New format, who dis?
Yes, add another asterisk to your collection of Baseball In 2020, because here comes not just the Wild Card round, but the Wild Card series. Now with six extra teams and up to 22 extra games! There will never be an answer that pleases everyone; the "one-and-done" setup of the previous Wild Card game has had its detractors since it got unleashed in 2012. And we're pretty sure this new "expanded postseason" is here to stay, even though it's "officially" still just a one-time thing. But seriously, you did a "special" thing for this year and it just happened to generate an extra $200 million in revenue, and you're really gonna not do that again next year? Yeah, okay. So welcome to our first (but probably not last) recap of the Round Of 16. At least most of them only lasted two games.
Lake Effect
Oh but what a two games they were in a few cases. You know we have to start with our old friends the Yankees and Blue Jays after they threw up all those ridiculous games in September. You know, 20-6, 14-1, 10-7, those ones we've been writing about for weeks. Well, here we go aga-- wait, they weren't playing each other? You mean that 12-3 and 10-9 didn't come from Buffalo?
Nope, Sahlen Park is all closed down and awaiting games in 2021, whether those be the Jays again or the tattered remains of Minor League Baseball. These escapades came from a couple hours down I-90 in Cleveland, where the Yankees rocked Shane Bieber on Tuesday and then made Cole slaw out of the Indians' offense. After DJ LeMahieu singled to start the game, Aaron Judge immediately put the Yankees ahead with a 2-run homer as the team's second batter of the entire postseason. The only other player in Yankees history to club a 2-run homer as the second batter of the postseason? Yep, that's Aaron Judge in the 2018 Wild Card game against Oakland. And it makes Judge the only player in MLB postseason history to hit two such homers. The Yankees' only other 2-run homer by the second batter in any postseason game was Derek Jeter off then-Bostonian Kent Mercker in Game 5 of the 1999 ALCS. And the last Yankees batter to hit such a homer in Cleveland was Norm Siebern off Early Wynn on June 17, 1956.
Luke Voit and Brett Gardner would add RBI doubles in the 3rd and 4th, LeMahieu singled home Gardner, and when Gleyber Torres homers in the 5th, it is time for Bieber to be on his way. He got charged with 7 runs, a first for the Indians in the postseason since The Artist Formerly Known As Fausto Carmona in the 2007 ALCS. No Clevelander had given up 7 runs to the Yankees at home since Carlos Carrasco on April 9, 2013; that was also the last time the Yankees hit 4 homers in a game there.
Which means we're only halfway done. Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton both went yard against Cam Hill, who was sorta left out there to take one for the team after Adam Cimber gave up 3 runs of his own and it's already 10-2. Let's save that pitching staff for tomorrow at this point. Torres and Gardner would both end up with 3 hits, 3 RBI, and a homer, and the fun part is that they batted 7th and 8th. It's only the fourth game in Yankees history where two of the three lowest spots both had that line; Shane Spencer and Scott Brosius did it in a famous 22-1 game in Boston in 2000, along with Mariano Duncan and Jim Leyritz in 1996, and Joe Gordon and Babe Dahlgren in 1939. Torres actually tacked on a fourth hit and scored the Yankees' final run in the 9th; only three other players in postseason history have collected 4 hits, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI batting 7th or lower. Adam Kennedy of the Angels did it in 2002, and the others are both from the Red Sox-- Brock Holt against the Yankees two years ago and Jason Varitek against Cleveland in 1999.
The one bright spot for the Indians was Josh Naylor, who also collected 4 hits, 2 doubles, and drove in one of their 3 runs with a 4th-inning bomb. He was the first Clevelander with 3 extra-base hits in a loss to the Yankees since Jim Thome did it on June 2, 2001. But combined with Torres, Tuesday was the first game in postseason history where a player on each team had 4 hits including a home run. Tyler Naquin also added his name to postseason lore by destroying a whole bunch of double-digit-win notes we had ready. His single in the 9th was just the fourth RBI base hit in postseason history to occur with a team trailing by 10 and down to its final out; Len Dykstra (1993) and David Justice (1992) both homered, and Julian Javier of the Cardinals broke up a 13-0 shutout by the Tigers in Game 6 of the 1968 World Series.
Of course, the reason Naylor was the only bright spot for the Indians was that Gerrit Cole kept shredding through all their other hitters. (That's a little cole slaw humor there.) He did allow 2 runs (including Naylor's homer) while striking out 13, the first Yankees pitcher to do that in any games since Roger Clemens against Baltimore on June 3, 2002. The only other Yankees hurler with 13 K in a postseason game? That's also Clemens, in Game 4 of the 2000 ALCS against Seattle. And if you seem to remember Gerrit Cole having something to do with the Astros' postseason run last year, that's because he fanned 15 Rays hitters in their Division Series matchup. The only other pitcher to have a pair of 13-K games in the postseason is Bob Gibson.
