SBNation.com: All Posts by Marc Normandinhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46737/sbn-fave.png2019-10-20T16:49:15-04:00https://www.sbnation.com/authors/marc-normandin/rss2019-10-20T16:49:15-04:002019-10-20T16:49:15-04:00A Nationals-Astros World Series is the perfect redemption for a bizarre MLB season
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<p id="D6kqjv">In the year of the home run, the <a href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Astros</a> and <a href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> have served as reminders that exciting, dominant starting pitching is still out there, and still effective. Both clubs, who will face off in the 2019 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> beginning with Game 1 on Tuesday, are built around their rotation. Pitching was hardly the focus in the regular season, however. Instead, it was the juiced ball that got the attention, from early April when its use was first detected, and then in the postseason when, suddenly, it was nowhere to be found.</p>
<p id="yPMzz3">Some narrative-setting background, for those who haven’t been following along: the 2019 ball isn’t actually “juiced,” but its seams <em>have</em> been altered in a way that changes its aerodynamics significantly — those alternations and their effects have been described in detail <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F1044790%2F2019%2F06%2F25%2Fyes-the-baseball-is-different-again-an-astrophysicist-examines-this-years-baseballs-and-breaks-down-the-changes%2F&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sbnation.com%2Fmlb%2F2019%2F10%2F20%2F20923712%2Fworld-series-2019-houston-astros-washington-nationals-starting-pitching-no-more-juiced-baseball-wooo" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">by Meredith Willis</a> and <a href="https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/48260/moonshot-the-baseball-is-juiced-again/">Rob Arthur</a>. That change, which reduces drag, played more than a small part in this record-setting season, in which a new mark was set for the most homers in a single MLB season … on Sept. 11, with weeks to go before all of the playoff spots were locked up. That record-breaking dinger, struck by the <a href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Orioles</a>’ <span>Jonathan Villar</span>, was number 6,106 for the year: by season’s end, the league had hit 6,776, shattering the old mark. </p>
<p id="zl42Db">MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, like in the 2017 season when <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/10/26/16552308/world-series-2017-astros-dodgers-baseballs-juiced-homers">ball physics</a> was also <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/10/30/16570142/world-series-mlb-baseballs-juiced-slick-homers">a popular topic</a>, repeatedly denied anything was different about the balls, then moved on to denying that anything was <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/07/09/rob-manfred-justin-verlander-juiced-baseballs-denial"><em>deliberately</em> different</a>, and then finally admitted that something was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/09/25/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-we-need-to-make-a-change-to-the-baseball/#56a8ee6140b5">both different and wrong</a>, and that MLB would get the baseball scientists on the case so they could figure out what it was come the offseason. </p>
<p id="v5O63l">Manfred spoke of how MLB wanted to strive for transparency on the ball issue, and that, while they weren’t required to discuss changes to the ball with the Players Association, they wanted to make sure players would be “aware” of the situation. Then, when the playoffs started, roughly a week after Manfred’s comments, <a href="https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/54306/moonshot-the-rocket-ball-has-disappeared-in-october/">the rocket ball vanished</a>. There was no notice from the league. MLB is, once again, denying they’ve done anything, and are saying that the postseason balls are the same as the regular season balls <a href="https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/10/15/20914657/mlb-postseason-dejuiced-ball-manfred-yankees-astros-home-runs">despite acting entirely differently</a>. Then again, MLB spend months trying to tell us there was nothing special or different about the 2019 regular season balls, either.</p>
<p id="PQY5vi">Teams like the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a> rode the juiced ball to the postseason. Minnesota crushed the previous record for homers in a season: they surpassed that mark of 267 on Aug. 31, and then finished their campaign with 307 bombs. Twins, whose strategy for victory was to hit dingers and let a stellar bullpen do the rest, were swept by the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> in the ALDS. Their team, which featured 11 different players with at least 10 homers, had their most significant advantage removed just in time for their toughest and most important matchup of the year.</p>
<p id="SYMe1V">That brings us back to the Astros and Nationals, teams which did rely on pitching during the regular season. The loss of the juiced ball meant little to them, compared to what it did to the poor Twins. The Nationals made it to October on the strength of a rotation that featured perennial Cy Young contender <span>Max Scherzer</span> doing his usual thing, <span>Stephen Strasburg</span> reminding the Nats why they signed him to a lucrative extension, free agent acquisition <span>Patrick Corbin</span> improving on the work that earned him a $140 million deal this past winter, and the inexplicably revitalized Aníbal Sánchez, who has produced some of the best work of his career the last two seasons in his mid-30s after escaping Detroit.</p>
<p id="E7aUFr"><em>[“Just tell me who wins!” OK: </em><a href="https://bit.ly/2pC9bgA"><em>Here’s our Nationals-Astros World Series predictions</em></a><em>]</em></p>
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<cite>Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="1QQpx0">The Nats’ offense, bereft of <span>Bryce Harper</span>, was around average. They had home run hitters in <span>Anthony Rendon</span> and <span>Juan Soto</span>, both of whom went deep 34 times, but they weren’t juiced-ball hunters: the 20-year-old Soto hit 22 in his shorter rookie campaign a year ago, and Rendon had hit 25 the year before. The Nats had more homers because of the ball, sure, but not in a way that gave the team a completely new identity. It was their rotation which propelled them to 93 wins and the Wild Card Game. Disappointing bullpen work hides the true story of the Nats’ staff, which limited opponents to a .389 slugging percentage and just 116 dingers (1.1 per nine innings, compared to the NL’s 1.4 average). Despite throwing 438 fewer innings, Washington’s bullpen allowed just 30 fewer homers than the starters. </p>
<p id="2hzjGD">Less deadly offensive opponents and the de-juiced ball have meant the pen’s most significant weakness — their long ball problem — has been somewhat nullified in October. The Nats’ offense wasn’t scarred in the same way the Twins were, and a frightening rotation became even more terrifying when some of the “whoops, a homer” chaos was taken out of each game. </p>
<p id="xGMM4Q">The Astros, meanwhile, did not have an average offense heading into the postseason: they had the best in baseball. Unlike Minnesota, theirs did not come out of nowhere. Houston won the World Series in 2017 with the best offense in MLB, and while it was indeed aided by a juiced ball then, as it is now, they also ranked sixth in MLB in OPS+ in 2018 while winning 103 games. They can thank their rotation for picking up what little slack there was: it was tops in MLB last year by ERA+, a distinction they once again hold in 2019. </p>
<aside id="MbTUiN"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Alex Bregman and Anthony Rendon is a historically great third base World Series matchup","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2019/10/20/20921136/alex-bregman-anthony-rendon-world-series-preview-nationals-astros"}]}'></div></aside><p id="MzOcGE">Unlike in 2017, Houston’s bullpen is also phenomenal. During their championship season, the Astros ignored the building of Super Bullpens across the league, method derived from the <a href="https://www.royalsreview.com/">Royals</a>’ World Series team of 2015. Instead, they leveraged their immense starting pitching depth out of the pen to make up for <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/11/2/16597696/world-series-astros-aj-hinch-bullpen">the dominant relievers they didn’t have</a>. In 2018, the <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a>, under new manager <span>Alex Cora</span>, who just happened to be Houston’s bench coach in 2017, <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/29/18037714/red-sox-world-series-championship-alex-cora-bullpen">used a similar strategy to fill in the gaps</a> en route to their own World Series trophy. It’s a highly effective plan, maybe even more so than going with the super relievers from a team-building and budgetary perspective. But the 2019 Astros have those excellent relievers in <span>Roberto Osuna</span>, <span>Ryan Pressly</span>, and <span>Will Harris</span>, <em>and</em>, if necessary, some of the same starters they handed reliever duties to in 2017. There’s a reason they’re considered the class of MLB in 2019, and it’s because they have depth everywhere. Even without the 2019 ball, they’re still a great offensive team, and now their pitchers have an easier time of things than they did all season long.</p>
<p id="KNjJ1R">Coincidentally, the Nats have been using their starters as relievers this October. Like with the 2017 Astros and last year’s Red Sox, it was out of necessity, but it’s been working. Scherzer has thrown one key inning in relief, striking out all three <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> he faced in Game 2 of the NLDS. Strasburg threw three shutout innings in the Wild Card Game against the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a>, limiting Milwaukee to two hits while striking out four. Corbin has been the starter getting the most play in relief, and besides one hiccup against the Dodgers, things have gone well. Against the Astros’ offense, there will be more opportunities to relieve for all three of the Nats’ best starters.</p>
