MLB Bullets is a farce

I’ve seen some horrible collapses in my over 40 years as a Cubs fan. This one isn’t the worst (nothing was worse than 2003 or 1984), but this is probably the most ridiculous. History repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, as the saying goes.

• The Cubs weren’t the only farce in 2019 as the Philadelphia Phillies were mathematically-eliminated from the playoffs. Jon Tayler looks back at what went wrong and what questions the Phillies face going into 2020.
• Dayn Perry also looks at the mess in Philly and offers some suggestions for 2020.
• Gabe Lacques also does a post mortem on the Phillies and questions if manager Gabe Kapler will still be around in 2020. Actually, they all ask that question.
• Bill Baer writes that one thing about the Phillies’ disappointing season is clear: it’s not Bryce Harper’s fault. He does list some people who are at fault.
• The writers at ESPN.com discuss Harper’s first season in Philly and Manny Machado’s first season in San Diego. They’re more bullish on Harper than Machado.
• Harper homered off his arch-nemesis Hunter Strickland again on Tuesday.
• Royals manager Ned Yost announced his retirement.
• Yost said that he didn’t want to leave the team as it was heading into a rebuild, but he left now because he thinks the worst of it is over. It can always get worse.
• Case in point. Former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is the most likely candidate to be named the new Royals manager. This is the same Matheny who encouraged the bullying of a rookie and didn’t speak to Dexter Fowler, of all people, for months.
• The Royals have lost 100 games this year—one of four teams to reach that mark in 2019.
• The Orioles are another 100-loss team and there is some grumbling in the Orioles organization about general manager Mike Elias.
• The Yankees used to fire their GM every six months or so. Current GM Brian Cashman has been on the job for 21 years now. Wallace Matthews looks back on Cashman’s tenure in the Bronx and how he’s survived all these years.
• Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán won’t pitch in the postseason while under investigation for a domestic violence incident. But Jay Jaffe writes that MLB needs to change its domestic violence policy so that it works the same way the PED policy does in regard to the postseason.
• Michael Shapiro makes the case that the Braves can win the whole enchilada this year. Or the World Series. Either one or both.
• Travis Sawchik looks at the changes that Twins catcher Mitch Garver made this year that has turned him from a poor defensive catcher (and pitch framer) to one of the best in the game.
• The Twins asked the Giants if they knew Sam Dyson was injured when they dealt him to Minnesota. The Giants said no. I’m not sure the Twins believe that, but what are they going to do? Dyson will likely be having shoulder surgery this offseason.
• Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani says he’ll be “ready to go” in Spring Training as both a pitcher and a hitter.
• Peter L’Oiseau has an interesting piece on what machine learning can tell us about pitch selection.
• The Mets will retire number 36 in honor of Jerry Koosman next season.
• Some milestones to look for over the final week of the season.
• Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez hit a grand slam in his first game off the injured list.
• Hannah Keyser asks several MLB outfielders one question I’d never considered before: When you make a sliding catch in the outfield, does it hurt? (Jason Heyward’s one-word answer: “Yes.”)
• And finally, Al’s been doing a great job on the 70 years of WGN broadcasting. One thing I find interesting is the innovative ways they placed the cameras. But those geniuses at WGN never considered the considerable advantages of putting a camera on a dog’s back and getting a “dog-eye’s view” of the game. Hey, whatever the dog was looking at had to be more interesting than whatever the Tigers were doing on the field.

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