Eno Sarris: this is not a comment on any baseball player or team, I just like this song

Art Vandelay: Well, I lost my first shipment beer in the four years I’ve been trading. Unfortunately, it was a bottle of Ensorcelled I picked up for my brother-in-law! Even more strange is that fedex repacked all the other beers and sent them back to me!

Eno Sarris: That is super strange!

Buck Saltwater: Should the Jays offer a QO to Saunders?

Eno Sarris: Yes.

Not Ryan Merritt: World Series odds currently on Playoff Odds page:

Dodgers – 35.4%
Indians – 32.9%
Cubs – 31.7%

Even if the Indians are the underdogs to both the Dodgers and Cubs, shouldn’t they be a little closer to 50%?

Dave Cameron: Happy Wednesday, everyone. Who else is excited to see the guy with Jerry Blevins fastball start against the Blue Jays today?

Dave Cameron: Let’s chat about the playoffs, or if your team is out of it, the coming offseason.

@outfieldgrass24: Dave, thanks for the chat and welcome to Oregon! Are you surprised the D-backs were able to pull off the Hazen move? Also, loved your piece yesterday. Which of the two paths you described would you be most inclined to go down?

Dave Cameron: Not that surprised; as much talk as there was about people not wanting to take that job, there are still only 30 guys in the game who get to make the final call on baseball ops decisions, and people want those jobs. Hazen had no path to that job in Boston, given that Dombrowski isn’t going anywhere, and I think the evidence is growing at this point that the guys who stuck around under Dombrowski didn’t feel all that welcome. Since DD got to Boston, they’ve now lost a good chunk of the high ranking guys who initially stuck around.

Dave Cameron: In terms of what I think Arizona will do this winter, I think they’ll take a conservative path. I imagine he’ll try to rebuild the bullpen, improve the defense, and look for depth pieces, but I think they’ll push the big “blow it up” decision down the road a year.

Greg: As a Braves fan, watching Javy Baez break out this season reminded me of multiple Cubs writers reporting that a Baez-for-Shelby Miller swap was close last offseason. Seeing how it played out and the return Atlanta eventually got for him, would you rather have Baez or the haul from Arizona?

Paul Swydan: Hi everyone! So sorry I lost track of time!

Suzanne2: Can you make a Jays fan feel better about the team’s future?

Paul Swydan: Well, yeah, what’s wrong with the team’s future? They have a good front office, and good players under contract for the future. The whole rotation comes back intact, and low-salaried players like Devon Travis and Roberto Osuna are still there. They still have good bones.

adam: in the parallel universe that this series goes 7 games, would you start andrew miller in game 7?

Paul Swydan: No, I want to keep him for higher leverage situations. You start him, and he can only go 2-3 innings, which means you’re really sweating the last 6-7 innings.

Pete: What would you do if you were Mike Hazen? Blow up the roster and do a total rebuild or try to do some tweaks and keep trying with the same core?

august fagerstrom: hello!

august fagerstrom: I now have bagels, so I am ready to begin the chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

august fagerstrom: hello, Bork!

Bork: Is Bauer done for the off-season? That finger looked naaaaaaaaasty.

august fagerstrom: well, if the Indians advance, they wouldn’t *need* Bauer until Game 3 of the World Series, which is on October 28

Jeff Sullivan: Hello exhausted friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat!

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Outta my way, Gyorkass: What does LAD’s starting rotation look like for the NLCS…Maeda-bullpen game-Kershaw-Hill-repeat?

Jeff Sullivan: Kershaw was supposed to start Game 2 but obviously now that could be up in the air. Most likely is he winds up in Game 3 and a quiet candidate for Game 2 is Brock Stewart, who’s traveled with the team

Dave Cameron: Hey friends

Dave Cameron: Craig Edwards, Sean Dolinar, and myself will be your hosts for the evening.

Craig Edwards: Can confirm my presence.

Dave Cameron: One note; I’m fighting a cold — sending your kid to daycare has some downsides — so if any of my comments seem insane, I blame that.

Bork: Will there be the excitement of game pace vs laptop battery pace tonight?

Dave Cameron: No, watching from home this time. Which means there will be excitement from toddler and dog vying for my attention.

Eno Sarris: dedicated to days with no baseball:

Bork: Hello, friend!

Eno Sarris: YOLO

Michelle: Any predictions for tonight’s game?

Eno Sarris: Scherzer is nails, LA cobbles together six or seven good innings between Hill and Urias to stay with them in a low scoring game, and the game is decided in the seventh.

Eno Sarris: Fairly specific…

Dave Cameron: Well, it’s a Wednesday without baseball, so we’ll forgo the usual Happy Wednesday greeting.

Dave Cameron: Chicago, Toronto, and Cleveland are in the LCS, and we get an elimination game between LA/WAS tomorrow. This has been a fun postseason so far.

Dave Cameron: Let’s chat about it.

Chris: Was last night the strangest bullpen management we’ve seen since the time La Russa was surprised by which reliever came out during a world series game?

Dave Cameron: Setting aside Bochy’s lack of faith in Will Smith — which I wrote about last night — the rest of it was pretty normal. If you think Smith is just a LOOGY, and not even as good as Lopez in that role, then everything else kind of fits. But the weird part is not recognizing that Smith is good.

Eddy: Looks like Javy Baez is the front runner in annual “Damn, I didn’t know this guy was this good” contest thanks to national postseason exposure. No way this guy gets regular AB next season, right?

Michelle: I love the annual! Is there an official release date yet?

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: The Annual is slated for release at some point in mid-November.

Matt: Gregory Polanco or Trevor Story in dynasty?

Paul Swydan: Polanco, though it’s close.

Big Joe Mufferaw: Is Gary Sanchez a top 3 catcher in next years fantasy drafts?

august fagerstrom: yo!

august fagerstrom: ran a little late writing and therefore a little late getting this up, so I’ll let the queue fill up for another 5 minutes or so and we’ll get underway

august fagerstrom: in the meantime, revisit Tame Impala’s Currents with me

august fagerstrom: ok, let’s chat!

Bork: Hello, friend!

august fagerstrom: hi, Bork!