Cincinnati Reds broadcaster of 45 years, Marty Brennaman, has announced that he will retire at the end of this, his 46th, season. His tenure has lasted since Opening Day of the Cincinnati Red Legs’ 1974 season, which they finished with a record of 98-64, second place in their National League Western Division, second place in their National League, and second place in all of Major League Baseball.
Unfortunately, Brennaman did not get to call any playoff games in his rookie season as though they were the second best team in baseball, they were not the first-place team in their division and teams could not move on to the postseason if they did not lead their division at the end of the season. The Red Legs did not lead their division as the Los Angeles Dodgers led baseball (and the N.L. West) with their incredible record of 102-60. Despite the bitter finish, the very first half inning of the season set a positive start for Brennaman’s long tenure. In the top of the first inning on April 4, 1974 (45 years ago, today), Opening Day at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio (where baseball’s Opening Day is a holiday accompanied by a parade), Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit a home run over the fence in left-center field. This moment was historic as it was home run number 714 for Aaron, tying George Herman “Babe” Ruth’s all-time home run record. Just four batters into Brennaman’s career, he had called a historic occasion. Since that moment, he has called six no-hitters (one of which was Tom Browning’s perfect game and another was Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter), Scooter Gennett’s four-home run game, and three Cincinnati World Series victories. His trademark, wildly dressed hair was once described as a Cincinnati landmark. Incidentally, this remark was made at an event where Brennaman had his head shaved on the field at Great American Ballpark. He first announced alongside former Reds’ pitcher Joe Nuxhall, but sometime after Nuxhall’s retirement and death, former Reds’ pitcher Jeff “The Cowboy” Brantley filled the role. Brennaman’s son Thom Brennaman is now a well-known broadcaster for FOX Sports for mainly baseball and football games. The father and son duo has appeared as a broadcasting team for Reds’ games several times, with the younger Brennaman on-air referring to his broadcast partner, not by his first name (as broadcasting duos tend to do), but by “Dad.” The Red Legs won Brennaman’s first game 7-6, though that game did not result in Brennaman saying his famous post-win catchphrase, “And this one belongs to the Reds!” He said that he did not immediately develop that signoff, but after 40+ seasons of hearing it after every win, the words have become imprinted on the hearts of Reds fans. He did, however, get the opportunity to say the line after Opening Day this season. On March 28, 2019, the Reds opened their season at home with a 5-3 win over the N.L. Central Division rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pirates’ left fielder Corey Dickerson grounded a David Hernandez pitch to Reds’ second baseman Jose Peraza, who then fired the ball to Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto for the out. As Votto closed his glove around the ball, Brennaman ended his last ever Opening Day with a trademark, “And this one belongs to the Reds!” With Brennaman’s final game less than a season away, it’s reasonable to conclude that his historic career, as he would say, “Belongs to the Reds!” Jesse A. Cook “Marty Brennaman Announces Retirement” April 4, 2019
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Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel—the list goes on for offseason names, but which of these players will receive the contract they actually want? Pitchers and catchers first report on February 12, but none of these players have chosen a team and that is hurting both them and the fans.
First of all, the memory of J.D. Martinez’s failed expedition to attain a seven-year $200 million contract should be fresh in these players’ minds (Martinez ended up acquiring a five-year $110 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, far less money than what he originally wanted). A picture of two bats with Philadelphia Phillies’ logos and Harper’s name and number 34 circulated on Twitter on Monday, January 28. Many fans and analysts are speculating that the image means that Harper will sign with the Phillies. The Score’s beat reporter Bruce Levine said in October that, “Harper is reportedly looking for a 10-year, $350 million deal as the starting point in negotiations.” The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell said on Friday, January 25 that Harper will not end up making nearly as much money as he wanted. He said, “Harper’s best concrete offer now is not for an average annual value of $37.5 million or $35.7 million… No team claims that it has any contract offer on the table to Harper at all. There’s been plenty of big talk and goo-goo eyes but no “sign here.”” The waiting game might not be the only part of this process hurting players. Baseball simply is not bringing in enough money for teams to be giving out $200, $300 million contracts anymore. Frankly, after the New York Yankees’ experiments with Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Giancarlo Stanton (giving players upwards of $100 million for over seven years) and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s franchise-crushing contract with Albert Pujols, the odds of team following in their footsteps are unlikely. Kimbrel is looking for a six-year contract for at least $100 million, but he is not receiving the interest he hoped he would. The best interest the World Series Champion closer has gotten is a potential three-year deal from the Minnesota Twins. The Houston Astros want Keuchel to return to their squad, but the Cincinnati Reds are making a serious bid for him. Scott Boyken, Fansided’s Reds’ beat reporter said that, “Following his trade to the Cincinnati Reds earlier this week right-hander Sonny Gray agreed to a three-year $30 million extension. The numbers suggest he’s similar to remaining free agent ace Dallas Keuchel.” The Reds spent $30 million on Sonny Gray and Boyken says that they are likely to spend that for Keuchel ($10 million per year). Machado is getting interest from many teams including the Yankees, Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and San Diego Padres. Machado entered the offseason looking for essentially the same deal Stanton made in the 2017-18 offseason, a 13-year commitment for $325 million. Wallace Matthews of New York Daily News said that Machado is looking at a deal similar to Harper. He said that Machado is looking at contracts on a, “range from $175 million for seven years to $250 million for eight years.” Spring training is 11 days away, but the fans still have no idea which players they will be rooting for. Jesse A. Cook “MLB Offseason’s Toll On Players And Fans” February 1, 2019 2019 starts in a few hours, so to welcome the new year, here’s an installment of baseball in year 9s. From Roger Connor to Hideki Matsui, baseball has taken a wild ride in year 9s.
