October 8:
The Mets jump out in front behind Jacob deGrom. Like last time out, Robbie Ray got the strikeouts, but unlike last time out he gave up a bunch of runs including the Conforto HR that would be all the runs the Mets would need.
October 9:
The White Sox continue their upset ways, winning their fourth straight by taking Game 1 against the Yankees. It was a tense 2-1 affair through 8 innings before the AI manager went all Grady Little and left Gerrit Cole in the game in the 9th despite allowing 2 hits. Sure enough Eloy Jimenez took him deep for a 3-run shot and a 5-1 lead. But the Sox needed every one of those runs as the Yankees mounted a rally off Ian Hamilton and Jake Woodford. Codi Heuer finally put out the fire but not until the Yankees had made it 5-4 with the tying run on base.
Meanwhile, the Mets looked good early to go up 2-0 as Conforto homered again in the first and the Mets were rolling behind Noah Syndergaard into the 6th. But $324 million dollar man Mookie Betts got the Braves going as he led off the 6th with a single, stole second and went to third on a bad Wilson Ramos throw, went on to score and then Freddie Freeman went deep to tie it. Two innings later, the Braves erupted against Edwin Diaz with Freeman continuing his red-hot postseason by capping the 4-run rally with a bases-clearing double so the series is now tied at 1 going back to New York.
October 10:
OK there can be no question now that OOTP is basing its AI version of Aaron Boone on Grady Little (note the irony). For the second straight game a Yankee pitcher was left in way too long in the 9th, this time Corey Kluber. I can maybe see him starting the 9th when he was pitching a shutout and was right around 100 pitches. But after two straight singles to lead off the 9th? After a walk to load the bases? Nope, still in there and sure enough he served up a grand slam to Eloy Jimenez. He still stayed in, allowing an infield hit after getting an out and finally Chapman came in. And thanks to a great outing from Jose Quintana (9 Ks in 5 2/3) and 3 1/3 hitless innings of relief from Rowan Wick and Ian Hamilton, the White Sox are up 2-0 going back to Chicago and the Yankees now have to win 4 out of 5.
October 11:
A good old-fashioned tightly-played low-scoring playoff game that sees the Braves take a 2-1 series lead. Mookie Betts' HR off Sandy Alcantara in the 3rd stood up as enough to win, although Austin Riley added one off Seth Lugo to make it 2-0 in the 9th. The bad news for the Braves, though, is that ace starter Mike Soroka had to leave the game in the 4th inning with a yet-to-be-diagnosed injury. That could be costly for this series as well as the World Series should they make it. Today, though, Drew Steckenrider, Ian Anderson and Will Smith picked up the slack and helped combine for the shutout. Meanwhile, the Mets could use some more production from their star power hitter Pete Alonso, who's only hitting .133 with 1 HR (in the Dodgers series) so far in the playoffs.
October 12:
The unthinkable is about to happen. The White Sox, who were down 0-2 in their series to Houston and down 5-1 in the middle innings of Game 3, have now won 6 straight and are one game away from the World Series. Lucas Giolito was great for Chicago, striking out 11 in 6 2/3, and the rag-tag White Sox bullpen came through again. The only dark cloud for Chicago was that Yoan Moncada had to leave the game with an injury. The Yankees now have to do what the Red Sox did to them in 2004, the only time in MLB history a team has come back from 0-3 down to win a best-of-7.
Speaking of being one step away from the World Series the Braves beat the Mets in what was essentially a carbon copy of Game 3, as Mike Foltynewicz went 7 2/3 shutout innings to lead the Braves to a 3-1 game win and series lead. Willy Adames had a big RBI double to put the Braves up 1-0 where it stood for 6, Austin Riley produced run #2 once again, and Jasseel de la Cruz got his first postseason save despite allowing a Pete Alonso HR to lose the team shutout. But unfortunately for Atlanta one aspect of Game 4 that was also a copy of Game 3 was that they lost a key player to injury; this time it was Mookie Betts joining Mike Soroka on the shelf. Both of their diagnoses are pending, so potentially not good news. Also coming out of the game hurt was Mets emergency starter Steven Gonzales (filling in for the injured Rick Porcello) who threw 5 2/3 innings of one-hit, one-run ball before having to leave. If the Mets don't win the next 3, though, he'll have all off-season to recover from whatever ails him.
