Scouts: Well, we have almost made it to the end. Just one more He Said, She Said for the regular season, and I gotta say I’m looking forward to it. 2020 is the year we all will collectively drink to forget, but I gotta say, it certainly has been a very unique experience.
Marlins 4, Braves 2 – Scouts: These two teams could very well meet in the NLDS this year and while the Braves have a slight edge, it could very well go either way at this point. Pable Anderson was able to hold off the Braves offense allowing just two hits over 5 innings, which is exactly the sort of performance you want entering into the playoffs.
Orioles 13, Red Sox 1 – Prof: Alex Cobb goes seven innings and the young core of this rebuilding Baltimore squad goes HAM. Jose Iglesias, Pat Valaika, and Austin Hays all with homers.
Yankees 1, Blue Jays 4 – Scouts: Toronto cemented what we all already knew. They’ll be the 8th and final seed for the AL side of the playoff picture. They will likely have to face Tampa Bay, so they are gonna have their work cut out for them. Hyun Jin Ryu threw a 7 inning shutout allowing just 5 hits to a Yankee offense that’s been on fire as of late.
White Sox 4, Spiders 5 – Scouts: Chicago has completed an absolutely astounding collapse, allowing the Spiders to complete a 4 game sweep, which has dropped Chicago out of the Division lead, into the 4th seed, with the potential to fall all the way down to 7th if they can’t turn things around against the Cubs. They have lost 5 straight and the team and fans are all starting to feel the pressure. The wheels came off this one when Rick Renteria yanked Dallas Keuchel out in the 7th. All Dallas did was throw a 4 hit, 1 run ballgame. Immediately the bullpen came in and blew a 3 run lead, and the knives are out in Chicago.
Mets 3, Nationals 2 – Prof: Did we think that the Mets might still be in playoff hopes while the Nats missed the boat? Nope. Probably not even the Mets thought that would happen. Keeping hope alive, Robinson Chirinos did it all for New York, ending the night 2-4 with 3 RBI.
Brewers 2, Cardinals 4 – Scouts: Milwualkee is pretty much playing .500 ball these days, have lost their last two games, and shockingly are still not eliminated from the playoffs, just a game back from the final Wild Card spot. Dylon Carlson picked up 3 RBI’s on a double and a homer. Despite being the current 5th seed in the NL, the Cards still have a real shot at not making the playoffs, despite being the ones in the driver seat.
Rockies 5, Giants 4 F/11 – Prof: Colorado playing spoiler tends to be an ever present theme at this time of the year. This time, the victim was San Francisco, who is clawing tooth and nail to get to a wild card position. However, this loss to the Purple Dinos puts a kink in the plan. Raiment Tapia
Cubs 0, Pirates 7 – Scouts: Chicago’s not going anywhere, so it’s just about staying healthy, so in that respect they accomplished their mission. Although I’m pretty sure they didn’t really want Chad Kuhl to throw a 7 inning, 2 hit shutout. I’m also sure giving up 7 to the Pirates wasn’t in the playbook either. The question now is will the Cubs play spoiler for the White Sox?
Athletics 1, Dodgers 5 – Scouts: I mean, sure, what’s one more win for the pile. LA picked up win number 40 thanks in part to Walker Buehler’s return. Buehler threw 4 strong 1 hit innings, striking out 6. Corey Seager picked up his 15th homer in the win.
Astros 12, Rangers 4 – Scouts: Looks like Houston took out some frustrations, while dropping their magic number to 1, although let’s be honest there is absolutely no way that the Angels are going to overtake anyone at this point. Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, and George Springer all picked up 3 RBI’s each.
Tigers 7, Royals 8 – Scouts: Sorry guys, I just can’t really get motivated to write about this game. Miguel Cabrera and Wili Castro both had 3 RBI’s for the Tigers, while Maikel Franco, Salvador Perez, and Adalberto Mondesi tallied up 7 between the three.
Fan Interference 
It will be an angst-filled weekend in Chicago. Both the White Sox and Cubs are slumping. The Sox have fallen out of first, and the Cubs are stuck on a magic number of one.
Assuming both the Cards and Reds lose at least one, the Cubs would still enter the playoffs as division champs via the back door. Up until now, MLB has said the Card would only play the double header in Detroit Monday if it impacted whether they got into the playoffs, not seeding. I’m not sure if that would include trying to win the division in the event the White Sox dominate the Cubs and put the NL Central within reach (magic number for the Cubs to make that moot is 3).
As mentioned above, the White Sox themselves are slumping, and could end up anywhere from the first to 7th seed dependent upon their performance this weekend, which they enter on a 5 game losing streak. As I said, angst all around in Chicago; what fun that it’s each other that they’re playing!
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Well, after game 1, White Sox fans’ angst is ratcheting way up…and Cubs fans’ are feeling better after the Cubs walloped the White Sox 10-0 behind a dominant performance by Yu Darvish.