1889: Managed by Jim Mutrie, first baseman Roger Connor and the New York Giants topped the National League, a game ahead of the Boston Beaneaters, winning the league championship with an 83-43 record. They shared their city with the American Association Champs, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, led by outfielder Oyster Burns and managed by Bill McGunnigle, who topped their faction of baseball with a staggering 93-44 record. They played each other in a primitive form of the World Series, the Giants winning six games to three. 1899: Finishing eight games above the second-place Beaneaters, another Brooklyn team took home a league title in this ‘99: the Brooklyn Superbas led the National League with a record of 101-47. In May of that season (May 15, 1899), Brooklyn’s Wee Willie Keeler hit an inside-the-park grand slam to win a game over the rival third-place Philadelphia Phillies. 1909: The classic seven-game World Series between the gentleman Honus Wagner’s Pittsburgh Pirates and the dastardly Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers took place in this year. Despite losing the series, Cobb made history that year for compiling baseball first Hitter’s Triple Crown since Nap Lajoie of the 1901 Philadelphia Athletics. On July 19, Neal Ball of the Cleveland Naps turned the first unassisted triple play in the history of Major League Baseball. 1919: Scandal struck the 1919 season when after the Cincinnati Reds took home their first World Series trophy in a five to three series win over the Chicago White Sox, it was revealed that the powerful representatives of the American League, now nicknamed the “Black Sox,” had purposefully lost the series to the seemingly inferior National League team. Gangster Arnold Rothstein had bribed players into throwing the series to receive more money than they would have received for winning the series in the first place. Eight players from that Black Sox’ team were banned from baseball for life, the most notable suspension being handed to, as anyone who’s ever seen the 1989 classic baseball movie starring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and James Earl Jones, “Field of Dreams” can tell you, Shoeless Joe Jackson. During this year, Rube Foster began plans to form the Negro Leagues. 1929: Despite being named the MLB’s Most Valuable Player, second baseman Rogers Hornsby could not bring his Chicago Cubs to win the World Series Championship they would chase so fervently until the early morning of the November 3, 2016. Instead, the Cubs lost the series in five games to Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, and Lefty Grove’s Philadelphia Athletics, managed by the genius, Connie Mack. This was the final time in the World Series era (1906 and 1922 preceding it) that Boston held last place in both the American and National Leagues, the Red Sox at the bottom of the AL at 58-96, and the Braves at the bottom of the NL at 56-98. In the Negro Leagues, at a staggering 66-14 record, the Kansas City Monarchs won their fourth of 12 Negro National League titles. 1939: In this year, the Reds’ Bucky Walters (the National League Most Valuable Player) became the first National League pitcher since the Brooklyn Robins’ Dazzy Vance in 1924 to win the Pitcher’s Triple Crown. His Reds lost the World Series in four games to the American League MVP, Joe DiMaggio, and the New York Yankees. The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (incidentally, where I’m writing this edition of this annual article from) inducted its second class, including Cap Anson, Eddie Collins, Charles Comiskey, Candy Cummings, Buck Ewing, Lou Gehrig, Willie Keeler, Charles Radbourn, George Sisler, and Al Spalding. The American League won the MLB All-Star Game 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, the West won the first Negro League All-Star Game 4-2 at Comiskey Park, and the East won the second Negro League All-Star Game 10-2 in New York City. The Monarchs won their sixth Negro National League Pennant and the Baltimore Elite Giants won their first of two Negro American League titles. 1949: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox in the AL and Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the NL won their respective MVP Awards. Robinson lost the World Series to the crosstown rival New York Yankees four games to one in an unexciting World Series exhibition. The Rockford Peaches won their second of three consecutive and third of four total championships to win the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, defeating the Grand Rapids Chicks three games to one. The American League won the MLB All-Star Game at Ebbets Field 11-7 and the East won the Negro League All-Star Game 4-0 in Chicago. The Baltimore Elite Giants won their second and final Negro American League title. On June 15, future MLB manager Dusty Baker was born. On July 21, future terrifying closer Al Hrabosky, and a week later future Oakland Ace Vida Blue were born. On September 27, considered maybe the greatest third baseman of all-time, Mike Schmidt was born. 1959: Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers won their first World Series as the Los Angeles Dodgers, beating the AL MVP Nellie Fox and the Chicago White Sox four games to two. The Chicago Cubs’ Ernie Banks won the NL MVP. While Bob Allison of the Washington Senators took home the Rookie of the Year Award, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Willie McCovey won the award for the San Francisco Giants. On April 