For the sixth consecutive season, the Astros are in the American League Championship Series, and for the third time in that span, they’ll face the Yankees for a chance to play in the World Series. They beat the Yankees in seven games in 2017 before advancing to defeat the Dodgers, victories now tainted by the subsequent revelations regarding their use of illegal electronic sign stealing (which, yes, included the postseason). Amid further allegations of sign-stealing, they beat the Yankees in six games in 2019 before losing to the Nationals in the World Series. Suffice it to say, this is not a friendly rivalry, though the Yankees have publicly downplayed its relevance as it pertains to this matchup.

Both of the Astros’ ALCS victories over the Yankees came with A.J. Hinch at the helm, but Dusty Baker has taken over since. He’s trying to take them back to the World Series for the second season in a row — they lost to the Braves in six games last year — and secure the first championship of his 25-year career as a manager. The 73-year-old Baker would surpass 72-year-old Jack McKeon as the oldest manager to win a World Series, but first things first, the Astros have to get there. After winning an AL-high 106 games and securing home-field advantage for as long as they’re still playing, the Astros swept the Mariners in a Division Series much closer than its three-games-to-none outcome suggests, with the games decided by a total of four runs and the two bookend games won in Houston’s final half-inning; the finale extended to 18 innings and ended with a 1-0 score via Jeremy Peña‘s home run. Yordan Alvarez was the big star in the series, hitting a walk-off three-run homer in Game 1 to complete a comeback from a 7-3 deficit and then a two-run, go-ahead shot in Game 2; his seven RBIs accounted for more than half of Houston’s 13 runs. Alvarez (4-for-15), Alex Bregman (5-for-15 with a double and a homer) and Yuli Gurriel (6-for-15 with a homer) together accounted for 15 of the Astros’ 28 hits, masking Jose Altuve’s 0-for-16 performance. Meanwhile, a dominant Astros’ bullpen combined to allow just one run and nine hits in 20.1 innings, with a total of eight relievers combining to strike out 23 batters while walking only five.

Where the Astros swept their way into the ALCS, the 99-win Yankees not only had to go the distance against the Guardians but needed an extra day to do so because rain on Monday night forced the second postponement of the series. Stellar work from Gerrit Cole in his two starts, a strong start from Nestor Cortes on three days of rest, some very good work by a banged-up bullpen, and a 9-3 advantage in home runs — including three by newcomer Harrison Bader and two apiece by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — helped to elevate the Yankees past the upstart Guardians. They didn’t have much time to celebrate on Tuesday night; inside of an hour after the final out, the plastic sheets protecting the clubhouse from the spray of champagne were taken down so that the players could fly to Houston. Read the rest of this entry »

The Division Series between the Astros and Mariners only went three games, but it wasn’t short on drama. Overlooked amid the extra innings madness and the late game heroics was the performance of Jose Altuve. That might be for the best, as the Astros second baseman struggled mightily:

Going 0-for-16 with six strikeouts is, to use a technical term, real bad. What was going on? Let’s start with Altuve’s plate discipline:

Read the rest of this entry »

Well folks, that’s what we call a pitcher’s duel. I don’t think there’s a universal definition for the term, but Wikipedia tells me it’s when both starting pitchers allow very few runners to reach base. That seems about right! Zack Wheeler and Yu Darvish both came up big Tuesday night in San Diego, with each starter limiting the success of the opposing team’s hitters after each offense had put up an incredible performance in their respective Division Series. As the game progressed, both attacked their foes with a variety of pitches spread across the zone. Neither was predictable, and neither gave their manager much reason to remove them, but one made a few more mistakes in a few more at-bats than the other. Those mistakes ended up being the difference in the game.

To understand exactly what happened in those at-bats — specifically, why the batter was successful — it helps to know what happened with each pitch and what the pitcher-catcher tandem’s potential thought process was for each of them. John Smoltz always sprinkles in tidbits about pitch sequencing that are worth listening to when he broadcasts a game. It’s easier said than done, but a pitcher holding back some pieces of their repertoire until later in the game — or say, a hitter’s third at-bat — is a good way to maximize deception. If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about that, it’s Darvish. Darvish’s never-ending pitch mix allows him to change how he attacks hitters as the game progresses. In his first battle against Bryce Harper, he opted for a three-pitch mix and attacked Harper in the zone. No nibbling the first time around:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Red Sox acquired a unique pitcher when they claimed Jake Reed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles last week. They also acquired a pitcher who is heading into the offseason looking to rework a delivery that is among the funkiest in the game. As Ben Clemens showed us when writing about him last summer, the side-slinging 28-year-old right-hander has been attacking hitters from an arm slot that is anything but ordinary.

