The OOTP AI Still Cheats!!!---MLB & The NY METS 2018

[rjl518]

LA Angels 2
HOU Astros 1
Minute Maid Park

The Angels take out last year's champs as they win a tough pitcher's series over HOU!

For LAA:
Matt Shoemaker got the win, his 1st of the Postseason as he was on his game tonight.
He gives up 1 run on 2 hits as he kept the Astros lineup off-balance the entire game.
Keynan Middleton got his 2nd save of the Playoffs.
Andrelton Simmons (1) and Kurt Suzuki (1) get the big HRs needed to win the game.
Simmons also gets the Golden Bat for the night with that big leadoff HR to start the contest.

For HOU:
Brady Rogers also pitched well, only giving up the two HRs and 3 extra hits.
But the Astros bats just weren't there.
In this series, 3 HOU players were .000 in average and that is just not going to get it done.
They were completely shut down by Angels pitching and the Astros are now home for the holidays!

LA Angels WINS ALWS 2-1!

[rjl518]

We now move on to the 2nd round of the Postseason.
The NL Wildcard Champion ARZ Diamondbacks will play the NY Mets.
The CHI Cubs will go to SoCal to play the LA Dodgers.
The TOR Blue Jays will stay in the northwest to face off against the MIN Twins.
The AL Wildcard Champion LA Angels will stay in the Lone Star state to play the TEX Rangers.

[rjl518]

The first obstacle for the Mets to overcome is the D-backs.
There is NO WAY that we should lose this series.
Im not saying that we will sweep, but there is NO excuse here.
We were 5-2 versus ARZ this season, so they can beat us for sure.
Paul Goldschmidt, AJ Pollock and Steven Souza can do the damage, while Robbie Ray and Taijuan Walker can clean it up.
Strasburg, Kluber and Sale are the starters for this series with Kershaw in reserve for a Game 4 if necessary.

Game 1 is tomorrow night @ Citi Field!

[rjl518]

Maybe the most interesting series of the entire MLB Division Round!
The Cubs and Dodgers will lock horns for this best of five starting in Chavez Ravine.

For CHC:
Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Willson Contreras will have to produce to get past Dodger pitching.
Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ can send some baseballs to the Moon if you are not careful.
Anthony Rizzo is a run scoring machine as well.
The mound is strong as Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish will be looking to keep the Dodgers at bay.
Not to mention Dallas Kuechel and Jon Lester of course.

For LAD:
Justin Turner, Yasiel Puig and Cody Bellinger will definitely be scoring some runs.
Yasmani Grandal can hit the long-ball too.
Ross Stripling, Kenta Maeda and ex-Met Jacob deGrom will get the starts for this series and they are more than capable of sending the Cubs home for the winter.
This series i think is going the distance!

Game 1 is tomorrow night @ Dodger Stadium!

[rjl518]

ARZ Diamondbacks 2
NY METS 7
Citi Field

The Mets go bombs away on the D-Backs to take 1-0 NLDS lead.

For NYM:
Stephen Strasburg gives up 1 earned run on 6 hits.
With 7 strikeouts, he did keep ARZ at bay.
Bryce Harper hits his 1st HR of the playoffs, but Freddie Freeman hits TWO dingers tonight.
He gets the Golden Bat easily going 4-4, 2 runs scored, 2 HRs and 3 RBIs.

For ARZ:
Shelby Miller had a tough night going 3.1 innings and giving up 5 runs on 8 hits.
Alex Avila hits his 1st HR of the playoffs in the losing cause.
Nick Ahmed went 2-3 tonight.

We are off to a good start so lets keep it going!

NY METS Lead NLDS 1-0!

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Citi Field!

[rjl518]

CHI Cubs 6
LA Dodgers 7
Dodger Stadium

Another crazy playoff game as the Dodgers come back and take a 1-0 NLDS lead.

For CHC:
Jose Quintana got off a great start and then the wheels came off.
He gives up 3 earned runs on 5 hits, but then the bullpen fails him.
The Cubs hit some long-balls tonight as Kyle Schwarber (1), Kris Bryant (1) and Willson Contreras (1) all went deep.
But the Cubs come up short in this one after taking a quick 3-0 lead.

For LAD:
Jacob deGrom gives up 3 runs on 6 hits thru 5 innings of work.
But it is Nate Jones who gets the win, his 1st and Hansel Robles gets his 1st save of the playoffs.
But the Golden Bat goes to ex-Met Francisco Lindor, who sent TWO HRs into the stands,
He went 2-3 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored.
Enrique Hernandez also hit his 1st HR of the playoffs tonight.

This is going to be a crazy series between these two.

LA Dodgers Lead NLDS 1-0!

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Dodger Stadium!

[rjl518]

Two teams that seem to be an afterthought in the MLB Postseason.

