The ALCS opened in Cleveland for Game 3 on Thursday afternoon, with the game time moved up five hours to account for the threat of heavy rain in the forecast. All that extra time turned out to be unneeded, however, as the Guardians dispatched the Rays 3-2 in a briskly played game to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Gavin Williams got the start in Game 3 and was perfect in all but one of his five innings of work. That lone blemish, coming in the fourth, temporarily put the Rays on top before Pummelin’ Petey Halpin gave Cleveland the lead for good an inning later. From that point onward, both bullpens worked so efficiently that it seemed as if there was more time spent on commercials for toothpaste and premium dishwasher pods than baseball.
There may be no hotter pitcher in baseball right now than the 27-year-old Williams, coming off starts of 11 and 12 strikeouts against the White Sox in the ALDS. The Rays are a far better contact team than the White Sox, but the story was the same to start off the game, as he cruised through the first three innings, nine up, nine down with five strikeouts. Williams is one of the most aggressive starters in baseball when it comes to peppering breaking pitches against any batter, in any count, and Game 3 was definitely no exception. He threw only six fastballs total over the first three innings. Honorable mention for Nathaniel Lowe, who clipped the corner of the seats while catching a foul pop on the first play of the game and hung on for the out, just barely missing a painful blooper reel moment.
Making his first start of the playoffs, Rays right-hander Griffin Jax appeared to be consciously pitching around José Ramírez in the first inning, walking the Cleveland third baseman with one out. An aggressive base-stealing team, the Guardians ranked third in the American League with 146 stolen bases this year, with an 82% success rate that led the Junior Circuit. Ramírez, who led the team with 37 steals during the regular season, wasted little time trying to get into scoring position, taking off for second on the second pitch to three-hole hitter Chase DeLauter. He got a great jump and picked an offspeed pitch to run on, but Rays catcher Liam Hicks made an even better throw to the right side of the bag, tailing into the runner, where shortstop Taylor Walls applied a perfect tag. Read the rest of this entry »
Whether or not you tuned in for Game 3 of the NLCS between the Brewers and the Dodgers, you surely know by now that the highlight of the game belonged to Jake Bauers. After working a back-breaking 12-pitch walk that hastened Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s early departure from Game 2, Bauers put the Brewers ahead with a homer in the seventh inning on the 11th pitch he saw from Blake Snell. Ben Clemens wrote about it in his game story. Michael Baumann wrote about it in his article about the perils of leaving a starter (particularly this starter) in too long. Over at Brewer Fanatic, Matthew Trueblood wrote about both it and the also-impressive walk that Andrew Vaughn worked immediately beforehand. This is the kind of of moment that deserves to be enjoyed from as many angles as possible. As such, what follows is a pitch-by-pitch breakdown of the at-bat, diving into the intention and execution behind each pitch.
Pitch 1: Slider, Called Strike, 0-1
That may look like a get-me-over slider, and that Snell assumed Bauers would be taking on the first pitch because he’d just walked the previous batter, but it’s not. In his first plate appearance, Snell had started Bauers with a four-seamer and Bauers had fouled it off. In his second, he’d thrown a first-pitch slider just below the zone, and Bauers had whiffed. He’d swung at the first pitch in both his previous times up, and as you can see, he wasn’t up there looking to take. He fired his hips and had to check his swing. In fact, although Bauers had one of the lower swing rates in the league this season, his 33% swing rate on the first pitch was actually slightly above the league average.
Look at Will Smith’s glove as Snell delivers the ball. He’s got it all the way down on the ground. The plan was to repeat the first pitch from the second plate appearance, getting Bauers to chase another low slider for a whiff or maybe even hit a double-play ball. Instead, Snell missed — badly. The ball ended up right over the heart of the plate. This is a meatball, and Bauers failed to make Snell pay for it because he was focused on getting a fastball. “I was looking for a fastball, and I didn’t want to miss it,” he said after the game. “I said I’ll adjust to anything else, but get a heater, don’t miss it.” That’s certainly a reasonable approach, seeing as Snell throws his fastball half the time, and he’d already started Bauers with one earlier in the game. But it cost Bauers a chance at unloading on a good pitch and put him behind in the count.
Pitch 2: Changeup, Ball, 1-1
You can understand why Snell threw a changeup here. Bauers had tipped his hand with that check swing. He was way in front of that slider because he was looking fastball. You don’t want to give him a fastball, and you don’t want to give him two sliders in a row (especially because the last one ended up in murder-me territory). You want to throw something that starts out looking like a fastball, which eliminates the curveball. The changeup is all that’s left, but let’s be clear about how unusual that is. Snell throws his changeup to lefties just 3% of the time, and never in this situation. Over the past 10 seasons, he’d thrown just one 0-1 changeup to a lefty in the regular season. One. In 10 years. But he had also thrown one just 10 days earlier, to Drake Baldwin in Game 2 of the NLDS. The pressure of the playoffs can change even the most deeply ingrained tendencies.
Once again, Snell missed badly. The pitch was supposed to start out a strike and then drop below the zone, but it started too low and ended up bouncing. It never looked like a strike, and Bauers isn’t the kind of guy to chase on 0-1. This year, 206 batters saw at least 200 0-1 pitches. Among them, Bauers’ 35% swing rate ranked 200th.
Pitch 3: Fastball, Ball, 2-1
If we were talking about any other pitcher, you’d say this was supposed to be a get-me-over fastball, an attempt to get back on track after failing to execute two pitches in a row. But Blake Snell is not the kind of pitcher who lives up and chucks a pitch down the middle. Smith’s target was at the top of the zone. Snell had been racking up chases up above the zone for either whiffs or fouls all night, and he wanted another one. It sure looks like Snell yanked this one to his glove side because he was trying to put some mustard on it to make sure he blew it by Bauers. Instead, it was another bad miss and another easy take. This was a remarkable at-bat from Bauers, and it started out with him in an 0-1 hole against one of the best pitchers in the game, but it also started with Snell missing badly on the first three pitches.
Pitch 4: Changeup, Foul, 2-2
Now this is a gutsy pitch. You just walked someone. You’re behind 2-1 because you failed to execute your last three pitches. Why not aim another left-on-left changeup right at the very center of home plate, and just hope that it finishes with enough arm-side run to make it to the edge? If it doesn’t break as much as usual, or if you miss to your glove side, then it’ll just kind of sit there out over the plate begging to be pounded.
Incidentally, we should probably mention Statcast’s run values per 100 pitches. Did you know that when he saw left-on-left offspeed pitches this season, Bauers’ run value was 1.5, and the only lefties with a higher mark (minimum 25 pitches) were Jac Caglianone, Juan Soto, Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani, Gunnar Henderson, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and James Wood? Sort of sounds like a list of the very best left-handed hitters on the planet, right?
Luckily for Snell, this pitch was perfect. It clipped the very edge of the zone, and Bauers, still looking fastball, was way out ahead of it. He just managed to hold back long enough to nick it. Smith extended the catcher’s mitt toward his pitcher to congratulate him on a perfect pitch. That made it 2-2, and under normal circumstances, that would be a big deal. The league as a whole had a wRC+ of 70 from 2-2 onward this season. Had Snell missed the zone yet again, he’d be 3-1, when the league wRC+ was 214.