22 of this year, future two-time World Series Champion manager Terry Francona was born. On October 21, future Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer George Bell was born. 1969: A wild year for the entire world, this year involved Woodstock, Neil Armstrong set his foot on the moon, and, possibly the most unlikely of all, the New York Mets won the World Series. Only seven years old, the franchise with Tom Seaver and a young Nolan Ryan secured its first Championship with a “Miracle Mets” victory in five games over the Baltimore Orioles. Willie McCovey, the Rookie of the Year ten years prior, was the MVP of the All-Star Game at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, which the NL won 9-3. McCovey also won the NL MVP and Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins won it in the AL. Early in the decade, San Francisco Giants’ pitcher and teammate of McCovey, Gaylord Perry, conjectured that men would never walk on the moon. Being a terrible hitter, he said, “They will put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20 of this season, just minutes after Armstrong stamped his foot and the American flag on the lunar surface, Perry knocked a solo blast over the fence in the Giants’ 7-3 win over Los Angeles Dodgers in San Fran at Candlestick Park. 1979: Led by the co-NL MVP Willie Stargell (the other was the St. Louis Cardinals’ Keith Hernandez) the Pittsburgh Pirates won the Fall Classic in seven games over Ken Singleton of the Baltimore Orioles. Stargell also won the World Series MVP Award. The AL MVP was Don Baylor of the California Angels. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Dave Parker won the All-Star Game MVP in the NL’s 7-6 victory at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. 1989: This would be the second of three consecutive American League Championships for the Oakland Athletics, but this would be the only one of these times that they won the World Series, beating the San Francisco Giants in a series sweep. The Series was interrupted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake which collapsed part of the Bay Bridge. This occurred just minutes before Game Three was scheduled to start. The natural disaster temporarily knocked out the television feed and prompted both teams to venture onto the field for safety and the umpires and Major League Baseball decided to postpone the game until ten days later on October 27. A’s pitcher Dave Stewart won the Series MVP. The MVPs were Kevin Mitchell of the Giants in the NL and Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL. The Kansas City Royals’ Bo Jackson was the MVP of the All-Star Game at Anaheim Stadium, which the AL won 5-3. Jackson and Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs off of the Giants’ Rick Reuschel. 1999: The New York Yankees, led by their young stars Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and veteran Roger Clemens, won the World Series in four games over the Atlanta Braves (with their young, new third baseman future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones). The Braves had just won their eighth of 14 consecutive division titles. Jones was the NL MVP and Iván “Pudge” Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers was the AL MVP. The AL won the All-Star Game 4-1 at Fenway Park. Boston Red Sox’ ace Pedro Martinez was the MVP after a historic start, striking out five of the six batters he faced, striking out the first four: Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, and finishing on Jeff Bagwell. Two of those five, Larkin and Bagwell, would make it into Cooperstown, and the two of the other three would probably be alongside them if their steroid use had never come out (Walker is still on the Hall of Fame ballot). 2009: World Series MVP Hideki Matsui (and Jeter, Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, and Rivera) led his New York Yankees to a four games to two World Series victory over Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Minnesota Twins’ catcher Joe Mauer won the AL MVP Award and the St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols won the NL MVP Award. Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics won the AL Rookie of the Year and Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins won the NL Rookie of the Year. The Boston Red Sox’ right-handed starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka led Team Japan to their second World Baseball Classic Championship defeating South Korea 5-3 in ten innings at Dodger Stadium in the Final. 2019: Right around the corner, tomorrow, January 1, 2019, will start a story just as great as the previous 13 decades mentioned in this article. Already looking exciting, 2019 will feature Bryce Harper apart from his Washington Nationals, possibly, and now joining any one of many exciting teams, Paul Goldschmidt with the St. Louis Cardinals instead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Manny Machado playing for, at this point, anyone, Yasiel Puig leading a brand new Cincinnati Reds roster, and Mookie Betts taking his reigning World Champion Boston Red Sox for another spin. Jesse A. Cook “Baseball In Year 9s: Welcoming 2019” December 31, 2018 Chris Sale fired strike three past a sprawling Manny Machado to clinch the Boston Red Sox’ ninth World Series Championship at around 11:15 last night. Christian Vazquez immediately shot up and leapt into Sale’s arms in front of the mound at Dodger stadium. The score read 5-1 and the series ended 4-1.
