With Yasiel Puig grounding into the game and series ending double play, the National League Pennant was once again won on the grounds of Wrigley Field.
Understandably, there was pure euphoria. How could you not when you are one step closer to the World Series? That’s the thing – it’s only a step closer. It’s a big and important step, but it’s only a step.
Everything is different in the World Series. What once worked is not a guarantee.
Anthony Rizzo and Francisco Lindor are swinging hot bats? Neither was as hot as Daniel Murphy who was 3-20 in the World Series.
Andrew Miller and Cody Allen are unhittable? Jeurys Familia was just as good as them, and he blew three World Series saves thanks to Alex Gordon and the right side of the Mets infield.
Javier Baez can do no wrong? Yoenis Cespedes misplayed fly ball out into an inside the park home run on the first pitch Matt Harvey threw. To boot, Cespedes was 3-20 in the World Series.
Believe your team is the feel good story that is the team of destiny?
What could be better than David Wright not only coming back from spinal stenosis, but also fighting back the ghosts of 2006, 2007, and 2008 to homer in his first home World Seriesat-bat? Apparently, it was a Royals team that just missed out the year prior who showed a ton a heart, hustle, and determination in a very closely contested five game series.
The World Series is a reminder that no one has won anything yet. The euphoria of the pennant will soon fade away. What is left is either the true euphoria associated with winning the World Series or the bitter taste of losing the World Series. The loser is left wondering, “What if?”
Getting there is great, but no one has won anything yet.
The other day I was in Toys R Us getting a birthday present for one of my son’s friends. On our way to find a toy, we walked through the Halloween aisle.
If you wanted a costume, it was available. Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. All of the Ninja Turtles were available. Star Wars characters old and new:
Then there were the superheroes. All of the Justice League and the Avengers were available. Most notably, there is a Thor costume. No, not the real one:
Dear Empire State Building: Wasn't me (For liability purposes only) pic.twitter.com/OJvxm5s32B
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) July 26, 2016
That’s right. No Noah Syndergaard costume. Also, no MLB costumes of any kind whatsoever. This seems like a missed opportunity.
Now, I realize MLB can’t necessarily do player costumes. If this was the 50’s you could, but not in today’s game. With the frequency in which players are traded, you would have to continuously change costumes year to year. At some point, it becomes cost ineffective.
That leaves you with a few options. First is the generic player jersey. Yes, I’m aware there are kid’s uniform sets, but have you seen them?
They’re terrible. They look nothing like the player jerseys. The other issue is they’re hard to find. Another problem is these are only made for five year olds. That eliminates a wide range of children. MLB has to do better than this.
Since MLB can’t do player jerseys and can’t do whatever the above is supposed to be, there are a few options.
The first would be to do an all time player for each franchise. Since these are young kids, you want it to be a player of as recent vintage as possible or a player everyone knows no matter how old they are. Here are some suggestions:
- Mets – Mike Piazza
- Yankees – Babe Ruth or Derek Jeter
- Red Sox – Ted Williams or David Ortiz
- Dodgers – Jackie Robinson
- Mariners – Ken Griffey, Jr.
The benefit of these is you can use them in perpetuity. The downside is these players are more iconic for the parents. That may entice the parent of a toddler to buy it, but an older child has no real attachment to these players. That coupled with the inherent issues with the current players means you need to go with something more basic.
There are two solutions to this, and they both should work well.
The first is to create mascot costumes. If you think about it, the mascot was created to entertain young fans. Generally speaking, it works as kids love team mascots:
There will be many little Mets fans who would love to be Mr. Met for Halloween. Same goes for the other popular mascots across baseball.
For teams without a mascot, baseball could go with standard face like the one on the bobbleheads. In fact, if baseball wanted, they could make them all “Bobblehead Costumes.”
For those that say, they may not sell, give it time. The same exact costume my son wore last year was still for sale a year later. And guess what? It wasn’t the only one.
With that, you help foster a child’s interest in baseball. For the child a little less interested in baseball, perhaps they get more interested due to the Halloween costumes. Kids get interested in things for far less.
Not having MLB Halloween costumes overall seems like a lost opportunity. It doesn’t give the fan a chance to be a player, a mascot, or a bobblehead for Halloween if they so choose. It also allows the kid to move on from baseball a little more after the baseball season is over.
That’s not a good thing. Accordingly, MLB needs to create Halloween costumes.