On to Wednesday, where let's just say pitching will not be an issue. The Indians quickly exploded for 4 runs off Masahiro Tanaka, including another 2-run double by Naylor in the 1st. But if we've learned nothing else over the last few years with the Yankees, no lead is safe. Especially not in the 4th inning. Aaron Hicks joined Derek Jeter (1998) and Chad Curtis (1997) as the only Yankees to start an inning at Progressive Field with a three-bagger. Following two walks and a pitching change, we are perfectly set up for Gio Urshela to hit the first lead-flipping grand slam in Yankees postseason history. The last one for any team was by Shane Victorino, by then with the Red Sox, in the 2013 ALCS, while another Red Sock, Troy O'Leary, hit one at Progressive in the 1999 ALDS. That makes Cleveland the only stadium in postseason history to see two lead-flipping slams (both for the visiting team, naturally). Melky Cabrera (2006) and Jorge Posada (2002) are the only other Yankees to hit any grand slam there.
Oh, but once again, we're only halfway done. After Zack Britton walks two batters in the 7th, Jordan Luplow greets Jonathan Loaisiga with the first-ever multi-run, pinch-hit, game-tying double in the 7th or later in postseason history. Ignoring some of those adjectives, the Indians had only one other tying or go-ahead double in the 7th or later of a postseason home game, and it's fitting that the player who hit it, was the one who made the controversial call to pinch-hit Luplow over the earlier successes of Josh Naylor-- Sandy Alomar Jr, now the Indians' interim manager. (Alomar's was in the 1995 World Series off Mark Wohlers.)
Now we're tied at 8 when Loaisiga walks two batters of his own in the 8th. Cesar Hernandez then hits the 13th go-ahead anything in Cleveland postseason history in the 8th or later, of which five have been against the Yankees. Did we mention no lead is safe against this team, though? Even in the 9th? The ball gets handed to Brad Hand, who promptly hands the lead right back to New York. Walk, single, single, sac fly by Gary Sanchez to tie it. Chuck Knoblauch (2000 WS) and Bernie Williams (1996 ALDS) have the other two game-tying sac flies in the 9th or later of a Yankees postseason game, and that already makes Hand the fourth Indians pitcher to blow a save in a potential elimination game, after a strange Trevor Bauer relief appearance in 2018 and two by Jose Mesa in the 1990s. And it comes full-circle when DJ LeMahieu finishes what he started and removes the "potential" elimination part from that last sentence. His go-ahead single created the first postseason game in Yankees history where they allowed 9 runs but still won, and the second time the Indians had scored 9 runs and lost. The other one of those was a 14-11 World Series game in 1997 when they gave up 7 to the Marlins in the 9th.
Shuffling The Cards
Someone say "score 9 runs and lose"? Don't mind if we do, sayeth also the Cardinals, who at least caused one of the National League series to get to a third game by pulling this off on Thursday. In an equally-wild finish to the Yankees and Indians, St Louis led San Diego 4-2 after 5 innings in Game 2 of their series, with both teams already on their fourth pitcher because why wouldn't they be. By the time this is over the teams will combine to run 17 pitchers out to the mound, tying the record for a 9-inning postseason game. Which also explains why this mess is going to take nearly 4½ hours. But you're not here for the boring parts.
The Cardinals start the 6th with a pair of walks (why not?) who then both score to make it 8-4. Genesis Cabrera returns the favor by walking the first two Padres batters in their half. And they also both score-- but on a home run by Fernando Tatis Jr. And then Manny Machado follows with another dinger to not only tie the game but create the second set of back-to-back jacks in Padres postseason history. Tony Gwynn and Greg Vaughn had the others in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series at Yankee Stadium (and they still lost).
Wil Myers then opens the 7th with a solo homer for a 7-6 lead, joining Ken Caminiti (1998 NLCS), Jim Leyritz (1998 NLDS), and Steve Garvey (1984 NLCS) as the only Padres batters with a go-ahead homer that late in a postseason game. And just for insurance, why not have Tatis homer again later in the inning, joining Vaughn and Caminiti with the only multi-homer games in Padres postseason history.
