Oh yeah. It's October.
Jumps: ▼ NLCS1-2 ... ALCS1-2 ... NLCS3-5 ... ALCS3-5 ... NLCS6-7
Pitchers Who Rake
We begin in Milwaukee, where the Brewers are hosting a team from Los Angeles in the 1982 American League Championship Series, er, whoops, we mean the 2018 National League Championship Series. (Brewers/Angels really was the 1982 ALCS, and spoiler alert, longtime NL stalwart Houston is in the AL series this year. Confused yet?) Lorenzo Cain recorded the Brewers' first-ever base hit to lead off a postseason series, but got stranded at second. Manny Machado, meanwhile, picked up where he left off in the Division Series, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with a 2nd-inning homer. Only other one Dodger had homered in the last game of one postseason series and the first game of the next; that was Carl Furillo, and it took him three seasons (1953 WS 6 and 1955 WS 1).
With #bullpenning all the rage now, Gio Gonzalez got lifted after only 2 innings, the third-shortest "start" of his career (in the two that were shorter, he gave up six runs), and on trots Brandon Woodruff. Whose pitching was certainly adequate (he struck out four and was awarded the win), but when you're going to make seven pitching changes, you can't be burning a pinch hitter every time. Some of these "relievers" are gonna have to bat for themselves. And of course you know what that meant. Only three relievers have ever hit a postseason home run; the others are Travis Wood for the Cubs two years ago, and Rosy Ryan of the Giants in 1924. You might also remember that Woodruff homered July 13 in Pittsburgh; he joins Yovani Gallardo (three times), Scott Karl (1999), and Fred Talbot (1969) as the only Brewers/Pilots pitchers with two in a season.
If giving up a postseason homer to a relief pitcher represents one wheel falling off, then Yasmani Grandal is the lug wrench who loosened the other three. Later in the same inning, Grandal was changed with his second passed ball of the game; two pitches after that, with a catcher's interference against Jesús Aguilar, and three pitches after that, with a missed catch error that allowed Christian Yelich to go second-to-third on a sac fly. He's the first catcher ever to commit two passed balls and two errors in a postseason game (the CI counts as an E2 for scoring purposes), and would later tie the record for a postseason series with a third PB. When Chris Taylor and Justin Turner made fielding miscues later in Game 1, it was the first time in five years (June 19, 2013, at Yankees) that the Dodgers had committed four errors in a road game.
Cain and Aguilar weren't done either. Deciding that he didn't want a CI to be the most interesting note about him, Aguilar homered in the 7th for what would end up being the game-winning run. Like Machado, he also homered in the last game of their Division Series, just the fourth Brewers player to go yard in back-to-back postseason games (Prince Fielder, Ted Simmons, Paul Molitor). And Cain would go on to reach base three more times, joining Molitor and Mike Cameron (2008) as the only Brewers leadoff hitters to reach 4x in a postseason game.
Taylor redeemed himself with a 9th-inning RBI triple that got caught between Cain and the wall, but Turner promptly ended the game with his fourth strikeout of the day. Since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958, only one other Dodger has had 4+ strikeouts in a 1-run loss and been the one to end it: Frank Howard at Houston on June 3, 1963.
Turner-ound Of Events
It is still a seven-game series, though, and after having all night to think about his error and game-ending strikeout, Justin Turner redeemed himself on Saturday. With the Dodgers trailing 3-2 and Taylor having beaten out an infield single to start the 8th, Turner blasted a homer to left to flip the lead and knock Jeremy Jeffress out of yet another game. Milwaukee did have a baserunner in both the 8th and 9th, but Kenley Jansen shut them down to even the series. Turner's shot was just the third homer in Dodgers postseason history to flip a lead in the 7th inning or later. Juan Uribe hit one in the 2013 Division Series against Atlanta, and since we must include this link in every post, yes, Kirk Gibson did it. Their only such homer in the regular season this year was by Matt Kemp off Archie Bradley of the Diamondbacks on September 1.
