Tag: World Series

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Exclamation Point on the World Series

The end of the World Series always represents a sad time for us. Winter is coming, and with it, a long four months of the game we all love disappears from our everyday conversation. At least we sat together last night and viewed an epic Game 7. Yes, all of us (minus the wife) managed to stay up into Sunday morning (or was it a continuation of Saturday night) to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers finally claim the mantle of repeat champions. The Toronto Blue Jays made it one heck of a show but in the end, a smorgasboard of missed opportunities will haunt the team and their fans for a long time.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is officially a World Series legend. Credit: MSN

Let’s call this year’s Fall Classic for what it was. It was a solid, bordering on excellent World Series with a thrilling finale. That’s it. There is no need to make comparisons to any series of the past, no breathless analysis of a litany of numbers telling us this was or wasn’t better than say, 1991 (it wasn’t; 1991 is the gold standard of a World Series). However, one person’s performance stands above all else and does deserve to be mentioned with all of the October legends of the past: Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Complete games just don’t happen anymore. Yet, there was Yamamoto out there in Game 2, with his team down a game already. He needed to go deep into the game just to give his beleaguered bullpen a breath. What resulted was one of the finest pitching performances we have ever seen. Yamamoto retired the last 19 batters he faced, surrendering only Alejandro Kirk‘s solo home run and walking no one as the Dodgers evened the series. Again, his team needed a big start in Game 6 to fend off elimination and again, the righty delivered with six innings of one run ball. Finally, on the very next night, he was summoned with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game and asked to bring Los Angeles home. You know what happened. He ended up going 2 2/3 innings to finish the job and frankly, probably would have pitched another 5 2/3 innings if necessary. In my opinion, in the 11th inning, he pitched around Addison Barger and walked him, knowing he was needing a double play. He did just that getting Kirk with a jam shot that gave the Dodgers the championship. By the way, I called that entire sequence. The kids will admit to that.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s World Series performance is one that even the most hardened of baseball fans would agree is legendary. Three victories in a single World Series is remarkable and has been done now only 14 times. If you are my age and older and can’t appreciate Yamamoto’s accomplishment, I don’t know what to tell you. Cherish this moment because it might be a long time before we see something like this again.

Win This For Don Mattingly

The World Series is finally here. None of our teams are participating. It’s definitely a different vibe than last year when the New York Yankees were gearing up for their first Fall Classic in 15 years. Now we get the Los Angeles Dodgers looking for a repeat while the Toronto Blue Jays are back after a 33 year absence. On the surface, why would I root for either team? Who outside of Los Angeles wants the Dodgers to win? The Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees. I can’t pull for these teams.

Don MAttingly is why I am rooting for Toronto Credit: Sportsnet

You bet I can. Two words: Don Mattingly

If you are a Yankee fan of a certain age, Don Mattingly was your guy. He is by far the best player in franchise history to never make a World Series. Even as a coach on Joe Torre‘s staff, Mattingly missed out, starting with the 2004 collapse vs. the Boston Red Sox. Now, as the hitting coach of the Blue Jays, he gets to feel the brightest of lights. Though he no longer is a member of the Yankee organization, I want Toronto to win it for Donnie Baseball, the man with rotten luck. He made his big league debut with the Yankees in 1982, the year after the Yankees made the World Series. The playoff drought would last 14 years. In my 50 plus years on Earth, New York finished last one time. The year was 1990 and it was the season Mattingly’s back problems first reared its ugly head. After all the losing and misery, the Yankees made it back to the playoffs in 1995. He hit .417 as the Yanks lost a thrilling five game divisional series to the Seattle Mariners. Retirement beckoned and wouldn’t you know it, the Yankees went on to win four of the next five World Championships. Eventually, he got into coaching the Yankees and managing the Dodgers. You would think that between those teams, Mattingly would have made at least one World Series. You would be wrong.

Don Mattingly’s playing career lands on the doorstep of the Hall of Fame. If his teams made more than one playoff appearance, he would have been enshrined. He was the best player in baseball for a five year stretch. Injuries robbed him of more productive seasons that were to follow. He’s been knocking on the door for the chance at a championship for almost 45 years. I hope the Jays get him to the mountaintop.

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?

MLB World Series: Another Disappointment

Of course the most painful game was the one that ended the latest. It was slightly after midnight when the Los Angeles Dodgers put the finishing touches on a World Series Championship and celebrated in the house of the New York Yankees. The only good news about this outcome is that I actually get to have more than six hours of sleep. The bad news? It will be extremely difficult to get this Series loss out of my head. After all, this is the fourth straight year that the Yankees’ season has ended in embarrassing fashion.

I’m pretty sure Brian Cashman’s job is safe. Photo from the New York Times

Ryan and I were texting throughout the entirety of Game 5, long after everyone else went to sleep. To say Ryan was unhappy is a major understatement. He waited all his life to see his most favorite team play for a championship. The result he got, particularly in the clinching game, was nothing short of disgusting. From the pulling of Gerrit Cole in Game 1, to the final whiff of Alex Verdugo, it felt as though the Yankees were a JV team compared to the Dodgers fielding a varsity squad. As much as he tries to love Aaron Judge, him striking out in nearly half of his playoff at bats gives him pause on judging (no pun intended) how to rate this team since 2017. Despite the payroll, despite the talent, the franchise has consistently come up short when it mattered most. In case you have forgotten, this is how each of the last four years have ended:

2021-Wild card blowout vs. the Red Sox

2022-Swept in the ALCS vs. the Astros (lost the clincher at home)

2023-No playoffs, 82-80 record

2024-Lost the World Series in five games (again, lost the clincher at home)

Some of you reading this might say, “But at least they get to the playoffs almost every year. Most teams would kill for that”. Sorry, that’s not good enough. Talk to fans of the Milwaukee Brewers who have made the playoffs five out of the last six years with nothing to show for it. Ask Caitlyn. Do you think she is thrilled with the Phillies coming up short three straight seasons? Making the World Series in 2022 was great but these last two years have ended in frustration. Do you think those fans feel lucky?

I have my own feelings about what needs to happen to next. I don’t want to say them out loud yet because I could change my mind next week. One thing I do know is that the status quo cannot remain the same. If that means Brian Cashman and/or Aaron Boone are relived of their duties, then so be it. Their pairing as a team was good but ultimately fell short of what every Yankee fan should experience: a World Series championship.