<p id="TvfH6W">The teams’ pitching-friendly approach isn’t all they have in common, and in many ways the 2019 World Series is an extension of the major narratives running through baseball lately. The Nationals are either right over the luxury tax or right below it: we won’t know how close the estimates are until MLB reports on the figures after the postseason is over. Their owner, Ted Lerner, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-hope-to-stay-under-luxury-tax">does not want to be over the threshold</a>: that, plus the <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/7/19/17591040/nationals-bryce-harper-juan-soto-washington-senators">non-ignorable existence of star youngster Juan Soto</a>, is why the team failed to retain <span>Bryce Harper</span> this past winter. The Nats’ attitude towards spending matters in both the present and the future. Keeping this team together might require going over the tax in 2020: retaining star third baseman and pending free agent <span>Anthony Rendon</span> isn’t going to be cheap, and replacing him won’t be simple, either.</p>
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<p id="TpYXyY">The same can be said for the Astros. Jim Crane, <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/astros-owner-says-houston-might-make-a-run-at-re-signing-gerrit-cole-but-theres-a-catch-that-makes-it-unlikely/">has already implied</a> that keeping inevitable Cy Young winner and pending free agent <span>Gerrit Cole</span> around isn’t in the cards for Houston. It’s not just Cole, though: thanks to arbitration raises around the team, the Astros are going to be over the luxury tax threshold of $208 million in 2020 unless they shed salary. There are ways to do that, for sure, but to shed as much as they would need to stay completely free of the luxury tax <a href="https://www.marcnormandin.com/2019/10/07/the-nationals-astros-and-luxury-tax-aversions/">might not be painless</a>, given their free agents include vital pieces like Cole the aforementioned Harris. Baseball’s overall spending habits have changed, and gone are the days in which championship teams would be kept intact with money no object.</p>
<p id="jXgYsY">Is this World Series pairing a matchup between two teams attempting to win now before their players get too expensive? For the Nationals, it’s not every year you can pair homegrown talent like Soto and Rendon with a refurbished Sánchez, a 35-year-old <span>Howie Kendrick</span> playing like he’s 10 years younger, while getting peak performances from Strasburg and Corbin. Scherzer isn’t getting any younger, and the 2019 Red Sox are a terrifying reminder that even the best of rotations can fall to injury. Everything was in place for the Nationals to make a run in 2019. What about 2020?</p>
<p id="UjfjUt">As sobering as it is to consider, here and now could be it for the Nats at this level. They won a wild card, then the Wild Card Game, toppled the National League’s regular season best in the Dodgers, breaking a miniature curse in the process. The team, good as it is, has played out of its mind to get this far. There’s nothing wrong with riding your luck — the 2015 Royals are thrilled with their title, you know, and the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> aren’t about to trade their 2016 rings back in just because snapping a historic streak of failure didn’t come with a dynasty attached. It’s just something to consider: how vital it is to seize on this opportunity while it’s here, especially with Rendon possibly leaving town and the 2020 Nats looking like they’ll be worse-off for his departure.</p>
<p id="w5NgAd">The Astros only have the A’s to worry about in the AL West, should they intentionally make themselves worse to save a buck by letting Cole sign elsewhere. Still, Oakland has won 97 games in consecutive years, and even if Billy Beane’s shit still doesn’t work in the playoffs, his teams figure out how to get there with some consistency, and that could be an issue for Houston. At least they’ll have the 2017 title to fall back on, should they fail to win this time out. Still, championships in 2017 and 2019 would better justify the atrocious, tanking-on-purpose first half of this decade, best personified ‘round these parts by a gif of one of their players <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/hot-corner/2013/9/17/4742748/oh-astros">sliding face-first into another player’s ass</a>. </p>
<p id="FrcA7g">The Astros are the better team on paper. They have the superior offense, even without the juiced ball, especially now that it features less <span>Josh Reddick</span> and <span>Jake Marisnick</span> than it did this summer. Their rotation is at least as good, if not better, than Washington’s: a lot of that thinking rides on what you think the Nats’ lineup can do against Cole compared to what the Astros might do to Sánchez. Houston has the better bullpen in terms of straight relievers, but as the Astros themselves showed back in 2017, the Red Sox in 2018, and the Nats are once again hoping to show in 2019, that doesn’t matter if you’ve got starters who can moonlight. </p>
<p id="9hmJc8">All of Houston’s advantages mostly add up to them having a better chance of winning the World Series than Washington, and nothing more. The Dodgers had a better chance of winning than the Nationals did in the NLDS, and they’re watching the World Series at home, their 106 regular season wins cold comfort as they once again failed to bring home their first World Series championship since 1988. Why can’t the Nationals do to the Astros what they already did to the Dodgers? </p>
<p id="PGEuxH">The Nats winning is not the most likely outcome, but, as the cliche goes, anything can happen in a short series. What matters is that we have a compelling, multi-layered narrative to pay attention to: an attempt at a mini-dynasty, potential last, best chances at winning, departing free agent stars, and no juiced ball in sight to mess with any of it. The playoffs so far have been an incredible spectacle, and the World Series looks like a worthy culmination of that spectacle. It’s baseball we should all want to watch, regardless of our traditional rooting interests, because watching it play out should be, to use an industry term, dope as hell.</p>
<p id="cyYk4U">It took the entire regular season and most of the postseason, but we finally have a series of compelling, dominant starting pitcher matchups, in the games that matter most. The 2019 season will be remembered for its home runs, regardless of which side comes out on top, this World Series will be so much more than a dinger-fest.</p>
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https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2019/10/20/20923712/world-series-2019-houston-astros-washington-nationals-starting-pitching-no-more-juiced-baseball-woooMarc Normandin2018-11-15T13:30:05-05:002018-11-15T13:30:05-05:00Unionized athletes need to stop crossing picket lines and start supporting fellow workers
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<p>Why pro sports teams have been crossing UNITE HERE hotel picket lines and how they can start showing solidarity instead. </p> <p id="opH9Ak">It should have been an easy opportunity to show solidarity. It should have been a friendly, comradely way to unite against oppressive bosses. Instead, professional athletes from the various North American sports unions have, again and again, put themselves ahead of the striking Marriott hotel workers, and crossed the picket lines that were put up in early October 2018. As if these hotel workers didn’t already have enough of an uphill battle ahead of them against the world’s largest hotel company, they now have to contend with athletes and sports unions ignoring their fight.</p>
<p id="fffkfg">That has to stop.</p>
<p id="j7nqJ5">First, it was MLB’s <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">New York Yankees</a>, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts for the start of the American League Division Series against the <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> on Oct. 4. <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/4/17938620/yankees-red-sox-boston-alds-marriott-strike-picket-line-hotel-workers">They stayed at the Ritz-Carlton</a> — their usual lodgings — rather than changing to one of the many hotels in the city where workers were not on strike and that were suggested by UNITE HERE, the union leading the strike, as alternatives [<em>Disclosure: I’ve donated to UNITE HERE Local 26’s strike fund]. </em>When SB Nation asked the Major League Baseball Players Association for comment, we were told, “From what we understand, these workers have been trying to negotiate a fair contract for more than six months. They deserve to be heard and deserve our support.” Granted, <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/4/17938620/yankees-red-sox-boston-alds-marriott-strike-picket-line-hotel-workers">the Yankees crossing the picket line</a> did help the striking hotel workers get press, but it certainly was not due to support from the visiting team from the Bronx nor from the MLBPA.</p>
<p id="CJXdX0">Imagine how much more powerful a show of support the MLBPA and the Yankees could have made by posing for photographs with the striking workers from Local 26 before heading to their new hotel full of employees who weren’t fighting against a corporate behemoth? Imagine if the MLBPA had arranged for Red Sox players to join the Yankees for this moment, too: two historic rivals, about to face off in a playoff series, but not so antagonistic that they would allow it to get in the way of showing solidarity with fellow union workers? A video of Red Sox and Yankees players chanting the workers’ slogan, “One job should be enough,” holding up signs in support of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/10/17955272/marriott-hotel-workers-strike">their fight for better wages</a>, protections against sexual harassment, and improved working conditions in general for what is a strenuous, taxing job that doesn’t pay workers enough to live in the expensive cities the hotels are located in. Sadly, imagining is all we can do.</p>