Wade Miley made an actual traditional "start" in Game 2, throwing 5⅔ shutout innings and allowing just two baserunners (both singles). He was the first Brewers pitcher in four years-- and first ever in postseason-- to do that and not get the win; Matt Garza saw the bullpen blow a lead at St Louis on August 3, 2014. But like Woodruff before him, it was Miley's presence at the plate that was more notable. He doubled in the 3rd, then singled and ended up scoring a run in the 5th. Not surprisingly, he's the first Brewers pitcher ever to have multiple hits in a postseason game. The last pitcher for any postseason team with two hits, at least one being for extra bases, and a run scored was Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins in the 2003 Division Series. And only one other team in the past 40 years has had multiple pitchers record an XBH in the same postseason series; that was when Wood (as mentioned above) and Jake Arrieta both homered for the Cubs two seasons ago. Prior that it hadn't been done since the 1974 Athletics.
Travel Day To Los Angeles
Jumps: NLCS1-2 ... ▼ ALCS1-2 ... NLCS3-5 ... ALCS3-5 ... NLCS6-7
Spring-er Cleaning
Meanwhile, we promised to confuse you with Houston being not in the National League Championship Series, but in the American. Houston and Boston did, of course, both have NL teams at one time, just not at the same time. The Boston NL team moved to Milwaukee, where it is not currently playing Los Angeles in the NLCS; it's since moved to Atlanta and actually played Los Angeles in the Division Series, while the current Boston team will be playing Los Angeles in the World Series. Got it? Good.
There's nothing tremendously interesting about a leadoff walk, except when it gets issued to George Springer. It's probably better than a homer, which he's been known to hit on a few occasions. But in last year's ALCS against the Yankees, Springer also started Game 1 by drawing a walk; he thus becomes just the second player to lead off the same series with a base-on-balls in consecutive seasons. Kenny Lofton did it in the NLCS in both 2002 and 2003.
Springer, however, would be retired just one batter later when Jose Altuve grounded into a forceout at second. The next batter, Alex Bregman, sent a liner to right and Altuve, now still representing Springer for scoring purposes, had to hold up to see if Mookie Betts caught it. After a replay review it was upheld, making Mookie and Xander Bogaerts the second 9-6 forceout in Red Sox postseason history. The other was Dwight Evans to Spike Owen in Game 7 of the 1986 World Series; the unfortunate side effect of that play was that Wally Backman was on third and scored on that play to tie the game (of course, the Mets eventually won). In the bottom of the 1st, Mookie would join Jose Offerman (1999) and Wade Boggs (1988) as the only Red Sox hitters to begin an ALCS with a leadoff base hit.
Springer would drive in the game's first two runs with a 2nd-inning single, but it looked promising for the Sawx in the 5th when Justin Verlander walked three straight hitters, the last of whom (Mitch Moreland) served to drive in a run. Moreland was the 11th pinch hitter in Red Sox postseason history to have a bases-loaded plate appearance, and while he didn't have a hit, he was the first to not make an out. Five pitches later, the game was tied when Verlander uncorked a wild pitch to score Jackie Bradley from third. Game 1 was the first outing of Verlander's career where he both walked in a run and wild-pitched in a run.
Ultimately, though, the Red Sox would limp to the finish line when Brandon Workman gave up a solo homer to Josh Reddick in the 9th, walked Altuve and Bregman, and then surrendered another homer to Yuli Gurriel for the final 7-2 margin. All told Boston's pitching staff walked 10 batters and hit three more; the only other team in postseason to history to even get to 8 and 3 was the 1999 Mets, and their eighth walk just happened to be a pennant-winner to Andruw Jones. All those free passes also resulted in the Astros being just the second team in postseason history to score 7+ runs on ≤ 5 hits. The 1939 Yankees did that in Cincinnati in Game 3 of the World Series, benefitting from five walks and four home runs.
Saw The Price, I'll Pass
To the victor go the spoils, however, and the Red Sox would come back to spoil Houston's Game 1 win (and then some, but we'll get there). After a one-base hit to start Game 1, Mookie Betts said, why not a two-base hit to start Game 2. It was the ninth leadoff double in Red Sox postseason history, but it also made him the first Bostonian ever to have a leadoff hit in Games 1 and 2 of the same postseason series (26th for any team overall). It, of course, escalated quickly. Andrew Benintendi promptly singled in Betts, and the Sawx would add another run after Gerrit Cole airmailed a ground ball later in the inning.
