Tag: MLB Playoffs

Phillies Are Down 2-0 and Our Home Is Not Happy

It’s bad enough that New York Mets folded down the stretch and missed the playoffs. The New York Yankees trailing in their best of five series 2-0 is worse. Now, on top of all that, the Philadelphia Phillies have made it the wrong kind of triple play, finding themselves down 2-0 in their Divisional series. Needless to say, our household, both near and far is not doing too well in this postseason. To make matters worse, the Phillies now have to travel to Los Angeles to try and salvage their season, hopefully winning two straight and then trying to complete the comeback by winning a fifth game at Citizens Bank Park.

Rob Thomson’s face says it all. Credit: NY Post

Caitlyn just had her spirits elevated and then crushed within the span of five minutes. At least during the course of the game, she provided us with some funny comments:

“I spend enough time and energy into this team only for them NOT to spend enough time and energy to try and win the World Series”

“They are better off pulling a random fan from the stands and telling them today is your lucky day”-this as she saw the Phillies make a pitching change.

In Saturday’s Game 1 loss, it was a carbon copy of last year’s Game 1 divisional loss. We were at Siena for family weekend. The Phillies had a late lead disintegrate thanks to the bullpen. The game was at home. Matt Strahm was a part of both games. Their starting pitchers threw well enough to win. It’s amazing and painful to see how similar both games were.

Should the Phillies and Yankees lose their respective series this week, it will make the shortest playoff stints for our collective teams in four years. The Phillies would be the most painful. Two straight divisional titles, two straight divisional round exits and one unhappy daughter. The ending to the baseball season doesn’t get more depressing than that.

The Yankees Better Win This Series

The headline is quite obvious. Yes, the New York Yankees need to win their Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox or else they cease playing baseball for the rest of 2025. They not only better win this series in order to continue on a quest for a championship, but they also need to do so because of the potential implications of defeat. For if the Red Sox beat the Yankees, I believe the reverberations will be felt all the way up to the front office. I like to call it an organizational earthquake.

Does Aaron Boone survive another Red Sox playoff defeat? Credt: New York Post

A loss to the Red Sox in this round in this year would be the one scenario where the jobs of Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman would be in jeopardy. To be clear, I am not calling for the dismissal for either man. Plenty of other people will do that for me. However, look at the records of both organizations over the last 20 years, beginning in 2005. Boston has won three World Series under three different managers and three different front offices. The Yankees have won the World Series just once during that time. Cashman has been the team’s chief decision maker during these last two decades. More recently, let’s compare the managers. Boone and Alex Cora each assumed the helm prior to the 2018 season. Cora’s Red Sox beat Boone’s Yankees in the divisional round on their way to winning it all. The two teams also squared off in the 2021 Wild Card game with Boston once again coming out on top. The Red Sox have been flat out better. Why do I believe a loss this year could be almost, if not more catastrophic than the 2004 meltdown?

Not only have the Sox won more recently, but they have also fallen down and gotten back up. Yes, the Yankees have been a model of consistency, with playoff appearance after playoff appearance. Cora was suspended for the 2020 season. Boston has finished last three times since 2018. The front office changed again. The Red Sox were roasted for trading Rafael Devers in May. Yet, here the Red Sox are, threatening to derail another Yankees’ postseason run. It’s bad enough they owned the Yankees during the regular season. Can you imagine Alex Cora and company once again celebrating a playoff series victory on Yankee Stadium soil? How does Yankee ownership not make wholesale changes should they lose this first round? Their arch nemesis, the one that has owned them over the last 20 years, the one that has risen, fallen and then risen again all the while the Yankees go another year without a championship is pretty humiliating.

There has to be repercussions for this specific failure. I’m afraid Boone might be the one who pays the price. If not, expect a cataclysmic meltdown from both fans and the media. If you thought last year’s World Series defeat triggered this group of people, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Let’s Go Mets

I will not be angry. We will see much of that over the coming days.

I will not vent. Talk radio will cover plenty of that.

I don’t want to minimize what happened but I also don’t want to dwell in a sea of sorrow (Thanks Alice in Chains).

The Mets in happier times. They will be back. Credit: Sports Illustrated

It’s not productive for me to go through the litany of things that went wrong.

The New York Mets are not my favorite team. However, people close to me root for them above everything. The hurt and anger doesn’t affect me like it affects them.

I feel horribly for them.

Matthew and I discussed what happens from here. The Pete Alonso decision looms above all, but that’s not the only concern.

Does Edwin Diaz opt out?

Will Clay Holmes return to the bullpen?

Will Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat all start 2026 in the rotation?

