s ok we will just host some World Series games.

[rondoman]

Eddie Rosario has been insane.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Took the All Star Game? That’s ok we will just host some World Series games.

 

Yeah, between that episode and the Astros, I'm guessing Manfred isn't looking forward to attending games in either of those parks or stumbling through answering questions over the next few weeks.

[gebc1997]

As time goes by, I am more convinced that the Astros should have been banned from postseason play for 2 or 3 seasons. They truly were not competitively punished for making a mockery of the game that we all love.

[PinaMadness]

Took the All Star Game? That’s ok we will just host some World Series games.

 

Yeah, between that episode and the Astros, I'm guessing Manfred isn't looking forward to attending games in either of those parks or stumbling through answering questions over the next few weeks.

Why wouldn't he be looking forward to going to Houston? He's practically a folk hero there for only sitting them in the corner for a time out for bringing the game one of the biggest black eyes in it's history.

[SomewhereInTime]

As time goes by, I am more convinced that the Astros should have been banned from postseason play for 2 or 3 seasons. They truly were not competitively punished for making a mockery of the game that we all love.

 

I get the feeling that they were not the only ones. They just got caught and took the brunt of the criticism. There's so much player and coach/manager moving between teams these days, I just can't believe they were the only ones who came up with a system to steal signs.

[SeaBass]

[sarcasm]How are the Dodgers going to fix their offense?[/sarcasm]

[DuWayne Steurer]

As time goes by, I am more convinced that the Astros should have been banned from postseason play for 2 or 3 seasons. They truly were not competitively punished for making a mockery of the game that we all love.

 

I get the feeling that they were not the only ones. They just got caught and took the brunt of the criticism. There's so much player and coach/manager moving between teams these days, I just can't believe they were the only ones who came up with a system to steal signs.

 

don't be so bad at cheating that you get caught blatantly cheating. if you're doing it so blatantly that jomboy can do a video breakdown of how you're doing it, you're doing it wrong. if you get caught doing it, your team should be punished.

[LouisEly]

Every year that the Brewers have made the playoffs they have lost to a team that made the World Series, and so far 1981 and 2018 are the only years that the Brewers didn't lose to the eventual World Series champion.

[jerichoholicninja]

You have two teams playing in the World Series that were handed huge punishments for various forms of cheating over the last few years. [sarcasm]Makes you wonder if the punishments really mean anything.[/sarcasm]Or not. I could care less.