The Red Sox played statistically one of the greatest seasons in the history of baseball. Not only did they earn the greatest record in team history at 108 games, but they also beat two other 100-game winners on their way to the World Series and then beat the strongest team coming out of the National League. Game 5 was not an unexciting game, but Red Sox fans are glad that the Dodgers didn’t take them to an excruciating Game 7 like the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in 2016 or the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers (again) last year in 2017. It started on a high note for Beantown. Andrew Benintendi singled up the middle off of LA starter Clayton Kershaw (who has lost his last four elimination games). This minor hit was followed by the game winner, a two-run home run from the World Series MVP, Steve Pearce. David Freese struck some fear into Boston hearts as he hit David Price’s first pitch over the center field wall, but the Dodgers would not score again for the rest of the game, the series, and the 2018 season. Mookie Betts (whose initials spell “M.L.B.”) homered in the sixth inning off of Kershaw to increase the Boston lead from 2-1 to 3-1. That was Betts’ first home run this postseason and his first run batted in this World Series. J.D. Martinez knocked one out the left field stands the next inning to put Boston up 4-1 and Pearce homered again in the eighth to make it 5-1. That would be the final score. Both Price and Kershaw pitched seven innings, both struck out five, but Price allowed four fewer hits at three and three fewer runs at one. Joe Kelly pitched the eighth for the Sox and allowed zero runs while Pedro Baez took the hill for LA and allowed the second Pearce homer. Kenley Jansen dealt to Boston for the top of the ninth and allowed zero runs, but Boston was excited to focus on their defense for the bottom of the inning. Sale took the hill to face the middle of the LA batting order, Justin Turner, Max Muncy, and Machado. Kelly had struck out the side in the eighth, and Sale followed in suit. He finally caught Machado to end it on a nasty curveball low and inside. Machado had no idea where it was. What gave Boston the edge over Los Angeles? For one, Alex Cora’s management style was very different from that of Dave Roberts. Cora based his coaching on excitement and encouragement, while Roberts told his players that he didn’t think they had it in them for a specific night. Cora put his struggling players on the field with rightfully placed confidence in them. Players simply felt better under the rookie manager, Cora. Boston’s offense was also simply better. They needed their top four hitters to step up and they finally did. Home runs from three of the first four batters in the order is exactly what they needed and that won it. Also, Brock Holt started a few rallies, Eduardo Nunez hustled his heart out, Vazquez and Sandy Leon started to finally hit well, Xander Bogaerts started getting on base again, and Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. remembered how to drive the ball over the fence. Rafael Devers deserves his own paragraph. He made an incredible play in the field, diving down the third base line, in Game 4 to take a line drive hit away from the jogging Machado and he had important hits to keep runs alive throughout the entire postseason. This shouldn’t however detract from Price’s masterful performance, dominating with his deceptive breaking pitches. Not to mention that Nathan Eovaldi pitched his heart out in Game 3 and allowed zero runs in his appearances in Games 1 and 2. Craig Kimbrel also stopped tipping his pitches and Sale recovered from whatever stomach condition ailed him during the ALCS versus the Astros. Price had an incredible rebound from his rocky start in Game 2 of the ALDS at home at Fenway Park against the New York Yankees. The Fenway crowd opening this Series had some good omens, as well: New England Patriots’ legendary head coach, Bill Belichick, read the thrilling opening monologue and Boston music great James Taylor sung one of the best renditions of the United States’ national anthem sung at a sporting event. Before Game 5, Boston Celtics’ Hall of Famer Larry Bird and Los Angeles Lakers’ Hall of Famer and Dodgers’ co-owner Magic Johnson had an opening debate that resulted in the Boston man, Bird, getting the last word. Despite the 18 inning Game 3 debacle, the stars aligned for Boston. After 162 regular season games, 14 postseason games, five games in the World Series, nine innings of Game 5, three outs in the bottom of the ninth, and three strikes on the last batter, Boston was more than ready to take home another trophy. Congratulations to the 2018 World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox! Jesse A. Cook “Damage Done: Red Sox Win Again!” October 29, 2018 Eduardo Rodriguez and Rich Hill pitched a great pitchers’ duel last, but the Rodriguez’s Boston Red Sox pulled off an exciting late inning comeback winning 9-6. E-Rod left with after an unfortunate four-run sixth and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Hill left with a comfortable 4-1 lead.