Bauers himself ran a wRC+ of 87 after reaching a 2-2 count. Oddly, though, he was up at 127 after getting to 2-2 against lefties, because he walked 24% of the time, the second-highest rate in baseball. Considering Snell’s above-average walk rate and Bauers’ unusual ability to draw a walk in this exact situation, a walk seemed very likely.
Pitch 5: Slider, Foul, 2-2 (again)
This was the slider Snell meant to throw on the first pitch. It was maybe an inch or two higher than he would’ve liked – if he got it down a little bit more, maybe Bauers would’ve missed it entirely rather than fouling it off – but Bauers was again way out in front and on top of it. Look at the way the ball comes off the bat, straight down and hooked so hard that bounces in the left-handed hitter’s batter’s box. That’s not something you see every day. Snell had thrown three pitches in the strike zone, and Bauers was way out in front on all three of them.
Pitch 6: Curveball, Foul, 2-2 (again again)
Oh right, Snell has a curveball. It was his second-best pitch this season, but this was just the second one he’d thrown Bauers all game, because Bauers was one of the best left-on-left curveball hitters in baseball this season. He ran a .458 wOBA against them and had just an 11% whiff rate. Most of the time, he took them for balls. But what else was Snell going to do? The curve is his best non-fastball pitch. He couldn’t seem to get a whiff on the slider, and he’d already risked two changeups to a guy who crushes them. The curveball was the only thing left that could surprise Bauers, and surprise him it did. He took a late, defensive hack, and met the pitch just 20 inches in front of his center of mass. He threw his mechanics out of whack in order to do so, and ended up with another odd foul, chopping it straight down only to bounce back up into his torso as he nearly fell backwards out of the box.
Here, we should stop and note something. This was Bauers’ third foul of the at-bat, and he would go on to foul off three more. In one sense, it shouldn’t be surprising that he has worked some impressive long at-bats in this series. He averaged just under 4.2 pitchers per plate appearances in 2026. Of the 205 players with at least 400 plate appearances, that ranked 24th, putting him in the 88th percentile. However, he didn’t get all the way up there because he’s a wizard at extending plate appearances. To do that, you need to be great at fouling off two-strike pitches and Bauers is actually well below average in that respect. He fouled off 20% of the two-strike pitches he swung at this year, which put him in just the 13th percentile. His plate appearances are long simply because he’s very passive. His 41% swing rate landed in just the sixth percentile. That’s all it takes, people. If you want to be one of the best hitters in baseball at working a count, just don’t swing much. Sometimes it’s a very simple game.
Pitch 7: Fastball, Ball, 3-2
Snell had been busting Bauers inside with fastballs all night. Five of the eight pitches he saw in his first two plate appearances were four-seamers, and he’d flied out and struck out. Bauers was ahead on soft stuff, but not so far ahead that he was whiffing entirely. Perhaps that meant that he was somewhere in between, and after seeing soft stuff for three straight pitches and five of the last six, it would be possible to blow one by him.
But Snell again missed his spot, this time to the arm side. Smith’s target was up again, but Snell was off the plate inside. It wasn’t a comfortable take for Bauers, who was finally seeing the pitch he’d been looking for, but it wasn’t easy either.
Pitch 8: Fastball, Foul, 3-2
There it is. That’s the elevated fastball Snell had been trying to throw. Nice and tempting, impossible to lay off. And at 98.2 mph, it was harder than the first two and with more induced rise than Snell’s average four-seamer. But Bauers wasn’t in between after all. With pinch-runner Christian Yelich breaking for second in the background, he still managed to get a piece of it. It was very high, and very definitely ball four. That’s a pitch designed to rack up whiffs. It was located 3.82 feet off the ground. This year, pitches that came in between 98 and 99 mph and between 3.8 and 4.0 feet had a 53% whiff rate. Maybe if he hadn’t just seen a fastball, Bauers would have been just that little bit farther behind, and Snell would’ve gotten the strikeout.
Perhaps we should acknowledge, though, just how good Bauers was against left-on-left four-seamers this season. He put up a .521 wOBA against them, second only to Ben Rice. His four home runs against them were tied for second. Snell was truly going strength against strength here.
Pitch 9: Changeup, Foul, 3-2 (again)
After throwing two fastballs in a row, and with Bauers clearly hunting velocity, Snell surely thought he’d set Bauers up so that he’d be out ahead of something soft. This changeup was much closer to where he wanted it, just an inch or so from the bottom of the zone. This time, though, Bauers didn’t look like he had to hold himself back for dear life. He was still very much ahead of the pitch, but by significantly less. You can tell because of the fact that he took a full, healthy hack, and Statcast backs it up; he made contact four inches deeper than he had on the first changeup.
Snell is no stranger to deep counts, but this is where things got scary. Bauers had been ahead of all the soft stuff he’d thrown at him. He took a defensive hack at that 2-2 curveball to stay alive. But then he got a piece of that absurdly high fastball, and on the very next pitch, a changeup down (though not quite as down as Snell would’ve liked it), he looked more comfortable. Look at the way he finishes his swing with a hop. This is what people mean when they say someone looks hitterish. That’s concerning.
Pitch 10: Slider, Foul, 3-2 (again again)
And we’re now escalating from concern to alarm. For Snell, it probably seemed like there was no right pitch to throw at this point. Even when he chased a fastball at his eyes, Bauers (like Vaughn before him) got a piece and stayed alive. He looked all too comfortable against the changeup, and how many left-on-left changeups can you really throw in one plate appearance? Until the playoffs, Snell had only once thrown more than one left-on-left changeup in a single game. The curveball might have made sense, but it also offered the least difference from the previous pitch in terms of velocity and movement profile. Snell had only followed a changeup with a curveball once all game, and it was to Vaughn in the previous plate appearance. The slider was the pitch Bauers had seen least recently, and sometimes it might just be that simple.
Regardless of the reasoning behind it, the pitch was nearly catastrophic. It was meant for the outside corner, and instead it ended up belt high out over the plate. Here’s a heat map that shows Bauers’ isolated power when he put the ball in play this season.
All the red and pink are up and out over the plate, right where this pitch was located. And it wasn’t just about the location. The location was a byproduct of the fact that this pitch was a hanger. Snell’s average slider this year had 7.2 inches of induced rise and 3.7 inches of glove-side break. This pitch had 9.4 inches of rise and 0.5 inches of horizontal break. It didn’t drop enough, and it basically didn’t slide at all. Snell hanged it and Bauers banged 305 feet — just foul. Whichever person at Dodger Stadium was caught on mic screaming for their life as this ball zoomed toward the foul pole was exactly right.
Pitch 11: Fastball, Home Run
Clearly, Snell wasn’t going back to the slider. At a certain point, the game theory starts to get too complicated to track. Sometimes you need to just throw your best pitch. Man cannot live on breakers alone. Snell threw Bauers his best pitch, and once again he couldn’t locate it. It ended up in almost exactly the same spot as the first pitch of the at-bat, and you should take that very literally. Pythagoras tells us that the ball crossed the plate a mere 0.87 inches closer to the very center of the zone than that first meatball. Bauers, who had been fighting to stay ready for the fastball throughout the entire at-bat, finally got one to hit. This was the ninth fastball Snell had thrown Bauers on the night. You don’t need to squint to see what’s different about it.
