Three teams down, nine to go. The Blue Jays were one of my postseason sleepers, and so were the Cardinals. Oh, they’re sleeping, alright. Welcome to the cruel, cruel postseason.
We’re recapping the Wild Card round, and you can find the first installment here.
Cleveland vs. Tampa Bay: Guardians outlast Rays in marathon win, move on to ALDS
The Guardians defeated the Rays, 1-0, on a 15th-inning walk-off homer from Oscar González. This was just the 14th series-ending walk-off homer in baseball history. As a fan of pitcher’s duels and clean baseball, that sounds like the most exciting postseason game the world has ever seen. But I’m conflicted.
In yesterday’s recap, we exhorted the baseball purity of the Guardians and Rays. Both teams pitch well, catch the ball, field, steal bases and don’t hit that many home runs. This series was the 1985 World Series, and Onix Concepción was hitting against Bob Forsch. Everyone loves that kind of baseball, right?
Except it’s not 1985. It’s very much 2022. Fundamental baseball only goes so far when these teams have a procession of relievers that average roughly four strikeouts per inning. There are still so, so many missed bats. Because the hitters are laser-focused on hitting hittable pitches — like they should be — they’re spitting on the bad strikes, too. If a pitcher nails the bottom-outside part of the zone for a called strike, well, bully for him. Can’t do damage on that kind of pitch anyway.
That’s a template for winning baseball. If you’re a pitcher, you hit the corners. If you’re a hitter, you wait for the mistake and hit the mistake. Today’s game, more than ever, is an exercise in patience.
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