Reed’s effectiveness in the big leagues has been a mixed bag. Since debuting with the Dodgers last July, he’s held same-sided batters to a .639 OPS, but he’s also logged a 5.74 ERA over his 28 relief appearances. With designs on jumpstarting a professional career that began in 2014 when he was drafted 140th overall by the Minnesota Twins out of the University of Oregon, Reed plans to not only bring a new throwing motion with him to Boston, but a higher octane heater as well.

Reed discussed the evolution of his atypical delivery, and why it again needs to change, on the final weekend of the regular season.

———

On dropping his arm angle:
“I’d pretty much always been low three-quarters. I was pitching pretty well in the minors, but in 2017 the Twins changed over their front office. Baseball was getting a lot more progressive, which sort of changed how guys are valued. I threw pretty hard — I was a mid-to-upper-90s kind of guy — but my stuff didn’t necessarily perform super well analytically. So about halfway through the 2019 season we had a long conversation and came to the idea of me dropping down sidearm and trying to create more movement on my sinker, and improve my slider. That was the first time I really made that transition from how I’d thrown my whole life. Read the rest of this entry »

Senior Developer, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Senior Developer, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for the design, development, and support, of all baseball systems. This individual will work closely with members of baseball operations to understand business requirements that drive the analysis, design, and development of quality baseball systems and solutions. This senior developer will collaborate closely with the Director of Baseball Systems, colleagues on the software development team, and baseball operations personnel from all departments.

Responsibilities

• Create leading-edge baseball solutions together with the software development team and others on new and existing baseball systems
• Lead the design and implementation of the software architecture and embrace a software engineering mindset
• Lead the software development process of critical baseball applications, including requirements gathering, analysis, effort estimation, technical investigation, software design and implementation, testing, bug fixing, and quality assurance
• Responsible for the design and development of databases, web services, graphical user interfaces, and other aspects of web and desktop applications
• Actively participate in the architecting, deployment, and maintenance of system solutions in a cloud-based environment
• Actively participate with colleagues in design reviews, code reviews, and exercise best practices
• Work closely with baseball analysts to design and implement solutions to their modeling and data needs
• Respond to and resolve technical problems and issues in a timely manner
• Identify and implement creative solutions for technical challenges

Technical Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 5 or more years of development experience using some combination of C#, Java, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Typescript, T-SQL, ServiceStack, Angular, React, Vue, Knockout, or other frameworks, with a focus on responsive & progressive web applications.
• Strong database design and development experience, especially with MS SQL Server
• Experience integrating systems and data using third-party APIs and web services
• Experience with cloud technologies from AWS, GCP, or Azure are a plus
• Experience with R is a plus
• Experience with Dev Ops tools is a plus

General Skills:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball, common terms, and analytic measures, are a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Data Architect, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Data Architect, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for the design, implementation, and deployment of the information architecture of all baseball systems. This position must be comfortable with on-premises and cloud solutions, and take the initiative to explore new optimizations and cutting-edge data technologies and is expected to research industry trends to stay current on new tools and technology, and will work closely with our data engineers, analysts, developers, and other members of baseball operations.

Responsibilities

• Through research, design, and architectural efforts, and in collaboration with software development resources, ensure we have access to world-class data for analytical and system purposes.
• Develop a thorough understanding of the all areas within Baseball Operations to help design effective and highly integrated solutions
• Ensure processes and systems are in place to support the integrity, accuracy, consistency, and availability of all content
• Create and manage ETL (extract, transform, load) data integration processes
• In collaboration with the analytics and software development teams, design and implement baseball algorithms and functionality
• Partner with data providers to understand current and future data roadmaps, identify limitations, and develop along-term data content plan in collaboration with baseball leadership
• Respond to and resolve data-related problems and issues in a timely manner.
• Complete ad-hoc database queries and analysis as directed
• Effectively communicate statuses to the Director, as well as other leadership as requested throughout all projects