Ah yes, insurance. Against, oh, say, a hit-by-pitch, a single, and an error in the very next inning? This leads to Harrison Bader's sac fly to make it 9-7. Dexter Fowler, of the single mentioned above, moves up to third on the first sac fly, and then scores another run on another sac fly by Kolten Wong. The last back-to-back sac flies in a postseason game were by Mike Morse and Brandon Crawford of the Giants in the 2014 World Series, and yes, since we looked it up, Thursday was the first game in postseason history to "feature" back-to-back sac flies and back-to-back homers. Wong would join Tatis and Myers as the second trio of players to have 4 RBI each in the same postseason game, after Jose Offerman, John Valentin, and Trot Nixon all did it in the famous 23-7 ALDS game for the Red Sox in 1999.
And how, you might ask, did Myers get his fourth RBI? Well that's because our parade of 1-inning pitchers hanging meatballs isn't over. So when Kodi Whitley enters the game in the 8th, with a runner on first, Myers greets him with another 2-run homer, making him and Tatis the second teammates in postseason history with multiple homers in the same game. You've heard of the others, probably multiple times: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1932 World Series. Myers and Tatis are also the second players in Padres history ever to have 2 homers and 4 RBI each in a game. Steve Finley and Wally Joyner did that at Candlestick on June 23, 1997. And as for 2 homers each at Petco, well, that had happened only once before. It was last summer, and it happened while the SABR convention was going on about a mile up the street. We caught this on the scoreboard the next day and quipped that they must have been reading this blog.
Thursday's game actually still isn't quite over, because Paul Goldschmidt homered in the top of the 9th to create even more postseason history. Just as the Indians had on Wednesday, the Cardinals thus scored 9 runs on Thursday and lost. That had never happened twice in the same postseason (and we've still got three rounds to go!).
Goldschmidt's Thursday homer followed a 2-run shot in the 1st inning of the series on Wednesday, the fifth one the Cardinals had ever hit at Petco. Jose Martinez (2017), Matt Holliday (2009), Ryan Ludwick (2008), and Jim Edmonds (2005) make up the rest of that list. Edmonds also hit a multi-run homer against the Padres in the 2005 Division Series; he and Gary Gaetti in 1996 are the only other Cardinals to hit a 1st-inning homer against the Padres in the postseason. This all led to Chris Paddack becoming the second starter in Padres postseason history to give up 6 runs without finishing the 3rd inning. Andy Ashby did it in Game 2 of their 1998 World Series sweep by the Yankees.
San Diego did attempt to keep themselves in the game by unleashing (?) a flurry of sacrifice flies on the Cardinals outfield. They became just the fourth team in postseason history to hit three of them in a game (2015 Royals, 1993 Jays, 1982 Cardinals), and it was the first time the Padres had done it since August 10, 2011, at Citi Field. The Mariners had the only longer "drought" of 3-sac-fly games. Austin Nola had two by himself, joining Mike Napoli (2011) and Mike Matheny (2004) as the only players to do that in a postseason contest.
Jake Cronenworth had another strange line on Wednesday when his potential home run was affirmed into a triple by replay, and then he later got plunked by both Genesis Cabrera and Andrew Miller, each time as the first batter they faced. He's the first player in postseason history with a triple and 2 HBPs in a game, and the second ever for the Padres. Jarvis Brown did it at Mile High Stadium on September 20, 1993.
Perhaps the Cardinals wanted to save some of those 16 runs from the first two games. Granted, it would have taken 5 to beat the Padres in the winner-take-all game on Friday, and they only had two left over, but in Game 3 they didn't even manage a first one. The Padres again deployed nine more pitchers, apparently from some kind of secret factory inside the Western Metal Supply building, and shut out the St Louis visitors on just 4 hits to advance to the next round. (Note here that the Padres advanced to the Division Series, Petco Park will be hosting a Division Series next week, but the Padres will not be playing in that Division Series. Yep, must be 2020.)
Eric Hosmer doubled home Tatis to break a scoreless tie in the 5th; the only other go-ahead doubles in Padres postseason history in the 5th or later were both hit in the 1984 NLCS against the Cubs (Garry Templeton in Game 3 and Tony Gwynn in Game 5). Hoz then drew a bases-loaded walk for the Padres' third run in the 7th, and you're gonna see a few more mentions of bases-loaded walks coming up. Because this was the eighth one of the postseason already, in the Wild Card round's final game, and the record for an entire postseason is nine. We still have as many as forty-one games left in the season. Stop walking people.
Cronenworth and his strange doings would toss in a solo homer in the 8th for the 4-0 final; Jake became the first #9 batter in Padres history to have 3 hits in a postseason game, and the first to do it in any game against St Louis. Only three San Diego hitters had ever recorded 3 hits, a homer, and 2 runs scored in a postseason game, and two of them were this week (see: Tatis on Thursday). The other was Kurt Bevacqua in the 1984 World Series.