You can analyze ad nauseum all the different reasons the Cubs are up 3-2 over the Dodgers in the NLCS. However, Joe Maddon put it best earlier in the postseason when he said, “[The Mets] pitching was unbelievably good,” Maddon said of the Mets’ starting pitching last October. “That’s it. I’m not trying to be smart in any way. They just pitched that well. You would hope to not run into that same method of pitching among the entire group.” (Chicago Tribune). For those that forgot, here is what a healthy Mets rotation looks like in the postseason:
These three pitchers are not only great regular season pitchers, but they are also great postseason pitchers. There is no team in baseball that can match what these three can do. With Harvey and deGrom injured, it just opened the door for someone else. The two teams that couldn’t hit these three aces are now battling it out in the NLCS. For their sake, they better maximize on their opportunity because Harvey and deGrom will not only be healthy, but will also have a chip on their shoulders. With them back, the Mets will reunited the best trio of starting pitchers in baseball, and the Mets will be well on their way to winning the 2017 World Series.
With the Indians heading to the World Series for the first time since 1997 and the Cubs and Dodgers fighting for their chance to play the Indians in the World Sereis, it seems like forever since the Mets season ended. It’s easy to forget that they were actually a part of this postseason. It’s also easy to forget all the players that brought them to this point. In fact, the Opening Day and Wild Card Game lineups looked very different. Can you name the players in both lineups? Good luck!
Curtis Granderson, David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda, Neil Walker, Michael Conforto, Juan Lagares, Travis d’Arnaud, Matt Harvey, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Reyes, Jay Bruce, Rene Rivera, T.J. Rivera, Noah Syndergaard
Now, some will tell you that Jose Reyes second tenure with the Mets shows us that when a team wins everyone will forget about a player’s transgressions. Personally, I have not found that narrative to be entirely true. Personally, I believe Reyes’ domestic violence issues were not brought up again for a number of reasons.
The main reason was when Reyes came to the Mets, it was all about baseball for him. He just went out there everyday and did his job on the field. While Reyes is an exuberant player, it no longer stands out as much as it did in 2006. In that 10 year time span, he has become more mature and players in general have become more expressive on the field.
By keeping it about baseball, Reyes allowed the story and the vitriol to subside. It also helped that thankfully there were no stories about any repeat offenses. And yes, it did help that the Mets won games. However, the most important thing is Reyes played baseball and didn’t give reason to bring up the issues again.
That’s where Odell Beckham, Jr. and Josh Brown come into play. These are two New York Giants players that have come under scrutiny for far different reasons.
For OBJ, it has been people calling his maturity into question. There was the incident with Josh Norman last year. This year, teams have seized on how emotional he is by delivering late hits and hits out of bounds to entice him into a personal foul. It has worked. However, the main focus on him has been his relationship with the kicking net.
It started with OBJ hitting the kicking net out of frustration and it bouncing back and hitting him. After a few other events, OBJ wound-up jokingly proposing to the net. People have come out either rolling their eyes at him or just downright getting angry with him. His coach and quarterback have said that Beckham has been a distraction with the kicking net and other antics.
However, there are no recent quotes on their kicker, Josh Brown. Brown has no issue with opponents or kicking nets. Rather, he has issues with being a human being as evidenced by his journal entries recently released by Kings County Sheriff’s Office:
I have physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally been a repulsive man. I have abused my wife.
********
I have been a liar for most of my life. I made selfish decisions to use and abuse women starting at the age of 7 to fill this void. I objectified women and never really worried about the pain and hurt I caused them. My ability to connect emotionally to other people was zero. My empathy levels were zero.
********
Because I never handled these underlying issues I became an abuser and hurt [my wife] Molly physically, emotionally and verbally. I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave.
Of course, no one has commented on any of this. Why would they? The Giants re-signed a kicker who they knew was being investigated for domestic violence. They purported to have done their “due diligence.” Apparently, their due diligence and the due diligence of the NFL is terrible because Brown only served a one game suspension for the arrest.
Now, this is back in the limelight again because these documents were released. If not for these documents, no one would have brought this back up again for the remainder of the season (save maybe media day if the Giants made it to the Super Bowl). No, the story would have died after Week 2 when Brown returned to the Giants. With him and the Giants just going out and playing football, the story died. This is just like the Reyes story did.
That’s the main lesson for OBJ to learn here. As long as you focus on the field, in the long run, no one is going to care. They will forget about the Norman incident. They will forget about the personal fouls. They will forget about your relationship with the kicking net. They will forget about everything that has happened in your past. None of the bad happened so long as you are focused on your play.