Knowledge & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, data engineering, or equivalent professional experience; Master’s degree a plus
• 6+ years of related work experience, including demonstrated knowledge about data management best practices and ability to effectively solve problems pertaining to data infrastructure and integrity
• Proven track record of collecting and understanding complex requirements and delivering creative and effective solutions
• Expertise in relational databases, database design, architecture, and development
• Expertise designing and building data models for Snowflake and ingesting data into Snowflake using various pipelines
• Expertise in writing and optimizing SQL queries in SQL Server or other database technologies
• Experience with Azure, AWS, and/or GCP cloud technologies, such as Cloud SQL, RDS, Redshift, Azure SQL, and others, and working with hybrid on-premises technologies
• Experience building solutions using Python, C#, C++, Ruby, or other languages
• Experience with scheduling and workflow management platforms, such as Airflow
• Experience with big data systems such as Spark or Hadoop is a plus
• Experience with R and RStudio is a plus

Personal Attributes:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast-paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball is a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Data Engineer, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Data Engineer, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for integrating, collecting, processing, and storing many sources of baseball data, as well as designing and building new data solutions. This position must be comfortable with on-premises and cloud solutions, and take the initiative to explore new optimizations and cutting-edge data technologies. This individual will work closely with our data architect, analysts, developers, and other members of baseball operations.

Responsibilities

• Build leading-edge baseball solutions together with the software development team, analysts, and others on new and existing baseball systems
• Build and maintain integration pipelines, often via an API or file-based, while also identifying areas of improvement and spending time to re-architect when required
• Build and maintain infrastructure to optimize extraction, transformation, and the loading of data from various sources
• Design, build, and maintain data warehousing solutions for the software development and analytics teams
• Build and maintain tools for the analysts to enable more efficient and extensive data modeling and simulation efforts
• Participate in key phases of the software development process of critical baseball applications, including requirements gathering, analysis, effort estimation, technical investigation, software design and implementation, testing, bug fixing, and quality assurance
• Actively participate with software developers and data architects in design reviews, code reviews, and other best practices
• Work closely at times with baseball analysts to design and implement data solutions
• Respond to and resolve technical problems and issues in a timely manner

Technical Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Statistics, Information Systems, or a related field
• 2-3 years of experience in a Date Engineer role
• Proficiency with SQL and query optimizations, stored procedures, views, and other database objects
• Experience building custom API integrations, interfacing with JSON, XML, and custom data structures
• Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure cloud services, such as Cloud SQL, RDS, Redshift, Azure SQL, Azure SQL DW, or others
• Experience building data solutions using Python, C#, C++, Ruby, or other languages
• Experience with scheduling and workflow management platforms, such as Airflow
• Experience with ETL tools and pipelines from various platforms
• Experience with big data frameworks such as Hadoop or Spark is a plus
• Experience with R and RStudio is a plus

General Skills:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball is a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Technology Specialist, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Technology Specialist, Baseball Systems is responsible for ensuring the installation, readiness, monitoring, maintenance, and support of key baseball operation’s technology at all Red Sox affiliate ballparks, Fenway Park, and at our Academy in the Dominican Republic. Baseball operations technology includes, but is not limited to, specialized camera systems, radar tracking systems, advanced pitching machines, video coaching systems, optical tracking systems, medical technologies, and other supporting technology, as necessary. The role will have a dual-reporting relationship to the Director, Baseball Systems as well as to the VP, IT Operations. The ideal candidate must be detailed-oriented, self-motivated, possess strong communications and project management skills, good technical experience, and an understanding of baseball or other professional sports. The candidate will need to effectively manage the operational readiness and health of numerous systems, coordinate with technical personnel within the Red Sox as well as vendors supporting ballparks and key technology providers.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the installation, readiness, maintenance, and support of key Baseball Operations technology at all Red Sox affiliate ballparks, Fenway Park, and at our Academy in the Dominican Republic
• Monitor and ensure the proper functioning of these key technologies, particularly during spring training and the baseball season
• Develop an effective relationship with Baseball Operations technology partners, installation and support vendors, Baseball Operations personnel and ballpark resources
• Take calls, Slack, IM, and respond to e-mails for teir-1 support from ballpark resources, vendors, Baseball Operations, and IT
• Log and monitor all support calls and manage/escalate tickets with tier-2 resources in ServiceNow
• Partner with Baseball Operations and IT on the scheduling and deployment of key ballpark technologies in conjunction with vendors and respective ballpark personnel
• Create and update ballpark technical documentation to reflect the positioning of key baseball technologies
• Communicate timely and thoroughly to Baseball Operations and IT leadership on business interruptions
• Work collaboratively with ballpark technology vendors using Slack, Trello, IM, and other communication tools to support all baseball technologies
• Develop a working knowledge of Baseball Operations technology and support requirements to help troubleshoot and resolve issues when possible
• Manage vendor invoices associated with the installation, operation, and support of Baseball Operations technology. Communicate expenditures with Director, Baseball Operations and VP, IT Operations.