When October Ends (In September)
We started this post with a teaser about the Yankees and Blue Jays scoring all those runs in September. The Yankees kept up their end of this deal as we moved into October. Toronto, on the other hand, well, they never even made it to October, being eliminated on Wednesday night some 5 hours before the month started. They have Blake Snell and Hyun-Jin Ryu to thank for that fate, and if you're thinking, wait, only one of them actually pitches for Toronto, you're right. (If you think Ryu still pitches for the Dodgers, that's okay too; it's been a weird year.) Snell, you see, shattered the record for the longest no-hitter in Rays postseason history on Tuesday, in part because "Rays postseason history" isn't very long. Matt Moore held the prior title by getting one time through the Red Sox order in the 2013 ALDS opener, but Snell retired 14 Blue Jays, walked two, and then ended the 5th by getting Jonathan Villar to ground into a double play. Finally Alejandro Kirk poked one through the right side to start the 6th, but that would be the only hit Snell allowed against 9 strikeouts. He now has six such games for Tampa Bay; all other pitchers in Rays history have seven combined. So even though Tampa Bay only had 4 hits of their own, one of them was a 2-run homer by Manuel Margot and they won. The Rays had never before won a postseason game where they only had 4 hits, and despite being in the same division, their last such home win against Toronto was back on July 7, 2009.
On Wednesday Ryu made sure the Rays would not be hamstrung by only having 4 hits. He allowed 6 of them in the first 2 innings alone, finally getting yanked when Hunter Renfroe hit the first grand slam in Rays postseason history. That leaves five active franchises who have never hit one (KC, MIL, PIT, SD, TOR), and it made Ryu the first starter in postseason history (any team) to give up 7 runs and 2 homers in a potential elimination game without finishing the 2nd inning. If you throw out the "2 homers" part, you still only get three starters with this dubious distinction, and two of them (Dakota Hudson and Mike Foltynewicz) are from last season. The other was Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown for the Cubs in 1906. With the Rays already up 7-0, we can jump ahead and tell you that Renfroe also hit the fourth slam ever in a postseason clincher at home, joining Shane Victorino (2013), Lance Berkman (2005), and Mark Lewis of the Reds (1995).
On Wednesday Danny Jansen was once again the Toronto Star of the game as he single-handedly (solo-homered-ly?) accounted for both Jays runs. He also won this fake award from us in last week's 14-1 game against the Yankees when he went 4-for-4 batting 9th. Joey Bautista (2015 ALCS) is the only other Jays batter with a multi-homer game in the postseason, and Jansen is the third #9 batter to have multiple multi-homer games for Toronto in the same season. Travis Snider did it in 2009 and J.P. Arencibia matched him in 2011. Mike Zunino, who had the other homer off Ryu, also drove in 2 runs batting 9th; it was the second game in postseason history where both #9's homered and had at least 2 RBI. The Rays were involved in the other one also; Matt Joyce matched lines with the Rangers' Mitch Moreland in Game 2 of their 2011 Division Series.
Twin Peaks Valleys
It was very exciting to see a clowder of New Britain Rock Cats lead the Twins to victory on Tuesday. Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, Lew Ford. Unfortunately that Tuesday was not this week. It wasn't even this decade. It was October 5, 2004, and it was the last time the Twins won a postseason game. And sure enough, after this week it is still the last time the Twins won a postseason game. (We believe, however, that Lew Ford is technically still a Long Island Duck since they didn't play this year. So there's that.)
They must be getting ready for ice-fishing season up in Minnesota, because that "Bomba Squad" offense was frozen by Zack Greinke and Framber Valdez on Tuesday. Both pitchers gave up just 2 hits, and while neither was a strikeout machine, Valdez did throw the final 5 innings and fan 5 batters. He was the Astros' first "reliever" ever to last 5 IP and get a win in a postseason game, and the first for any team since Yusmeiro Petit finished out that 18-inning game with the Nationals in 2014. Tuesday's game actually turned on a 2-out error by Jorge Polanco which made not only Houston's winning run, but the two after it, unearned against Sergio Romo. However, after two singles and the error, Romo did issue a bases-loaded walk to Jose Altuve the fourth go-ahead one ever in the 9th or later of a postseason game. Colorado's Willy Taveras (2007) and Wade Boggs of the Yankees (1996) had them, along with Andruw Jones' pennant-winner for the Braves in 1999.
