MLB Bullets Has Melted Down

Today’s Bullets is going to be a little shorter than the essays I normally write. For one, most of the news is about last night’s Cubs game and we’ve got that covered elsewhere. Also, all of your eyes are going to be on the recaps and looking forward to the NLCS and not about what the Cleveland Indians are doing.

• Gabe Lacques writes that the Giants season ended the only way it could have: in a spectacular bullpen meltdown.
• Ryan Davis thinks game 4 of the NLDS revealed the 2016 Giants true character.
• Sarah Langs and Mark Simon look back at the now-deceased Giants even-year magic.
• Michael Baumann thinks the Cubs killed the even-year effect and may end up killing metaphysics in baseball. (OK. It's a silly hook. But it is a nice recap of the series.)
• Jay Jaffe argues that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had to start Clayton Kershaw in game 4 of the other NLDS.
• But while the Dodgers won, Clayton Kershaw was charged with five runs in 6.2 innings. But as Bill Baer notes, a lot of Kershaw's poor postseason reputation is the fault of a bad bullpen, including yesterday.
• Ben Lindbergh thinks Kershaw's postseason misadventures are his darkest timeline. And credit for the Community reference. Perhaps next he'll lose his larynx after eating a flaming troll.
• Rich Hill says he's getting the game 5 start for the Dodgers.
• The Dodgers home playoff games are not selling out. Is the postseason schedule to blame? (I think that's obvious.)
• Jon Heyman thinks that the Indians look like a potential champion and that he and others were wrong to discount them.
• Mike Lupica looks at Terry Francona and how well he's adapting to managing in Cleveland.
• With the Indians eliminating the Red Sox, that means that the career of David Ortiz is over. Will Leitch writes that Big Papi deserved a better finale.
• Michael Baumann writes that now Big Papi belongs to the ages. (Just his career. He didn't get shot at the theatre or anything.) But what he means is that it's a new era in Boston.
• Mike Axisa goes over the whole of Ortiz's career, from his start with the Mariners to the Twins to the end with the Red Sox.
• David Price wants the earn the love of the Boston faithful.
• The Red Sox did stop speculation by announcing that the entire coaching staff, including manager John Farrell, will return in 2017.
• Jay Jaffe breaks down the upcoming ALCS.
• Jon Heyman looks at how the Blue Jays were built by two different regimes.
• Jean-Jacques Taylor writes that the whole Rangers team was responsible for getting swept by the Blue Jays.
• Cliff Corcoran looks at World Series droughts, non-Cubs edition. The Blue Jays are the most recent World Series champion among the remaining playoff teams, and they haven't won since 1993.
• Bill Baer looks at how the 2016 postseason, so far, has been a class lesson in how not to run a bullpen.
• Ben Lindbergh looks at the worst crimes in bullpen usage over the past 25 years of playoffs.
• Matt Clapp says in-game interviews in the playoffs must end. Amen.
• The Braves made it official and named Brian Snitker their permanent manager. Really great to see. The man had been in the Braves system since 1977. The Braves showed real improvement after he took over and he earned the job.
• The Miami Heat have a planned tribute to Jose Fernandez.
• Tim Tebow helped with a fan who had a seizure at an Arizona Fall League game. He also went 0 for 3 at the plate and ran into the outfield wall.
• They're taking down Tal's Hill at Minute Maid Park as you read this. Unless you're going through the archives in 2020 or something.
• And finally, you've probably seen this but you want to see it again. Javier Baez made another great defensive play on a piece of gum.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. We're one step closer to the World Series.