Ultimately, that is the lesson we have learned this baseball and football season. Stay focused on the field and hope the sheriff’s department doesn’t reveal the case they had against you and for some reason didn’t prosecute.
Time and again, we have heard about the Billy Goat curse and the Chicago Cubs not having won a World Series since 1908. As a result, many are supposed to empathize with them for their time falling short time and again. Moreover, many sympathize with a fan base that has never seen their team win a World Series in their lifetime. While all of this is true, it is not appreciably different than being a Cleveland Indians fan.
The Indians last won the World Series in 1948 against the Boston Braves. Yes, the Boston, not Atlanta Braves. That’s how long ago the Indians last World Series title was. If you are to assume that a 10 year old had the full capacity to appreciate the World Series victory and remember the run to the World Series, that means Indians fans who could relish those Lou Boudreau teams were born in 1938. That would make those fans 78 years old today. Rounding up just a tad, unless you are an octogenarian, Indians fans have never seen their team win a World Series. What they have seen is some excruciating losses.
Back in 1995, the Indians sent out what could be considered the greatest offensive team ever assembled. That Indians team was shut down by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Steve Avery over the six game set. A team that had scored 840 runs in 144 games (strike shortened season), an average of 5.8 runs per game, could only muster 19 runs (3.2 runs per game) in the series. A team that was shutout just three times in the regular season would be shut out in Game Six of the World Series in an excruciating 1-0 loss.
The 1997 Indians weren’t the favorites to win the World Series. Instead, they had to fight and claw their way back to the World Series. They needed the rookie Jaret Wright to become a Yankee killer and Sandy Alomar, Jr.Moi to hit a pivotal home run in what was going to be the Game 4 clincher of the ALDS for the defending champion Yankees. Instead, the Indians persevered and would win their second pennant in three years after beating the Orioles in six in the ALCS. It should be noted Armando Benitez took the loss in that game being a harbinger of things to come for Mets fans.
That 1997 World Series was thrilling with the Marlins and Indians alternating wins setting the stage for an epic Game 7. The Indians had to like their chances with their newfound postseason hero Wright going up against Al Leiter. The Indians had tattooed Leiter for seven runs in 4.2 innings in Game 4. Leiter would never win a postseason start in his career. While it was more of a challenge than the Indians expected, they hand their closer, Jose Mesa, on the mound with a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning. Mesa would blow the game allowing Craig Counsell to hit a sacrifice fly to score Moises Alou (again how was he not the MVP of that series) to tie the game. The Indians couldn’t touch the Marlins bullpen in extra innings. Finally, in the 11th, Charles Nagy gave up the game winning hit to Edgar Renteria scoring Counsell of all people as the winning run. That is as excruciating a loss as it gets for a fan.
There have been other tales of recent woe for this Indians fan base. In 1998, the Yankees exacted revenge against Wright and the Indians by scoring five runs in the first inning off Wright en route to a Yankees 4-2 ALCS series win. In 1999, the Indians blew a 2-0 series lead and a 5-2 lead in Game 5 to lose the ALDS to the Red Sox. That game was memorable for Pedro Martinez‘s epic performance out of the bullpen. The lean years were not too far away from here.
Then there was an Indians resurgence. In 2007, the Indians had a 3-1 game lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS with Game 5 at home. CC Sabathia just couldn’t close the deal, and the Indians bullpen would implode leading the Red Sox to their comeback. Like the rest of baseball, the Indians would watch helplessly as the Red Sox would win their second World Series in four years. To make matters worse, the small market Indians would have to break up the team. Two years later, Indians fans would watch as Sabathia took the hill for the Yankees in Game One of the World Series against Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies.
In response, many Cubs fans will scream the Bartman Game! One of their own prevented them from winning the pennant and going to the World Series back in 2003. Of course, that narrative is a bit nonsense because there is a real debate as to whether or not Alou could catch that ball. Furthermore, that didn’t cause Dusty Baker to leave Mark Prior out there too long. It didn’t cause Alex Gonzalez to allow a double play ball to go through his legs. It didn’t cause the Cubs to blow a 3-0 lead. It certainly didn’t cause the Cubs and Kerry Wood to blow a 5-3 lead in Game 7. Furthermore, it did not cause Cubs fans to try to ruin Bartman’s life.
Absolutely, blowing a 3-1 series lead when your team hasn’t won a World Series in nearly a century is devastating. It was no more devastating than the Indians blowing the 2007 ALCS. It is definitively not more devastating than the 1997 World Series.
