Some people have compared this year's World Series to the 1991 seven-game classic between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins. It's hard for me to make a true comparison, since I don't recall the '91 Series, but the Minnesotan in me says that is still better than this contest between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. It's all about loyalty.
Anyway, this year's series has just about everything - including a Game 7 on tap for Nov. 1. It doesn't get much better in sports than a winner-take-all game 7. The Dodgers won Game 6 at home by a 3-1 margin Tuesday night. Two teams that won 104 (Dodgers) and 101 (Astros) games during the regular season will play for one shot at the championship.
I'd like to go through and write about all the clutch home runs in this series, but that seems impossible. There have been a record number of homers hit in this postseason, with one game to go.
Take Game 5 the other night in Houston in a 2-2 tied series. It ended in 10 innings and five hours, 17 minutes after the first pitch. The Dodgers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead off Astros ace Dallas Keuchel, and it looked like the pitcher's duel with Clayton Kershaw wasn't meant to be.
Except that was far from the whole story of the game. The Astros tied the game 4-4 with a three-run homer from Yuli Gurriel in the fourth. Then, Cody Bellinger put the Dodgers back in front with a three-run homer in the next half inning. 7-4 Dodgers lead. Jose Altuve answered back in the bottom of that inning - the fifth - with a three-run homer of his own. 7-7 game.
George Springer made a poor decision in center field in the seventh, diving for a ball that should have been a straight-up single. Instead, the ball got by him allowing the go-ahead run to score and the hitter to end up at third base. So naturally in a game like this, Springer came up the next inning and hit a home run to tie the game on the very first pitch he saw. 8-8 game.
To keep it short here, Alex Bregman hit a walk-off single. The final score was 13-12 in 10 innings, with the Astros winning. Eleven total runs were scored from the seventh inning on.
This game, and the series, must be tough to watch for fans of either team. Fingernails are probably bitten off by now. But for the average baseball fan like me, this series has been so fun to watch. With Game 5, I was all in - for most of the night. Once the game hit the later innings and double-digit runs, I grew weary of the constant run scoring and therefore lack of pitching.
Pitching is a different animal in the postseason
The completely different way pitching is managed in the postseason is catching up with baseball. During the 162-game season, the rotation is typically five starters with plenty of rest in between. The bullpen is managed in a way to give guys rest when they need, like not pitching in four straight games, for example. Closers pitch the ninth inning and look to get three outs; this also varies slightly with extra innings and the occasional four- or five-out saves.
That seems to go out the window in the postseason. Staff aces pitch on three days rest. Other starters come out of the bullpen in the mid-to-late innings to help out. Six-out saves are routine for closers.
I can see the benefits here. Managers want their best pitchers in key situations to get outs. That makes sense. But at the same time, they're asking guys to do more than they have all season, so it shouldn't be shocking when home runs are given up, saves are blown and pitchers given in to the pressure.
It's happened with Ken Giles for Houston, who is throwing batting practice. Kenley Jansen for the Dodgers is a dominant closer, but even he's faltered this postseason.
However the pitching is managed, it hasn't necessarily taken away from some great baseball throughout this postseason.
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