For TOR:
The hitting might be hard to come by as it will be up to Kevin Pillar, Troy Tulowitski and Justin Smoak to get on base. Their averages for the season clearly average.
Randal Grichuk will have to bring in the runs.
Marcus Stroman is the ace of the staff, but who will rise up to the occasion?

For MIN:
Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Joe Mauer can get on base and score some runs.
The Twins can deliver a lot of baseballs into the stands with Miguel Sano and Brian Dozier hitting them there.
The pitching is average so Jose Berrios and Michael Pineda will have to be in top form.

Who knows where this series will go?

Game 1 is tomorrow night @ Target Field!

[rjl518]

When two division rivals face off in a Postseason series, anything can happen!

For LAA:
Coming off an ALWS upset over the Astros, it will be up to Andrelton Simmons and Ian Kinsler to get the Halos past the Rangers.
Justin Upton, Kole Calhoun and Luis Valbuena will need to hit the ball hard and far.
Matt Shoemaker, Shohei Ohtani and Steven Matz will have to bring the heat.

For TEX:
This team can hit the ball very well as Nomar Mazara, Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor are the big hitters for a rested TEX team.
Don't count out Joey Gallo either as he will send baseballs into orbit.
If there is a weakness to TEX, its pitching as they will have to hope that Mike Minor, Doug Fister and Martin Perez can have some good games in this series.

This is another set of games that has me guessing who the winner could be.

Game 1 is tomorrow night @ Globe Life Park in Arlington!

[rjl518]

ARZ Diamondbacks 4
NY METS 6
Citi Field

A game that maybe ARZ should have won, but my Mets take it from them.

For ARZ:
Robbie Ray really kept the Mets off balance, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts.
But it was Archie Bradley who blew his 1st save and took his 1st loss.
Alex Avila went 3-4 tonight and Steven Souza continues to have a good postseason, 2-4 with an RBI.
But the D-Backs will feel this loss on the plane ride back to the desert.

For NYM:
Corey Kluber goes 7 and gives up 3 runs on 8 hits, 9 strikeouts, but gets the no-decision.
The win goes to Luis Severino with Ken Giles getting a Hold and Zach Britton and Kenley Jansen combining to get the save, even though Jansen got the stat.
The Mets lineup came alive in the late innings as Josh Donaldson (1) smacked a BIG 2-run HR to give the Mets the lead.
Then Freddie Freeman (3) hit a HR for insurance.
He has 3 HRs already this postseason.
Giancarlo Stanton (1) hits his 1st HR of the playoffs as well.
Freeman gets the Golden Bat once again, 2nd day in a row.

Its now on to the desert to see if we can close the series out there.

NY METS Lead NLDS 2-0!

Game 3 is Tuesday night @ Chase Field!

[rjl518]

TOR Blue Jays 3
MIN Twins 4
Target Field

The Blue Jays lead most of the game but fail to get the final out as MIN Robbie Grossman wins it for the Twins in the bottom of the 9th!

For TOR:
JA Happ goes 6 and gives up 2 runs on 5 hits.
But Darren O' Day comes in for one batter and loses the game.
All three runs scored by TOR were on HRs.
Devon Travis (1), Curtis Granderson (1) and Russell Martin (1) all send one out.
Martin was 3-4 for the game.

For MIN:
Not a good outing by Jose Berrios.
He went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits.
But it was Trevor Hildenberger who got the win courtesy of Robbie Grossman.
Grossman was 2-4 with 2 hits including the game-winner.
He gets the Golden Bat with no argument.

Can the Blue Jays rebound from this tough loss?

MIN Twins Lead ALDS 1-0!

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Target Field!

[rjl518]

LA Angels 3
TEX Rangers 11
Globe Life Park

TEX Martin Perez goes the distance as the Rangers make a series statement over the Angels!

For LAA:
They tried to keep it close but to no avail.
Garrett Richards gave up 6 runs on 6 hits thru 4 innings of work.
Zack Cosart hit his 1st HR of the playoffs while going 3-4 tonight.
Being the only bright spot for the Angels.

For TEX:
They went deep today at the plate and on the mound.
Martin Perez pitched 9 innings and gave up 3 runs on 10 hits.
The Rangers hit the long-ball as Tommy Joseph (1),and Robinson Chirinos (1,2) dealt out the punishment.
Chirinos gets the Golden Bat with 2-3 night and 3 RBIs.

The Rangers had their way with the Angels tonight. Can the Halos bounce back?

TEX Rangers Lead ALDS 1-0!

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Globe Life Park!

[rjl518]

CHI Cubs 5
LA Dodgers 8
Dodger Stadium

The Dodgers take the 2nd game of the NLDS with a pretty good bashing of the Cubs!