<p id="n0vKxC">One of the reasons <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained/2018/3/7/17092474/west-virginia-teacher-wildcat-strike-today-explained-podcast">the West Virginia teacher strikes worked</a> this year — and helped to inspire teachers strikes elsewhere across America — is that the teachers showed incredible solidarity both in their organizing and in their demands. The teachers didn’t just go on strike for wages that improved on their dismal ones: they also fought until <em>all </em>West Virginia state employees received a raise better than what elected officials had managed to procure for them in previous decades, better health care, and long overdue improvements to the schools themselves. <a href="https://socialistworker.org/2018/10/24/educators-tell-the-story-of-55strong">They fought for a better community</a> — not just themselves, not just in a vacuum. </p>
<p id="cafItO">The Yankees had a chance to rally national support for the hotel workers by showing some themselves. But, the team didn’t fight in solidarity, or at all. Afterward, the MLBPA sent out a brief statement that lacked an apology for crossing a picket line, with a vague notion of support for the workers included.</p>
<p id="vWuABL">When the <a href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Houston Astros</a> showed up in Boston for the American League Championship Series later in October, they did change their hotel accommodations to avoid crossing the picket line — an improvement, to be sure. The <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/22/18009428/dodgers-hotel-strike-boston-ritz-world-series">did no such thing for the World Series</a>, however. Unlike with the Yankees, where it could be argued that news of the strike was sprung upon them too late to change their reservations, this was a conscious decision by all involved.</p>
<p id="wZDyVL">According to UNITE HERE, the Dodgers did explore changing hotels to avoid crossing the picket line, but ultimately stayed in a Marriott property anyway. The reason? There <a href="https://twitter.com/unitehere/status/1054415494676185088">weren’t enough suites</a> in the alternative hotel options, and player contracts require suites. </p>
<p id="5vnKEL">UNITE HERE’s president, Brian Lang, spoke to SB Nation about the Dodgers crossing the picket line at the time of the incident: </p>
<blockquote><p id="L6kBrn">The bottom line is workers out there who are on their third week of striking, who live paycheck to paycheck, who are fighting for a livable income so one job would be enough. You’ve got millionaire ball players who would rather sleep in a hotel, even if it’s struck, because it has suites.</p></blockquote>
<p id="eVqWGv">How is it that the MLBPA has not put a solidarity clause in place as union policy, so that if a situation like this occurs, MLB players can show support to fellow union members rather than creating a scenario where Dodgers’ players can simply throw up their hands and say there aren’t enough suites for us to show solidarity today? That should exist, as soon as possible.</p>
<p id="vmiWFb">It’s not just MLB players who failed to join with the striking hotel workers, however. The NHL’s <a href="https://www.broadstreethockey.com/">Philadelphia Flyers</a> <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/25/18025212/philadelphia-flyers-picket-line-union-ritz-carlton-marriott-boston-bruins">crossed the picket line in Boston</a> in late-October — weeks into the strike — as did the <a href="https://www.coppernblue.com/">Edmonton Oilers</a> when they visited the <a href="https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/">Bruins</a>. The NBA’s <a href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Orlando Magic</a> and Chicago Bulls both crossed the same UNITE HERE picket line for games against the <a href="https://www.celticsblog.com/">Boston Celtics</a>.</p>
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<p id="w8XUHI">Visiting teams aren’t the only guilty party: the Celtics hosted a fundraiser at the Westin Boston Waterfront, a Marriott property, in October while workers were striking at that site. If you believe it would have been difficult to change the location of a fundraiser at the last minute, St. Anthony Shrine pulled it off. It <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2018/10/striking_hotel_workers_boosted_by_st_anthony_shrine_fundraiser">moved an annual fundraiser</a> scheduled that same month at the same Westin just days before it took place to avoid crossing the picket line. Upon moving the event to another Marriott property where workers were not striking, St. Anthony Shrine officials explicitly expressed support for the hotel workers in a press release.</p>
<p id="JCuTkq">The Astros aren’t alone among sports teams in changing their hotels — the NBA’s <a href="https://www.bulletsforever.com/">Washington Wizards</a> also avoided crossing a picket line in San Francisco in October, and the <a href="https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> changed hotels during a November road trip to Boston — but for too many teams the decision has been to just go about business as usual. </p>
<p id="xydoei">At this point, simply stopping the crossing of the picket line isn’t enough. This is now a month-plus of sports union members ignoring the plight of hotel workers in Marriott properties across the country, putting their own needs and comforts ahead of those struggling. Not only should these teams and unions immediately cease crossing the picket lines and begin to show solidarity with the striking workers, suite clauses in contracts be damned, but there should be a price for all of this flagrant ignoring of striking workers, too.</p>
<p id="DvqQYq">The MLBPA, NBPA, and NHLPA should be writing checks to UNITE HERE for its strike fund. These unions, by virtue of not rallying their members in support of the strike, have damaged it: Marriott knows they will continue to receive business from high-profile clients, even though they’re union members themselves, and this has made the life and struggle of these workers worse. Donating to the strike fund of these hotel workers will not only show support in public — actual, material support and not just support through platitudes — but will allow these workers an even longer stretch of time in which they can battle Marriott for the protections and wages they deserve.</p>
<p id="jnn698">MLB players have not been on strike since 1994, before anyone currently in the league was around to experience it. NBA and NHL players have endured lockouts more recently, but those labor fights never lacked for attention. Even if this hotel strike feels removed from their individual needs, especially when focused on something like the World Series, these pro sports unions need to better elevate the connections between all labor disputes and give their members support in choosing a solidarity that can bring meaningful attention to the plights of others. Opening up their wallets wouldn’t hurt the goal of workers of the world uniting, either.</p>
https://www.sbnation.com/2018/11/15/18080068/unite-hotel-workers-strike-sports-unions-marriott-bostonMarc Normandin2018-11-08T09:40:20-05:002018-11-08T09:40:20-05:00The Yankees hope you don’t know how math works
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<figcaption>Photo by Elsa/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Are the Yankees posturing or are they just full of it? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.</p> <p id="g6G3Fb">Last offseason, the assumption was the Yankees were holding back on spending in order to accomplish two goals: one, to stay under the luxury tax for the first time in the history of said tax in order to reset the penalties, and two, to keep room on the payroll for adding a top-tier free agent like Bryce Harper or Manny Machado before the 2019 season. </p>
<p id="JgMpoR">New York accomplished that first goal, as it looks like j<strong>ust </strong><a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24657436/new-york-yankees-mlb-luxury-tax-boston-red-sox-washington-nationals-threshold"><strong>the Red Sox and Nationals</strong></a> will end up paying the luxury tax in 2018. As for the second, well, the Yankees have been <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/11/1/18051872/yankees-bryce-harper-manny-machado-free-agency-rumors"><strong>pretending they won’t make big free agency moves</strong></a> this winter, except, maybe they aren’t pretending after all. General manager Brian Cashman prefers the Yankees <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMadani/status/1059932264602132480"><strong>stay under the luxury tax threshold</strong></a> again, so as “to not line the pockets of opponents to use that (revenue) against us.”</p>
<p id="PshFP0">That is some incredible bullshit, to be frank. The luxury tax penalties aren’t <em>that </em>severe, not by a long shot: the Red Sox crossed not just the first, but also the second luxury tax threshold in 2018 by spending $238.4 million, meaning they have another round of taxing on top of them, which will result in a penalty of ... $11.3 million. That money will go into the central fund to be distributed to the small-market clubs (MLB is phasing out the 15 largest markets from collecting revenue-sharing funds), which means the Red Sox are mostly financing like, an extra September call-up for teams in 2019.</p>
<aside id="xxvOsm"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="j0Dohc">The Yankees have paid out $341 million in luxury tax penalties in the previous 15 years in which they’ve exceeded the threshold, but even dividing that up over 15 years and splitting it among the rest of the teams doesn’t mean New York is, say, financing their rivals’ success. As a whole, sure, the Yankees are taking part in a process that helps smaller market teams make up for revenue disparities when you’re talking about all of the money going from one place to another through the central fund and revenue-sharing, but the Yankees alone aren’t financing it all. </p>
<p id="tuc4Dy">Plus, with the way revenue-sharing works in the first place, <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/library/business/revenue-sharing/"><strong>31 percent of a team’s net revenue</strong></a> goes into the central fund, anyway, so if the Yankees aren’t spending profits on Bryce Harper or Manny Machado, they’re just going to end up giving part of that money back to the league, anyway, and then the Royals can use it to help pay Alcides Escobar to be a terrible shortstop or whatever.</p>
<p id="dTh1i8">The Yankees seem to be putting a lot of effort into making their fans not feel like Harper or Machado will be in pinstripes in 2019 and beyond, and while it could certainly still be a negotiating tactic and posturing to let Harper and Machado know that New York is perfectly happy to enter 2019 without them, it might also be Cashman and the Steinbrenners letting fans know that, just because they lost in the American League Division Series to their rivals doesn’t mean they’re going to go all The Boss on the rest of the league and start adding payroll on top of payroll. Not when there are some profits to be had by working on the margins and staying under the luxury tax threshold again.</p>