October 13:
KEY INJURY UPDATES: Soroka is still "diagnosis pending" which 3 days later is never good for a pitcher so I'm not expecting him back this postseason. Mookie Betts is day-to-day (moderate) for 5 days with a strained back, we'll see if the AI tries to play him, and Yoan Moncada is "diagnosis pending" the day after so he won't be in today's lineup.
Before we get into the Braves-Mets game today, here's Game 4 of White Sox-Yankees in a little more detail, complete with win probability chart:
Holy Crap! I'm not sure I've seen a crazier game. I watched this game play out over the first two innings with the Yankees going up 11-0 so I decided to jump ahead to the 6th inning. My jaw dropped when I saw it was 11-10. And then Nick Madrigal homered to tie it, and Greg Garcia (filling in for the injured Moncada), drove in the winning run in the 7th and the White Sox completed the most improbable sweep in the most improbable fashion. Gleyber Torres and Thairo Estrada chased Dallas Keuchel in the 2nd with three-run homers, Stanton hit one and the Yankees kept pounding as it looked like they'd emphatically keep Chicago from sweeping. Even after the Sox got 4 in the 3rd off Trevor Bauer you had to figure it wasn't going to mean anything. But then they had the big 6-run 5th to get back within a run with Jose Abreu hitting a 3-run shot after his solo blast earlier, and that White Sox bullpen did it again, shutting out the Yankees over the last 7 1/3. If this were real life "11-0" would become the new "28-3" among sports fans, most of whom have a healthy dislike of the Yankees.
Before that insane Yankees-White Sox game, Game 5 of the Mets-Braves series would have been notable in its own right. The Braves had to feel like they had one foot in the World Series when they got to Jacob deGrom for 3 runs by the 4th to go up 3-1 but a key Willy Adames error and a meltdown from Robbie Ray let the Mets jump ahead in the bottom of the frame. Ray walked three straight, the last two coming with the bases loaded, and then reliever Ian Anderson walked in another run and the Mets were up 6-3. But the Braves weren't done against deGrom and touched him for two more runs in the 6th to claw back within 6-5. But then Tommy Pham went to work with a 2-run shot, Billy McKinney followed suit with a solo shot of his own and the Mets were on their way to an 11-5 win. Mookie Betts did play hurt, and was 1 for 4 with an RBI single. Noah Syndergaard will try to keep the Mets alive in a couple of days in Game 6 in Atlanta.
October 14:
No games today, but some injury updates: Lost in the crazy 11-10 White Sox Game 4 win over the Yankees was that Luis Robert had to come out injured, and he's headed to the IL with a sore groin so count him out of the World Series. He was one of the few Sox struggling this postseason so it's unsure how much he'll be missed. Moncada's diagnosis is still pending which isn't good. The same goes for Atlanta's Mike Soroka and it's day 4 after his injury.
October 15:
Today's injury updates: Soroka was finally diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back and will be out 2 weeks. While this is bad news, keeping him out of the World Series and/or a Game 7 with the Mets, at least it's not a serious arm injury. Moncada has a fractured foot and is also out two weeks so he will miss the WS as well.
After the Yankees blew an 11-0 lead to be swept by the White Sox, Edwin Diaz said "hold my beer". With the Mets seemingly in control and ready to force a Game 7, Diaz was torched for 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th as the Braves came back to win 8-7 and take the NL pennant in 6 games, where they will play the Cinderella White Sox. Travis d'Arnaud was the hero for Atlanta, homering in the 7th off Noah Syndergaard to get the Braves within 7-4 and then hit a bases-clearing double off Diaz to tie the game before Mookie Betts doubled him home. What I'd give for OOTP to have a sports talk module as the New York airwaves would be going ballistic with this game and the Yankees' meltdown. The unsung heroes here were the Atlanta relievers, who shut the Mets out over the final 5 1/3 innings to allow their teammates to come back after Bryce Wilson and Tooki Toussaint put them in the hole.