Characteristics/Qualifications:

• 2 or 4-year college degree, preferably in an IT-related discipline or related experience
• Proficiency with PC hardware and software, with basic to intermediate troubleshooting a must
• Thorough knowledge of Microsoft software (e.g., Office, Exchange, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, O365, etc.)
• Experience working in a sports or entertainment environment and an understanding of the key technologies and support requirements
• Experience working with ballpark technologies is a plus
• Good project management skills
• Strong written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Aptitude to work independently
• Able to prioritize work, effectively communicate risk, and able to meet deadlines
• Ability to work effectively with all levels of employees
• Ability to partner with vendors
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Willing to travel to affiliates and the Dominican Republic as needed

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Associate, Baseball Strategy/Personnel

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Associate / Co-Op / Intern

Position Overview:
This position will provide organizational support centered on valuation, strategic planning, empirical research, analytical interaction, and process design. The role will collaborate with multiple departments and functions within baseball operations, including but not limited to player acquisition, pro scouting, development, analytics, and systems.

Responsibilities:

• Support player acquisition with player valuation, targeting, and roster planning.
• Assist with major/minor league free agency, trade analysis, the rule 5 draft, waivers, etc.
• Interact with the analytics department and contribute to QC with relevant tool/model outputs.
• Support departments in baseball operations with regards to valuation and empirical research initiatives.
• Strategic planning in the areas of player evaluation, acquisition, and development initiatives.
• Stay up to date on pertinent analytical work, research, and resources across the player landscape, internal and external. Discover insights and trends in public and internal data and tooling.
• Participate in idea generation and scenario planning.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Characteristics/Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or above in a related field.
• Strong written/verbal communication skills and work ethic.
• Team focused mentality, with exceptional collaborative abilities.
• Attention to detail, while also having the ability to work quickly and balance multiple priorities.
• Experience with programming languages (e.g., C, Python, Matlab or R) is beneficial, but not required.
• Experience in SQL is beneficial.

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Boston Red Sox.

Bullpen Catcher/Rehab Development Assistant

Department: Player Development
Reports to: Rehab Coordinator
Duration: January 2023 – December 2023
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Status: Part-time/ Hourly (Non-Exempt)

Position Summary:
Assist the San Francisco Giants Player Development department through on and off the field activities. This position will include coverage of Spring Training, Extended Spring Training, Arizona Complex League, and various off-season camps. The main focus of this position lies in the rehabilitation and physical performance of our players at the Minor League Spring Training facility. Assisting both our medical and video departments creates a unique experience for this role.

Position Responsibilities:

• Handling rehabilitation bullpens along with pitcher’s and fielder’s catch play
• Ability to throw batting practice, feed machines, and other various cage work
• Ability to hit fungos
• Assist with technology set-up such as cameras for bullpens and live batting practice
• Ability to set up Trackman and other various technology equipment
• Cut video from bullpens and live batting practice sessions

Skills and Qualifications:

• High level catching experience is preferred
• Strong work ethic with a passion for baseball
• Work non-traditional hours (nights, weekends, and holidays)
• Ability to learn about technology and video
• Ability to speak Spanish is a plus
• Contribute to team culture with a positive

At the Giants, we believe we put our best work forward when our employees bring together ideas that are diverse in thought. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, medical condition or disability, genetic condition, marital status, domestic partnership status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status and any other protected class under federal, state or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. In addition, we will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need, we would like to know how we can better accommodate you.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Player Development Assistant (Part-Time)

Department: Player Development
Reports to: Coordinator, Minor League Operations
Duration: January 2023 – December 2023
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Status: Part-time/ Hourly (Non-Exempt)

Position Summary:
Assist the San Francisco Giants Baseball Operations department and provide comprehensive administrative support to all functions of Player Development. This position will include coverage of Spring Training, Extended Spring Training, Arizona Complex League, and various off-season camps. We value candidates who have a passion and understanding of the game of baseball while also being detail- oriented.