Springer would promptly tie things back up with a two-run double in the 2nd, giving him the longest postseason hitting streak in Astros history (11 games, topping Lance Berkman), and becoming the first Houstonian to have multiple RBIs in three straight postseason games. The last for any team was the Dodgers' Juan Uribe in 2013, and the only player to do it in four straight (spoiler alert, Springer did not) is Reggie Sanders for the 2005 Cardinals. After Marwin Gonzalez's homer gave the Astros another brief lead, the Red Sox piled it on in the 3rd when Jackie Bradley unloaded a three-run double. David Ortiz, in the 2003 ALDS against Oakland, had Boston's only other postseason double that flipped a lead. And for a few minutes, it looked like David Price might finally be breaking his postseason curse. And then.
With one out in the 5th, he walked Alex Bregman, which isn't too surprising. Bregman got three free passes in Game 1 as well, and would end up becoming the second player in postseason history with three walks in back-to-back games. And the other wasn't Barry Bonds or David Ortiz or even Babe Ruth. It was Jimmy Sheckard of the Cubs in 1910. The last Astros batter even to do it in the regular season was Morgan Ensberg in August 2006. But two batters later it was the four-pitch walk to Tyler White, with a one-run lead, that finally made Alex Cora pull the plug-- one out shy of letting price qualify for his first postseason win in 11 tries.
Meanwhile, no one really expected Gerrit Cole to duplicate his 12-K, 0-BB performance from the Division Series, but they probably didn't expect him to give up five runs either. He ended up being the third pitcher in Astros postseason history to give up 5+ runs but also strike out 5+ opposing batters, and the others are both Nolan Ryan. No sooner had Cole been lifted in the 7th than Martin Maldonado decided to channel his inner Yasmani Grandal and commit two passed balls to score Mookie Betts from second. Brad Ausmus, in 1997, is the only other Astros catcher to allow a run-scoring PB (Atlanta's Fred McGriff was the runner), and that run would turn out to be just a little important. Because in for the 9th comes Craig Kimbrel, tasked with holding a three-run lead in his first appearance since ALDS Game 4... when he was handed a three-run lead and gave up two hits, a walk, a sac fly, two runs, and hit a batter before escaping with a 4-3 series-clinching win. The good news is that this time he got two outs before starting to melt down. Then Springer connected for another double, making he and Betts the first opposing leadoff batters ever to hit multiple two-baggers in the same postseason game. Kimbrel uncorked a wild pitch to move Springer to third, and Altuve singled to score him, before Bregman-- in a rare instance of putting a ball in play-- sent a deep fly ball to left to end the threat. That made the final score 7-5 and made Kimbrel the first pitcher ever to record three saves in the same postseason where he gave up at least one run. (Another spoiler: He's not done.)
Travel Day To Houston
Jumps: NLCS1-2 ... ALCS1-2 ... ▼ NLCS3-5 ... ALCS3-5 ... NLCS6-7
Working 9 To 6
Walker Buehler is another of those rising stars who's actually given us more no-hitter scares this year than Clayton Kershaw. He did start the one the Dodgers threw against the Padres in May, although the days of the solo nine-inning no-hitter may be quickly dwindling. So imagine our surprise when Ryan Braun connected for a 1st-inning RBI double after Christian Yelich drew a one-out walk. That's not to say Buehler wasn't still doing his usual strikeout thing; he and Jhoulys Chacin combined to record nine of the first 12 outs via K, just the sixth such game in postseason history (not shockingly, all have been since 2000). And that Yelich/Braun run in the 1st would turn out to be all the Brewers needed in Game 3 (though not all they'd get). Despite the Dodgers getting runners to second several times (including a Grandal leadoff double in the 5th), they never broke through against Chacin or Corey Knebel, who retired all five batters he faced following that Grandal hit.
Meanwhile, despite seven early strikeouts, Buehler would end up wild-pitching in another run and giving up a two-run homer to Orlando Arcia to put things away. He ended up surrendering a team cycle (HR, 3B, 2B, 1B), the seventh pitcher in Dodgers postseason history to do that (Hiroki Kuroda in 2009 last), but the first to also fan seven opponents. Arcia had also homered in Game 2, adding his name to that list from earlier as the fifth Brewer (Aguilar was the fourth) to go yard in back-to-back postseason games.