<ul>
<li id="J9ASV7">Obviously the Yankees should be in on players like Harper and Machado, but it’s also the bad teams that should be chasing the two best free agents out there. <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/11/7/18069364/bryce-harper-manny-machado-free-agency-rumors-mlb-offseason"><strong>Let Grant Brisbee explain</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="QwO00s">The Nationals offered Bryce Harper a record-setting contract that he turned down. Whitney McIntosh sorted out <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/11/7/18071902/nationals-bryce-harper-offer-free-agency"><strong>what Washington’s motivations were</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="1h3Qiq">Here’s what the Farhan Zaidi hiring <a href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2018/11/7/18072982/sf-giants-farhan-zaidi"><strong>means for the Giants</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="16UJ1A">The Mariners and Rays are <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2018/11/7/18074172/seattle-mariners-agree-to-swap-mike-zunino-guillermo-heredia-for-mariners-legend-mallex-smith"><strong>set to make a trade</strong></a>, with Mike Zunino and Guillermo Heredia heading to the Rays in order to bring Mallex Smith back to Seattle.</li>
<li id="THFGxF">That’s not the only Rays’ trade news, as Blake Snell <a href="https://www.draysbay.com/2018/11/7/18072296/tampa-bay-rays-blake-snell-trade-value-non-existent-erik-neander"><strong>just might be untouchable</strong></a> this offseason.</li>
<li id="omDH3S">A significant part of the Red Sox success in 2018 can be attributed to <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/11/8/18074698/2018-red-sox-xander-bogaerts-breakout"><strong>the long-awaited breakout</strong></a> of shortstop Xander Bogaerts.</li>
<li id="ejPiEL">Brian Cashman usually isn’t so open with his plans, but yet, there he is <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2018/11/7/18068900/yankees-offseason-starting-pitching-trade-market-sonny-gray-rotation-brian-cashman"><strong>explaining his Sonny Gray ideas</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="nOfdi9">It’s <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2018/11/free-agent-michael-brantley-not-expected-to-re-sign-with-cleveland-indians.html#incart_river_index"><strong>not expected</strong></a> that Michael Brantley will re-sign with Cleveland.</li>
<li id="mm9nVO">Mike Fast, former Baseball Prospectus writer and key piece of the analytics side of the Astros’ front office, has now <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/2018/11/7/18073170/atlanta-braves-hire-mike-fast-as-special-assistant-to-gm-astros"><strong>joined the Braves</strong></a> as a special assistant to the GM.</li>
</ul>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/11/8/18064478/yankees-mlb-offseason-bryce-harper-manny-machado-luxury-taxMarc Normandin2018-10-29T10:25:38-04:002018-10-29T10:25:38-04:00The Red Sox won the World Series without a super bullpen
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<img alt="League Championship Series - Boston Red Sox v Houston Astros - Game Five" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zKF290J1Fx6wbjqD8HmFqPaIYVI=/0x0:4637x3091/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61947095/1052498520.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Elsa/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Like the Astros in 2017, the Boston bullpen got its championship by being creative instead of with an army of super relievers.</p> <p id="G59xCs">Before the July 31st trade deadline, the need for the Red Sox if they were going to truly compete in October was a reliever. When they didn’t get another one, and the bullpen struggled in August, the assumption was that Dave Dombrowski’s inaction would cost the Red Sox in the end.</p>
<p id="HlNAvf">Technically, the Red Sox did get themselves a reliever for October during the trade deadline, by acquiring starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. But that’s only because manager Alex Cora took a page out of the 2017 Astros’ playbook -- the team he was bench coach for last year when they won the World Series despite having an awful bullpen. </p>
<p id="tocQVW">Since the Royals’ super bullpen won them the World Series in 2015 despite a rotation most fans can’t remember the members of and a lineup that produced a whole bunch of singles (this is all said with love, Kansas City, that team was its own kind of terrifying), MLB teams have focused on replicating the strategy. Dominant bullpens that shorter games by allowing teams to take out the starter as early as possible became the norm, and that was once again the case in 2018: as Emma Baccellieri <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/10/26/dodgers-red-sox-bullpen-world-series-mlb-postseason-playoffs"><strong>pointed out earlier in the World Series</strong></a>, the starter innings vs. bullpen innings pools were split down the middle. </p>
<aside id="a0K5As"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="2Z6KnR">The Red Sox weren’t shy about pulling their starters, either, but they didn’t have a super bullpen. They had Matt Barnes, who struck out nearly 100 batters this year but no one would confuse for dominant. He’s a good, sometimes great reliever, a lot like Joe Kelly, who spent a month tipping his pitches in the regular season, ruining his ERA and any pre-October proof he was dependable. Ryan Brasier was a complete unknown to everyone but Red Sox fans and the few Angels fans who remembered he existed: he was the third-most important reliever on the Red Sox heading into the postseason.</p>
<p id="DtveVa">There was Craig Kimbrel, but, for Kimbrel, he was shaky, and would continue to be shaky in the postseason. This wasn’t the ideal bullpen for a World Series, but it also wasn’t all the Red Sox had. </p>
<p id="D07yOZ">Like with A.J. Hinch and the Astros the year before, Cora made up for any deficiencies his pen had by using his starting pitchers as relievers. Chris Sale made two appearances in relief, one in the ALDS and one to close out the World Series. Rick Porcello started three games in the postseason, and relieved in two others. Eduardo Rodriguez was set to relief duty only until an 18-inning game made him the Game 4 starter: he threw a total of 10 innings over seven games this October. Nathan Eovaldi started an ALDS and an ALCS game, showed up in relief in Game 5 of the ALCS, then pitched in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3 of the World Series, with the last of those featuring 97 pitches and six innings of that 18-inning game.</p>
<p id="s8rcRV">And, of course, David Price also pitched in relief in Game 3, after starting Game 2, then went on to win Game 5. </p>
<p id="I0X1qn">Now, don’t get me wrong: Brasier, Kelly, and Barnes were all vital to the Red Sox World Series victory. The Red Sox didn’t eschew using relievers to the degree the 2017 Astros did, and inarguably, <em>had</em> to. Still, though, it’s easy to see the Red Sox as more like last year’s Astros than like the Yankees or the Royals or the Indians of the recent past, and if they hadn’t committed to that Astros-esque plan, we might be having a different conversation about the World Series this morning.</p>
<p id="RjYEDu">It was a non-traditional approach, but then, so was the rise of the super bullpen full of super relievers in lieu of letting starters air it all out. With two teams winning the World Series in consecutive years by leveraging their starting pitchers as relievers when it made sense, maybe we’ll see a shift in how teams approach their roster building this offseason and in July, with more focus on starters who could also play up in relief on short rest, at least for a few appearances. The game is always adapting to itself, and this budding trend is no different.</p>
<ul>
<li id="Kb2XNn">The Red Sox have always <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/29/18035908/2018-world-series-red-sox-dodgers-pearce-sale-price"><strong>wanted to be champions and bullies</strong></a>, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. This isn’t even an insult: everyone should aspire to this level of competence. Hey, the Red Sox did after watching the Yankees for decades, and look where it got them.</li>
<li id="NAS0do">Alex Cora made what seemed like a whole lot of weird decisions, but <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/29/18036482/alex-cora-world-series-win-red-sox-decisions"><strong>they kept working and working</strong></a> and now the Red Sox are World Series champions. </li>
<li id="pj2Q66">There has been a monkey on David Price’s back for years, but in the World Series he <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/28/18033694/world-series-2018-red-sox-david-price-dodgers"><strong>ripped the monkey off and then powerbombed it through a table</strong></a> before crotch chopping the monkey on national television. Hey, that’s how I remember it happening.</li>
<li id="eigzhw">The Dodgers offense didn’t show in the NLCS, but Los Angeles won anyway. They were not so fortunate <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/29/18035696/manny-machado-world-series-dodgers-offense-mia"><strong>in the World Series</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="UOMEqT">Once again, the Dodgers head into a <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/2018/10/28/18037086/dodgers-offseason-clayton-kershaw-opt-out-dave-roberts-contract"><strong>busy offseason full of decisions</strong></a> to be made following a World Series defeat.</li>
<li id="PW6quV">Here are <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/10/29/18037176/2018-red-sox-world-series-champions-game-five-price-pearce-kershaw-cora-sale-eovaldi"><strong>scattered thoughts</strong></a> from Over the Monster on Boston’s World Series win.</li>
<li id="HUGoTW">Fans unfurled a banner reading “<a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/28/18036294/world-series-game-5-dodger-stadium-banner-trans-people-deserve-to-live"><strong>Trans people deserve to live</strong></a>” during Game 5 of the World Series, but you wouldn’t know it if you only watched the FOX broadcast.</li>