First of all, that sixth inning was terrifying for Red Sox fans: Max Muncy, who has been killer in this series, came up with a man on, but luckily for Boston struck out. The Justin Turner doubled down the left field line making it second and third for Manny Machado. Boston head coach Alex Cora signaled for the intentional walk, loading the bases for Cody Bellinger. Then, the craziness began. Bellinger grounded the ball to Steve Pearce at first base who fired a high throw home to Christian Vazquez for one out. Vazquez immediately gunned it back to Pearce covering first, but Bellinger got in the way of the throw and it passed into right field, so Turner scored having started the play on second. Cora considered challenging the play and arguing that Bellinger should be out because he obstructed an out at first, but, after a conversation with right field umpire and crew chief Ted Barrett (who was the home plate umpire during the 18 inning Game 3), Cora decided to let it be. He decided to leave E-Rod in to face Yasiel Puig, but El Caballo made him pay with a three-run bomb to left to put LA up 4-0. The Sox got their cuts in the seventh when Mitch Moreland stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter for pitcher Matt Barnes. With Xander Bogaerts on second and Brock Holt on first, Moreland took a Ryan Madson changeup into the right field stands to make it 4-3 Dodgers. In the top of the eighth, Kenley Jansen peered in at Steve Pearce with no one on base and one out. Seconds later, the game was tied. Pearce drove an absolute blast into the left-center fields stands making him the second Boston legend named Pearce (or Pierce) to make it rain in LA in the championship. 4-4. Remember how the sixth gave BoSox fans heart attacks? The ninth killed Dodgers’ fans. With one out Holt doubled on a chopper down the third base line, beating the shift. Rafael Devers pinch hit for Sandy Leon and singled to center, scoring Holt. Blake Swihart then came in to pinch hit for Joe Kelly and he grounded Devers to second. Dylan Floro was then ordered by head coach Dave Roberts to intentionally walk Mookie Betts. Andrew Benintendi tapped a chopper down the third base line and Justin Turner’s throw to first came late, loading the bases with two out for the Red Sox. Pearce came up again with a huge hit and doubled to right center to drive in all three men on base. Kenta Maeda walked J.D. Martinez to bring up Xander Bogaerts who singled Pearce home. 9-4 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Despite a two-run home run by Kiké Hernández, Craig Kimbrel pitched a sound ninth to win Game 4 and advance to a 3-1 lead over LA. Tonight, David Price will toss for Boston against Clayton Kershaw. Price has thrown some nasty stuff, pitching impeccable baseball since his debacle in Game 2 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees. Kershaw has been strong throughout the playoffs, with the exception of his five earned runs allowed in Game 1 of this series at Fenway Park. Maybe the Dodger Stadium air will be different and the Dodger Dogs will prevail forcing fans to go back to Boston for some Fenway Franks, but the pitching stats look promising for Beantown to earn their fourth banner of the 21st Century tonight. Their offensive stats look different for Boston, though. Their beginning of the lineup has to be better. They have been atrocious this series with the top four going 14 for 74 in the first four games. If you want to take Nathan Eovaldi’s two Game 3 “at-bats,” then 14 for 72 still is not much better. Counting Eovaldi, they’re batting a combined .189 (.194 without Eovaldi’s two at-bats). If they want to win tonight (or at all) Betts, Benintendi, Bogaerts, Pearce, Moreland, and Martinez need to hit better (mainly the first three and the last one mentioned). Jesse A. Cook “Sox Comeback Late, Up 3-1” October 28, 2018 With one out to go in a brutal Game 3, Yasiel Puig hit a sharp ground ball to Boston Red Sox second baseman, Ian Kinsler, who misfired to first base, allowing the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy to score the tying run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Five innings later, Muncy hit a walkoff solo shot to left field to win Game 3 for LA 3-2 in 18 innings.