The Brewers might have had more, but since this is The Year Of The 9-6 Forceout, guess what Ryan Braun managed to do. Again. After hitting into the first 3-9-6 force since 1986, he ended up with another one in Game 3 when Christian Yelich broke the wrong direction thinking Yasiel Puig was going to have an easy catch but he instead let it bounce. The Game 3 final of 4-0 turns out to be the first time the Dodgers were shut out at home in any postseason game since Mike Schmidt's 1st-inning homer held up for 1-0 Phillies win in the opener of the 1983 NLCS.
Zero Hour
Perhaps Game 3 should have given us a clue about lack of scoring. Again, we all thought it was going to be Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and David Price mowing everyone down and generating some 2-1 scores. Ah, October. Chris Taylor drew a leadoff walk in Game 4 and scored later in the inning on a Brian Dozier single. Okay, good. And then we'll all basically sit around for about 4½ hours. The Brewers didn't have a hit off Rich Hill until the 4th (and we thought Buehler was gonna do that yesterday), while Gio Gonzalez took a comebacker off his ankle in the 2nd inning and thus made the only start of his career where he recorded zero strikeouts. Freddy Peralta earned the [insert car dealership here] player of the game award by throwing three hitless innings in relief and striking out six, just the fourth player in Brewers history to do that, and second for any team in the postseason (Pedro Martinez fired the final six innings of Boston's 1999 ALDS clincher against Cleveland). Peralta's spot came up in the 5th with Arcia sitting on first base, so perfect spot for Domingo Santana to launch a game-tying double, the first extra-base pinch hit in Brewers postseason history. And then we sit some more.
It got interesting in the 8th when the Dodgers finally had two hits but Matt Kemp struck out to end the inning. And it got really interesting in the 10th when Manny Machado got involved in his second controversial play in as many days. But from innings 9 through 12 there were only three balls out of the infield (and one base hit between the two teams combined). And sure, if your starters are Rich Hill and Gio Gonzalez, a 1-1 game seems reasonable-- except they were both gone by the 5th. This was that "fatigue" game, the middle one in a seven-game series, which drags on for over 5 hours until Junior Guerra, in his fourth inning of work, finally gives up a Machado single, wild-pitches him to second, and then Cody Bellinger plays hero and sends everyone out to sit in traffic for another 90 minutes. The Dodgers had never walked off in a postseason game later than the 10th inning, and they've only ever had two of those: Bill Russell's pennant-winning single in 1978 (scoring Ron Cey), and Jackie Robinson's single to force a Game 7 in the 1956 World Series against the Yankees.
Bellinger, who had pinch-hit in the 6th back when nobody thought this game would last over 5 hours, became the first Dodgers batter with two hits, including a walkoff, in a game he didn't start since Rick Parker did that against the Marlins on July 30, 1996. And the Dodgers scored their two runs in the 1st and the 13th and ended up winning. If that sounds familiar, it's because the Rockies did it two weeks ago in the Wild Card game. After it happened once in the previous 113 postseasons.
Hopped Off The Plane At LAX
Okay, after 13 innings of snoozeball until 11:25 pm, let's turn right around and play a 2:00 game the next afternoon. That's better than the teams that have a bunch of rain delays the night before a 12:35 start (looking at you, Reds and Nationals), but those also aren't in the postseason. Game 5 was, of course, the game where Craig Counsell "tricked" everyone by announcing Wade Miley as the starter, forcing the Dodgers to set their lineup with a bunch of right-handers, before pulling him after one batter. It's not unprecedented (we've mentioned before that it was done in a doubleheader as early as 1971), and Counsell made no apologies. That might be partly because it didn't work. Miley walked the one hitter he's required by rule to face, making him the first postseason "starter" to record 0 outs since Al Leiter of the Mets gave up five runs to the Braves in the 1999 NLCS (that's the game from above that ended on Andruw Jones' walk). The last Brewers starter to record 0 outs in a game was Zack Greinke, who on July 7, 2012, couldn't quite beat Jose Altuve to first base, spiked the baseball in frustration, and got ejected for it.
Intended starter Brandon Woodruff did strike out eight Dodgers, but finally got into trouble in the 6th when Justin Turner singled, he hit Manny Machado (hmmmm), and both of them later scored. Los Angeles added two more in the 7th off Joakim Soria for a 5-2 win, also making Woodruff the first "reliever" in postseason history to strike out 8+ batters but eat a loss. On the other side, Clayton Kershaw allowed only three hits and struck out nine, his third time doing that in a postseason game. All other Dodgers pitchers have done it twice, and those two were only Sandy Koufax (1965) and Don Drsydale (1963). He also joined Drysdale and Derek Lowe (2008 NLDS 1) as the only Dodgers pitchers to draw two walks as a batter in a postseason game.