On Wednesday the teams were once again locked at 1-1, with both starters allowing just 2 hits, until Carlos Correa found a solo homer against Cody Stashak in the 7th. Correa also hit an 11th-inning walkoff homer in last year's ALCS; he and Altuve are the only players in Astros postseason history with multiple go-ahead homers in the 7th or later. Kyle Tucker chipped in his second RBI with a 9th-inning single; he also gunned down Luis Arraez at the plate in the 5th to keep the game tied. The only other player in Astros postseason history with 2 RBI and an outfield assist is Lance Berkman, but he did it three times! As for Arraez, he was trying to score from 1st on Nelson Cruz's double to left, and you've probably heard that Cruz turned 40 this season. And he also had a double in Tuesday's loss, joining Jorge Posada (2010) and Willie Mays (1971) as the only players to have an extra-base hit in consecutive postseason games while in their fifth decade on the planet.
Not only did they extend their postseason losing streak to 18, the Twins were held to 4 hits in back-to-back postseason games for the first time since 1969, when they dropped the first two "ALCS" games ever played to the Orioles. Eddie Rosario was waiting to console his teammates in the clubhouse Wednesday after getting ejected; although Ron Gardenhire got tossed from a playoff game in 2010, Rosario joined Heinie Manush (October 6, 1933) as the only Twins/Senators players ever ejected from the postseason. Happily Manush did not face any further discipline from high muckety-muck Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
We all remember that pitcher Mat Latos famously has a pet named Cat Latos. We don't know if Cat Stevens, back when he went by that name, had a pet, but if he did, what would its name have been? Intermission!
On (To 2021,) Wisconsin
Ice-fishing season must also be popular in Wisconsin, because the Brewers went to southern California and melted. They and the Astros were the only teams to make the postseason with a losing record, but the Astros got the benefit of playing in the underwhelming AL West and finishing second. That got them elevated to a 6-seed above two teams with better records, while the Brewers got to face the buzzsaw of Dodgers pitching. (Might make them wish they were back in the AL West á la their first three seasons of existence.)
Wednesday was Walker Buehler's turn to strike out 8 Brewers, although he did allow a 2-run homer to Orlando Arcia so it wasn't a complete shutdown. The bigger problem was that Milwaukee's own starter, Brent Suter, issued five walks, including two of them with the bases loaded in the 1st inning. No pitcher in postseason history had done that, and the last time the Dodgers received two bases-lodaed walks in a 1st inning was August 27, 2005, from Roy Oswalt of the Astros. Mookie Betts had originally started Suter's night with a double, and then Chris Taylor opened the 2nd with a two-bagger of his own, the first time the Dodgers had done that in a postseason game. Dexter Fowler and Addison Russell of the Cubs were the last such pairing, doubling to lead off the first two innings in Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS. After Taylor's double, Mookie immediately follows with another two-bagger off Suter, joining Maury Wills (1965) and Jim Gilliam (1953) as the only Dodgers batters to hit a leadoff double in a postseason game and then another double later on.
The subsequent walk to Max Muncy was enough to end Suter's night and make Steve Trachsel a member of his fan club. Until Wednesday Trachsel (2006 NLCS) had been the only starter in postseason history to issue 5 walks while getting no more than 5 outs. Meanwhile, Julio Urias took over for Buehler and struck out 5 more Brewers, joining Bob Welch (1978 NLCS) as the only Dodgers postseason "relievers" to fan 5+ and get a win.
Eight K's for Buehler plus five for Urias makes 13. Unluckily for the Brewers, their Thursday opponent was Clayton Kershaw, and don't ask him to split up 13 strikeouts with anybody. Nope, he's gonna keep them all for himself, including seven K's in a span of 10 batters from the 4th through the 6th. Sandy Koufax (15 in 1963) and Carl Erskine (14 in 1953) are the only other Dodgers pitchers to fan 13+ in a postseason game, and Kershaw is only the second pitcher to struck out a dozen batters and allow no more than 1 run in a game that clinched a postseason series. Jim Palmer did that to win the 1970 American League pennant for the Orioles. (And extended the Twins' postseason losing streak to 7. Which now looks quaint by comparison.)
It's entirely possible that Brandon Woodruff might have also gotten to 13 strikeouts for the Brewers... y'know, if he'd been allowed to stay in the game. He got himself tossed in the 5th for arguing balls and strikes, the first eject-ee in the team's postseason history. He was the first Brewers pitcher to get thrown from a game he was actually pitching in since Will Smith (not the Will Smith who was strikeout victim #9 for the Dodgers) chose too high an SPF on May 21, 2015. Even with that, Woodruff and Kershaw combined for the second game in postseason history where both starters struck out 9 and issued no more than 1 walk; Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling matched lines in the epic 2001 Game 7 that ended with Luis Gonzalez's walkoff for the championship.
There will be no championships in Milwaukee (for the 63rd consecutive year), as the Brewers became the first team in postseason history to strike out 13 times and score 0 runs in a game when facing elimination.