Position Responsibilities:

• Coordinate travel logistics, hotel reservations, and appointments for various events
• Assist in compiling and updating schedules, rosters, and databases for Player Development
• Regular communication with staff regarding daily needs/scheduling
• Assist with player paperwork and documents
• Assist with company credit card reconciliation
• Assist on tasks/projects as needed
• Man lobby desk; helping guests with questions and needs
• Provide support to the clubhouse staff with mailing duties and distribution
• Provide transportation for players or staff as needed
• Maintain all facility spaces/needs year-round

Skills and Qualifications:

• Ability to speak Spanish is a plus
• Experience using SQL is a plus
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel is preferred
• Strong work ethic with initiative and attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to handle private information in a professional manner
• Work non-traditional hours (nights, weekends, and holidays)
• Ability to communicate effectively and work with all members of the organization (players, coaches, staff, and various affiliate front office/staff members)
• Contribute to team culture with a positive attitude

At the Giants, we believe we put our best work forward when our employees bring together ideas that are diverse in thought. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, medical condition or disability, genetic condition, marital status, domestic partnership status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status and any other protected class under federal, state or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. In addition, we will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need, we would like to know how we can better accommodate you.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the San Francisco Giants.

NEW YORK — During the regular season, the Yankees went 27–2 in games in which their two towering sluggers, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, both homered. The tried-and-true recipe worked once again in the fifth and deciding game of the Division Series against the Guardians, with Stanton smacking a three-run homer in the first inning off starter Aaron Civale, keying an early departure, and Judge adding a solo blast in the second off reliever Sam Hentges. The long balls gave starter Nestor Cortes, who was working on three days of rest, an early cushion, and he cruised through five innings, allowing just just one run before yielding to the bullpen, which locked down a 5–1 victory.

“Incredible,” Cortes said in describing Stanton’s homer. “I knew from that moment on, all I had to do was throw strikes and be able to get us as deep as possible…. I didn’t know how far I was going to go. I didn’t know what my pitch count was. It was basically how I looked out there. And for him to give us that three-run lead in the first from the get-go to was huge for me and calmed me down to go out there and do what I do.”

Pushed to the brink of elimination when their bullpen collapsed in the ninth inning of Game 3, the Yankees will now move on to face the Astros in the American League Championship Series, which begins Wednesday in Houston. This will be the fourth time in eight seasons that the two teams have met in October; the Astros won the 2015 Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium and beat the Yankees in a seven-game ALCS in ’17 and in a six-game ALCS in ’19.

The Yankees, who hit twice as many homers as the Guardians during the regular season (a league-leading 254 to a 14th-ranked 127), out-homered them nine to three in the series, with Judge and Stanton each going deep twice and Harrison Bader doing so three times. Game 5 marked the fourth time Judge and Stanton both homered in the same postseason game, a total tied for second behind Carlos Correa and George Springer, both of whom have since departed Houston.

Rafael Devers/J.D. Martinez
Carlos Correa/Jose Altuve
Max Muncy/Joc Pederson
George Springer/Jose Altuve
Manny Ramirez/David Ortiz
Lance Berkman/Carlos Beltran
Jim Thome/Kenny Lofton

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 18, 2022

The Yankees’ homers went a long way figuratively (if not always literally) in a low-offense series. The Guardians collected 44 hits to the Yankees’ 28, but power and patience (a 17–9 edge in walks) produced a .643 OPS (.182/.273/.370), which outdid the Guardians’ .626 (.247/.289/.337), and they outscored Cleveland by a combined score of 20–14. While the Guardians collected 12 hits with runners in scoring position to the Yankees’ five, New York handily outproduced them there as well via a .926 OPS (.227/.296/.636) and 11 RBIs to Cleveland’s .535 (.255/.280/.255) with 10 RBIs. As my former Baseball Prospectus colleague Joe Sheehan likes to say, “Ball go far, team go far.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ah yes, the postseason. As Jay Jaffe noted yesterday, it’s nothing like the regular season. Here, managers have to grind out every edge possible. Continuing a series that I started last year, I’ll be assigning managerial grades for each vanquished team. They’ll cover on-field managerial decisions: chiefly, lineup construction, pinch hitting, and pitcher usage.

My goal is to rank each manager in terms of process, not results. If you bring in your best pitcher to face their best hitter in a huge spot, that’s a good decision regardless of outcome. Try a triple steal with the bases loaded only to have the other team make four throwing errors to score three runs? I’m probably going to call that a blunder even though it worked out. Managers do plenty of other things – getting team buy-in for new strategies and unconventional bullpen usage behind closed doors is one I find particularly valuable – but as I have no insight into how that’s accomplished or how each manager differs, I can’t exactly assign grades for that.