<li id="VMdK1d">The Red Sox <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/10/29/18037202/2018-red-sox-world-series-championship-parade"><strong>championship parade</strong></a> is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.</li>
<li id="OkxLGA">The Phillies didn’t make it to the postseason this year, but they’re reckoning with <a href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/2018/10/25/18014540/phillies-1993-its-time-to-look-joe-carter-in-the-eye"><strong>the ghosts of World Series past</strong></a> in the form of Joe Carter. </li>
<li id="Sj5y4y">The Yankees could <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2018/10/28/18033486/yankees-pitching-rotation-trades-greinke-scherzer-degrom-syndergaard-wheeler"><strong>upgrade their rotation</strong></a> through trades this offseason.</li>
<li id="C83XC1">The Reds are <a href="https://www.redreporter.com/2018/10/28/18035770/cincinnati-reds-rumors-jim-riggleman"><strong>not retaining Jim Riggleman</strong></a> as manager.</li>
<li id="oc7VtZ">Things are dark for the Marlins now, but Fish Stripes believe they have <a href="https://www.fishstripes.com/2018/10/28/18031998/why-marlins-have-brightest-future-best-championship-odds-among-south-florida-miami-sports-teams"><strong>the brightest future</strong></a> of any of Miami’s teams.</li>
</ul>
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https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/29/18037714/red-sox-world-series-championship-alex-cora-bullpenMarc Normandin2018-10-28T23:27:23-04:002018-10-28T23:27:23-04:00David Price set his postseason narrative on fire and buried the ashes in Los Angeles
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<img alt="World Series - Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game Five" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/udrGZyas4DelPDp4EX9tjGVLOdA=/0x0:2241x1494/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61943593/1054816540.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>David Price entered the postseason a liability and ended it the reason the Red Sox are World Series champions.</p> <p id="vCQOcB">You all know the <span>David Price</span> postseason narrative. If for some reason you need reminding, <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/24/18017220/david-price-postseason-history-red-sox-world-series">we’ve covered it before</a>. The Price postseason narrative is now dead in the ground. The monkey is off his back, all the pages that made up the narrative have been set on fire, and even Price’s loudest haters are ready to help discard the evidence of it ever existing if it means they can pretend they never had a doubt in the world about the Boston ace.</p>
<p id="l7Xzo2">Price didn’t just pitch in two <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> games in 2018: he got a taste for victory in the American League Championship Series against the <a href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Astros</a> for the first time in his postseason career, and now he can’t stop. Price wanted to be involved in every moment of the World Series against the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> that manager <span>Alex Cora</span> would allow, and with <span>Chris Sale</span> ailing from both a stomach malady and a shoulder issue that limited just how much he had left to give the Sox, Cora would accept the help.</p>
<p id="eO8MeI">Price pitched Game 2, going six innings while allowing just two runs, picking up his second career postseason W as a starter and his first-ever World Series win to boot. That wasn’t enough for him: he told Cora he was ready to go in Game 3 as a reliever if necessary, on one day’s rest — the travel day — and it turned out that yes, Price was necessary: he faced three batters, retiring two of them, to help the <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> bridge to <span>Craig Kimbrel</span> in a tie game. </p>
<aside id="qhvK18"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="kteUtt">Boston would eventually lose in extra innings on a <span>Max Muncy</span> dinger in the 18th against <span>Nathan Eovaldi</span>, who was approaching 100 pitches in relief at the time. <span>Eovaldi</span> was supposed to be the Game 4 starter: now that he wasn’t available, Price let Cora know he was willing to be the opener for the Red Sox on Saturday, despite pitching the night before, despite that relief appearance coming two days after a start in which he threw 88 pitches.</p>
<p id="DiQ4pV">Price didn’t pitch in Game 4 — though, he did warm up in relief — and he started Game 5 in place of <span>Sale</span> on just three days rest. Price kept offering himself up to Cora and his teammates, and a need arose for him to step up as offered. <span>Sale</span>’s shoulder was at the point where he had just one outing left in him, and the Sox didn’t want to use it in Los Angeles, where he’d have to hit and the temptation to pinch-hit for him would exist. </p>
<p id="aGYmV5">No, the Sox wanted to save Sale for a potential Game 6 back in Boston, where the Red Sox could have their best defensive alignment behind him and not have to worry about pitchers hitting. That meant Price was in line to start, and he was more than up to the challenge. The lefty allowed a leadoff homer to <span>David Freese</span>, but that was it: he allowed just four more baserunners total through seven innings of work, struck out five Dodgers, and walked away from the mound with the Sox leading 5-1. Sale would get a chance to close the game out, and it was all because Price dominated — and picked up another postseason win, the most important of his career both now and maybe forever, because it’s the one that clinched a World Series title.</p>
<p id="CufP6d">88 pitches in Game 2. 13 pitches in Game 3. Warming up in Game 4. Tossing another 89 over seven-plus frames in Game 5. Price always bragged about how he was rubber armed and not worried about his workload, and he put that brag to use right after winning his first-ever postseason start just one series ago. </p>
<aside id="gA6Qo6"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Red Sox win the 2018 World Series","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/2/17929554/2018-mlb-playoffs-bracket-schedule-scores-results-postseason"},{"title":"World Series 2018: Everything you need to know about the Dodgers-Red Sox Fall Classic","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18013556/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers"}]}'></div></aside><p id="iFAlhv">Starting Price made the most sense for the Red Sox strategically with Sale in the condition he’s in, but it was also the best possible story the Red Sox and Price could tell. In the ALDS, even the most ardent supporters of Price were having a difficult time: there was still hope he’d stop being a completely different pitcher in the postseason and just be <span>David Price</span> instead, but that hope was ever-shrinking. Price pitched well in the ALCS agains the Astros but didn’t get the win in his first start of that series, then went toe-to-toe with Justin by God Verlander in what would end up being the final game of the ALCS, picking up a win to eliminate the defending champions and move the Red Sox on to the World Series. </p>
<p id="BkxOmg">Capping that off with a performance in the World Series that absolutely merits the Most Valuable Player award was the only merciful way for this to end for the Red Sox. It’s a shame Price came up against Kershaw and <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/17/17965876/clayton-kershaw-postseason-history-dodgers-legacy">his own up-and-down postseason narrative</a> in the process — you knew someone had to lose here, and in a way neither fan base or pitcher wanted — but baseball has always been cruel like that. Just ask <span>David Price</span> how it is that everything feels so good, so right, now that baseball’s cruelty has forgotten he exists. </p>
<p id="cdSnoz">Briefly? For good? It barely matters right now: David Price led the Red Sox to the World Series, and then told them all to get on his back at every opportunity once they were in the Fall Classic. He’s got a few wins where there were once a debilitating absence of them, and he’ll have a ring full of diamonds for his finger come April, too. </p>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/28/18033694/world-series-2018-red-sox-david-price-dodgersMarc Normandin2018-10-28T00:08:36-04:002018-10-28T00:08:36-04:00World Series 2018: Everything you need to know about the Dodgers-Red Sox Fall Classic
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<img alt="World Series - Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game Four" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BO4qw7Oaaf7nrFW5taGielXNwrs=/245x0:4630x2923/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61875803/1054409866.jpg.1540582644.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Previews, recaps, highlights, updates, and more from the Dodgers-Red Sox 2018 World Series.</p> <p id="IGNYdy">The 2018 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> features the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> taking on the <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a>, and we’ll be covering it all at SB Nation MLB. We’ll have previews, highlights, recaps, news, game stories, #takes, and more throughout the Fall Classic. </p>
<p id="S5cF7T">The Red Sox took the first two games in Boston, then the Dodgers clawed back in Game 3 with an 18-inning thriller, the <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/27/18031614/dodgers-red-sox-game-3-longest-game-world-series-history">longest postseason game ever played</a>. Los Angeles held a 4-0 lead after six innings in Game 4, looking to tie the series, but the Red Sox stormed back with a pair of home runs to tie, then exploded with a five-run ninth to stun the Dodgers and take a commanding 3-1 series lead.</p>
<p id="f3bKn9">Game 5 of the World Series will air on FOX on Sunday, October 28, with first pitch at 8:15 p.m. ET. <span>Clayton Kershaw</span> starts for the Dodgers against <span>David Price</span> for the Red Sox.</p>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18013556/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgersWhitney McIntoshMarc NormandinGrant BrisbeeEric StephenHarry Lyles Jr.2018-10-27T07:00:02-04:002018-10-27T07:00:02-04:00Red Sox used Game 4 starter Nathan Eovaldi in Game 3, so now what?