Aside from that one overthrown four-seamer earlier in the at-bat, every single one of those fastballs had been buried inside. Snell threw his second meatball of the at-bat, and Bauers was ready to dig in.
This was truly an impressive at-bat. Although Snell, at the end of a brilliant performance, failed to execute several of his pitches, most of his misses were either well out of the zone or within an inch or two of the edge. He threw Bauers every pitch he had, even the changeup. He changed speeds and eye levels. Across 11 pitches, he only threw the same pitch in a row once, and he only repeated the same two-pitch sequence twice. Bauers looked more and more comfortable as the at-bat went on, and when Snell missed over the fat part of the plate, he crushed the ball, twice. He went from taking defensive hacks to stay alive to punishing mistakes. It would be hard to ask for much more on an October evening.
It’s been a rough season for José Ramírez. After a sluggish start, the 34-year-old third baseman suffered a fractured left hamate that required surgery and knocked him out of action for nearly six weeks, then struggled so mightily upon returning that it took him nearly two months to barrel a ball. His bat showed some life in the second half of September as he helped the Guardians overtake the White Sox in the AL Central race, and with his team pushed to the brink of elimination in the Division Series against those same White Sox, he collected four extra-base hits and drove in eight runs over the final three games, most notably golfing a two-run homer off Sean Burke to provide all the scoring Cleveland would need in Game 5. After more heroics in the ALCS opener against the Rays, however, his costly error on Tuesday night helped Tampa Bay even the series.
Ramírez made his error during the fourth inning of a scoreless game, and while it was the only play scored an error, it was hardly the Guardians’ only miscue in that frame. After Parker Messick issued a leadoff walk to Junior Caminero, Victor Mesa Jr. hit a potential double-play grounder to second baseman Travis Bazzana, who tossed to shortstop Brayan Rocchio for the force out. Rocchio’s throw at first base was high enough to pull Nathaniel Lowe off the bag, and while Mesa was initially called out, the call was overturned when the Rays challenged it (the Rays also challenged the out at second, but that was upheld).
After Messick struck out Jonny DeLuca, Chandler Simpson hit a high chopper to Rocchio, who unhesitatingly fired to first base. Simpson beat the throw, while Mesa motored around second base and alertly took third because Ramírez had ranged so far to his left. Ben Williamson then hit a grounder whose second hop took an odd bounce off the edge of the turf in front of Ramírez; instead of winding up in his glove, it squirted through his legs and into left field as Mesa scored the game’s first run, with Simpson taking third and Williamson second. Liam Hicks plated them both on a single into right-center, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead. The three unearned runs were all the scoring the Rays would need in a 3-1 victory. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to our Open Game Thread for the LCS games today. Chat with fellow readers as we watch the Rays play the Guardians then later tonight the Brewers play the Dodgers! Only Members can participate, and unlike our usual staff Q&A chats, your messages will be posted immediately.
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ALEX HICKS JR./STAFF / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Brooks Brannon raised his prospect profile this season, and atypically he did so despite sliding down the defensive spectrum. Breaking out with the bat was the reason why. Now a first baseman after primarily wearing the tools of ignorance for his first four professional seasons, Brannon bashed 22 home runs while putting up a .280/.355/.560 slash line and a 133 wRC+ over 398 plate appearances with Double-A Portland. His slugging percentage led all qualified Eastern League hitters.
The positional change didn’t come as a surprise. As Brendan Gawlowski and Eric Longenhagen wrote when ranking him 29th when our 2026 Red Sox Top Prospects list came out in mid-May, Brannon “had been developed as a catcher throughout his career, though most scouts expected him to wind up at first base, which has finally come to pass.” With a caveat that strikeouts remain a concern — Brannon went on to finish the season with a 28.9% strikeout rate — our prospect analyst duo opined that he “could have a productive, bat-only prime.”
Again, Brannon broke out with the bat. Now ranked 22nd in the system with a 40 FV — not to mention a 70 grade for raw power — Boston’s ninth-round pick in the 2022 draft out of a Randleman, North Carolina high school has emerged as a prospect with more promise than he’d previously possessed as a bat-first backstop.
Brannon discussed his evolution, both positionally and as a hitter, in the final month of the regular season.
———
David Laurila: This is your fifth year in the system, yet you’re still just 22 years old. I have to admit I thought you were older than that.
Brooks Brannon: “I was a younger draft pick out of high school — I’d just turned 18 a month or two prior — so I’m blessed to have been in the org for quite awhile and still be on the younger side. But yes, I’m just 22.”
Laurila: Had you been drafted out of college, the numbers you’re putting up this year would draw a lot more attention than they are. With that in mind, what might your development path been like had you gone the college route?
Brannon: “It’s hard to say, because one thing the Red Sox are — and it took me awhile to appreciate this — is very analytical. The way they approach hitting is like blackjack almost. It’s, ‘This is what is expected to happen, so we’re going to live and die on this hill. Mathematically, this should happen.’ Air-pull being the optimal launch angle, focusing on hitting the ball hard in the air, making the right swing decisions and drawing walks to get on base… that’s what you want. I always prided myself on being a hitter, so it took time for me to understand what the most optimal way is to help the team win games.
“This past offseason was the first offseason where I really bought in to everything they were preaching. It has helped me tremendously. So, had I gone to college… you know, a lot of colleges are still kind of on the old-guard way of hitting. I don’t think I’d have had the growth I’ve had, even though it admittedly took awhile for me to realize what was optimal.”
Laurila: This year was a turning point for your career…
Brannon: “Yes. My first couple of years I had a lot of injuries, and then for a few seasons I wasn’t doing what I knew I could do. I knew that what I was doing wasn’t working, so something needed to change. Having conversations with our hitting coordinators and coaches, learning who moves like me — how people who have my skills and strengths play the game — and molding that into my game to the best of my ability… I mean, I couldn’t have been able to do that without their help.”
LOS ANGELES — On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, Blake Snell took the mound with his team down 2-0 in the NLCS and made one of the best postseason starts I’ve ever seen. For six scoreless innings, he was nearly unhittable. At one point, he set down 14 Brewers in a row, striking out nine of them. Read the rest of this entry »
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about ALCS Game 3, nominate (13:52) the five Rays-iest players on the current Rays roster, discuss the Dodgers’ decision to start Shohei Ohtani in NLCS Game 3 (and the matchup between the Brewers and Blake Snell), react (57:00) to news about the Phillies’, Astros’, and (maybe?) Mariners’ managers, and pick (1:10:51) the likeliest 2026 non-playoff teams to be 2027 payoff teams and the likeliest 2026 playoff teams to be 2027 non-playoff teams.
If you’re searching for a metaphor for how differently the 2026 NLCS has gone than last year’s version, look no further than Blake Snell. In 2025, the two-time Cy Young winner humbled Milwaukee in the series opener, allowing one hit over eight strong innings, a prelude to the drubbing the Dodgers put on the Brewers in a sweep. This year, Snell got the start in Game 3, attempting to keep his team in the series after two Milwaukee victories, but the Brewers proved far more formidable this time around. Last year’s series was all about dominant Los Angeles pitching. The current edition has been about back-and-forth games and a resilient Milwaukee offense, and Wednesday’s contest — which the Brewers ultimately won 6-2 to pull within one win of their first World Series appearance since 1982 — delivered on both counts.
