Fan Interference

Scouts: Happy Tuesday brothers and sisters! We have a few teams officially eliminated from the playoffs, the Red Sox, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Pirates were the first to fall. On the bubble are the Royals, Tigers, Orioles, Mets, and Nationals. As we near the season’s conclusion, what are your thoughts on how the season was handled? I personally, still wish they had just cancelled the thing. I was not a huge fan of the 7 inning double headers and the expanded rosters that allowed managers to throw relief pitchers around like they were candy on Halloween. Personally I didn’t mind the NL DH, although that will forever be a hot topic for some. Was there any other particular change you liked or despised?

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Phillies 1 Nationals 5 – Prof: Whew, it’s rough for Philadelphia fans. Bryce Harper went hitless, and while Mickey Moniak scored on a balk, he also committed an error that led to a Nats run. Not that the Phillies weren’t in bad shape before that happened, but still. Not a good look.

White Sox 4, Spiders 7 – Scouts: Tough loss for the Sox as they fall to a 1.5 game lead over the idle Twins. The Spiders move to reduce their magic number to 1. Jose Ramirez got the Spiders off to an early lead with a 3 run homer in the first, and it was all down hill from there until Carlos Santana hit a two run shot in the 5th that was just icing on the cake.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 11 – Scouts: The Yankees are starting to come back down to earth after their insane 384 home run in 10 game run while Toronto is starting to pick up some steam headed into the final week of the season. At this point neither team is likely to move from their current playoff chances, so the game is to get hot while avoiding any major injuries. The middle of the Blue Jay order went 9-17 with 9 RBI’s which seems pretty darn hot to me.

Brewers 3, Reds 6 – Prof: Cincinnati is now over .500 for the first time since Opening Day, and Milwaukee keeps grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. The Brew Crew is playing uninspired baseball and their playoff dreams are going up in smoke. But let’s give credit where it’s due, and that’s the surging Redstockings. All homers, all the time, capped off by the Moose and his 3 run dinger.

Cubs 5, Pirates 0 – Prof: Baby Babe Ruth Schwarbs with two RBI and an effective outing featuring Jon Lester as Chicago hands Pittsburgh their 13th loss in 14 games. Imagine being a Pirate fan. The sadness. I feel for y’all, you deserve better. A team with so much history and this is what you’re getting. A damn shame.

Marlins 4, Braves 5 – Prof: All the excitement happened in the first inning. The Feesh had three singles converted, then Atlanta roared back with two singles and a double. Pretty much everyone in a Braves uniform pitched. Freddie Freeman didn’t have a good night but he’s still a prime candidate for NL MVP.

Rays 2 Mets 1 – Prof: deGrom deServes better. The man struck out 14 of Tampa Bay’s finest sea creatures and still gets the loss. If it wasn’t for Jeff McNeil the Mets wouldn’t have scored at all. I wonder if Trout and deGrom get together during the off-season and kvetch about teammates letting them down?

Cardinals 1, Royals 4 – Scouts: Big loss for the Cardinals, who now hold just a half game lead over the Reds, and a 1 game lead over the Brewers. These are the games you absolutely gotta win. Maikel Franco, who was fighting off a leg injury came up big with the go ahead single in the 6th.

Rangers 5, Angels 8 – Prof: An Angel, not named Trout or Rendon, hit a grand slam. Since the Rangers complained about Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr hitting that 3-count bomb against them, how many grand slams have they been on the bad end of? Y’all shoulda sat there and ate your food. Seven Angel runs in the fourth inning, and none by the usual suspects. Dylan Bundy secures the W, pitching better in LA than he has virtually anywhere else.

Astros 1, Mariners 6 – Scouts: Marco Gonzales pitched himself a stellar game, shutting out the Astros over 8 innings, picking up his 7th win on the year and his first career win over the Astros.

Rockies 7, Giants 2 – Scouts: Colorado is trying to keep hope alive, even if it’s of the slimmest of margins. They spread the love around as 5 of the 9 starters picked up at least one RBI, and German Marquez was able to hold off the Giants over 6 innings allowing just a single run. Colorado is now 2.5 games back from the final Wild Card spot, and will almost certainly need to sweep the Giants with three games left to play in the series.