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<img alt="World Series - Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game Three" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FjmVDAD5uEzQA7LTJpNxHYVTXas=/0x0:4206x2804/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61930371/1054072194.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Red Sox knew there was a chance Eovaldi would pitch in Game 3, and he did, so who’s around for Game 4 after extra innings?</p> <p id="O8hINP"><a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> manager <span>Alex Cora</span> originally only wanted to use projected Game 4 starter <span>Nathan Eovaldi</span> in Game 3 if the Red Sox had a real chance at winning Game 3. Eovaldi would be the “rover” Cora has been turning starting pitchers into in the eighth, as a bridge to closer <span>Craig Kimbrel</span>, but if the Red Sox weren’t in a position where they needed to bridge to their fireman, then Eovaldi would be the Game 4 starter in Los Angeles on Saturday night.</p>
<p id="M2QRNs">It ended up being <span>David Price</span>, the Game 2 starter — yes, this game was weird and it ruled — who came in to bridge to Kimbrel, but it was during a tie game. A tie game that stayed tied, and then untied, and then tied again, and finally <span>Max Muncy</span> hit a walkoff homer in the [checks notes] 18th inning. Eovaldi had to pitch six-plus innings to make that happen, though, which means he is not starting Game 4, which literally begins later today. </p>
<p id="s21Ypy">It’s also today when I am writing this. All hail the <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/27/18031614/dodgers-red-sox-game-3-longest-game-world-series-history">longest game in World Series history</a> in both time and innings.</p>
<aside id="VfZV2L"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="H6SE2M">So... what do the Red Sox do in Game 4, given their Game 4 starter just threw an entire Game 4’s worth of pitches the night and morning before? They improvise! Goodnight everyone!</p>
<p id="GlzWyN">Really, though: they improvise. <span>Drew Pomeranz</span> wasn’t warming up until the 18th inning because Alex Cora knew Eovaldi had six-to-seven innings in him in Game 3, and Pomeranz was an option to start Game 4. Drew Pomeranz, the guy with the horrible ERA? That Pomeranz? Yes! It’s him! But not really: Pomeranz dealt with injuries and lessened velocity throughout the season, but has spent October working his way back to the Pomeranzian form that made him so good just a year ago. He says he’s back up to 93-94 miles per hour, and if he is, then he can start a World Series game.</p>
<p id="dlN2MY">Will he be any good? I don’t know: will any of the players be any good tomorrow after playing in <em>literally the longest MLB game in the history of the postseason?</em> Pomeranz is rested, that’s for sure, after spending the last two months of the season in relief and October off of the postseason roster. If he can hit his usual good Pomeranz velocity on the radar gun, we might see the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> continuing to struggle to score runs.</p>
<p id="GInHnm">Given Pomeranz hasn’t been starting for a while, though, and hasn’t pitched in a live game since September 30, he can’t be relied on by himself to pitch Game 4. There’s <span>Eduardo Rodriguez</span>, though, who recorded one out and threw all of six pitches in the process: he’s another pitcher who started for the Red Sox in the regular season but has been pushed aside and into a relief role in the postseason. Pomeranz and Rodriguez should be able to combine to take up most of Game 4.</p>
<p id="bSfpQL">None of Boston’s bullpen worked more than an inning in Game 3 besides <span>Craig Kimbrel</span>, too, so, relatively speaking, those relievers are rested. <span>Matt Barnes</span>, <span>Ryan Brasier</span>, <span>Joe Kelly</span>, and <span>Heath Hembree</span> can all be available again for Game 4. Two starters and a handful of relievers should bring Boston the distance, assuming they aren’t in for another two games worth of pitching again on Saturday.</p>
<p id="s0sNdS">Boston is up 2-1 in the World Series, so they have a little leeway if Game 4 doesn’t work out. They’re in a position to make it work, though, as Pomeranz with his velocity is a great starter, and he’s left-handed, which the Dodgers struggled against comparatively in 2018. Rodriguez is left-handed, too, so Boston could potentially keep the Dodgers’ inferior version of their lineup around for most of the game.</p>
<aside id="OoXfrm"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"World Series 2018: Everything you need to know about the Dodgers-Red Sox Fall Classic","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18013556/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers"},{"title":"The worst commercials of the 2018 MLB postseason","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/26/17998604/2018-mlb-world-series-worst-commercials"}]}'></div></aside><p id="DEGKX5">Boston might even be in better shape than Los Angeles for Game 4, as the Dodger are using <span>Rich Hill</span>, who is effective when he’s in, but is not in for very long. After 18-innings on Friday, that kind of differentiation in pitcher fatigue could be the key to Game 4.</p>
<p id="54kwsj">The Red Sox aren’t guaranteed a Game 4 win or anything like that. However, they have two regular season starters ready to go to make a Game 4 effort work, and between their handedness and the state of the Dodgers’ bullpen, maybe they can pull out a W and put the Red Sox up 3-1 in the World Series.</p>
<p id="8gr5uY">And if not, their presence will help bridge Boston to a rested <span>Chris Sale</span>, and then, a rested David Price: that’s not a terrible place to be, especially with Game 6 back in Boston. Hey, by Game 7, if it comes to that, Nathan Eovaldi might even be ready to go again!</p>
<p id="d0AMFf"></p>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/27/18031110/world-series-2018-red-soxMarc Normandin2018-10-26T09:00:02-04:002018-10-26T09:00:02-04:00MLB postseason shares, explained
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<img alt="World Series - Houston Astros v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game Seven" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wLaSO9Dh79qFvx760df3kw-fv_o=/0x0:3875x2583/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61899913/869221436.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Postseason shares are basically a bonus check, which is good, but it’s not really pay.</p> <p id="Lq5VXO">The <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb-playoffs">MLB postseason</a> can be a slog for players. After beginning spring training in February, then a regular season that extends from April through September, there is an entire extra month of baseball in the works for the two teams that make it to the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a>, and anywhere from an extra day to a few weeks for the rest of the postseason field. </p>
<p id="LR5Kla">Unlike the regular season, players are not paid for the postseason games they play. They’re paid for the regular season only — there is no pay for spring training, either, despite it being two months of showing up to work and appearing in games. As <a href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Astros</a>’ pitcher <span>Collin McHugh</span> tweeted about on Wednesday, players also don’t accumulate service time for the postseason, despite being on an active roster.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not in the playoffs...nor do they get service time. And no, I will not get off this soapbox ever</p>— Collin McHugh (@Collin_McHugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/Collin_McHugh/status/1055118900621381632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a>
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<p id="xOJJIV">In effect, players in the postseason are paid a bonus of varying size: postseason shares. Postseason shares aren’t awful or anything: a bonus is good! I don’t get a bonus for my job, and a bonus would be pretty good! However, I’m also paid throughout the calendar year for each week of work I’m putting in: MLB players who appear in the postseason are not. It’s not really a bonus when it’s in lieu of salary.</p>
<p id="NOL3fx">It’s a pretty good bonus if you make it through the entire offseason, though: last year, McHugh’s World Series champion Astros got the largest postseason share, from a pool of $30,420,155.57 that broke down to $438,901.57 for each share. There were 60 full shares, with another 9.23 “partial” shares, and four cash awards. Players vote on who gets a share, which ends up determining who is getting them — bench guys, players who showed up briefly in the season, players traded away to other teams, clubhouse employees, and so on. It can <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/11755817/mlb-postseason-shares-colorful-history">be contentious</a>, it can <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/sports/postseason-paychecks-are-all-about-sharing.html">be heartwarming</a>, or something in between.</p>
<p id="7V6WSo">In effect, that was $24,383 per postseason game for the Astros’ postseason regulars, who had 18 games on their October 2017 schedule. As players making the league minimum of $545,000 are paid $2,914 per day during the 187 days of the regular season, that’s a huge jump — it’s good to be the champs.</p>
<aside id="uVJ3C4"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="NFt2Yh">It’s also good to be the runner up. The <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> had shares of $259,722.14 last October, and they appeared in 15 postseason games, so their per game rate was $17,318. The <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> and <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a>, NLCS and ALCS losers, respectively, had postseason shares of $133,159.02 and $138,897.63; the LDS losers pulled in significantly less — <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> at $36,438.21, D-Backs $40,976.78, <a href="https://www.letsgotribe.com/">Indians</a> $36,782.68, and the <a href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> $36,868.74. The Wild Card Game losers, of course, got the least, at $18,878.74 for the <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> and $18,990.36 for the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a>. Not bad for a day’s work!</p>