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I mean, I know the Tigers stink, but it’s not like we’re the worst out there and there has been some interesting stuff going on with us. Sheesh. O’s fans should not throw shade.
Notably, Miggy had A BIG BOMB last night — it had power and distance like the old days. It was so nice to see again. It was his second game in a row that he homered — and the day before yesterday was actually a 2-HR game (3 runs apiece) for him. It was like 2014 all over again. Miggy was the offense and everyone else was hacking at crap.
Obviously, the Tigers are not finishing strong, which is partly due to some injuries. Next year will definitely be better — unless they keep Lloyd as manager…or even worse: The Return of DKB!!! Please, no! I’d say we’d improve by the subtraction of Fuck Barmer alone, but the odds they pick up options better than George on the cheap are not great, especially as the Tigers’ FO’s weakness continues to be building a BP. (I feel like that’s universal though.)
Pluses going into this weekend: we finish strong in the booth with Gibby heart emoji heart emoji and we don’t have to listen to any more of Jack’s sexist crap (“this is a girl conversation” — screw you, bud). Unfortunately, Shep will be there — which is really grating on Paper, who mocks his “stress” pauses after numbers (Miggy’s 10th pause HR…of the year). Shep is the William Shatner of play-by-play guys — but not in a good way. Why can’t they find a smart woman who knows sports to sit with Gibby? That would be fabulous. It’s like a bro chat right now — and Gibby is the least bro-y of all of them! Urgh.
As I told my friend (O’s fan) last night, this weekend is pure baseball. Nothing is riding on the games. It’s just pure, for the love of having games baseball. Paper and I are scheduling around our final games, and will be blissfully hate-watching as true fans taking that last bitter sip before the long off-season deprives us of even crappy Tigers/Cards baseball.
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I was never “throwing shade”, just simply commenting that it’s a game between two teams that are already out of the playoffs without many exciting players, and honestly not that exciting of a matchup unless you are a diehard fan of either team. It’s hard enough writing recaps for every single game every day and still keep excitement levels up. And it’s been especially difficult this year, as it really hasn’t felt right all year long.
It was nothing personal against either team or fanbase, it just wasn’t a game that was very exciting. To be fair, I also have no interest in the Orioles v Red Sox series or the Nats Mets series. (Other than deGrom.)
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Also, after months of working at home, it finally dawned on me that I could leave comments during the day, and so for the last month, I’ve read the post and intended to comment every day. But, I get busy and don’t get to it.
Is anyone else that’s working from home having a hard time with balancing work right now? I’m working so hard every day. Many of my co-workers obviously aren’t and I am just not finding a comfortable balance. My stress (and anxiety) has been through the roof trying to keep up. So, being here today, means a small victory — at the end of the season. 😦
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For me it’s helped that I turned a spare room into an office/gym. So I dress for work like normal, and this is my work space. Then at the end of the day I change and do my daily workout. Then I head out of the room and mentally I’m off work.
Personally, the thing I’m struggling with the most is I seem to be busier than ever. I have less of my day wasted, which makes it harder for me to write the blog, because I always do that in the mornings. So I feel like I have to rush through the blog, to get to work, or sometimes put the blog on pause while I’m working on 15 things, and then the next thing I know it’s past lunch.
I think stress and anxiety is super high for a lot of people, for a long list of reasons. We can’t relax the way we normally do. We feel trapped in our offices all the time. Co-workers slack off, meaning we pick up the slack. We can’t go on vacation because there’s no where to go. The world has been in constant peril for well over a year now, and we can’t blow off steam like we used to. You can’t safely go to a bar or dinner or a ballgame or a concert or a show. And everything is so politicized these days. Everyone is feeling angry and stressed and there’s this toxic cloud surrounding everything. There is no refuge. All we can do is be there for one another, look for the positives in life, and try to find new ways to find joy in the world.
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No chance the Angels get in the playoffs—one win by the Astros or one loss against the Dodgers, and they’re out. Still, at least a little fun that they enter the final weekend slightly alive although mostly dead.
It doesn’t help their chances, or Miracle Max’s of reviving them, that Andrelton Simmons chose to opt out with only 5 games to go. In this weird year, everyone basically gets a free pass with the opt out thing, but as a pending free agent it’s pretty obvious he’s just not taking a chance at injuring himself right at the end of the season regardless of how his team is doing. Obviously he’s not in an Angels uni next season, or he probably would not have done that. He had 1.9 WAR last year, 0.5 this year in 30 games—good but not the all star level he was previously. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deal he gets.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DsTr89bjfUg0uN4i4z9f8c1O7KkUz9Ki9OUjE9PzHeK2se82qFWklziiq3D6QCOoWqsu
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If you had asked me a month ago who would get eliminated first, the Orioles or the Angels, I would never have said the Angels, and that’s surprising on multiple levels.
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