We are in the middle of October baseball here at F&J. I will refrain from commenting anything about the current series, as I have seen this story repeated before in 1999 and 2007. I talked about 2007 last week; 1999's series was not all that painful given the best pitcher in baseball at the time - Pedro - was heavily involved. But I do want to cover a recent loss in Cleveland sports history that was fairly memorable - the 2013 Wild Card game.
A 3-0 deficit, against a pitcher that was smoking and against a solid opponent - well, that made watching the last 6 innings of the game no fun at all. It was like seeing your own funeral. You know the game is effectively over - You know you aren't going to get any runs without some significant help - so it was a depressing watch. Can we just fast forward through the commercials to get to the end? I know what the ending is.
The Indians team of 2013 was a Francona special - some power in the lineup, some (not a huge amount) of starting pitching but a shaky bullpen. With 25 games to go, we were 72-65, and in the fringes of playoff contention; we went 20-5 to end the season to just fall short of the division title, but we ended 1 game up in the wild card standings. Our starting pitching to end the season was: Kazmir, good Ubaldo, young Kluber, a rookie in Salazar, and a spot starter in McAllister. Not overpowering, but decent. Our lineup had a hot Michael Bradley, a Nick Swisher on fumes, a 74 yard old Jason Giambi, a rising Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis, and a unexpected power source in Yan Gomes. Again, not the 27 Yanks, but solid enough. Our bullpen - up until about mid-September - was anchored by Chris Perez. I was in China at the time; there was no better excuse for daytime drinking than to see Chris Perez on gamecast trying to close out your game at 10 am on a weekday.
I remember being very happy that this bunch was able to sneak into the playoffs as the Wild Card this year. What a great idea - the Wild Card! A one-game play in to see who would take on the division winner. The idea seemed great at the time.... and we got to host it! Obviously, we never got a chance to set our rotation up, since we didn't clinch until the last day - so our starter was the rookie, Danny Salazar.
Our opponent that night was Tampa Bay. Tampa had to win a tie breaker vs. Texas just to get into the wild card game. They came to Cleveland with their rotation in disarray as they too had to keep pressing down the stretch just to get in. Randall Cobb was their starter.
I remember watching this game in the hotel room in the Phillipines while on vacation. We somehow got the TBS feed. The stadium seemed electric - and it looked like the team was ready. The big question - could Salazar handle the moment?
Well, this turned out to be one of those games where you just knew - by the 2nd or 3rd inning - that the other starting pitcher was on. Cobb went through our order the first time around with ease. Nothing hard hit. Salazar pitched decently - 3 runs in 5 innings, I think - but Cobb never got in any trouble. We let up a solo HR in the 2nd and a 2 run double in the 3rd - and it was 3-0.
A 3-0 deficit, against a pitcher that was smoking and against a solid opponent - well, that made watching the last 6 innings of the game no fun at all. It was like seeing your own funeral. You know the game is effectively over - You know you aren't going to get any runs without some significant help - so it was a depressing watch. Can we just fast forward through the commercials to get to the end? I know what the ending is.
I've had this feeling multiple times before in the playoffs- and it's not fun. Playing Pedro in the late 90s. Actually going to the Reds/Mets tiebreaker game (game 163) in 1999 at Riverfront and seeing the Reds overmatched from the 2nd inning on. Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS (talked about before) had a similar feeling.
Tampa scored a run in the 9th and won the game, 4-0. It was an incredibly anti-climatic ending to a wonderful September. At the time, I hated the 1-game idea and thought it should have been 2-out-of 3.....however, as time goes by, I have changed my thinking, given this experience. My new thoughts about it:
1. One game playoffs are horrendous, for the participants. I have a feeling Layup may agree after the 2014 Wild Card game.
2. I now place so, so, so much importance on winning the division, since you avoid the 1 game lottery. I think this is what baseball wanted when they created it.
3. Therefore, it is a true "benefit" for the division winner to avoid this game; baseball has achieved the correct compromise - expanding the playoffs while still emphasizing the division races.
So I now like the wild card game. I just hope I don't have to participate in it again.
On to the games this week -
Bal 31, Was 17. Baltimore (and Harbaugh) specializes in beating inferior opponents that are poorly coached. I think that describes the Skins well.
Phi 27, Det 17. I have faith in the Eagles defense here. The Lions have not shown any ability to score against a good defense. I expect the Eagles D to carry them here.
Ind 31, Chi 20. A kitchen sink game for the Colts; I think this will be a high scoring game and the Bears just don't have enough weapons to keep up.
Ten 24, Mia 20. The Titans are not a horrible team. They have a decent defense, and I think Miami is such a mess themselves defensively that the Titans will be able to move the ball.
Min 24, Hou 16. The key here is for the Texans to limit any turnovers by Brock. He does that, then the Texans could win, but would you count on him not throwing a pick here?
Pit 27, NYJ 17. The Steelers will come backdown to earth a bit....but how can you have faith that the Jets will be able to score when needed?
Den 23, Atl 16. Paxton Lynch starting - it's a good thing the Broncos have a stellar defense. I don't think the Falcons have seen a D close to this level yet this year.
Cin 23, Dal 17. I think the Bengals will grind this one out and win, based on their run game and run defense. They will force Dax to pass - and that will be a bit of a struggle.
LA 24, Buf 13. I still can't trust the Bills to be consistent...2 big wins, you know they will lay an egg here. How are the Rams 3-1????
Oak 34, SD 31. An old-fashioned AFC West shootout. Where is Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen to call this game?
GB 30, NYG 20. God, it's hard to see how the Giants compete here after the awfulness of last Monday night. This will be a good test to see how good the Packers D really is.
Car 28, TB 27. Dear Vegas - I know Derek Anderson. I've seen him. He is a gunslinger, will throw plenty of long passes and will make mistakes too. I expect a high scoring game.
Best bets: 13 of them; last week: 5-6; overall: 23-26-2
Bal -4
Phi -3.5
Ind -4.5
Ten +3
NYJ/Pit under 49
Atl/Den under 45.5
Cin -2
Cin/Dal under 45
LA +1
SD/Oak over 51
GB -7
TB +4
TB/Car over 44.5
TB +4
TB/Car over 44.5
My supercontest entries: last week: 3-2, overall: 10-10
Bal -4
Ind -4.5
Ten +3.5
Cin -1
Phi -3
Our official team supercontest entry: last week: 2-3, overall: 10-10
Bal -4
Ten +3.5
Pit -7
SD +3.5
Cin -1
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