<p id="iW2BtQ">Here’s where things get a little icky, though. The shares could be so much more, but the rules are very much in favor of the team owners instead of the players whose play actually, you know, wins these games and extends the postseason and brings in the trophies. Yes, yes, owners write checks and those checks cash and everyone is happy, but, well, you’ll see what I mean when I say things are a little unbalanced when it comes to <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/2017-postseason-shares-announced/c-262432566">splitting up postseason revenue</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p id="pCPAc1">The players’ pool is formed from 50 percent of the gate receipts from the Wild Card Games; 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first three games of the Division Series; 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the League Championship Series; and 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the World Series. The players’ pool was divided among the 10 Postseason Clubs</p></blockquote>
<p id="Du5z7V">The players and owners split the Wild Card Game revenue down the middle, at 50 percent. The players get a higher percentage in the next three series, at 60 percent in each, but there is an oddity there: it’s just the first three of five LDS games, and four of seven for the LCS and World Series.</p>
<p id="CXDZQl">So, in effect, if a League Division Series goes past three games, the players aren’t really being paid for Game 4 or Game 5. The same goes for games 5-7 for the League Championship Series and World Series, which means a team playing in every possible postseason game is only actually getting postseason shares for 12 of the 20 games they’d be rostered for.</p>
<p id="KiGxYM">It doesn’t always go that way, of course. The Red Sox played in one “extra” LDS game and one “extra” LCS game so far: if the World Series ends in four or five games, they’ll have just the two or three “extra” games. The Dodgers, on the other hand, played in the Wild Card Game, and four LDS games, and a full seven LCS games. They could end up with a whole lot of what are, in effect, unpaid games if the World Series goes long.</p>
<p id="MJXwOG">When you combine the lack of service time accumulation with the fact there is a bonus system in place of salary, one that can very easily avoid paying players for games they’re rostered for, you can see where this is both good in the sense that it’s a better-than-usual payday for many players, but also not quite as good as it could be, and, for whatever reason, exempt from the usual rules regarding salary and how long a player has been actually been under contract and playing games that count for. </p>
<p id="F4UP16">If service time accumulated in the postseason, it would be more difficult for competitive teams to manipulate service time to bring up rookies, like the Cubs did with <span>Kris Bryant</span> in 2015, or the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> did with Ronald Acuña in 2018. Those rookies would need to be held in the minors for even longer to counter the potential service time accumulation of October, which might keep a team from making the postseason in the first place. It’s a little chicken-egg discussion for front offices that could end up helping players out, since teams might not be as willing to take the risk of holding players down for the length of time required.</p>
<aside id="DKCQLz"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"World Series 2018: Everything you need to know about the Dodgers-Red Sox Fall Classic","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18013556/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers"},{"title":"Manny Machado’s one-man rivalry with the Red Sox, explained","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18014866/red-sox-dodgers-world-series-manny-machado-villain-heel"}]}'></div></aside><p id="A5dc6T">Owners, recognizing this one potential way of controlling player cost going by the wayside, might counter by trying to take even more of the postseason profits as a way of rebalancing things. It’s difficult to know just how any of this would go down without actual bargaining happening to sort it out.</p>
<p id="Xarx2m">There are other issues the Major League Baseball Players Association might want to focus on instead during the next round of collective bargaining in 2021, but then again, maybe there are a whole bunch of Collin McHughs out there who are getting tired of the current postseason setup that helps extend the already team-centric service time system. With the way negotiating works, the players have to give something to get something, so it all comes down to just how many McHughs there are out there, and how important this particular soapbox, to use the actual McHugh’s word, is to them. </p>
<p id="o2v0ah">For now, at least we know the bonus checks are looking good whether a team plays in just the Wild Card Game or makes it all the way through the World Series. Even if the checks <em>could</em> be better, and while still being fair to the owners, even.</p>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/26/18002690/mlb-world-series-2018-postseason-red-sox-dodgersMarc Normandin2018-10-25T10:27:06-04:002018-10-25T10:27:06-04:00The Red Sox will start Rick Porcello over Nathan Eovaldi in Game 3, and here’s why
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<img alt="League Championship Series - Houston Astros v Boston Red Sox - Game Two" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dWqOXXNd522Ibk04nBiHzOt9Q6Y=/0x0:2000x1333/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61904645/1052156048.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Nathan Eovaldi has been great in his postseason starts, but context matters.</p> <p id="VBykhl">Nathan Eovaldi has made two postseason starts this October, managing a combined 13-1/3 innings with just three runs allowed in the process. It wasn’t a two-start stretch of luck, either: Eovaldi dominated the Yankees allowing just five baserunners and no runs over seven frames, and scattered the Astros’ attack of six hits and two walks enough to keep it from ever being a threat. </p>
<p id="VqDMo4">Nathan Eovaldi will not be starting Game 3 against the Dodgers, though, and might not get a start in the World Series at all. Instead, Rick Porcello will be the man for the Red Sox in Game 3, when the Fall Classic heads to Los Angeles for the first of up to three games there. </p>
<p id="6x6LHj">It might seem like a headscratcher at first, but there are reasons why switching to Porcello makes sense here. For one, Porcello’s most significant weakness is the long ball: Dodger Stadium has seen its share of dingers in 2018 thanks to the home team’s powerful lineup, but over the last three years, it’s still trending as neutral at worst for homers. If Porcello isn’t as susceptible to the most significant weakness in his game, then letting him have a go of things in Game 3 makes sense. </p>
<p id="dSUC7i">After all, it’s not like Porcello is a bad pitcher even with the homer problem. He was an above-average arm this year in terms of both ERA and innings, was average last year and threw over 200 frames, and won the Cy Young in 2016. While he’s certainly not a Cy Young candidate in 2018 or likely ever again, he’s still capable of being good: he’s not that far removed from holding the Yankees to one run over five innings in New York, even. </p>
<aside id="uSWWTB"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="AwAJfe">This by itself isn’t a convincing reason to use Porcello in Game 3, but when it’s combined with Eovaldi’s value in relief, well, then the Red Sox have themselves a justification and a plan. Eovaldi has appeared in relief three times this postseason, including in both World Series games so far, and he’s been just as dominant, if not more so, in that role: in a combined 3-1/3 innings of relief, Eovaldi has allowed one hit while striking out two and walking none. </p>
<p id="P6gQVZ">Red Sox manager Alex Cora likes to have a starter on hand to deploy in the late innings of ballgames, and Eovaldi is the clear-cut favorite for that “rover” role right now. Cora has already said there’s a chance <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/1055306300295405568"><strong>Eovaldi could start Game 4</strong></a>, but with the caveat that, should Game 3 be winnable for the Red Sox in the eighth, Eovaldi might get another inning of relief instead. </p>
<p id="1PHmAZ">How can the Red Sox afford to do this, when Eovaldi has pitched so well as a starter this year and in October? Well, if they’re using Eovaldi in Game 3, it’s because they’re likely on their way to a 3-0 lead, one W away from becoming World Series champions. With that in mind, it becomes a lot easier to think that Drew Pomeranz can start Game 4 -- he’s back up to <a href="https://twitter.com/JMastrodonato/status/1055308117859278848"><strong>throwing 94 miles per hour</strong></a>, as he’s been working back into form all month while off the roster. If not Pomeranz, then Eduardo Rodriguez, who had a 114 ERA+ this season over 23 starts and four relief appearances. </p>
<p id="bPIt5R">Or, maybe the Red Sox let Chris Sale start Game 4, then go to Pomeranz and Rodriguez, in something of a bullpen game from three starters. There are options: enough options that the Sox can roll with Porcello in Game 3, and think of Eovaldi as both a dominating setup man and a postseason starter, depending on how Game 3 is looking in the eighth inning. </p>
<p id="tZe4L2">Hey, all of this starter-as-reliever stuff <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/11/2/16597696/world-series-astros-aj-hinch-bullpen"><strong>worked for the Astros in 2017</strong></a>, when Alex Cora was their bench coach. Why not try messing with the standard October bullpen again, and see if it gets him another ring?</p>
<ul>
<li id="4z0CfU">The modern postseason pitching staff that pulls a starter at the first sign of trouble means we’re not going to be seeing any David Price-esque narratives for quite some time. It seems as if the finishing touches are being put on <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/25/18020854/david-price-world-series-game-2-red-sox"><strong>Price’s actual story</strong></a>, though, if Game 2 was any indication, so there’s still that to enjoy.</li>
<li id="GNRLDT">Andrew Benintendi made a ridiculous, balletic catch in left field during Game 2, and the best, most <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/24/18021332/world-series-game-2-red-sox-andrew-benintendi-catch-ballet"><strong>traumatizing-for-Orioles-fans</strong></a> angle of it was captured by a Boston Globe photographer.</li>
<li id="9TOHj1">For real, though, it’s incredible how much the Red Sox have done to make sure the Orioles’ 2018 season is forever remembered as <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/9/27/17900714/red-sox-orioles-worst-mlb-teams"><strong>historically awful</strong></a>. </li>