Can the offense not be so streaky? After all, most of the core players will be there beyond next season.

I think this post is best summed up by Matthew in a message he sent to our family chat:

I AM a Mets fan

I am PROUD to be a Mets fan.

There is no other team I see myself being a fan of.

The 2026 World Series trophy will be in Queens.

LGM.

I’m proud of you, kid. Let’s go Mets!

One Weekend of Fate for the Mets

At this time 90 days ago, if you told me the New York Mets were not guaranteed a playoff spot by now, I would have laughed at you. The Mets were 48-34 on June 26, still in first place, albeit by only a half game. In my mind, the 2024 season proved that these were not the “same old Mets”; that narrative was buried. The momentum built from last year’s magical run was still fresh even as they were enduring their first real rough patch of the season. No way they were going to miss the playoffs, I thought.

In three days, I might be proven wrong.

Hopefully, we get a bigger celebration this weekend. Credit: Rising Apple

As recently as a week ago, I wrote that I was still confident in New York clinching that final Wild Card berth. Now? The confidence is wavering. Though the team is still a game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, the tiebreaker is not on the Mets’ side. It would behoove the club to sweep the Miami Marlins and not leave anything out of their hands. Easier said than done, considering the Marlins were eliminated from contention last night. There is nothing more the Fish would like to do than shut up the multitude of Mets’ fans that will invade Loan Depot Park this weekend.

So to the players of the New York Mets, what is it going to be? Will you rally and exhibit the sort of heart and guts that exemplified last year’s team? Or, does this weekend with perhaps the most disappointing Mets team of them all? Make no mistake, missing the playoffs will be much more catastrophic than the collapse of 2007. It will be far worse than “The Worst Team Money Can Buy of 1992. The Mets of 2025 would take the worst elements of both of those black marks in franchise history. It combines the collapse of 2007 with the payroll waste of 1992. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. Although I have a more passive rooting interest, I know I would be disgusted if this weekend ends without a champagne celebration. It would have to be the most disappointing Met outcome of my lifetime.

One weekend of fate. One weekend to determine if the New York Mets have buried their narrative of rotten luck once and for all. Win, and it’s sunshine for at least a week. Lose, and go down in infamy. Your choice.

Confident in a Mets’ Playoff Berth

Mets’ fans, I apologize in advance if this prediction goes wrong. I feel very strongly that by this time next week, the Amazins will have clinched the final National League Wild Card spot. Before you get all mad at me, it’s not Sal Lincata declaring the NL East over. Follow me for a minute. There are signs that the Mets are done with the death spiral that dominated most of the last six weeks. Jonah Tong pitched well in his last outing. Francisco Lindor is on an eight game hitting streak. Juan Soto is aiming for 40-30. Pete Alonso keeps hitting home runs. To top it off, six of the last nine games are against the Nationals and Marlins. The other three are against the Cubs, who may be more content to rest before they begin their own Wild Card series.

Expect a bigger celebration than this next weekend. Credit: Yahoo Sports

It’s not just that the Mets are playing like we thought they would. It’s that other teams are blowing opportunities. When the Mets were mauled in a four game sweep in Philadelphia and dropping two in row to the Rangers, no one could leap ahead of them in the standings. Take the Reds. They were literally a game and a half out last week. They were then rewarded by getting swept in Sacramento by the A’s. Or the Giants. They were tied with the Reds, then proceeded to drop four in a row between Saturday and Tuesday. Finally, we have the Diamondbacks. After pulling off their best Monty Hall/Wayne Brady act at the deadline, they suddenly started playing well. In fact, on Wednesday morning, they had a chance to sweep the Giants, and with a Met loss, an opportunity to get within a half game of that last spot. Brandon Pfaadt threw nine (!) shutout innings but Arizona could not take advantage of two runner on third/one out situations late and ended up losing in 11 innings.

The combination of the Mets righting their own house and these other teams taking their best shots and missing is why I am supremely confident in a Mets’ playoff berth. I will get some heat from the Mets’ fans in my life about my bold statement for being a jinx. Too bad. Stop being a bunch of Chicken Littles. For once in your fandom, put it out there and tell me your team is October bound.

Are the Phillies Getting Hot At the Right Time?

I sit here on Wednesday night watching the Philadelphia Phillies beating up on the New York Mets yet again. The Phillies won the first two games of the four game series this week and are trending toward a third straight win. The division race is over and suddenly, they are creeping closer to grabbing the #1 seed in the National League. The Mets have been bad, losers of four straight, heading toward a fifth consecutive loss tonight. However, the broader question is this.

Are the Phillies getting hot at the perfect time?

