MLB Bullets is down for the count

Game 3 of the World Series is tonight and Zack Greinke will pitch for the Astros and Anibal Sanchez will take the hill for the Nationals. Does anyone else remember when Sanchez was a Cub for like an hour? Going through all those comments, I didn’t remember that I had to write two follow-up articles, one saying that the Cubs had completed the deal for Sanchez and one saying that the deal had fallen through. But I said I did in the comments, so I must have. If you want to read the one that did get published, it’s here.

• The Nationals beat the Astros in Game 2 thanks mostly to a disastrous seventh inning in which the Nats scored six runs. Jeff Passan gets the inside story of the inning that gave the Nats a commanding 2 games to none lead.
• Ben Lindbergh notes that the Nationals have done something previously thought close to impossible—beaten both Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander on successive nights. With the Astros top two aces looking vulnerable, the Astros are in a heap of trouble, writes Lindbergh.
• Bradford Doolittle thinks the Astros look beatable for the first time all season as their pitching is no longer invincible and their hitters are struggling against good pitching.
• Joe Posnanski thinks the Astros are rattled and for proof, he presents the first intentional walk the Astros issued all season, which came in that big Nationals seventh inning. (The Athletic sub. req.) The Astros are off their game plan and that’s never good.
• Tim Brown writes that it’s too soon to write the Astros obituary as they are not dead yet.
• Mike Oz writes that so far, this Series is a reminder that you can’t predict baseball. Or in the words of former pitcher Joaquin Andujar, “You can sum up the game of baseball in one word: ‘You never know.’”
• Jayson Stark thinks something magical is happening for the Nationals. (The Athletic sub. req.) Perhaps, but let’s not forget that the Nationals had the best record in the game after 50 games this season and they did it in the stronger league this year.
• David Adler estimates the odds that the Astros come back and win the Series. It’s still possible.
• Mike Petriello explains how Anibal Sanchez went from a guy who was released in Spring Training to the Game 3 starter.
• A big reason the Nationals are winning is a return to form of the previously-struggling reliever Sean Doolittle.
• A lot of World Series-winning teams have a gimmick or a song that seems to follow them through to the title. Pittsburgh had “We Are Family” in 1979. The Angels had the Rally Monkey in 2002. Mike Oz explains how the Nationals adopted the children’s earworm “Baby Shark” as their battle cry.
• Bob Nightengale credits the Nationals valuing scouting over statistics for their success. Sure, Bob. There’s no need to place one over the other. Now go yell at Athletics GM Michael Lewis again. By the way, when is Anibal Sanchez signing that contract with the Cubs that you said was a done deal?
• It was a guessing game as to who would throw out the first pitch in the first ever Nationals home World Series game and now we have the answer. Former Nats pitcher Chad Cordero will throw the first pitch and former catcher Brian Schneider will catch it. Both were members of the original Nationals team that came over from Montréal in 2005 and Cordero recorded the final out of the Nats first ever home win and Schneider was his catcher. (Cordero was well on his way to an outstanding career until he was derailed by injuries.)
• Just a few more articles on the Taubman Affair. which seems to have ended with the firing of assistant general manager Brandon Taubman. Some of these were written before the announcement of Taubman’s termination. Ben Lindbergh writes that Taubman’s actions were the result of a culture where winning trumped everything else, including human decency.
• Astros GM Jeff Luhnow admitted he saw the initial statement accusing Sports Illustrated writer Stephanie Apstein of “fabricating a story” before it was released. When asked if he had personally apologized to Apstein yet, Luhnow said that he hadn’t had the time to do so yet. Apstein was in the room when he said that.
• I’m fairly convinced commissioner Rob Manfred’s statement that “We have to be tremendously concerned” played a big role in Taubman’s firing.
• The Cubs weren’t the only team that hired a new manager. The Phillies announced that former Yankees manager Joe Girardi is their new skipper.
• Buster Olney believes that Girardi could be a great hire for Philadelphia if he learns to change with the times and loosen up a bit. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Matt Ehalt writes that the NL East will be affected for years by the Phillies decision to hire Girardi and the the Mets decision not to. He just doesn’t know which team is the winner here yet. (Although it certainly seems like he thinks it’s the Phillies.)
• The new Padres manager is Rangers field coordinator Jayce Tingler. I hate to make fun of a man’s name, but that just sounds painful and possibly illegal.
• The Pirates have fired team president Frank Connelly. Do you think they fired the former Pirate King by making him walk the plank?
• Rays VP Chaim Bloom is the leading candidate to be the new Red Sox GM.
• Legend Bill James announced he’s no longer working for the Red Sox. It sounds like it was his decision.
• Former Giants manager Bruce Bochy says he still wants to manage in the future. Just not this year.
• Surprising no one, Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta will not opt out of the final year of his contract.
• Looking forward to the offseason, Ben Reiter ranks the top 50 free agents this winter.
• Wallace Matthews writes that if the Yankees want to win the World Series again, they’d better sign free agent Gerrit Cole and a few more pitchers.
• Yankees GM Brian Cashman insists he didn’t “pass” on Cole, Verlander or Patrick Corbin. He said he made solid attempts to acquire all three pitchers.
• Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks will have Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss 8 to 10 months.
• Will Leitch lists some of the best teams that didn’t win the World Series. The Astros will join this list if they can’t win four of the next five games.
• Anna Reser traces the origins of the name “Astros” with the space program and the city of Houston’s dreams of the future.
• Grant Brisbee dissects the worst commercials of the playoff telecasts. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Olympic gymnast Simone Biles threw out the first pitch of Game 2 in her hometown of Houston with a backflip. And more impressively, she did it wearing jeans.
• And finally, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish found that revenge is a dish best served cold with a well-crafted tweet aimed at a Justin Verlander blooper. Verlander thought the whole thing was funny and wasn’t offended. After all, he started it.

And tomorrow is a better day than today, Buster. Go Nats.