In last year’s NLCS start, Snell faced the minimum, erasing the only Brewers baserunner with a double play. This time, his brush with perfection lasted all of one pitch. Snell eased a fastball down the middle to Jackson Chourio to start things off, and Chourio tattooed it, a line drive missile that screamed out to right field, landing in the Dodger Stadium seats before many of the fans did. (This being Los Angeles just after 5 PM local time, only about a quarter of the spectators had arrived.) Snell recovered to retire the next three batters in order, but the tone was set: This iteration of the Brewers wasn’t going to go meekly into the L.A. night.
Snell has been spectacular when available since joining the Dodgers, and he had it all working in the early innings of Game 3. His curveball fizzed with menace, he located his changeup near perfectly, and playoff adrenaline had him up a few ticks on his fastball, which turned an already-good pitch into a monster. He used the curveball to clip the bottom of the zone and the fastball to bully the top of it, a combination that Milwaukee hitters had few answers for over his first six innings of work.
Snell’s counterpart, Robert Gasser, didn’t have the same dominant stuff, but he too gave the opposing lineup fits. He managed as many strikeouts in his five innings of work as Snell recorded in the first inning. He let the leadoff runner reach in three of those five innings. The Dodgers racked up a pile of loud contact; when Gasser departed, seven of the eight hardest-hit balls of the game had come against him. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to our Open Game Thread for the NLCS games today. Chat with fellow readers as we watch the Brewers play the Dodgers! Only Members can participate, and unlike our usual staff Q&A chats, your messages will be posted immediately.
Our Member community is made up of thousands of incredibly knowledgable baseball fans, and we think this is a great way to follow a game with like-minded baseball enthusiasts. We might even have some FanGraphs Staff drop in and join the fun. Please be courteous to your fellow Members, or you may find your chat privileges revoked.
Sean Dolinar
Hey everyone! It's almost 5PM in Los Angeles. We have some polls for you. Including the stadium chants poll that came up during the ALCS yesterday.
Sean Dolinar
We got a lot of Brewers fans here already.
millvillemeltdown
i like freddie mercury probably more than freddie freeman
mockcarr
Does anyone else feel like a batter in the booth might have been a good idea?
Sæder
I dislike all those chants lol
mockcarr
Planned chants are terrible
lzfreak
Any predictions for celeb cameos at this game?
Sæder
hank aaron apparently
danodea
LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Matt Martell
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Matt Martell
Baseball rules
Sean Dolinar
BOOM!
Matt Martell
Also hi
mockcarr
I am not listening to the sound, have they made a comment about the venerable Dodger Stadium being the second oldest park in the NL yet?
Francoeurstein
I thought the “Chourio is a capital S Superstar” piece was a bit premature but that was pretty neat
danodea
Love the spin about how giving up a first pitch homer can actually make you MORE locked in as a pitcher so actually it's probably good for Snell that it happened
lzfreak
Yeah you always want to trick your opponents into an odd-numbered lead
danodea
It lulls them into a false sense of security
brewersbibliophile
“Got them right where we want them”
Sean Dolinar
All this and every adage about wanting to score first (in every sport).
mockcarr
The one-run lead is the worst thing in baseball, the two-goal lead is the worst thing in hockey
brewersbibliophile
The 28-3 lead is the worst lead in football
Rollie's Mustache
Pat Tabler as a broadcaster once justified a pitcher giving up a grand slam as a good thing because it clears the bases and clears his mind. I'm not making this up.
danodea
Very selfish to hit a grand slam because it kills the rally. Pretty sure Joe Morgan believed that.
Matt Martell
Sounds like something A-Rod would say
Francoeurstein
Watch it Chrissy
Sean Dolinar
He had a quote about Bobby Fischer that didn't quite land.
Davy Andrews
So it seems I missed something.
Sean Dolinar
Only if you blinked when the game started.
Davy Andrewsedited
I do tend to blink several times a minute.
brewersbibliophile
Doing that over a long period of time has historically killed people
lzfreak
How are we rating Murphy's anger level so far?
mockcarr
Isn’t it the inverse of his pocket snacks?
Davy Andrews
He can't watch the game from an underground bunker, so he must be furious.
mockcarr
They need to send a trolley line through the outfield
Sean Dolinar
What do we think Ohtani is going to do here?
Sæder
Grand Slam
lzfreak
If Ohtani hits a grand slam this inning I like the Dodgers' chances
Sean Dolinar
Tucker on! Setting up that two-base runner grand slam.
Sæder
it's part of the new CBA
lzfreak
Does Ohtani not pull anymore? Seems like everything is relatively weak the other way
Davy Andrews
Yeah. Sometimes it's like he's behind on everything, but most of the time he just looks like he knows he can't go out and get it, so his plan is to stay back and hit it the other way.
Sæder
last year that was oppo HR
g4
Gasser looks sharp. Sinkers diving just below the zone.
g4
Sorry, sweepers
Sæder
all the Dodgers look like they suddenly woke up on the wrong side of the aging curve
lzfreak
I maintain that they should be trying to find a way to get De Paula's bat in the lineup. Not saying you should bench Ohtani, but is JDP really so unplayable in the outfield that it's ridiculous to put him out there?
jcathtraverse
my impression is yes.
MattStats5
Dodgers stadium has a bunch of empty seats….apathy abounds.
SadaharuWhoa
that, or people don't want to sit with the sun directly in their eyes right now
Sean Dolinar
Apathy, work is just ending. Plus an 0-2 series coming home for game 3 is never good.
Rich Hill's Fastball
Plus, Dodger Stadium has a lot more concourse space (including beyond the outfield) that fans like to hang in
g4
That I-5 traffic
mockcarr
The parking is also a nightmare
McPontiff
After just consuming Davy's brilliant piece on Pat Murphy's anger levels, I was really looking forward to the in-game interview. He looked downright happy-go-lucky!
lzfreak
Being apathetic in the NLCS is absurd to me. As a fan of a team who hasn't been to the CS in 24 years, you really can't take it for granted
Sæder
i wouldn't assume apathy. 5pm game time is hard to make in LA
Sean Dolinar
Ticket prices did drop a lot.
Sæder
also. fiendishly scheduled at dinner time. maybe everyone stuck in line for food lol (I hate it when movies or things are scheduled for 11am or 5pm!)
Rich Hill's Fastball
"Sacrifice situation coming up for Tommy Edman" or, hear me out, let him hit?
lzfreak
Why did they refer to this as a "sacrifice situation" for Edman?
Matt Martell
Snell's high heat is about as good as I've seen it in a while. He's getting guys to chase 97 well above the zone and they look like they should be so obvious to lay off. He's making it look easy
lzfreak
Does Davis think Edman is a pitcher?
g4
Gary Sanchez career line vs Snell: 7 for 23 with 5 HR and 8 BB.
Matt Martell
Gary's post-Yankees career has been fascinating. He was a reliable backup catcher/platoon DH this year
Sæder
I've been so curious! his Yankees career felt so bizarre at the time… but now in hindsight seems remarkably normal for the yankees
Matt Martell
They scapegoated him, IMO. Whenever he was healthy, he was a productive hitter. I know they were ahead of the curve on framing and they wanted to go in that direction, but he could always hit and I wonder if they didn't have Stanton clogging the DH spot if they would've kept him around in that role
Sæder
the fans are doing the same with Volpe
Matt Martell
Volpe is nowhere near as good as Gary was
g4
*not starting over Bauers, tho
lzfreak
I'm not sure I remembered that Sanchez is on this team
lzfreak
Did it hit the roof?