Unlike the game, this’ll be brief. Joc Pederson hit a homer to go up 1-0. Jackie Bradley Jr. tied it with one of his own. Brock Holt got on base in the 13th, stole second, and took home on an Eduardo Nunez dribbler resulting in an error. Muncy walked, took second on pop up, then scored on the Kinsler error. Nathan Eovaldi pitched a gem for over six innings, but he lost it on just one earned run. Muncy walked it off leading off the 18th. Rich Hill vs. Eduardo Rodriguez tonight for Game 4. Jesse A. Cook “Kinsler Muffs Ground Ball, Maybe Series” October 27, 2018 J.D. Martinez singled to right field to put the Boston Red Sox up two games on the Los Angeles Dodgers, both in the game and in the Series. The Sox took Game 2 with a 4-2 win at home, and now fans are hoping that no more baseball will have to be played at Fenway Park this year.
Starting Friday night, MLB will see at most three games at Dodger Stadium before potentially heading back to Boston for possible Games 6 and 7. Of course, if the Red Sox keep playing like they did in the last two, they will not need a Game 5. What has been working for Boston? Well, last night, it wasn’t necessarily their offense. It wasn’t really their defense either (although Andrew Benintendi made an incredible grab), it was that the Dodgers’ offense was working poorly. David Price only allowed three hits and he struck out five in six innings. Doesn’t that mean that he was pitching well? Yes, of course, but he was also dead tired by the end and he had walked three batters by that point. By the time he left after six innings, Price had thrown 88 pitches, so the Dodgers were swinging and missing on a tired arm. In Game 3, Boston will throw Rick Porcello at the lame Dodger offense. This is where LA might have an advantage because Porcello allowed four runs in four innings on 68 pitches in his ALCS start in Game 4 against the Houston Astros. Porcello did not perform as well as Sox fans hoped he would (although another Benintendi fielding gem won the game), so the Dodgers might be able to scratch out a win. With this in mind, we must remember that the Boston bullpen has been absolutely dynamite this postseason: Since Game 2 of the ALCS (six games ago), the bullpen has only allowed a total five runs and the team is undefeated. The bullpen has a 1.95 Earned Run Average since the start of the win streak and that’s really something to be admired. If the Sox want to sweep, their pitching has to keep up, but more importantly, their top four hitters in the lineup have to hit better. Through Games 1 and 2, the top four hitters (including both Mitch Moreland and Steve Pearce because they substituted for one another) acquired 11 hits and five RBIs. That has to be up if Boston wants to sweep. Jesse A. Cook “Boston 2 Away From 4th WS Win This Century” October 26, 2018 After an 8-4 win in Game 1 of the World Series, the Boston Red Sox look to knock out the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games. Clutch performances from Eduardo Nunez, who had a pinch hit home run, Andrew Benintendi, who went four for five, and Nathan Eovaldi and Craig Kimbrel, who pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings.
Why should the Red Sox sweep? LA is playing against what the Houston Astros’ head coach A.J. Hinch called a, “Juggernaut offense.” Last night, the Sox matched the Dodgers for almost every run they scored. The box score shows that there was only one inning where the Dodgers scored a run and the Red Sox did not. In the second inning, Matt Kemp hit a solo home run off of Chris Sale and the Sox did not answer in the bottom of the inning. That was the only time the Dodgers outscored the Red Sox in any inning last night. The Sox also have a knack for taking pitches. Whether they are good or bad pitches, they stretch their opponent out. Granted, Sale threw 91 pitches by his departure in the fifth inning, but LA’s Clayton Kershaw had already thrown 79 by the same point in the game. When a pitcher throws upwards of 75 pitches, they usually do not have a lot of gas left. The reason Boston was successful with a tired Sale on the hill was because Boston simply has better fielding (also Sale struck out seven in just four innings of work). Good defense is also something that the Dodgers do not possess. In order to keep their best bats in the lineup, Dave Roberts, Dodgers’ head coach, has to put Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger (two infielders) in the outfield or Max Muncy (a first baseman) at second base or Yasmani Grandal at first (he’s even a risk at his main position at catcher). The Sox have depth at every position. The only possible catch is that, to keep J.D. Martinez in the lineup in the National League ballparks, Boston head coach Alex Cora is considering placing Mookie Betts at his old position at second base. The Sox were lucky to have such depth in their lineup against the Astros, and while they still need Mookie Betts, Benintendi, Steve Pearce, and Martinez to hit well, they still have the same depth. Rafael Devers and Sandy Leon each had important singles and Eduardo Nunez hit a pinch hit three-run home run over the Green Monster on the second pitch of his at-bat against the tough Alex Wood. The Sox might not need their best hitters to be their best players, but Martinez also drove in two runs, Benintendi scored three times, and Betts scored twice. The bullpen came through strong last night, but Cora’s philosophy has been a classic playoff bullpen philosophy. To him, the bullpen is every pitcher who has not pitched already in that game. Eovaldi is the probable starter for Game Three and Cora decided to bring him in for an inning last night. In the ALDS, Rick Porcello and Sale came in in relief in Game’s 1 and 4, respectively, and David Price was warming up when Benintendi made a diving catch on Alex Bregman’s bases loaded line drive in Game 4 of the ALCS. Sure, Ryan Brasier has only allowed one run this postseason (he allowed a sacrifice fly to Manny Machado last night) and Kimbrel has finally stopped tipping his pitches, but Cora has been relying on his top four starters, Sale, Price, Eovaldi, and Porcello. Jesse A. Cook “Sox Win Game 1, Should Sweep” October 24, 2018 Wil Myers leads a dark horse candidate for this postseason, but the San Diego Padres pose a new threat in the West. Their acquisition of Eric Hosmer as well as their minor league prospects will put the Padres as a leader in the National League.