Sure, it hurts to lose and not be competitive. However, as a Mets fan I know the 2015 World Series loss was infinitely more hurtful than anything I saw from 1991 – 1996 or 2001 – 2004 or even 2009 – 2014. No, it is hte misses that stick with you the longest. Personally, I’m more haunted by Ron Darling pitching the worst game of his life against an unbeatable Orel Hershiser, Kenny Rogers walking Andruw Jones, Luis Sojo‘s two RBI single off Leiter, Carlos Beltran looking at an Adam Wainwright curveball, Eric Hosmer‘s mad dash to home plate, and any of the other events that led to those deciding plays which ended the Mets postseasons.
The Cubs may not have won since 1908, but the Indians fan base is the more tortured fan base. They deserve this World Series title more than anyone.
Ten years ago today, Scott Rolen what appeared to be a home run off Oliver Perez, and then Endy Chavez did this:
Impressively, like Willie Mays after “The Catch”, Chavez was aware of the game situation, he made a strong relay to Jose Valentin, who then got it over to a fired up Carlos Delgado to nail Jim Edmonds at first to complete the inning ending double play.
As we know with the American League having won the All Star Game, the Mets wouldn’t have a home game until Game 3 of the World Series. In his first World Series at bat at home, David Wright, the same man who had an RBI single to open the scoring in Game 7 of the NLCS, would do this:
Yes, those events happened in the same October. You cannot convince me otherwise.
One of the best things about being a parent is you get the opportunity to remedy the perceived wrongs from your childhood. No matter how small or childish they may seem, we all have ones that linger. One of my lingering issues was my parents not going out and getting the Halloween Pail Happy Meals when my brother and I were children.
You see the Mets winning the World Series wasn’t the only major event of October 1986. I’ve never confirmed this, but I’m pretty sure Mookie Wilson got one of these for his stepson and nephew Preston Wilson. Much like the Mets hopes of winning the World Series the following year, my hopes of getting a McDonald’s Halloween Pail were dashed in 1987. My chances of obtaining one in 1989 were as much as nonstarter as the Mets chances were that year. In 1990, Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter were closer to New York than I was to getting my Halloween Pail. In 1992, there were no hopes for me or the Mets. From there, the Halloween Pails all but disappeared.
That was up until last year when the Halloween Pails re-emerged. Despite Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard not being alive in 1986, these trio of arms led the Mets to the World Series in the same year the Halloween Pails returned. Never underestimate the power of the pails. Like the good Mets fan and father (or petulant child) that I am, I made sure to get all four of them for my son who really had no clue who the Minions were or why he needed four of these pails. That changes this year.
My son loves Peanuts. He has loved them since we took him to see The Peanuts Movie, his first ever movie, for his birthday last year, and since he saw A Charlie Brown Christmas last year. Like any child, he loves Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the whole Peanuts gang:
With that, we have now found the intersection where my son’s love of Peanuts and my need to get these Halloween Pails have met in the parenting Venn diagram. With that, I have checked one thing off my parenting bucket list, and I will now seek out curing other perceived wrongs like never getting the chance to attend a Mets World Series victory parade. I guess that one will just have to wait until next year.
To ensure that will happen, I think McDonalds will need to roll out an Avengers Halloween Pail featuring Thor, Captain America (David Wright), Iron Man (Steven Matz), and The Incredible Hulk (Lucas Duda).
By the way, the Great Pumpkin is on tonight:
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs tonight on @ABCNetwork at 8/7c! pic.twitter.com/e9UOr3mua6
— PEANUTS (@Snoopy) October 19, 2016
The ongoing narrative in the American League Cy Young race is that there hasn’t been any dominating pitching, and therefore, Zach Britton should probably win the Cy Young. The narrative is flipped. The case for Britton is that he has been historically dominant out of the bullpen, and therefore he should receive some consideration. I did consider him, but ultimately, he wasn’t my choice for Cy Young. Here is my ballot:
1st – Corey Kluber
To say that there hasn’t been a dominant starting pitcher is to ignore the type of season Kluber had with the Cleveland Indians this year. In 32 starts, Kluber has pitched 215.0 innings. Overall, Kluber is 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA, 1.056 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 227 strikeouts, 1.056 WHIP, 149 ERA+, 3.26 FIP, and a 6.5 WAR. He also led the American League in shutouts (2).
Coincidentally, when Kluber won the Cy Young Award in 2014, he was 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.095 WHIP. These two seasons are not that appreciably different.
