Outside The Confines: Off to a good start

There was a whole lotta baseball yesterday.

• By far the best game, from a neutral standpoint, was the Astros 8-7 win over Seattle on a three-run, walk-off home run by Yordan Alvarez. Ben Clemens has a wrap-up of that instant classic.
• Mike Petriello notes that no player has ever had a game like Alvarez did. His home run was +91 Win Probability, which is an all-time record for one play. But Alvarez’s win probability for the entire game was +105%, which hardly seems possible.
• Brian Murphy looks at some of the other memorable home runs in playoff history.
• Matt Snyder weighs the pros and cons of Mariners manager Scott Servais bringing in Robbie Ray to pitch to Alvarez and concludes that it was likely to backfire.
• Astros pitcher Phil Maton will miss the rest of the playoffs after breaking a finger punching his locker. Yeah, that’s never a good idea.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at which of the four Division Series is most likely to produce an upset. (ESPN+ sub. req.) This was written before Philadelphia’s Game 1 win over Atlanta.
• Speaking of that, Todd Zolecki writes that after their Game 1 win, everything is lining up for a Phillies upset series win over Atlanta.
• After they lost Game 1, the Braves were asked if they were rested or rusty after getting a bye in of the Wild Card round. The Braves players admitted they didn’t really have an answer.
• Matt Snyder has four reasons why the Braves won’t repeat as World Series champions. Again, this was written before the Phillies Game 1 win.
• Some good news for the Braves as they signed rookie pitcher Spencer Strider to a six-year, $75 million deal.
• The success of the Phillies in the second-half inspired the team to take the interim tag off of manager Rob Thompson, signing him to a two-year extension.
• Some bad news for the Phillies as reliever David Robertson is out for the rest of the Division Series after he strained his calf celebrating the Phillies playoff win over the Braves.
• In more former Cubs closer news, the Dodgers left reliever Craig Kimbrel off the playoff roster. He wasn’t hurt, just bad.
• Just a bad week for former Cubs closers. The Yankees left Aroldis Chapman off the playoff roster when he missed a mandatory workout. So now Chapman’s Yankees career appears to be over. Maybe his career, period. We’ll have to see.
• Continuing a theme, Scott Effross had one save with the Cubs before getting traded to the Yankees. He was pretty good in New York after the deal, but now he will miss the playoffs (and presumably next season) because Effross needs Tommy John surgery.
• Has anyone checked in on Carlos Marmol? There’s not a link here, just an honest question.
• Zach Kram tells us (or maybe warns us) that the 2022 Dodgers are both different and just better than the other Dodgers teams over the past several seasons.
• Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw says that his postseason issues are behind him since 2020 and he’s in good shape going into this year’s playoffs. Kershaw says he’s learned to be more relaxed.
• Alden Gonzalez outlines how Game 1 starter Julio Urias became the Dodgers’ ace—and how he might also be their closer. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Zach Crizer writes that while past playoffs have been dominated by pitching aces, the teams with the most pitching depth may dominate this year.
• Michael Baumann looks at how the playoffs schedule may help or hurt each team this year.
• One “unsung hero” from each Division Series team that could make a big impact.
• Jeff Passan ranks all eight remaining playoff teams on eight different “ways to win” a playoff series (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Anthony Castrovince looks at the relationship between the families of Guardians manager Terry Francona and Yankees manager Aaron Boone that goes back decades. On June 15, 1958, the White Sox traded Terry’s dad to the Tigers for Aaron’s grandfather. The two families paths have crossed since then.
• Zach Crizer wonders how the 2022 Mets will be remembered after winning 101 games and crashing out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round.
• Eno Sarris examines the controversy about Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, his ears and his spin rate in the decisive playoff game. (The Athletic sub. req.) Basically, for non-subscribers, Sarris doesn’t find anything unusual about Musgrove’s spin rates in that game.
• Richard Deitsch spoke to broadcaster Bob Costas on the eve of him calling his first complete playoff series in 22 years. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Former Angels employee Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in prison for providing the drugs that killed former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred said that the automated strike zone (a.k.a. “robot umps”) is definitely coming to MLB. He’s just not sure when.
• MLB signed their first official sponsorship with a CBD company. And players can still be suspended for testing positive for marijuana.
• Yankees slugger Josh Donaldson thought he hit a home run in Game 1 of the Division Series and went into his home run trot. But the ball actually bounced off the top of the wall and Donaldson was thrown out rounding first base.
• And finally, the Mariners won their Wild Card series over the Blue Jays thanks to a huge nine-run comeback rally. How did they do it? As Mars Blackmon said “It’s gotta be the shoes!” Richard Morin explains how the Seattle Mariners “Rally Shoe” came to be.

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