And about those five pitches that Miley threw. Considering he went through the façade of the regular warmup routine and probably threw about 20 or so more-- and there's an off-day tomorrow-- and he would normally throw the proverbial "side session" two days before a normal start-- well, spoiler alert.
Travel Day To Milwaukee
Jumps: NLCS1-2 ... ALCS1-2 ... NLCS3-5 ... ▼ ALCS3-5 ... NLCS6-7
Slammed In Houston
Over in the American League, we have arrived at Minute Maid Park with the series tied at 1-1 and our return trip to Boston booked just as long as one team doesn't sweep all three games. Uh, yeah, about that.
The Red Sox wasted no time in Game 3, smacking Dallas Keuchel around for three hits and two runs in the 1st. Mookie Betts, who you might remember singled in Game 1 and doubled in Game 2-- well, no, he didn't triple in Game 3, but he did become the fifth player ever to lead off the first three games of a postseason series with base hits. Alcides Escobar did it in 2015 (his inside-the-park homer is still disputed), as well as Ray Durham (2003), Fernando Viña (2000), and Hank Bauer (1958). It was only the third postseason game where the Sawx had opened with three straight hits; Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and J.D. Martinez joined the 1998 trio of Darren Lewis, John Valentin, and Mo Vaughn (ALDS 1); and the 1988 top-three of Wade Boggs, Ellis Burks, and Marty Barrett (ALCS 3).
The Astros collected three hits (though not in order) in their half of the 1st off Nathan Eovaldi, but after that things settled down for a while. Alex Bregman, in one of the rare times Boston pitched to him, tied the game with a 5th-inning double, but Steve Pearce promptly untied it with a solo homer in the 6th. Then it got weird.
Roberto Osuna, suspended 75 games this year by MLB for a domestic-violence incident and traded to the Astros during said suspension, gets two outs in the 8th but also gives up two singles. After a Sawx challenge, he is judged by replay to have hit Brock Holt to load the bases. He then proceeds to hit the next batter, Mitch Moreland, the first bases-loaded HBP in Red Sox postseason history, and their first by a pinch hitter since Daniel Nava against the Angels on August 18, 2010. Only A.J. Burnett (2009), Felix Heredia (2004), and Detroit'd Ed Willett (1909) had hit back-to-back batters in any postseason game. Holt was also pinch-hitting, making he and Moreland the first Boston teammates in (at least) the live-ball era with PH HBP's in the same game. Then it got weird(er).
Moreland is replaced by pinch runner Sandy Leon, even though that run doesn't really mean anything, and heck, Moreland could have made it 270 feet at a light jog when, three pitches later, Jackie Bradley hits the sixth grand slam in Red Sox postseason history, and the team's first one ever (regular season or post) against the Astros. And remember Bradley had that three-run double in Game 2. No number-9 hitter, for any team, had ever had consecutive 3-RBI games in the same postseason, and the last Bostonian to do it in the regular season was Lee Tinsley against the Tigers in June 1996. And "JBJ" loves it down there at the bottom; Tuesday was his sixth career 4-RBI game out of the 9-hole, tied with Kevin Elster (1986-2000) and Tom Brookens (1979-1990) for the most since it became an official stat in 1920.
Release The Kimbrel
Mookie Betts finally failed to get a hit to lead off Game 4. Instead he got hit, the first leadoff HBP in Red Sox postseason history, and the sixth player to reach base as the leadoff hitter in the first four games of a series. (Alcides Escobar in 2015 was once again the last. Ichiro in 2001, Rickey Henderson in 1993, Stan Hack in 1938, and Roger Bresnahan in 1905 are the others.) After a walk to J.D. Martinez, Rafael Devers quickly made it 2-0 before the most controversial play of the series happened in the bottom of the 1st. So it was easy to not notice that Charlie Morton gave up another run in the 3rd and got pulled in favor of Josh James; Morton was the first Astros starter to throw two wild pitches and hit a batter (Betts) without getting through the 3rd since Darryl Kile gave up nine runs to the Giants on June 13, 1996.