Chicago Hope (For 2021)
There will be no titles in Chicago either, and they had two teams make this strange incarnation of a postseason. One of them even made it to a third game.
Tim Anderson certainly did his part. The eight batters after him, well, not as much. But the White Sox leadoff batter opened the postseason with a single on Tuesday and went on to have 3 hits, the first Sox leadoff batter to do that in a postseason game since Tim Raines in the 1993 ALCS. Adam Engel took over from there in Game 1, launching a 2nd-inning homer and a 4th-inning double to join A.J. Pierzynski (2005), Ted Kluszewski (1959), and Shoeless Joe Jackson (1919) as the only Sox batters to have both in the same postseason game.
Really, though, Game 1 would belong to Lucas Giolito, who broke out his Roy Halladay impression by throwing a no-hitter in the regular season and then getting threateningly close to one in the playoffs. Giolito retired the first 18 Oakland batters before Tommy La Stella poked one back through the middle to lead off the 7th. It easily broke the team mark for longest postseason no-hitter, and the previous record-holder wasn't even trying. Lefty Williams got through 4 no-hit innings in Game 5 of the 1919 World Series while actively trying to throw the game to the Reds (Williams was one of the players later banned by, wouldntchaknowit, Kennesaw Mountain Landis.) Giolito also joined Britt Burns (1983), Eddie Cicotte (1917), and "Big Ed" Walsh (1906) as the only White Sox pitchers to record 8+ strikeouts in a postseason game.
Game 2 featured Dallas Keuchel on the mound, who used to occasionally offer a no-hitter scare with the Astros, but once again Tommy La Stella is there to break it up for the A's. Problem being, La Stella was the second batter of the game and Oakland would score 5 runs off Keuchel before forcing him out of the game in the 4th. The last Sox pitcher to give up 5 in a postseason game was Mark Buehrle in 2008, and Wednesday was the third time the A's had scored multiple runs in both the 1st and 2nd innings of a playoff game. The 2002 opener against Minnesota and Game 3 of the 1913 World Series against the Giants were the others.
Chris Bassitt, meanwhile, shut down the White Sox offense for 7 innings, striking out 5 and allowing just 1 run. Former New Britain Rock Cat Liam Hendriks then took over and also struck out 5 batters, the second time A's teammates have done that in a postseason game. George Earnshaw and Lefty Grove combined on a 9-3 win over the Cubs in the 1929 World Series. Around Hendriks' 5 strikeouts, however, was a Yasmani Grandal 2-run homer to make the final score closer than it really was. Grandal also homered in the 8th inning on Tuesday, joining Paul Konerko (2005 ALCS) as the only Sox batters to go deep in back-to-back postseason games. Grandal's also the only one to hit multiple postseason homers for the Sox in the 8th or later. Not back-to-back, not even in the same series, just at all. And Tim Anderson dumped a single into center off Hendriks in the 9th for his third hit of the day, and in a moment you'll find out why we mention that.
In a Game 3 that made a complete farce of the new pitching-change rules, the Sox and A's ran seventeen people out to the mound in a slog that lasted over 4 hours. That was, of course, a record for a 9-inning postseason game, a record which you already got matched by the Cardinals and Padres just a few hours later. Mike Fiers, nominally the Oakland "starter", gave up 5 hits while getting just 5 outs, joining Dennis Eckersley (1992), Bob Welch (1988), and Dave Beard (1981) as A's pitchers to do that in the postseason. That led to Chicago taking a quick 3-0 lead, especially since Anderson, Luis Robert, and Eloy Jimenez recorded the first postseason game in Sox history where they started each of the first 3 innings with a base hit.
Sean Murphy gets the A's within one in the 4th by homering off of Chicago's fourth pitcher already. Carlos Rodon then gives up two walks and a double to become the fifth Sox pitcher not just in this game, but in postseason history, to face three batters and get none of them out. The others are Damaso Marte (2005), Salome Barojas (1983), Dick Donovan (1959), and Ewell "Reb" Russell (1917). Pitcher number six, Matt Foster, did not fare any better. He also walked two batters, but the issue there is that the bases were already loaded when he came in. That ties and then flips the lead and makes Mark Canha and Matt Olson the second A's teammates to receive bases-loaded walks in the same inning of a postseason game. Mule Haas and Al Simmons did it in the 1931 World Series against the Cardinals, and theirs weren't back-to-back. The White Sox had given up one (1) bases-loaded walk in their postseason history, by Dennis Lamp to Baltimore's Gary Roenicke in the 1983 ALCS. On Thursday they gave up two. In six pitches.
