MLB Bullets got steamrolled

When I last addressed you all on Monday, I noted that all four division series could have ended on Monday. Here we are on Wednesday and three of them are still going. Then there are the Twins.

• The Yankees swept the Twins in three games to advance to the American League Championship Series. The Yankees feel confident that 2019 is their year to break their long title drought of . . . ten years? Oh, this is why people hate the Yankees. There are fourth-graders who wonder if this is the year they’ll finally get to see their Yankees win a World Series.
• Sticking with the Yankees for a minute since they won, Zach Kram looks at how outfielder Aaron Judge went from a playoff zero in 2017 to a playoff hero now. Another reason to hate the Yankees. They used to be easy to hate because they had so many unlikeable players on their team. Now they have a bunch of nice guys like Judge and they do that just to make it harder for us to hate them. So I hate the Yankees for being hard to hate.
• Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman hurt his pitching hand in the post-game celebration, but he says he’ll be fine.
• Now on to the Twins who have now lost a record 16 straight playoff games, dating back to 2004. I linked to that summary of every Twins playoff loss last time, but it’s been updated.
• Here are 14 things that have happened since the last time the Twins won a postseason game. No one was talking about it on Twitter because Twitter hadn’t been invented yet.
• Barry Petchesky can’t believe a 16-game playoff losing streak is even possible.
• Brendan Gawlowski look at how the Yankees swept the Twins (again).
• Michael Baumann writes that the Twins (probably) aren’t cursed, but that the team has probably gone as far as it can go with their current core roster.
• The Twins themselves, however, say they are proud of their season, if not the ending, and are looking forward to 2020.
• The Nationals managed to force a Game 5 of the NLDS back in Los Angeles. Sami Higgins doesn’t think the Nats can continue to win by avoiding ever using their mostly-awful bullpen.
• Michael Baumann doesn’t think that Nats manager Davey Martinez is to blame for his bullpen’s struggles. Martinez just can’t make a purse out of a sow’s ear.
• Steve Gardner notes that as the Dodgers head into Game 5, they’re under tremendous pressure to avoid yet another postseason disappointment. Sure, the Brewers or Rangers or a few other fanbases would trade places with them, but “1988” is an actual World Series title drought at this point. There are Dodgers fans with kids in the fourth grade who have never seen a World Series win.
• Emma Baccellieri has a preview of Game 5 of the Cardinals/Braves NLDS.
• Anne Rogers profiles Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, a rare manager with no professional baseball-playing experience.
• Ben Clemens looks at the decisions of Dave Martinez and Mike Shildt to issue intentional walks during the postseason. (Hint: they weren’t good ideas.)
• Jesse Rogers notes that Braves starter Dallas Keuchel bet on himself when he signed a one-year free agent deal in June and that bet seems to have paid off for him and the Braves, although Keuchel is not looking forward to re-entering the “zoo” of free agency this winter. And it was really a half-year contract.
• Sheryl Ring looks at the origins and the legal issues surrounding the “Tomahawk Chop” and says it’s time to end this racist tradition.
• Jay Jaffe notes that in an era of short outings by multiple relievers, starting pitchers have been throwing more innings this postseason.
• Astros manager A.J. Hinch decided to start Justin Verlander on short rest for Ggame 4 of the ALDS against the Rays. He choose poorly. But Andrew Mearns looks at how the Rays pummeled one of the best pitchers of the 21st Century in what was an elimination game for Tampa.
• Andrew Simon and Matt Kelly have the best and worst playoff starts on short rest in the Wild Card era.
• Will Leitch has the best postseason moment for each team in the divisional era. As he said about his choice for the Cubs’ best moment “This was . . . not a tough call.”
• Devan Fink thinks the Athletics should look forward to pitcher Jesus Luzardo pitching in the postseason next year.
• David Adler looks at the free agent market for J. D. Martinez, should he chose to opt out of his contract with the Red Sox.
• Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier note that the sabermetric numbers that are used to help win ballgames are now being used to keep player salaries low and they give some suggestions for the Players Association as they head into the upcoming collective bargaining talks.
• Even worse is the way MLB keeps the salaries of their minor leaguers low. Giants Triple-A pitcher Tyler Cyr posted his pay stub to show just how little money minor leaguers earn.
• Former Cubs manager Joe Maddon interviewed for the vacant Angels managerial job and it sure looks like he’ll be the next boss of the Halos. It would be a major shock if he weren’t.
• The Padres wanted to talk with Maddon, but now it looks like they are turning their attentions to former Rangers manager Ron Washington.
• The Mets are “doing background work” on former Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran to see if Beltran is ready to take over in Queens yet.
• Buck Showalter is reportedly a candidate for the manager position with the Phillies—a job that isn’t actually open at the moment.
• For those of you who appreciate pornographic pitching, check out this pitch by Rays pitcher Diego Castillo that struck out the Astros’ Jose Altuve. NSFW if you’re a major league hitter on the Astros. The rest of you can all look.
• And finally, the Yankees celebrated their ALDS win over the Twins with the traditional champagne clubhouse celebration. But catcher Gary Sanchez wasn’t enjoying the bubbly very much.

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