Jon Becker
Hi everyone!
danodea
There is a praying mantis on Jackson Chourio!!!!!
Sæder
my north carolinian neighbors have been telling me that the praying mantis is a local good luck superstition
bosoxforlife
It is indeed and I was very careful not to harm one the other day.
Jeremy Fox
Does…does Jackson Chourio know the difference between "I got it" and "I can't find it"?
Sæder
No La Tengo
danodea
Maybe giving up that leadoff homer really WAS a good thing for Snell…
Rich Hill's Fastball
At least Snellzilla's locked in
McPontiff
until his 'world class manager' got too cocky/comfy
Sæder
what is that pinned question at the top of this box about Dodger Stadium in a hillside?
bosoxforlife
You enter the stadium at the top level and walk down to the field which is dug out of a ravine below.
Sæderedited
for sure. I've been many times. I'm just wondering why it's pinned
I do love that it's in Elysian Park and somewhat on a hill above downtown
edit: nevermind. I didn't realize it was an "announcement" i could dismiss. this chat box has so many features!
bosoxforlife
If Snell could have stayed on the mound we would be talking about him like we talk about Randy Johnson and getting his Hall of Fame plaque ready.
Sæder
2 Cy Youngs, but lots of injuries. Similar WAR totals to Lincecum
Francoeurstein
I wouldn’t quite say Randy because he was 1 of 1 and has no comparison. I’m struggling to come up with another one though.
millvillemeltdown
every time i think about tim lincecum i have the thought that I hope he's doing alright
McPontiff
he's still as cool as ever
Jeremy Fox
Every pitcher looks better some days than others. But does Blake Snell have the biggest gap between how good he looks when he's on, and how excruciating he is to watch when he's not on?
lzfreak
It's like entire seasons with Snell is the thing
Phil
What do you think when you hear the name "Gasser"? 1. Someone who fuels cars; 2. someone who is "gassed" as in tired; 3. someone experiencing flatulence?
Sæder
I wish the R was French/silent. Gassay
Davy Andrews
I picture some sort of deep sea vent.
mockcarr
He is Jumping Jack Flash in a Rolling Stones sense and not a Whoopi Goldberg movie sense
bosoxforlife
Truist Stadium in Winston-Salem is somewhat similar but it is the out field that was excavated and abuts a hill.
Sæder
Ooh, I should go! W-S isn't too far away from the Triangle
bosoxforlife
It is a great little ballpark and right by the interstate.
Matt Martell
Anyone else annoyed that Joe Davis is spoiling the ABS graphic for us by telling us whether the call is going to be overturned as soon as he announces the challenge?
Davy Andrews
I haven't loved that either.
millvillemeltdown
honestly i hate to use the word but if any announcer is "overrated" i think it's davis. he's good, he's solid, he's not one of the best in the game today
Alan Sherman
Given that Davis replaced Joe Buck, I believe he still counts as an improvement although I would definitely rather have dave flemming or dan shulman. Dave got the wild card series in san diego and that was fun
Matt Martell
I like Buck on baseball
Jon Becker
omg I just tweeted that
Jon Becker
I don't like the strike zone lighting up strikes either
Jon Becker
TBS' doesn't
Sæder
Smoltz seems confused about home runs
bubbles
Who else would have preferred Wainwright over having to hear anything else from Smoltz?
Jeremy Fox
Hot take: Smoltz has gotten better over the years. He's not the best, but I no longer mind listening to him.
Sæder
Stockholm Syndrome?
rfilla
Stocksmoltz Syndrome
lzfreak
Have we ever had a playoff game where the only run was scored on the very first pitch?
Davy Andrews
This is a fun question!
Matt Martell
Sounds like a Mailbag question for Davy to answer this week!!!!
millvillemeltdown
mailbag please come back. you were one of my favorite bits.
millvillemeltdown
i loved how you munched on the questions and spit out the answers
Matt Martell
I did not like how Mailbag stalked me and stole my passwords while I slept
millvillemeltdown
i am reminded that volleyball has a counting stat called "kills" and i think this is something missing in our great pastime
brewersbibliophile
Carl Mays would be the leader (too soon?)
millvillemeltdown
granted, the big unit (and maybe will brennan??) both have a bird on their ledger
Alan Sherman
Kills are a lot like RBI in that your team mostly has to set you up for them
si.or.no
Kills are like RBIs in the same way that receptions in football are.
Jeremy Fox
How grouchy does Pat Murphy look right now on a scale from 1 to Pat Murphy?
bosoxforlife
He is the very caricature of an Irishman.
millvillemeltdown
i'm reading murph.5 but my murphometer's been sketchy since the braves backstop came off the il
Matt Martell
He kinda looks like DeNiro with the weird de-aging technology in The Irishman (2019)
Jeremy Fox
The Brewers' baseball glove logo made out of an m and a b is the best logo in baseball.
mockcarr
It’s also the most appropriate name
Jon Becker
Freeman’s gotta be Gasser’s last hitter if Senzatela’s ready in time, that was smoked
Matthew Tobin
All Gasser needs to do is get 1 more out.
millvillemeltdown
sentences uttered before disaster strikes
Matthew Tobin
Thank God I didn’t curse it
Rich Hill's Fastball
This Dodgers offense is kinda reminding me of that mid-2010s Cubs pitching core — it looked unbeatable, until it suddenly looked really old
Matthew Tobin
I wonder if the Dodgers are almost in a unique situation where they AREN’T “Built For October” because their aging roster is just gassed by then.
SadaharuWhoa
Gassed and facing Gasser's gas
Eltneg
Wonder if anyone's ever looked at whether older players underperform in October because they're too banged up, we know it happens to catchers as the season goes on
rluzinski
Man, that Hader trade.
Rollie's Mustache
The Dodgers having just one (1) extra base hit through 23 NLCS innings is wild.
Eltneg
Gasser wasn't bad this year but man if this Dodgers lineup can only muster 3 singles against him they really just don't have the firepower to win it all.
Jeremy Fox
Love Chourio's hustle on that groundout.
Rich Hill's Fastball
Fwiw, this isn't surprising to those of us who have watched the lineup all year. These slumps happened a few times
Matthew Tobin
Yeah for like an entire month.
Matthew Tobin
At this point, The Dodgers need to hand Snell a bat because he is single handedly trying to will out a win.
Sean Dolinar
Talking about the Dodgers offense falling off. Their xwOBA is 3rd this postseason and wOBA is 9th. A .057 difference.
The Brewers haven't played good defense this series so I don't think it is defensive quality
millvillemeltdown
hence the rage of pat murphy
Sean Dolinar
Also crazy to see those numbers for the WCS teams that lost.
