MLB Bullets is celebrating

I’m not surprised that the Red Sox won the American League Championship Series because I thought the match-up was a toss-up. I am surprised that the Red Sox only needed five games to win it though. On the other hand, I didn’t take Joe West into account in my analysis.

• The Red Sox won Game 5 of the ALCS and the series 4 games to 1. The win in game five came after a terrific outing by starting pitcher David Price, who banished the demons of his past post-season misadventures.
• Zach Kram has more on how Price silenced his postseason critics.
• On thing that both of those previous pieces mentioned is that Price used his changeup extensively to change his postseason fortunes.
• Outfielder Mookie Betts robbed Alex Bregman of a home run in Game 5 and there was no controversy over fan interference this time.
• Michael Baumann says that a lot of things made Game 4 of the ALCS an all-time classic.
• I don’t want to go to far into the controversy in game 4 because Al has already done a piece on it. But Coley Harvey managed to talk to the fans at the center of the fan interference call.
• Grant Brisbee takes solace in the fact that at a time when America and baseball is divided, we can all come together and agree that Joe West is a terrible umpire.
• I’m not sure what Jeff Sullivan thinks of West as an umpire, but he thinks that West made the correct call in calling fan interference on the play. He does say “probably.” He admits he doesn’t have a definitive proof.
• Sullivan also thinks that the 2018 Red Sox have perhaps the best overall outfield of the 21st century and among the top ten in all of history.
• More good news for the Red Sox as Chris Sale has been cleared to pitch after his recent hospitalization for a stomach illness.
• The other big thing from the ALCS was the “spy” scandal surrounding an employee of the Astros. Whitney McIntosh gives a summary of the situation and notes that MLB considers the matter “closed” and will not punish the Astros.
• Red Sox team president Dave Dombrowski is not satisfied with MLB’s investigation into the matter.
• Jeff Passan has a more in-depth look at the situation and writes that MLB’s sweeping this incident under the rug leaves a lot more questions than answers.
• Michael Baumann notes the whole “Keystone Kops” character of the whole Astros-espionage story.
• Buster Olney argues that MLB needs to bring the hammer down on teams caught doing espionage (ESPN+ subscription req.) or the situation will just get worse.
• Now the Brewers are thinking the Dodgers are illegally stealing their signs. (The Athletic sub. req.) They admit that they have no proof, but everyone is paranoid today. (Yeah, I know. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.)
• Cliff Corcoran has a quick history of sign stealing in baseball, legal and otherwise. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Astros pitcher Justin Verlander supports the idea of a secure wireless headset for managers, catchers and pitchers to talk to each other. Not only would it put an end to sign-stealing, but it might also speed up the game.
• Speaking of Verlander, Michael Baumann thinks the Astros 2017 trade for Verlander might just be the greatest deadline deal of all-time.
• Astros manager A.J. Hinch admitted that if this were the regular season, second baseman Jose Altuve would “probably be on the disabled list.”
• The Dodgers have a 3 games to 2 lead in the NLCS heading back to Milwaukee. JR Radcliffe looks at the Brewers chances of winning anyway and thinks they’re not as bad as you might think. (Although yes, he does admit the Dodgers are in the stronger position at the moment.)
• The Dodgers won game 5 behind a fantastic start by Clayton Kershaw and Mike Oz thinks it’s time to end the “Kershaw can’t win the playoffs” narrative.
• Bill Baer agrees: Kershaw can dominate in October and adds that the idea that Kershaw struggles in the playoffs never should have been a thing in the first place.
• Grant Brisbee noted that the Dodgers started a future Hall-of-Famer in Game 5 and the Brewers started a fake starter and the result was predictable. He does note that the Brewers plan could have worked, but it needed the Dodgers plan to not work.
• Brewers MVP Christian Yelich had put up some monster numbers over the course of his career against Kershaw. Yet in Game 5, he went 0 for 4. Mike Petriello explains that’s because career batter v. pitcher numbers are completely meaningless.
• Kershaw did not have a good game in game 1 of the NLCS and Rian Watt explains why.
• Tom Verducci notes that the Dodgers relied on “small-ball” to win Games 4 and 5 of the NLCS.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that it isn’t the unconventional use of their pitching staff that is doing in the Brewers, it’s the fact that their bats have all gone cold. Sounds familiar.
• Brewers outfielder Curtis Granderson chipped a tooth sliding into second base in Game 5.
• Zach Kram notes that Brewers pitchers Wade Miley and Jhoulys Chacin are two unlikely October heroes.
• And every hero needs a villain, right? Matt Snyder thinks that Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado has become the villain that we deserve and he should embrace his role.
• Jon Heyman also talks to a lot of people in the game about Machado’s actions in the NLCS and while several people are upset about it, no one really seemed to think Machado cost himself much or anything in the free agent market. It should be noted that the Dodgers are unlikely to re-sign him, but that was always the plan as they expect Corey Seager to return in 2019. But his recent behavior has only confirmed that belief in LA.
• Heyman also writes that the Yankees are expected to make a run at signing Machado.
• Heyman also reports that the Nationals still want to re-sign Bryce Harper.
• They’re running into one problem, however, and that problem is that the Nats also want to stay under the luxury tax threshold. They could possibly do it and sign Harper, but it would take some real creativity from their front office.
• Royals general manager Dayton Moore hasn’t given up on the idea of signing convicted sex offender Luke Heimlich.
• Heyman is reporting that Kim Ng is considered a serious candidate for the Orioles GM job. The problem with this is that ownership will likely sabotage her, as they have sabotaged every other GM in Baltimore, and then MLB will wash its hands and say “We tried having a woman as GM but it didn’t work.” But I hope she gets the shot anyway.
• The contract between the Cardinals and pitcher Adam Wainwright has been put on hold, although it sounds like it’s just a procedural issue and it will get signed this winter.
• A young fan in Houston caught the home run by Red Sox outfielder Rafael Devers and wasn’t sure whether to throw it back or not. (He eventually kept it and good for him.)
• A lot has been made of Brewers catcher Erik Kratz being the oldest player to make his postseason debut in over 100 years. But in 2016, he was with the Astros and one of his teammates offered $2,000 to anyone who would do a faceplant on the carpet during the Opening Day ceremonies. Kratz took the pratfall and said the joke was on the other guy as he would have done if tor $250.
• And finally, Rustin Dodd has the story of “Astroman,” who lived on the roof of the Astrodome as a stunt in 1979. Or was it 1980? (The Athletic sub. req.) Seriously, the world was just a lot different in the 1970s.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.