For CHC:
Rough night for Dallas Kuechel, who went 4 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits.
The bullpen was no help either as Cole Hamels came in relief and gave up 3 more runs.
Kris Bryant (2) and Jason Heyward (1) hit a HR each, but it was not enough.
Bryant had 2 hits tonight, but the rest of the Cubs lineup was kept pretty quiet.

For LAD:
Alex Wood goes 6.1 innings and allows 3 runs on 6 hits.
Chris Taylor had a monster night for the Dodgers going 4-4 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs and his 1st HR of the playoffs.
Definitely the Golden Bat winner for this game.
Logan Forsythe helped out the LAD with his 1st HR of the postseason as well.

The Cubs are now in a big hole. Will the Windy City help them climb out of it?

LA Dodgers Lead NLDS 2-0!

Game 3 is Tuesday night @ Wrigley Field!

[rjl518]

TOR Blue Jays 4
MIN Twins 5
Target Field

The Twins take a commanding lead in the ALDS thanks to some great pitching by Michael Pineda!

For TOR:
Even though they almost made a comeback, the Blue Jays were pretty much dominated by MIN.
Marco Estrada went 4.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 9 hits.
Nolan Arenado (1) and Russell Martin (2) did provide some excitement with a couple of HRs for the Blue Jays.
But such was not to be as they fell short on the comeback.

For MIN:
Michael Pineda gave up 2 runs on 6 hits thru 7 innings of hard work.
He was on his game though as TOR had issues getting hits off him until the late innings.
The bullpen gave up the other two runs but they were able to close the door.
The Twins were sending out more baseballs to the fans as Byron Buxton (1), Miguel Sano (1) and Brian Dozier (1) were in the HR giving mood.

Can MIN complete the sweep in Canada?

MIN Twins Lead ALDS 2-0!

Game 3 is Wednesday night @ Rogers Centre!

[rjl518]

LA Angels 5
TEX Rangers 6
Globe Life Park

With the Rangers taking a 2-0 lead in the ALDS, the end could be near for the Angels.

For LAA:
Shohei Ohtani got the start and was it not what he expected.
He gives up 6 runs on 9 hits thru 5 innings.
The bullpen did stop the bleeding, but the Angels could not catch up.
Zack Cosart (2), Kurt Suzuki (2)and Ian Kinsler (1) hit some long HRs and even managed to give the LAA the lead, but they could not hold it.

For TEX:
Mike Minor got the start and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits.
Keone Kela got the save, his 1st of the playoffs.
While the Angels did their damage with HRs, the Rangers won the game with small-ball as all 6 runs were scored on doubles or less.
Yoenis Cespedes was 2-3 with a run scored and 2 RBIs.

The Rangers are in firm control and now head to SoCal to finish the job. Can they do it?

TEX Rangers Lead ALDS 2-0!

Game 3 is Wednesday night @ Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Side Note:
With the Rangers winning this game, ALL home teams have a 2-0 lead in each series.
Very interesting so far.
The only team to win a game as a visitor was the LAA over HOU in the ALWS.
Lets see how long this goes!

[rjl518]

LA Dodgers 6
CHI Cubs 5
Wrigley Field

The Dodgers get out the brooms and sweep the Cubs right out of the playoffs!

For LAD:
Ross Stripling went 4.2 and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits, but it was Nate Jones who got his 2nd win of the playoffs and Kevin Comer, his 1st save.
The Dodgers went deep a lot in this one as the HR was the flavor of the night.
Yasiel Puig (1), Logan Forsythe 2 (2,3), and Justin Turner (1) wanted to make sure that there would not be a Game 4 in the Windy City.
Forsythe, who two HRs tonight was the man of the hour and i will give him the Series MVP as well.

For CHC:
They got out of the gate quick as Yu Darvish gave up only 2 runs on 4 hits.
But he was taken out early as Pedro Strop got credited with the loss and Justin Wilson, the blown save.
The Cubs did their own hitting as well as Anthony Rizzo hit 2 HRs also and Willson Contreras hit one out too.
But it was just too little too late as the Cubs are done for the year.
What did them in?
Well if you look at the series ERA for Cubs pitching, that might tell you the story.
They couldn't get anyone out.

The Dodgers will now wait for the winner of the NYM-ARZ NLDS!

LA Dodgers WINS NLDS 3-0!

[rjl518]

NY METS 3
ARZ Diamondbacks 6
Chase Field

The Diamondbacks get the win to extend the series over the Mets. (AI CHEATS!)

For NYM:
Chris Sale gives up 3 runs on 7 hits with 8 strikeouts, but once again, he gets no run support.
Noah Syndergaard took the loss in relief.
Corey Seager (1) and Mike Trout (1) hit a couple of HRs.
But we could not get ahead in this game as ARZ pitching kept us kind of off-balance.