Pitching is their main issue, but their farm system is readily addressing that, with seven of their top ten prospects being pitchers. One of their premiere players is Mackenzie Gore, a left-handed pitcher. Padres’ coach Darren Balsley said “Every time I’ve seen him (Gore) he’s been lights out. He’s what you want to see.” Gore is the listed as the best San Diego prospect by MLB.com, so clearly the scouts all conquer that he’s the best they’ve got. Gore is listed as San Diego’s second best prospect, baseball’s 19th best prospect, and the best left-handed prospect in all of baseball. Last season, in rookie ball (a league he won’t be in very long), Gore had a 1.27 ERA, gave up only seven hits and three earned runs, and struck out 34 batters in 21.1 innings. You should not expect to see him in the lower minor leagues come April. Anderson Espinoza, the man San Diego traded Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox for, is an optimistic question mark. Despite receiving Tommy John surgery last year, Espinoza is the 89th best prospect in all of baseball. In his last season, 2016, he had 4.49 ERA, a 1.385 WHIP, and struck 100 batters in only 25 games; this is coming from the future closer of the Padres. Clearly, they’ve got some great young talent warming in the pen. Myers is a constant to the team, and he had a fine season last year. Last season, he hit .243, but he also drove in 74 runs, had 138 hits, and at one of the best in all of baseball, he hit an impressive 30 home runs. This team leader will, as always, be who makes the team successful. They acquired Hosmer this offseason, and the man is an all-star home run machine. Playing every game last year, Hosmer knocked 25 long balls over the deep fences of Kauffman Stadium, batted in 94 runs, batted .318, came in 14th for the American League MVP, won a gold glove, and won a silver slugger. The former Kansas City Royal is sure to make a much needed addition to the Southern California lineup. The National League West should play in fear of the threat that is San Diego (and the AL West in fear of Anaheim, as predicted in part one of this series, “California Countdown Part 1: City of Angels Soars”). The best team in that division as of last year was the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the new arms and the new bat stacking Friar’s play pose a great foe for them. 2018 will be a crazy year. Jesse A. Cook “California Countdown Part 2: Head Of Family And League” March 21, 2018 2018 starts in a few hours, so to welcome the new year, here’s an installment of baseball in year 8s. From Charlie Comiskey to Chase Utley, baseball has taken a wild ride in year 8s.