They’re not appreciably different because Kluber had another fantastic season. Kluber led the American League in pitcher WAR, shutouts, ERA+, FIP, adjusted pitching runs (33), and adjusting pitching wins (3.5). He was also in the Top 10 in many of the major pitching categories. Kluber was fifth in innings pitched, sixth in ERA, third in wins, eight in win-loss percentage (.667), fourth in WHIP, third in hits per nine (7.116), fourth in strikeouts per nine, fifth in innings pitched, third in strikeouts, fifth in games started, third in complete games (3), tenth in strikeout to walk ratio (3.983), fifth in homers per nine (0.921), fifth in batters faced (860), and seventh in WPA (2.7).
Overall, Kluber was the most dominant starting pitcher in the American League this season. He was every bit as dominant as he was in 2014 when he won his first Cy Young Award. Considering how he matched that level of dominance, he should be taking home his second Cy Young Award this season.
2nd – Rick Porcello
About a year ago, the baseball world was laughing at the Red Sox for not only trading away Yoenis Cespedes got obtain the 9-15 Porcello and his 4.92 ERA, but also because the Red Sox gave him a four year $82.5 million extension. This year, it was Porcello and the Red Sox who were laughing.
The 2007 first round pick seemingly fulfilled his promise in his eight major league season going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.009 WHIP, 145 ERA+, and a 5.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio. This was clearly the best season of his career, and he was one of the main reasons the Red Sox won the AL East.
Overall, Porcello would lead the majors in both wins and strikeout-to-walk ratio. He would also fair well in the Top 10 categories for American League pitchers finishing fifth in pitching WAR (5.0), fifth in ERA, second in win-loss percentage (.846), second in WHIP, seventh in hits per nine (7.789), second in walks per nine (1.292), fourth in innings pitched (223.0), eight in strikeouts (189), fourth in games started (33), third in complete games (3), fifth in home runs per nine (0.928), fourth in batters faced (890), second in ERA+, second in FIP, second in adjusted pitching runs (32), and second in adjusted pitching wins (3.2).
Porcello wasn’t that glamour ace that went out there and struck out 10+ batters a game and had the fans rhythmically clapping for that next strikeout. Instead, he was a ground ball pitcher that was best suited for his team and his ballpark. Twenty years ago, he probably wins the Cy Young Award as he had the most wins. Now, with better information available, he finishes second.
3rd – Chris Sale
4th – Justin Verlander
At this point is where it gets more and more difficult to differentiate between players. In many ways, Sale and Verlander were neck-in-neck for the next spot on the ballot.
Sale made 32 starts pitching 226.2 innings going 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA, 1.037 WHIP, 120 ERA+, 3.46 FIP, and a 9.3 K/9. Verlander made 34 starts pitching 227.2 innings going 16-9 with a 3.04 ERA, 1.001 WHIP, 136 ERA+, 3.49 FIP, and a 10.0 K/9.
Both were in the Top 10 in multiple categories among American League pitchers. Sale finished seventh in WAR (4.9), ninth in ERA, fourth in wins, third in WHIP, fourth in hits per nine (7.544), fourth in walks per nine (1.787), sixth in strikeouts per nine, third in innings pitched, second in strikeouts (233), first in complete games (6), second in shutouts (1), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.178), second in batters faced (907), and third in FIP.
Verlander finished first in WAR (6.6), second in ERA, sixth in wins, first in WHIP, second in hits per nine (6.760), third in strikeouts per nine, second in innings pitched, first in strikeouts, second in games started, fifth in complete games (2), seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.456), third in batters faced, sixth in ERA+, fourth in FIP, third in adjusted pitching runs (29), and third in adjusted pitching wins (3.0).
Overall, they were neck-in-neck. The deciding factors were Sale went deeper into games, and Sale issuing fewer free passes while having similar strikeout numbers.
5th – Zach Britton
This very easily could have gone to any number of pitchers, including Michael Fulmer, who should be the American League Rookie of the Year. However, a vote needed to be made for Britton who had a historically great year for a reliever.
Britton’s ERA+ this season is 827. No, that’s not a typo. It is actually that high. That’s better than anyone has ever posted in any single season in major league history. Note, unlike Tim Keefe and Pedro Martinez, Britton does not have enough innings to qualify.
Among major league relievers, he has the lowest ERA (.054) and the highest WAR (4.3), and it wasn’t particularly close in either category. On the season, Britton made 69 appearnces going 2-1 with 47 saves, a 0.836 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, 827 ERA+, and a 1.94 FIP. This has now become the gold standard upon which all reliever seasons will be judged.