After Josh Reddick re-tied the game in the 3rd, Tony Kemp gave the Astros a brief lead with a 4th-inning homer. Xander Bogaerts took care of that with an RBI single in T5. Carlos Correa took that lead back with his own single in B5. Last night's grand-slam hero, Jackie Bradley, flips the lead again in the 6th with a two-run homer. If this is reminding you of last year's Astros title game that ended 13-12, it should; that was the last postseason game with this many lead changes. But the last game with four of them before the 6th inning was way back in 2011; it's WS Game 6 between the Cardinals and Rangers, commonly known as The David Freese Game. After the grand slam in Game 3, Bradley became the first player in postseason history to hit 9th in back-to-back games and have a multi-run homer in both. No Red Sock had done it in the regular season since Alex Gonzalez against the Mets in June 2006.
That Bradley homer hangs onto the lead for Boston until the 8th inning, when it's 8-5 and have we learned nothing about handing Craig Kimbrel a 3-run lead? He did get a six-out save, the first for a Sawx pitcher (non-3-IP category) since Vicente Padilla got seven outs at Kansas City on May 7, 2012. But it took Kimbrel 11 batters, two hits, a hit-by-pitch, a stolen base, three walks, Tony Kemp running into an out, and an amazing Andrew Benintendi dive to make it happen. No Boston pitcher had gotten a save of under 3 IP while facing 11 batters since Tim Wakefield escaped the Yankees on August 1, 1999. And if you've lost count by now, it's the fourth time this postseason that Kimbrel has "earned" a save despite allowing at least one run. Only one other pitcher has done that four times in postseason history-- of course it's Mariano Rivera, but his came in four different years!
Josh James, who gave up three earned runs including that Bradley homer, ended up taking the loss despite recording five strikeouts. Only one other reliever in Astros history had posted that line, Joe Niekro against Pittsburgh on August 13, 1976. And Tony Kemp became the first #9 batter in Astros history (regular or post) to reach base four times in a loss.
They Say It's Your Birthday
Finally in Game 5 the stars aligned correctly and a game more-or-less played out the way it was supposed to. Justin Verlander against David Price to determine whether only one team would be headed to Boston or both of them would. (Also, how much champagne some Texas distributor would have to return.) J.D. Martinez took Verlander deep in the 3rd for a 1-0 lead, his 17th go-ahead homer (any inning) this year. That's the most for the Red Sox since David Ortiz hit 22 of them in 2006 (Papi also had 16 each in 2007, 2010, and 2016). Price, meanwhile, rolled along as if this were a regular-season game, striking out a total of nine and giving up just three hits. Finally Rafael Devers-- who will turn 22 on Wednesday-- delivered the big blow with a three-run homer in the 6th. The only player younger than Devers to hit a 3- or 4-run homer in a potential series-clincher was 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera for the Marlins in 2003 NLCS 7 against the Cubs. That was enough to effectively knock Verlander out of the game and also finally put David Price in line for that first-ever postseason win. Oddly, Price became the first postseason pitcher with 0 runs, 3 baserunners, and 9+ strikeouts since Verlander did it for the Tigers in 2013.
Matt Barnes gives up a solo homer to Marwin Gonzalez, and here's your 3-run lead again. For our specialist in 3-run leads, Craig Kimbrel. A four-pitch walk to Yuli Gurriel soon follows, and here we go again. But for once Kimbrel got the last two outs, including a fairly routine fly ball to Andrew Benintendi this time, and the Sawx became the fourth visiting team to win a pennant in Houston (1986 Mets, 1980 Phillies, 1968 Cardinals).
Price joined Jake Arrieta (2015 WC game) and Cole Hamels (2010 NLDS 3) as the only pitchers to allow 0 runs, 0 walks, strike out 9, and get the win in a postseason clincher. Devers became the sixth Red Sock to have a homer and 3 RBI in a pennant-clinching game (regular season or post), and as mentioned, he turns 22 on Wednesday-- the scheduled date for Game 2 of the World Series. Assuming he plays in that game, he would be the third to make a WS appearance on his 22nd birthday, joining Cleveland's Joe Sewell (October 9, 1920) and Detroit's Donie Bush (October 8, 1909). No one's ever appeared in a World Series on a birthday younger than 22.