<li id="Wbi197">True Blue LA writes about the Dodgers <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/2018/10/24/18021282/dodgers-red-sox-2018-world-series-mlb-playoffs-j-d-martinez-david-price"><strong>continuing to struggle on offense</strong></a> in Game 2.</li>
<li id="VTd8xu">And here are Over the Monster’s <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/10/25/18022086/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers-price-kelly-eovaldi-kimbrel-martinez"><strong>scattered thoughts</strong></a> from a Game 2 victory.</li>
<li id="SCoGGN">Rafael Devers is the adopted son of like, all Red Sox fans. Whitney McIntosh explains the whole <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/25/18020034/red-sox-rafael-devers-beautiful-son-large-boy-world-series"><strong>MY BEAUTIFUL SON</strong></a> thing you’ve probably seen on Twitter. </li>
<li id="N9n6j1">Here’s what Game 1 looked like to kids <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25066515/bed-world-series-game-1-looked-kids-four-zones"><strong>across four different time zones</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="LPmrTd">The rumor is that Rocco Baldelli <a href="http://www.startribune.com/rocco-baldelli-set-to-be-next-twins-manager/498485121/"><strong>will be the next manager</strong></a> of the Twins.</li>
<li id="rp5EK5">Twinkie Town <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/2018/10/22/18011996/could-rocco-baldelli-tampa-bay-rays-be-the-next-manager-of-the-minnesota-twins-mlb"><strong>had a feeling about that</strong></a> a few days back.</li>
<li id="YopYiE">Grant Brisbee <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/a/scary-halloween-stories-2018/the-call-of-phthulhu"><strong>wrote a horror story about the Phillie Phanatic</strong></a> so honestly I don’t even know why you’re still reading to see where this bullet point goes, I already linked to the thing.</li>
</ul>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/25/17999864/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers-rick-porcello-nathan-eovaldiMarc Normandin2018-10-24T09:00:53-04:002018-10-24T09:00:53-04:00The World Series would be better without John Smoltz
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<img alt="National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5P7HPzrPmyHtPJKYFu_n0nMUOCQ=/0x0:2029x1353/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61889085/1010552548.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Well, at least Smoltz isn’t paired with fellow curmudgeon Bob Costas during the World Series.</p> <p id="I9LGab">John Smoltz hates baseball, which wouldn’t be much of an issue if he was just grumbling about the state of the game in 2018 on his couch while thinking about the next morning’s tee time. No, instead, Smoltz gets to do that from the comfort of the announcers’ booth broadcasting World Series games on national television. </p>
<p id="ptYLKC">It actively makes the World Series worse, which seems counterintuitive!</p>
<p id="5b6t3j">There’s the little stuff, like calling players by the wrong name — Smoltz called Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes “Hembree” twice in one inning in Game 1, even though Hembree had not appeared in the game nor had been mentioned in any other context — and the bigger stuff, like spending the entirety of the replays of a key Yasiel Puig home run complaining about how he’s too energetic and it annoys everyone around him. Smoltz was also giving this speech while the Dodgers’ dugout was losing their minds celebrating said homer with Puig. Reading the room isn’t exactly a Smoltz trait. </p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">John Smoltz called Matt Barnes "Hembree" so you can tell he's not just in the booth dreaming about how much better 1995 was.</p>— SB Nation MLB (@SBNationMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNationMLB/status/1054917736114065408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a>
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<p id="0bsNMH">He’s a living, breathing Back in My Day, which would be fine if he had retired more than a decade ago — Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Ryan Madson, David Freese, Justin Turner, Matt Kemp, Steve Pearce, Ian Kinsler, Rick Porcello, and David Price are all on the World Series rosters and were active the year Smoltz retired, and so were Chase Utley and Daniel Hudson, two more Dodgers who contributed through much of 2018. Dustin Pedroia was once Smoltz’s teammate! Baseball was a different game even nine years ago, yes, but it can’t be that hard to find an analyst who understands the game on a deep level while not actively hating what they see in front of them during the series where MLB should be making brand new fans <em>and</em> appealing to current ones.</p>
<p id="XdIk9R">Instead, we get a curmudgeon paired with Joe Buck, who is good, but sometimes can’t escape the event horizon of Smoltz’s crankiness singularity. It’s not Buck’s fault: he can’t openly yell at Smoltz for using most up most of the oxygen in the booth to complain. </p>
<p id="rKW2Kw">He should, though, that’d help the broadcast out. </p>
<aside id="QiDHKF"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"hey_baseball"}'></div></aside><p id="7NdmUU">Smoltz complains about excessive celebrations, which for him is any celebration beyond a stoic nod or reserved fist pump. He complains about shifts. He came up with various ways to discredit Matt Kemp for hitting a homer early in Game 1 by saying that some other hits the Dodgers had were good examples of good hitting, while Kemp was simply lucky for being good enough to capitalize on a mistake by hitting a home run off of Chris Sale, who by the way just does not give up home runs. Grudges carried across innings that didn’t make sense when they started, and God help us all if Fox shows a replay of something that annoyed him earlier. </p>
<p id="C9gM3R">Remember Dennis Eckersley’s <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/8/17943446/mlb-playoffs-astros-indians-alds-orsillo-eckersley"><strong>genuine, impossible-to-contain enthusiasm</strong></a> during the ALDS? Remember David Cone’s run this postseason as a former MLB starter who knew how to talk about the game? I get that television network contracts are a thing so Fox can’t just use whoever does a good job for TBS or MLB, but it’s just a reminder that it doesn’t have to be Smoltz during the World Series.</p>
<p id="YV63PX">Smoltz had real promise as an announcer once. I commented last October that he often got so close to actually being good, but then he’d just keep talking. This year, he occasionally flashes reminders he does know the game he’s paid to announce, but he’s time and time again showed a preference for using his mic time to complain instead. The World Series deserves better, and so do the people watching it.</p>
<ul>
<li id="PCQHpD">Baseball’s ghosts have defined much of the existence of Fenway Park, but in Game 1, <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/24/18014678/world-series-red-sox-dodgers-2018"><strong>we just got baseball</strong></a>, with its regular old decisions and oddities and failures. </li>
<li id="UPem8n">Game 1 of the World Series went to the Red Sox, thanks to winning <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/24/18007532/world-series-red-sox-dodgers-bullpens"><strong>the battle of the bullpens</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="sZipjw">Spencer Hall has a new podcast explaining stories across sports, and the first episode dropped on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/a/it-seemed-smart-podcast/the-great-albert-belle-bat-caper"><strong>It was about baseball!</strong></a> That’s what this newsletter is about, too. That’s synergy in action.</li>
<li id="5ytGXF">Did you watch Game 1? <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/23/18009476/2018-world-series-dodgers-red-sox-how-to-watch-i-mean-why-to-watch"><strong>There’s plenty of reason to watch the World Series</strong></a>, whether you’re a Red Sox fan or Dodgers fan or not. Grant Brisbee laid out 16 reasons.</li>
<li id="M8PvAN">The Dodgers didn’t win as many games as the Red Sox, not even close, but beating Boston wouldn’t be <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/2018-world-series-dodgers-vs-red-sox/2018/10/22/18008024/dodgers-red-sox-2018-world-series-mlb-playoffs-fighting-through-obstacles"><strong>the first obstacle they’ve overcome</strong></a> in 2018, either.</li>
<li id="0no9HU">This is from last October, but it’s still topical after Game 1’s first challenge: MLB’s video review process is broken whenever a manager challenges whether or not a player’s body <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/10/13/16469726/mlb-video-review-instant-replay-nationals-cubs-lobaton"><strong>left the bag for a nanosecond</strong></a>. </li>
<li id="QNXxB7">David Price won his first-ever postseason game to clinch the ALCS for Boston. Like we did with Kershaw in the NLCS, we’ve <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/24/18017220/david-price-postseason-history-red-sox"><strong>explained Price vs. the postseason</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="03agdz">You can thank Mookie Betts for your<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18016968/world-series-game-1-mookie-betts-steal-taco-bell-free-tacos"><strong>free Taco Bell tacos</strong></a> this year, courtesy of a first-inning steal. Also, if you don’t want your free taco, please donate it to me.</li>
<li id="cbbawS">Manny Machado vs. the Red Sox is a legitimate rivalry: Boston fans weren’t just booing him because of his recent headlines. <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18014866/red-sox-dodgers-world-series-manny-machado-villain-heel"><strong>We explained it all for you</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="MNPJPQ">The last time the Red Sox and Dodgers played in the World Series? Well, it was a long time ago, and <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/23/18015804/world-series-red-sox-dodgers-brooklyn-robins-1916"><strong>the world was a different place</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="UWkRhb">In fact, the game is so different I interviewed players who played in that last World Series about this one. It... <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/22/18008918/mlb-world-series-red-sox-dodgers"><strong>could have gone better</strong></a>.</li>
<li id="Hm1KRh">Are you familiar<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/23/18015470/world-series-2018-yasiel-puig-dodgers-red-sox"><strong>with Yasiel Puig</strong></a>? We can make you much more familiar with him with our viewer’s guide.</li>
</ul>
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/10/24/18016926/world-series-2018-red-sox-dodgers-john-smoltz-hates-the-youngMarc Normandin