1888: The St. Louis Browns held the best record in all of baseball. Atop the American Association at 92-43, the Browns were better than any team in the American Association or National League. Led by player manager Charlie Comiskey, the Browns helped pave the way for decades of great 8 baseball. 1898: Five years before winning the first World Series, the Boston Beaneaters, later named the Red Sox, had the best record in baseball at 102-47. Future Hall of Famers Hugh Duffy and Slidin’ Billy Hamilton led the team to their abundant victories. 1908: 1908 was the last time until 2016, 106 years, that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. In October of that year, not only was the first game between an all-American team and an all-Japanese team played, but singer Billy Murray (eerily similar to the name of the most famous Cubs fan alive, comedic actor Bill Murray) introduced the world to “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” and Baseball’s Sad Lexicon led the Cubbies to 4-1 series victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs were led by a trio of infielders: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance. The poem about the 3 may happen to be what put them all in the Hall of Fame, however Baseball’s Sad Lexicon did more to cause anguish to the Cubs’ opponents.: These are the saddest of possible words: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” The poem describes that if a ball comes anywhere near 1 of these 3 greats, all hopes of getting on base vanished. The smug Tigers thought that they would walk all over Chicago, but the Detroit crowd would be silenced in 5 games. The next year, 1908, would mark the last Cubs World Series victory for 108 until November 2 and 3, 2016. 1918: This may possibly be the most hated season in Boston Red Sox’ history, considering that right after the season ended, BoSox’ owner Harry Frazee traded arguably the greatest baseball player of all-time, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, to their hated rivals, the New York Yankees. Beantown took the World Series (their last one until 2004, an 84 year drought called “The Curse of the Great Bambino”) 4 games to 2 over the Cubs led by Ruth. 1928: Taking the Cards down in four, the New York Yankees’ Murderers’ Row easily won the World Series led by Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri and the great Bambino. With the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 101-53, the Bronx Bombers were an unstoppable force that continues to dominate baseball to this day. At 68-25, the St. Louis Stars led the Negro National League that same year, with a wide margin over the 49-31 Kansas City Monarchs. 1938: While the fearsome Yankees, now led by rookie Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, swept the North Side Cubbies in the Fall Classic, 1938 was an unusual year for baseball. On June 11, the Cincinnati Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer no-hit the Boston Bees at Crosley Field in Cincy and he made history on June 15 of that same year in Brooklyn when he no-hit the Dodgers, becoming the only man in baseball history ever to pitch two consecutive no-hitters. Not out of the ordinary, the 32-15 Monarchs and 27-10 Homestead Grays led the Negro American and National Leagues, respectively. 1948: One year after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier and thankfully forever integrated the MLB, the Cleveland Indians started baseball’s longest active World Series drought. They took the Series 4 games to 2 over the Boston Braves. At 55-21, the Birmingham Black Barons were atop the Negro American League. 1958: The Yankees, led by DiMaggio and catcher Yogi Berra, took a thrilling World Series over the Milwaukee Braves 4 games to 3 to end the season, led by Cy Young Bob Turley. On January 28, however, bad news opened up the year the career of Los Angeles Dodgers’ catcher Roy Campanella broke his neck and paralyzed his legs. In addition to the mediocrity of the year, for the first time in eight years, no new members are elected to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. 1968: Another thrilling World Series, in the midst of a presidential election (which Richard Nixon won over Hubert Humphrey), the 103-59 Tigers beat the 97-65 St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3. The MVP and the Cy Young winners were the same for both leagues and both represented a World Series team: Denny McLain of Detroit and Bob Gibson of St. Louis. Gibson, a Hall of Famer, also set the record for best single season Earned Run Average at 1.12. 1978: Now split into the East and West, the American and National Leagues boasted the Yankees (AL) and the Dodgers (NL) in the Championship Series. The Yankees took it 4-2, winning their second series in a row. The Boston Red Sox’ Jim Rice was the AL Most Valuable Players and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Dave Parker won the award for the NL. 1988: Dennis Eckersley’s Oakland Athletics were heavily favored over the LA Dodgers, but in Game 1 Kirk Gibson hobbled up to the plate. The iconic Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully had the call, “And look who’s coming up!” when the injured outfielder, Gibson, surprised West California and the rest of the world by hitting a walkoff home run to start the Trolley Dodgers’ sweep off of the Hall of Fame closer, Eck, opposite him. The Minnesota Twins’ (AL) Frank Viola and the Dodgers’ (NL) Orel Hershiser, who pitched the longest scoreless streak in baseball history at 59 innings without a run that year, were the Cy Young winners and Gibson of the Dodgers and José Canseco of the A’s were the MVPs. 1998: Led now by Andy Petit, Jorge Posada, the greatest closer of all-time, Mariano Rivera, and the greatest shortstop, arguably greatest player in history, Derek Jeter, sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Yankees won their 24th World Series Championship. The leagues now had East, West and Central divisions, as well as a Wild Card spot in the postseason. There were four 20 game winners, three of them in the American League: the Toronto Blue Jays’ Roger Clemens (AL), the Yanks’ David Cone (AL), the Texas Rangers’ Rick Helling (AL), and the Atlanta Braves’ Tom Glavine (NL). 2008: Led by Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria led Tampa Bay Rays in five games. Hamels was the World Series MVP. Boston’s Dustin Pedroia won the American League MVP and the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols won it for the National League. 2018: Right around the corner, tomorrow, January 1, 2018, will start a story just as great as the previous 13 decades mentioned in this article. Already looking exciting, 2018 will feature Giancarlo Stanton apart from his Miami Marlins and now joining the 2017 Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge, in the Yankees’ outfield, Shohei Otani accompanying Mike Trout for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and a red hot Rhys Hoskins leading the reborn Phillies. Jesse A. Cook “Baseball In Year 8s: Welcoming 2018” December 31, 2017 |
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