Another thing I’m trying to avoid? Relying too much on “leaning on your trusted veterans.” That’s never really been a strategy I love without knowing the underlying data, but mentioning it lets me drop this delightful statistic: “proven veterans” Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Charlie Morton each have a 13.50 ERA this postseason. That’s not in aggregate; each of them has that exact mark. The playoffs are about overpowering your opponent in big spots. Which pitchers and hitters teams use to do so is entirely up to them, but if the justification for a move is “but he’s a veteran,” I’m going to judge that decision harshly. Let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry »

They ran roughshod over the league for six months thanks to an elite offense, great pitching, and exceptional defense, posting a win total that hadn’t been seen in decades. Yet a stretch of a few bad days in October sent them home, consigning them to the status of historical footnote and cautionary tale. Somebody else would go on to win the World Series.

Such was the fate of the 2001 Mariners, though everything above applies to this year’s Dodgers as well, who won 111 games — the most by any team since those Mariners, and the most by any NL team since the 1909 Pirates — but were bounced out of the playoffs on Saturday night. A Padres team from whom they had taken 14 out of 19 games during the regular season beat them three games to one in the Division Series because they got the clutch hits they needed while the Dodgers didn’t. The combination of an 0-for-20 streak with runners in scoring position that ran from the third inning of Game 1 to the third inning of Game 4 — after which they began another hitless-with-RISP streak — and some puzzling bullpen choices by manager Dave Roberts doomed them.

There’s been plenty of that going ’round. The Padres, who won 89 games this year, were facing the Dodgers only because they first beat the 101-win Mets in the best-of-three Wild Card Series. Earlier on Saturday, the defending champion Braves, who claimed the NL East title with 101 wins this year and like the Dodgers played at a better-than-.700 clip from June through September, were ousted by the Phillies. On Saturday evening, the 99-win Yankees let a two-run lead in the ninth slip away against the 92-win Guardians, pushing them to the brink of elimination, though they rebounded on Sunday night, pushing the series to a decisive Game 5 in New York.

Upsets in short postseason series are practically as old as postseason series themselves. In 1906, in the third modern World Series, the 93-win White Sox, a/k/a “The Hitless Wonders,” took down their crosstown rivals, the 116-win Cubs, four games to two. In 1954, the 97-win Giants beat the 111-win Indians in the World Series. In 1987, the 85-win Twins bumped off the 98-win Tigers and then the 95-win Cardinals. Last year, the 89-win Braves felled the 106-win Dodgers in the NLCS, then the 95-win Astros in the World Series.

Such unexpected wins are a cornerstone of baseball history. As MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince noted, in terms of the gap in winning percentage between the underdogs and the favorites, the Padres trail only the aforementioned 1906 White Sox in the annals, with a 136-point gap (.549 to .685) compared to the Chicagoans’ 147-point gap (.616 to .763). In third place is the 122-point gap from the 2001 ALCS between the Yankees and Mariners (.594 to .716), and in fourth is the 107-point gap from last year’s NLCS between the Braves and Dodgers (.547 to .654). The 86-point gaps between the Nationals and Astros in the 2019 World Series and between the Braves and Phillies in this year’s Division Series are tied for seventh. By that measure, seven of the top 11 upsets have happened in this millennium. Read the rest of this entry »

SEATTLE – My train begins to fill with Mariners fans. Most are wearing jerseys, but others are outfitted in more home-made looking fare. A young woman sports a dress covered in the team’s logo; its skirt is puffed slightly by teal tulle, with navy bows on her shoulders holding the whole thing upright. Further down the car is a man in a 1995 Division Series shirt. His snowy goatee suggests that unlike the sweatshirt I own of similar vintage, his wasn’t a thrift store find; I wonder if the one he’s wearing smells musty like mine first did. Much of the chatter is about the day finally being here, and how long they’ve all waited, how many disappointments they’ve registered in the years since 2001. I’m surprised by how little I hear about Seattle’s chances today, as if no one dares to entertain the possibility of a tomorrow with baseball, or one potentially without it.

A few stops later, a member of the University of Washington marching band steps off the train; upon seeing his regalia, a couple near me wonders if the football game, which kicks off around 2:30 PM, will cause trouble for their ride back home from SODO. “These cars can get so crowded, you know.”

As I approach the media entrance, lines snake around the ballpark, and the coffee cups and puffy eyes make clear that some of these folks have been here a while. The gates don’t open for another hour and a half, but after almost 21 years, what’s a little more waiting? Read the rest of this entry »