That, however, was not ultimately the game- and series-winner. Oakland's last two runs would come from Chad Pinder's single in the 5th, the fourth multi-run, go-ahead single in A's postseason history. Jim Holt (1974), Jimmie Foxx (1971), and Home Run Baker (1914) hit the others. And even in defeat, Tim Anderson had those 3 hits again. Only one other player in postseason history has had three consecutive 3-hit games, and that's Lou Brock in the 1968 World Series. And the only other White Sox player with three 3-hit games in the postseason at all (not consecutive) is our friend Shoeless Joe Jackson.
(But Miami bringin' heat for real. Also, this is our third different Will Smith, setting a #Kernels record. Chuckle.)
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, the Cubs also took three days to get eliminated from this whirlwind of a postseason. On one of those days, however, they won (sort of) by not even playing; after Wednesday's snafu in Cleveland with raindrops, MLB apprently decided to just wipe out Thursday's Cubs-Marlins game due to a "threat" of rain, not even any actually falling. Turns out Fish like water.
Ian Happ's solo homer was the only scoring in another Game 1 yawner on Wednesday before the Cubs apparently left Kyle Hendricks in the game one inning too long. Miguel Rojas and Chad Wallach both singled off him in the 7th, and before you could say, "hey Jeremy Jeffress, get ready quick", Corey Dickerson had launched the fourth lead-flipping homer in Marlins postseason history. It was the latest by inning of the four as well; the others all happened in 1997, by Bobby Bonilla and Devon White in the Division Series and then Moises Alou in Game 5 of the World Series against Cleveland. It was only the third lead-flipping homer the Marlins had hit in the 7th or later of any game at Wrigley; Dickerson joined Ronny Paulino (May 2010) and Kevin Millar (May 1999) on that list.
Sure enough, Jeremy Jeffress got ready in a hurry. Ten more warmup pitches might have been helpful, because 10 actual pitches on the real mound resulted in a single by Starling Marte and another homer by Jesús Aguilar. In this year of the universal DH, Aguilar became the second National League designated hitter to homer and double in the same postseason game; Cincinnati's Dan Driessen did it in the 1976 World Series, an even-number year when all the games had the DH under the rules of the time. In addition to Dickerson and Aguilar homering in the same inning, two other sets of Marlins had homered in the same inning of a postseason road game. See if you can find the theme; the others are Derrek Lee/Miguel Cabrera and Ivan Rodriguez/Miguel Cabrera/Juan Encarnacion. Both sets were in the 2003 NLCS, and that means all three sets happened at Wrigley Field.
When Game 2 finally got played on Friday, it was your classic day-game snoozer where neither team had bothered to wake up yet. There were 3 hits and just 5 balls to the outfield among the first 28 batters, and the Cubs later left their best scoring chance on the table with a bases-loaded flyout in the 5th. It wasn't until Yu Darvish might have been out there one inning too long that Garrett Cooper finally found the seats with a 2-out solo homer in the 7th. Ignoring that this was a scoreless tie, the Marlins have only two other tiebreaking homers of any type in their postseason history, by Mike Lowell in the 2003 NLCS, and a certain little Alex Gonzalez walkoff to win Game 4 of the World Series a week later. Combined with Dickerson's homer on Wednesday, the Marlins are the fifth team to hit a go-ahead homer in the 7th or later in both Games 1 and 2 of a postseason series; Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer of the Royals were the last pair in the 2014 Division Series.
The Cubs, meanwhile, managed just 5 hits, one of them a leadoff double in the 9th before Brandon Kintzler struck out the side (all of them representing the tying run at that point). (We looked that up, not uncommon enough.) And thus the Cubs had their fourth occurrence of being eliminated from the postseason in a game where they had 5 or fewer base knocks. But it was the first time in Cubs history they'd been eliminated in a game where they scored 0 runs. Of the "original 16" teams from the AL/NL of 1901, only the Red Sox have never had it happen.
As part of our unique foray into "eight postseason games on the same day", we began Wednesday's 13-plus hours of excitement at 12:08 Eastern time, the earliest start to a postseason day in six years. And hey, it's a good thing the Braves and Reds weren't the last game. We might still be there. Like so many other day games, this one had the "offenses still asleep" combined with two ace pitchers in Trevor Bauer and Max Fried. So you weren't expecting a blowout. But one run would be nice. Anyone? Bueller?
Fried scattered 6 singles and managed to avoid allowing a run when Aristides Aquino got run down in a delayed steal to end the 7th. Bauer, meanwhile, gave up just 2 hits and struck out 12 Braves batters. But no runs on either side. As soon as he leaves, we already know that Bauer is going to be the first pitcher in postseason history to strike out 12, allow 0 runs, and not get a win, and just the third for the Reds in the modern era. The others on that list are Jim Maloney in 1964 and Johnny Vander Meer in a 0-0 tie (back when they had those!) against Brooklyn in 1946.