For ARZ:
Zack Godley does a pretty good job, only giving up 3 runs on 8 hits.
Archie Bradley got the win, his 2nd.
He also came through with a big 2-RBI double in the 8th, a relief pitcher. (AI CHEATS!!)
Steven Souza killed us all game long as he went 3-4, a HR, his 2nd and 2 RBIs.

Can the D-Backs, with the help of the OOTP AI, tie this series up?

NY METS Lead NLDS 2-1!

Game 4 is tomorrow night @ Chase Field!

[rjl518]

MIN Twins 2
TOR Blue Jays 4
Rogers Centre

The Blue Jays live to fight another day with a 4-2 win over the Twins!

For MIN:
The start went to Adalberto Mejia, who went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs on 3 hits.
He did get credited with a huge error that allowed the Blue Jays to score two runs in the 3rd.
The bullpen did a fine job holding the game but the runs just didn't get there today.
The Twins lineup was pretty quiet tonight and they did leave 8 men on base!
That is not going to get it done.

For TOR:
Dylan Bundy went 6 innings and gave up only 2 runs on 6 hits.
Roberto Osuna picked up his 1st save of the postseason and he is hoping for a few more.
Troy Tulowitzki hits his 1st HR of the playoffs while going 2-2 with 2 RBIs and walking twice.

Can the Blue Jays even up the series?

MIN Twins Lead ALDS 2-1!

Game 4 is tomorrow night @ Rogers Centre!

[rjl518]

NY METS 1
ARZ Diamondbacks 2
Chase Field

The Mets lineup has disappeared as the Diamondbacks even up the series! (AI CHEATS!)

For NYM:
Clayton Kershaw was outstanding pitching 5 scoreless innings.
The bullpen does the job but then Luis Severino comes in and gives up TWO HRs in the 9th to allow the D-Backs to tie the series up.
Josh Donaldson hit his 2nd HR of the playoffs, but the rest of the lineup could not get any runs in.
We left 10 men on base.
Sound familiar OOTP Fans?
Boy this AI is cheating it's A$$ off now!

For ARZ:
Randal Delgado gets the win but the D-Backs pitching staff did a great job holding this All-Star lineup to almost nothing. (AI CHEATS!!)
Paul Goldschmidt (1) got the tying HR and Chris Owings (1) hit the winning HR! (AI CHEATS!!!)

It will be a decisive Game 5 for both teams back in the Big Apple.
But with the OOTP AI, do i stand any chance?

NLDS Tied 2-2!

Game 5 is Friday night @ Citi Field!

Side Note:
We have not lost 3 games in a row all season long!
Does the OOTP AI cheat now for this to happen Friday night?

[rjl518]

TEX Rangers 7
LA Angels 5
Angel Stadium of Anaheim

The Rangers take care of business and broom out the Angels in 3 games to win the ALDS!

For TEX:
Nathan Karns was called upon for the start and he did a great job giving up 2 runs on 7 hits.
The bullpen almost blew the game but they did hold on for the win as Keone Kela got his 2nd save of the playoffs.
Tommy Joseph hit his 2nd HR of the postseason while going 3-5 with 5 RBIs.
He was definitely the man at the plate for today.
OOTP gave the series MVP to Robinson Chirinos but i will give it to Jurickson Profar, who batted .462.
The Angels just could not get him out in this series.

For LAA:
Steven Matz was awful, giving up 4 earned runs on 6 hits.
Why he wasn't taken out earlier i don't know.
He suffered his 2nd loss of the playoffs.
The Angels did make a comeback though on a big 3-run HR by Justin Upton (1).
But it was not to be today.

The Angels are eliminated and the Rangers will now wait to see who wins the MIN-TOR ALDS!

TEX Rangers WINS ALDS 3-0!

[rjl518]

MIN Twins 7
TOR Blue Jays 3
Rogers Centre

TOR had every chance to get into this game, but the Twins do not allow it and move on to the ALCS!

For MIN:
A very well pitched game by Phil Hughes who went 7 innings and gave up 1 earned run on 4 hits.
Eddie Rosario banged his 1st HR of the playoffs.
Miguel Sano was 3-5 with an RBI.
Jorge Polanco was 3-4 with a run scored.
The Twins made sure they got the runs they needed to win this game.
Byron Buxton won the series MVP by OOTP, but i will give it to Jorge Polanco who batted .400 for the 4-game set.

For TOR:
Joe Blagini actually pitched very well early on allowing no runs thru 5 innings.
But then he ran out of gas, giving up 4 runs in the later innings.
Two big errors gave the Twins extra outs and MIN capitalized on them.
Curtis Granderson hit his 2nd HR of the playoffs, but was pretty much meaningless.

The Twins will meet the Rangers in the 2018 AL Championship Series.
Buckle your seat belts for that one!

MIN Twins WINS ALDS 3-1!