Sæder
looks like everyone is having a bad time except MIL
Rich Hill's Fastball
Milvillemeltdown, I would love to get the story behind that combination of flairs
millvillemeltdown
oh man i started trying to make words, and then just went "eh, sod it i'm gay now"
marqueefgrissomedited
Clepitathtorcol is definitely a prescription drug with harrowing side effects
millvillemeltdown
i'm taking it right now
millvillemeltdown
i will cop to an affinity for cleveland (kwan, jram, bazz are up there for me) but not strong enough to call myself a fan
Matt Martell
Did anyone else just see that Polymarket commercial about predicting whether an incumbent would win re-election and then his staffer walking in on him having an affair? Or did I hallucinate?
brewersbibliophile
I saw a commercial that sounds like that, but I wasn’t paying much attention
millvillemeltdown
i think i realized today for the first time in a long time. staying in shape is so hard. i can run 6-8 miles at a respectable pace, and am well on pace to beat my half marathon pr. i cannot sprint 50 yards.
Sean Dolinar
what's your half pr?
millvillemeltdown
somewhere in the 2:10 neighborhood! i'm not competitive, but i'm happy enough with it
Sean Dolinar
Nice! The half is a really good distance. And you are definitely right maintaining that is quite the chore. Good luck on your next race!
millvillemeltdown
thanks <3
bosoxforlife
Roberts is no Cash, but Murphy is. Roberts let Snell go 6 while he is cruising but I see no reason for taking Gasser out. Let's see of Uribe turns into Nick Anderson.
AdvantageSchneider
Brewers pen allowed 1 run in 23 innings. Hard to argue going to them.
Rich Hill's Fastball
*Crossing fingers* Uribe really doesn't have it
mockcarr
Tie happening soon
brewersbibliophile
Go ahead happening soon
Rich Hill's Fastball
Defensively: Muncy to 3rd, Rojas to 2nd, Edman to center
GammaDraconis
Murphy found the guy who doesn't have it. Let's see how bad it hurts him. Assuming he's angry now.
Sæder
maybe ohtani has it
mockcarr
Ohtani bloop over short…bold prediction
Jeremy Fox
Shocked that Uribe's still in there vs. Ohtani
bosoxforlife
So am I!
Sæder
PAT MURPHY
mockcarr
Throw the man a strike!
Rich Hill's Fastball
BING BANG BOOM
Sæder
BILLY!
Francoeurstein
Classic Pat Looking Pissed moment after the non competitive AB to Ohtani
bosoxforlife
I love awful overmanaging.
GammaDraconis
Well he finally found the plate.
Jon Becker
That is a very perplexing sequence from Murphy
mockcarr
How do these guys hit doubles off the walls on the handles? Test them all!
Sæder
Maybe Smoltz was right. Home runs don't win
Bryan Baldwin
I believe that’s called “not a save”
Crapshoot
What the hell was that decision making? He walks 3 guys and you leave him in there??
Bryan Baldwin
Yah he never had it and it was obvious right away
bosoxforlife
Am I watching a video of Game 6 of the 2020 WS? The only difference is that it was Snell who was yanked while he was cruising.
lzfreak
They showed Gasser with a blister thing potentially
bosoxforlife
Simply a cover story.
Phil
So JDP is just burned? How is that scored?
lzfreak
Yeah he was announced and then removed so he's gone. Feels like a waste of a really good bat
bubblesedited
I'm always curious why managers play the platoon game so much with pinch hitters when pinch hitters have been shown to have a fairly noticeable penalty right? I would rather have had De Paulu hitting
lzfreak
I agree with your premise although in this case JDP was also going to be a pinch hitter
bubbles
What a PA by Bauers. He has had some very fun to watch PAs this series
comradeyurika
Seems like Hall should have just been in for Ohtani
Francoeurstein
At 2-1 it’s an officially high scoring game this postseason (seriously what’s going on with the league wide offense)
millvillemeltdown
granted there were some fireworks against both sox
lzfreak
Are we sure this isn't just baseball without the Washington Nationals? They might have singlehandedly been elevating offense levels
bosoxforlife
That was until they traded away half their offense in Mead and Garcia.
lzfreak
They were still allowing a lot of runs!
mockcarr
I heart this
Sæderedited
does barometric pressure affect flight? or el nino?
edit: nvm, seems el nino means low pressures typically in So Cal
millvillemeltdownedited
off the top of my head, hi pressure -> more spin-induced movement but also more drag, is my guess
millvillemeltdown
not a meteorologist so no clue about atmospheric effects of el niño
Francoeurstein
Offense this postseason looks like people trying to box under water. Unable to pack a proper punch
marqueefgrissom
edman really having a putrid time out there
Matt Martell
Dave Roberts has the chance to do the funniest thing ever by leaving Blake Snell in too long
GammaDraconis
And so he did….
g4
Beautifully called Matt
Matt Martell
Wish I could take credit, but it was all Baumann to me over slack
millvillemeltdown
really, what's the worst that can go wrong putting jdp in for defense. kyle schwarber was an outfielder once
lzfreak
Especially with Pages out of the game!
millvillemeltdown
exactly. slap him in center
lzfreak
Although "what's the worst that can go wrong" is actually pretty bad
Rich Hill's Fastball
Putting JDP in a corner moves Teoscar or Tucker to center, which is even worse
millvillemeltdown
(can you tell my rooting interests are primarily "team entropy")
lzfreak
Tucker could in theory do it
millvillemeltdown
oh man, i wouldn't trust tucker's range. he's not been a great rf in quite some time
Eltneg
Is Yelich faster than Vaughn nowadays? Enough to be worth pinchrunning?
lzfreak
Yelich is a good baserunner but they also have David Hamilton on the bench who is much better
millvillemeltdown
yeah that matches what i thought. yeli has a good nose, but has lost a couple steps
bosoxforlife
I am very interested in how Snell is handled here by Roberts.
Alan Sherman
Kyle Schwarber was a catcher once!?
millvillemeltdown
there are so many surprising former catchers, i feel. daulton varsho might be the least surprising one
Sæder
some pitchers, like Jansen, right?
millvillemeltdown
harper was a catching prospect at first iirc
Rollie's Mustache
Jansen, yeah. I love that he *caught* Kershaw when they were minor leaguers.
Rich Hill's Fastball
Kyle Schwarber stole a base in the world series once!
ljax1979
Anybody know why the batters box lines are so thin?
danodea
GLP-1s are everywhere now
millvillemeltdown
it's tough keeping weight over a full season… i don't think anyone in sport necessarily wants to be taking glp-1 (yes i am fun at parties [lying])
Davy Andrews
This is a Dodgers Stadium thing and it drives me crazy. I'm sure they have a reason for it, but I don't know what it is.
Alan Sherman
dodger pitchers vs Bauers 2: electric boogaloo
bosoxforlife
Bauers is one tough hitter. Another very long AB which will drive Snell out of the game.
danodea
Oh my GOD I thought he had that
Sæder
heart attack emoji
Rich Hill's Fastball
Well that gave me a heart attack
lzfreak
Oh man he almost snuck one through
Benny The Jet
So close
Rich Hill's Fastball
omg
danodea
Didn't miss that time
Alan Sherman
Every major league position player was a shortstop, catcher or CF at some point as a child
lzfreak
Ah he straightened it out
mockcarr
Bauers is a modern Wade Boggs
Jon Becker
RAKE BAUERS
millvillemeltdown
i remember a bit in some other bb community was the bauers pauer hauer
Alan Sherman
bauers pauer hauer is a great bit
Sæder
i don't think he stepped on 2nd base
Benny The Jet
Much closer
bosoxforlife
A truly great AB!!