Freddie Freeman drew a leadoff walk in the 9th and prompted us to get our Braves walkoff notes ready. And we would need them, and it would involve Freeman, but it's gonna be a while. Remember, we have ditched the experimental free-runner rule for the postseason, and right in the middle of a 0-0 game that could use it. The last postseason game to be scoreless through 9 was the final game of the 1997 ALCS when Cleveland scored in the 11th to beat the Orioles. And we came dangerously close to a run in the 11th this time when Nick Castellanos doubled and then the Braves intentionally walked Eugenio Suarez to load the bases for Mike Moustakas. Who struck out. Leadoff singles for both teams in the 12th. Nope. And we suddenly have the first postseason game in MLB history to have 0 runs scored in the first 12 innings. The game that started an hour later has already ended by the time the Reds load the bases again in the 13th. But Aquino strikes out and pinch hitter Jose Garcia rolls one to short and the zeroes keep coming. Finally Archie Bradley gives up two more singles to start the bottom of the 13th and Freeman comes through with the walkoff. It was obviously the longest 1-0 game in postseason history, and also the Reds' first-ever 1-0 loss in a postseason game. In fact, their only other 1-0 loss to the Braves in any game this century came on April 27, 2014... on Freddie Freeman's extra-inning walkoff single. And they hadn't collected 11 hits in a game and turned them into 0 runs since Orel Hershiser shut them down on June 25, 1989.
The Braves had never before had a walkoff single in the 13th or later of a postseason game; Mark Lemke had one in the 12th in the 1991 World Series. And recall that Trevor Bauer struck out 12, and he left in the 8th inning. Atlanta whiffed nine more times after that and thus became the third team in postseason history to strike out 21 times and win. The Indians and Orioles both managed to do it against each other, Baltimore in their 1996 Division Series, and Cleveland returning the favor in the 1997 Championship Series (not the 1-0 game).
One of the reasons you didn't hear a lot about the Braves this season is that they don't have the blow-it-by-you strikeout guys. Fried only fanned 5 in all those scoreless innings on Wednesday. That's the Reds' job. Bauer had the 12. Their #2 starter, Luis Castillo, whiffed seven more Braves on Thursday. Problem there is that he also gave up a bloop-ish run on a 2-out double by Ronald Acuña in the 5th. Ordinarily not a big deal. But rookie pitcher Ian Anderson-- whom the Reds had not seen before since East didn't play Central in this weird regular season-- confounded them into 9 strikeouts and only 2 hits, the first Braves pitcher ever to do that in a postseason game. He did issue a pair of walks to load the bases in the 2nd, but once again the Reds failed at converting that opportunity and trailed 1-0 going to the 8th.
That's when Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall unloaded 2-run homers on Raisel Iglesias and made the score look far worse. The Braves had never before hit multiple multi-run homers in the 8th or later of the same postseason game, and no pitcher (see: Iglesias) had ever given up two of them while getting only 1 out. But when Mark Melançon tossed a 1-2-3 9th, the Reds had not only been shut out for the second game, they'd been eliminated from the postseason without scoring a single run. Excluding the one-game Wild Card phenomenon of 2012-19, that had never happened before. The only teams to even get shut out in their first two games of a postseason were the 2018 Braves (by the Dodgers) and the 1921 Giants (by the Yankees).
In the modern era, the Reds had never posted back-to-back games of 0 runs and 12+ strikeouts on offense; they hadn't even done it twice in a month since June 1989. (Okay, technically they still haven't since Game 1 was in September, but you get our point.) The Braves, meanwhile, struck out 14 times of their own in both games and won, also a first for them in the modern era.
And remember, Game 1 on Wednesday went 13 innings. That's 22 straight scoreless frames, the longest such streak within a postseason since the 1991 Pirates also did it while getting eliminated by the Braves. They held on to win Game 5 after scoring in the 5th, but then dropped a 1-0 and a 4-0 to end their season with 22 straight zeroes.
And if you've been paying attention through all this, you noticed the Reds weren't the only team to get eliminated by getting shut out. In fact, all four National League teams scored 0 runs in their final game of the season. So yes, this is the largest postseason field ever, but it's also the first time four teams have gone out with a 0. And we still have eight left in. Thursday was only the second time that two teams had gone out with a 0 on the same day; the other was the first "weird" playoff format, October 11, 1981, after that season's players' strike. And then two more teams posted zeroes on Friday.
Appropriate that you can't properly sum up baseball in 2020 without a couple of twos and a bunch of zeroes. On to the next round.
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