And speaking of birthdays, Thursday happened to be the 43rd for Sawx manager Alex Cora. He is the 125th manager in major-league history to win at least a pennant, but the first in that group to ever win a pennant-- or a World Series title-- on his own birthday. Though partial credit to Cleveland's Mike Hargrove (October 26, 1997) for being one of two to lose a World Series on his birthday. The other probably did not expect to be in two notes in the year 2018. Eighteen years after appearing in the 1909 World Series on his 22nd birthday, Donie Bush went to manage the Pirates to the 1927 World Series-- and lost Game 4 to the "Murderers' Row" Yankees on his 40th birthday as well.
Travel Day To Boston
Jumps: NLCS1-2 ... ALCS1-2 ... NLCS3-5 ... ALCS3-5 ... ▼ NLCS6-7
It's Freese-ing In Wisconsin
Remember The David Freese Game from a little while ago? The one that had four lead changes before he walked off with yet another one? Guess who is still playing, not for the Cardinals now, but for the Dodgers. And guess who was the first batter when the NLCS returned to Milwaukee for Game 6. He hit the fifth leadoff home run in Dodgers postseason history, and just their second ever in any game in Milwaukee (including the Braves years). Joc Pederson is the answer to both those questions; he led off the Division Series with a homer at SunTrust Park, and also had the other regular-season dinger in the city, off Kyle Lohse on May 4, 2015. And how many other players in postseason history (at all, any team(s) or year(s)) have hit both a walkoff homer and a leadoff homer? That would be three-- A's great Bert Campaneris, Len Dykstra, and Derek Jeter.
Freese's homer came on the fifth pitch from Wade Miley. No, you're not having a flashback (and we've spared you a link to another Miley Cyrus video, you're welcome). That's the same Wade Miley who threw five pitches in Game 5 before getting pulled as part of some lefty/righty trickery from Craig Counsell. As verified by Stats LLC earlier in the week, Miley was the first pitcher to "start" back-to-back games in the same postseason series since George Earnshaw of the Athletics did it in the 1930 World Series. Turns out Earnshaw did it in 1929 also, and at least in the modern (1903-) WS, we found three others: Christy Mathewson in 1911, Jack Coombs in 1910, and Deacon Phillippe of the Pirates who started FOUR games (3, 4, 7, and 8) of the first WS against Boston in 1903.
That lead, however, didn't last very long, and after Jesús Aguilar and Mike Moustakas hit back-to-back doubles in the 1st, we were well on our way to a Game 7. Aguilar's shot was actually the first double in Brewers postseason history that turned a deficit into a lead (they've had four homers do it, but never a two-bagger), and when Freese doubled again in the 5th, we saw Miley leave the game-- this time, like others before him, just two outs shy of qualifying for the win. Rich Hill last season, Clay Buchholz in 2013, and the Angels' Kevin Appier in 2002 are the only other pitchers to make four starts in one postseason and not get a decision in any of them. Aguilar would single home one more run, and score another on a wild pitch after doubling to lead off the 7th, ending up as just the third player in Brewers postseason history with three hits and three runs batted in, after Ryan Braun (2011) and Mark Brouhard (1982). If you include the constraint that two of the hits have to be for extra bases, it was Aguilar's sixth such game in 2018, tying the team record for such a thing held by Robin Yount in 1982. And while they haven't played all that many, the 7-2 final was the Brewers' largest-ever victory in a game where they could have been eliminated with a loss. They beat the Angels 9-5 in Game 4 of the 1982 ALCS, then also won Game 5 for the "right" to get trounced by the Cardinals.
Puig Your Pennant
So Game 7. We love Games 7. If you could guarantee a Game 7 in the World Series every year, would it get to be as big as the Super Bowl? Nah, probably not, but you can't beat one game for all the Tostitos. And it looked good again for the faithful at Miller Park when Christian Yelich hit a solo homer two batters in. Small sample size again, but only one other Brewers player had ever hit a go-ahead homer in any inning of a winner-take-all game, Gorman Thomas off the Yankees' Ron Guidry in the 1981 ALDS.