SadaharuWhoa
Wow. Roberts should've pulled a Cash
Alan Sherman
Did Jake Bauers just earn himself several million future dollars over the past 2 games?
Eltneg
Good lord what an AB
danodea
Snell meltdown. A… Snelltdown?
SadaharuWhoa
NO WAYYYY!!!!!
Jon Becker
MITCHELL
bosoxforlife
I can't believe Snell is facing another batter and Roberts is embarrassingly wrong.
Rich Hill's Fastball
Headlines in TB tomorrow: Cash vindicated
brewersbibliophile
Bauers should end up being NLCS MVP if they win. He’s had two of the most pivotal PAs so far
millvillemeltdown
barring truly unforseen circumstances i think he might have it in the bag. but then again, that's baseball, suzyn
McPontiff
there's also a guy named William
Francoeurstein
WOW
lzfreak
Kevin Cash has to be laughing his butt off
comradeyurika
Blake Snell and a playoff game featuring LA going too long. Name a more iconic duo
Phil
This will be a fun manager report card.
Benny The Jet
Hard not to think the 100-pitch at bat played a huge role in that
Francoeurstein
This is the team that’s going to win it all. Something feels different
Eltnegedited
Did Dave Roberts fall asleep? I assumed Snell was gone after the Bauers HR
comradeyurika
Had a righty warming
millvillemeltdown
doc "tony la russa" roberts
SadaharuWhoa
He owed Pat Murphy one for keeping Uribe in too long
Sæder
i did last night get movie tickets for what would be Game 6 and Game 7
brewersbibliophile
I’m so conflicted. I kinda really wanted to use my Game 6 ticket…
SadaharuWhoa
Don't worry! Several catastrophes which you'll hate could still make this possible and unpleasant
Sean Dolinar
Do you have WS tickets?
brewersbibliophile
Yea, I’m not at the point of hoping for losses just yet, because of that possibility. It’s gonna be even worse if they make the Series as I’ve got Game 6 and 7 tickets for that 😬
lzfreak
I think we need to collectively remember that the Brewers are a really good team. They won 103 games, which is more than many teams ever have in a season. They might just be better than this Dodgers group.
Sonny L
People not appreciating the cliff at 35y and this LA team embodies ‘35y man’ to a T. Not since the mid aught Yanks have we seen a club so committed to the unc lifestyle
millvillemeltdown
surely this is collusion by the players to reduce owner leverage in the ongoing labor talks
Sean Dolinar
That's 3D chess.
Alan Sherman
Manfred crying into his wads of money
lzfreak
Wads of money he claims to be losing
Phil
I just realized Jake Bauers is the same guy who put up negative WAR for the Yankees a few years ago. Quite a breakout.
Francoeurstein
This season I’ve found myself falling out of love with baseball (life is hard) but this postseason has given me hope, even though my team has been eliminated. Pulling hard for the Crew
brewersbibliophile
I slowly abandoned my old team over the last ten years. The Brewers over the last two years have brought me back to single team fandom. It’s been so much fun.
Francoeurstein
There’s something about baseball that’s able to center me like nothing else can. Such a beautiful thing
Alan Sherman
time for the bottom of the brewers lineup to go full pest mode
Sonny L
Bauers taking a job he didn’t want because he needed health coverage is incredibly relatable
Sæder
i had a pal who was corporate / office staff for the dodgers back when. said that there was only one health plan for the whole org, so even the desk jockeys in marketing got the same healthcare as the pro baseball players, which was over the top
Alan Sherman
I'm over 35, tell me more about this "unc lifestyle"
Rollie's Mustache
I stepped away for one half inning and missed nothing okay cool cool.
Jimmy
Snell frustrated shaking his head at the iPad like “shouldn’t have thrown those down the pipe” got me giggling.
Crapshoot
I literally rage closed my laptop after Murphy left Uribe in and came back to this (I'm a Giants fan, aka the biggest Brewer fan you'll meet this postseason )
comradeyurika
Insane play that Ortiz made look routine
Davy Andrews
It just made me think I should do a roundup of the most satisfying short hops of the postseason.
Sonny L
Unbelievably confident approach on that ball.
AdvantageSchneideredited
They announced the gold glove finalists today and somehow he was left off the utility finalist list. I don’t know how that is possible unless you have to play both IF and OF to qualify. His glove is unbelievable.
Phil
Jake Bauers was once traded straight up for Damon Casetta-Stubbs, who has been out of baseball since 2023.
Sonny L
Only because Casetta-Stubbs is Canadian and didn’t have to worry about healthcare. Move him 100 miles south and he’s a leverage guy in Cleveland’s bullpen right now
twelvejones
It may go under the radar but DL Hall really saved this game and got five outs at its emotional peak
Sean Dolinar
The CLE/TBR game got moved up tomorrow? Guess we are going to be back here earlier than I thought.
Phil
I never know when the games are. The banner for this chat has been how I found out there was an afternoon game more than once.
Sæder
Smoltz remarkably silent when Davis brings up that home runs win games
lzfreak
I find it strange that Sasaki's jersey says "R. Sasaki" … do they have multiple Sasakis?
Rich Hill's Fastball
His NPB team did, and he just kept it
asf123
Multiple Asian players do that – Ha-Seong Kim and Jung Hoo Lee, off the top of my head.
Alan Sherman
About half of all Koreans are named Kim or Lee it seems- their World Cup soccer roster had like 4 Kims
bosoxforlife
So does the LPGA. It is loaded with Kim's and Lee's.
Sæder
Lee is a remarkable name because it's not uncommon in the English language either
lzfreak
There's also Carlos Lee! It transcends ethnicity
Sæder
These are the Lee's I know I know
David
I'm a simple guy, Sasaki's gigantic mitt still makes me giggle
Sonny L
He’s still showing his grip. I thought the whole point of pitchers moving to the giant gloves was to hide the ball better
Sæder
is the Milwaukee bullpen sequence going to be Hall Ashby? Hidden cameo there
asf123
The stranger name thing to me is that you never see teammates with the same last name have their first initials on their jerseys anymore. Any idea why?
Sæder
Indeed my thought. Did Andruw and Chipper have initials?
Phil
Isn't it usually up to them?
Jimmy
In baseball, would you ever really be confused?
Phil
An image search for Andruw Jones shows some with A. Jones on his uniform
asf123
Between Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones? Probably not. Between two middle relievers named Martinez or Brown or something? Sure.
GammaDraconis
So I'm listening to the Brewers radio broadcast. Pitching changes are sponsored by a company selling adult diapers. Someone in the division series had it sponsored by an exterminator, which at least made a little bit of sense. Anybody got anything stranger?
bosoxforlife
That's a good part of the audience today and I can definitely relate to it.
asf123
Not pitching changes, but for Cubs radio games this year, just about every inning break featured an ad for “less lethal” weapons that told the “true” story of some guy who was hiking with his family and encountered a mountain lion. The weapon purportedly allowed him to stun the mountain lion and get help. Remarkably specific target demographic there.
lzfreak
These were on Twins radio too
mockcarr
Um, 2 runs for the Dodgers used to be not impossible
Sæder
these scores are logarithmic this year
GammaDraconis
3 might be
Rollie's Mustache
It's too bad that both Max Muncys aren't on the same roster.
Phil
If Muncy the younger has a breakout the Dodgers will snap him up.