The Phillies are celebrating their latest good stretch of baseball. Credit: Yahoo

This week did not start out so good. The left side of their infield, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm, were placed on the injured list. Bohm will be back as soon as ten days have concluded while Turner could miss the rest of the regular season. A first round bye would be welcome for the club. Since August 1st, Philadelphia is 24-13 and has won six of eight games to begin September. Bryson Stott has awaken from a season long slump, hitting .333 over his last seven games. Same for Brandon Marsh, who is at .344 over his last 30 contests. Ranger Suarez struck out a career high 12 batters on Tuesday. Jhoan Duran and David Robertson have lifted the entire bullpen. This stretch has come with some significant adversity. Both Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are hitting under.200 over the last month. Ace Zack Wheeler last pitched August 15 and is done for the year. Bohm and Turner are now going to miss a minimum of ten games. 11 games over .500 with so many issues? It sounds like a squad that is peaking.

Just wait until Harper and Schwarber resume hitting. The injured infielders get a little bit of a break before the hardest part of the season. After a tough trip to Los Angeles and Arizona, the Phillies close out the year at home vs. the Marlins and Twins. Everything is pointing to the continuing torrid stretch exhibited by the team. The next question is, will it carry the Phillies to a Word Series championship?

The Yankees Won Another Big Series, But Hold the Applause

At this time last week, there was a sense that the upcoming four series for the New York Yankees would tell us a lot about their chances in the playoffs. The Yanks sported a combined 7-19 record vs. the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox heading into this stretch. While comfortably in a playoff spot, the team’s record against the four clubs didn’t inspire confidence as the regular season winds down. Safe to say, after going 4-2 against the Astros and Blue Jays, including today’s 4-3 series-clinching victory over Toronto, we feel a bit better about the Yankees and where they are heading.

Aaron Judge needs to be 1005 by this weekend. Credit: Sports Illustrated

Not 100% better, mind you, so let’s take it easy.

After winning two out of three this weekend, New York finished the season series against Toronto with a record of 5-8. They committed another two errors today, which, amazingly, did not hurt them. The Red Sox head to Sacramento to play the A’s, who own one of the worst home records in baseball. Boston looking to make up for the game and a half difference between them and the Bronx Bombers prior to next weekend’s showdown in Boston. We are fully aware that the Yankees are an unsightly 2-8 vs. the Red Sox, so winning two out three vs. the Tigers is mandatory. There is a chance they have to go through Tarik Skubal in Thursday’s finale as the reigning Cy Young Award winner last pitched Saturday. Given how Aaron Judge threw a ball back to the infield on Friday, their best lineup is still at least a week away. Judge will either have to DH full time or risk being compromised in right field. Either way, a potent bat will be missing this week or the outfield defense will again be a concern. No short walls like there were in Houston.

Perhaps I should take a cue from Ryan when he texted our group chat that the Yankees were only two games behind the Blue Jays. Maybe I should be more happy. After all, he can be a glass half empty guy when it comes to his team. I’m willing to be satisfied on this evening. Let’s see where we are at this time next week. If they flop in Boston again, we will go back to our skepticism that we have been living for most of this second half.

Would the Phillies Be Better Off as the #3 Seed?

Barring an unforeseen collapse, the Philadelphia Phillies will win the National League East. They have the chance to end the race next week with their four games at home vs. the New York Mets. They currently sit as the number two seed in the National League playoff standings, three games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the Dodgers having played below average ball as of late, Philadelphia has a first round bye in their sights. However, would the Phils be better off avoiding the week of rest?

Rob Thomson and the Phillies could grab the #2 seed and a bye. Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer

Their own history suggests yes. Since Major League Baseball permanently instituted the Wild Card round in 2022, the Phillies have played in the first round twice and had the bye once. We know the results. They made the World Series in 2022 and the National League Championship Series in 2023. Last year, the team had the #2 seed and lost in four games in the Divisional round to the New York Mets. In 2023, a pair of Wild Card teams, the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, met in the World Series. Each season, at least one team that plays in the first round eventually advances to the League Championship Series. There is something to be said for teams that continue to play as opposed to sitting for a week in between games.

With all that being said, and with all of the information I provided above, I would still want the bye. Last year’s World Series teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, were the top seeds in their respective leagues. Should the Phillies secure a first round bye, I am sure they can draw on lessons from last year’s loss. Anything from a different workout routine during the time off to bullpen usage in the week leading up to the bye will be examined. I can’t imagine Philadelphia getting bounced early two years in a row. They are too talented and are playing good baseball. Caitlyn is the one that needs to be convinced their season won’t end early.