Alas that lead lasted 13 minutes. After "that guy", Manny Machado, led off the 2nd with a bunt single, Cody Bellinger cranked a two-run homer to flip the lead and ultimately put the Dodgers back in the World Series. Like Yelich, his was only the second go-ahead homer in Dodgers history in a winner-take-all game; the other was hit by current Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday, and also in Game 5 of the strike-necessitated 1981 Division Series (at Montréal, and not on a Monday).
In the season of #bullpenning, 2-1 in a Game 7 was apparently enough to make Craig Counsell pull the string again, pinch-hitting for Jhoulys Chacin in the 2nd inning. Recall that Gio Gonzalez worked only 2 innings in the opener, and 1+ when he got hit by that line drive in Game 4. Combined with Miley's one-batter stunt, it was the first time in postseason history that a team had gotten four "starts" of 2 IP or less in a single series; the only team to even do it four times in an entire postseason had been the 1984 Padres.
The Brewers had a few chances against Walker Buehler, but Lorenzo Cain's leadoff single in the 3rd was erased on a double play, Travis Shaw's leadoff double in the 4th was followed by two strikeouts, and Cain's double in the 5th came with two outs. But as the 19th batter of the game, that double gave Dave Roberts the famous "third time through the order" jitters and caused Buehler to also get pulled at the magical 4⅔ mark, one out shy of qualifying for the win. Already seven starters this posteason have worked into the 5th inning but not through it in a game their team won (but obviously they didn't because rules). That's tied (with 2016, naturally) for the most in any postseason, and we've still got anywhere from eight to 14 more chances.
Saturday's real dagger, however, was in the 6th when Xavier Cedeño failed at getting his one assigned target, Max Muncy, and then Jeremy Jeffress surrendered a three-run tater to everyone's friend, Yasiel Puig. You might remember Jeffress's blown save from Game 2 on a Justin Turner lead-flipping homer; while he didn't blow a save this time since Milwaukee was already trailing, this was his third relief appearance of the postseason giving up three hits and two runs. He's one of only five pitchers to do that all-time; Jose Valverde did it for the Tigers in 2012, and the others (Dave Giusti 1974, Fred Green and Clem Labine in 1960) were all Pirates.
Puig joined a fascinating list of Dodgers to have a homer and 3+ RBI in a game that clinched them the pennant (regular season or since LCS play began in 1969). Enrique Hernandez did it last year, but the rest of the list is Steve Garvey in 1974, Duke Snider in 1956, and Jackie Robinson in 1955. (Cap-tip to Friend Of Kernels Jacob Pomrenke of SABR for having a publicly-available list of all the pennant-clinching games.) And between them, Bellinger and Puig were just the fifth teammates ever to each hit a multi-run homer in a winner-take-all game on the road, and the first not to be tied to New York or Boston somehow. Johnny Damon and David Ortiz did it in the 2004 ALCS (at Yankee Stadium); Troy O'Leary and Nomar Garciaparra did it in 1999 in Cleveland; George Brett and John Mayberry hit them at Yankee Stadium in 1976 (but still lost); and Yogi Berra joined Bill Skowron of the Yankees in hitting them across the river in Brooklyn to win the 1956 title.
Ever still the likely MVP since voting was done during the regular season, Yelich couldn't do it all himself. He became only the fifth player whose solo homer wound up being the team's only run in an elimination game. All of them, naturally, lost; the others are Dustin Pedroia in 2008, then-Cardinal J.D. Drew in 2001, Baltimore's Rich Dauer in the 1979 World Series, and current Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon in the 1968 classic against Detroit. Thanks to added rounds and the persistent "season creep", the World Series regularly reaches into November now, but still the only time the Brewers reached it was in 1982. That season, like 2018, ended in a Game 7 loss... on October 20.
Did You Know?
Be careful, Boston fans. We've followed this stat for a while now because it keeps on being true. Thanks to the modern scheduling and TV and travel days and all that good stuff, there's never been a season in the Wild Card Era where both pennants were claimed on the same day. The last time that happened was in 1992. Which also enables us to wonder about the effects of the layoff. By winning the AL in five games on Thursday, the Red Sox will have four days off before starting the World Series on Tuesday. The Dodgers have only two to recover from their champagne hangovers, plus a nice long plane ride. Does momentum matter? Well, in the past nine consecutive seasons, and 11 of the past 12, the team that won its pennant first, and thus had the longer layoff, ended up losing the World Series.
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