Davy Andrews
Oh wow, look how mad Roberts got!
McPontiff
A team-wide meltdown for the fans
Sæder
Hall and Outs
Sean Dolinar
Should we make a mad manager meter for the WS? Or even later this series?
Alan Sherman
Mad Murphy Meter
comradeyurika
Ohtani lives
asf123
Ohtani doing his best Luis Arraez.
Sonny L
5.1 mph faster than any ball Arraez has ever hit in his career
asf123
Well yeah, he’s Ohtani. Of course his best Arraez is going to be better than Arraez’s best Arraez.
GammaDraconis
Calling for mad manager stats in the rest of the Managerial Report Cards
Matt Martell
Ohtani’s single registered 113.5 mph — that's the hardest hit ball of the night for either team.
Davy Andrews
I love it when the hardest-hit ball of a whole game is just some random routine grounder that Yandy or someone pounded straight into the ground at 250 mph.
rluzinski
I am perplexed by how focus some are focused on the managers' mood.
Phil
Davy had an article about it today.
rluzinski
Ok, fair enough 😃
Alan Sherman
All common name tournament: Lee vs Kim vs Johnson vs Martinez
Sean Dolinar
Lockout article idea.
McPontiff
Mining chats for gold already
Sæder
FAWNGRAPHS: Which player named Lamb was the GOAT
Alan Sherman
yes please. I also have done all time teams for "guys in red" and "NYC vs the world"
Davy Andrews
Yeah, this is great.
Davy Andrews
Saeder. That's amazing.
asf123
Kim Jong Il pitched 20 perfect games in a row.
Alan Sherman
which team does Lee Smith play for in the all-name series?
Alan Sherman
Walter Johnson and Randy Johnson vs Pedro and Dennis vs probably some great KBO pitchers
Sonny L
Was Contreras stretching something out or was he thinking about backpacking Ohtani off first?
danodea
Looked like he was signaling something
Alan Sherman
guys in red gets ted williams and pujols and mike trout and joe morgan, etc
Davy Andrews
Might it even get Babe Ruth?
Sæder
managed by Kevin Cashmere
Alan Sherman
Babe Ruth is on NYC vs the world, obv
Sæder
he was a red sock
asf123
And a Boston Brave! They wore red, right?
bosoxforlife
Harvard-Westlake could field a team of its own.
Alan Sherman
and Rob Deer bats behind MIke Lamb
AdvantageSchneideredited
Nm
Alan Shermanedited
Pesky brewers gonna pester (laudatory)
AdvantageSchneider
Does Pesky apply when they hit 3 HR two of which traveled 400+ feet?
asf123
BS challenge.
SadaharuWhoa
desperation move
Sæder
or backdoor mound visit breather for Wrobleski?
Alan Sherman
top 9, smoke 'em if ya got'em
Alan Sherman
yeah but when he was a red sock he wasn't BABE RUTH he was just a very good lefthanded pitcher
bosoxforlife
I think he was talking about Pesky.
Sonny L
Joey Ortiz looks as permagrumpy as Murph
Sæder
Watch the Guardians win the WS this year
Sæder
(I have lost all reason)
Alan Sherman
dodger fans start out with reason?
Sonny L
I imagine Dodgers fans are pretty disappointed, it’s been almost 50 weeks since their last championship
Alan Sherman
Nah, it applies when they steal bases
asf123
Seems suboptimal to let Hernandez and Edman bat here.
lzfreak
Their bench is just Feduccia
bosoxforlife
For all you Dodger fans, I have good news for you. There is life after Game 3, as my handle indicates.
asf123
Did they use De Paula earlier? I was out for dinner. Nevermind then.
bosoxforlife
DePaula made a cameo appearance.
lzfreak
They did but immediately took him out when the Brewers brought in a lefty. De Paula didn't see a pitch
Sæder
most of us missed it. apparently he was subbed in and out while standing in the on deck circle
asf123
Managering.
Rich Hill's Fastball
And that's your ballgame
Rollie's Mustache
I see Mary Hart and her husband gave up their seats, this one is truly over.
Sæder
amazing
Sæder
that's a fierce Brewers team
Phil
I thought the Brewers were in better position than the projections indicated but wasn't expecting this.
lzfreak
Brewers have a chance to be very rested for the World Series if they win tomorrow
Rollie's Mustache
I hope LA can at least win a game or two. I cannot deal with another "rest vs rust" conversation from the talking heads.
asf123
They never discuss rast, rist or rost.
Phil
In Milwaukee those are all pronounced the same anyway.
Rich Hill's Fastball
Revenge sweep?
Sonny L
If Milwaukee sweeps they have to do it again next year for the rubber match
asf123
Huh. ARod got a hair transplant. Mane transplant?
Sonny L
Are you suggesting Alex took medical steps to alter his natural abilities and appearance?
asf123
Believe me, I understand how farfetched it sounds.
Sean Dolinar
Alright! We'll see everyone tomorrow for that 1PM ET game!
Overview
The Senior Software Engineer will collaborate with the Baseball Systems team to assist in the development and maintenance of the club’s player information system. This position requires strong software development skills and experience, as well as a demonstrated ability for independent thought and the willingness to work within a team framework.
Core duties for this role include, but are not limited to:
Coach and support engineers through solution design and implementation, serving as a technical advisor while providing constructive feedback and sharing performance observations with engineering leadership.
Maintain hands-on technical ownership of critical systems, driving the design, development, and long-term sustainability of key departmental applications and platforms.
Design, develop, and maintain high-quality, readable, and maintainable code that promotes consistency, scalability, and shared understanding across the Systems department.
Evaluate, test, and integrate emerging tools, technologies, and frameworks to improve system performance, development efficiency, and support for baseball operations and internal platforms.
The ideal candidate will have experience across the full web stack. They will have a bachelor’s degree (B. A.) in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field from four-year college or university; and five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Hands-on experience in baseball (team, league, or related organization) strongly preferred. Experience utilizing Large Language Models.
Our Team
Baseball Systems is the software backbone of Baseball Operations. We provide data and decision-making tools for analysts, coaches, and front office personnel to help win a World Series. Our department consists of a team of data engineers and a team of software engineers who work across all different aspects of Baseball Operations providing support and tools relevant to each group. We work directly with stakeholders in every department of Baseball Operations to ensure every project we work on drives value to the organization and helps us win more games on the field. We help drive technical innovation to find new ways to solve baseball problems.
Our Pitch
You come here to make a difference. We are a purpose-led organization, focused on building an inclusive and engaging culture that fosters excellence, collaboration, and ingenuity. We strive to be a model employer and cultivator of talent, empowering our teams to drive innovation through the inclusion of diverse thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. We operate at the highest standard of excellence, investing in the development of our staff across all levels and embracing differences through a culture of respect and understanding.
We are proud to offer a highly competitive perks and benefits package including:
Exceptional health and dental rates, and fully covered vision package
401(K) match and an additional annual contribution from the Club
Unlimited vacation time
Paid parental leave
Collaborative recognition program and incentives
Leadership development programming
Online educational platform for personal and professional development
Business Resource Groups
Paid time off for volunteering
Inclusive training and leadership development opportunities aligned with Club values
Brewers Home Game tickets, promotional giveaways and other discounts!
For more information about our Crew, other benefits and insight into our Club culture please visit our Careers Page.
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