Morning after game 7

Bit of a change of pace with this one, as I'm writing about baseball. Might be all over the place as well, since I have a rough idea of what I want to discuss but no outline or anything.

First, I just want to acknowledge the fact that this is the first time I've been cognizant enough to watch every game of a Braves playoff run. From ages 3-7 or whatever (1997-2001) I was aware of the Braves, and was a fan, but to watch these marathon playoff games would be a tough ask for a young kid. This year was the first time I'd actually seen them win a playoff series, much less find themselves a few innings from the World Series.

I want to address is this idea of a window. In sports fandom, you have to convince yourself your team is going to at some point be in the position to achieve its goals, or else what's the point. Looking at this case, the optimism is warranted, considering the ace pitcher (Soroka) was out all year with an Achilles injury, a couple other veteran pitchers never even threw (King Felix and Hamels), and a good part of the team is young. I get that. At the same time, I just think this fanbase should know better than to think things will go to plan. Just look at the Dodgers. They've spent hundreds of millions each year for the past decade and their last ring was 1988. The Yankees spend big and always have, and they last won in 2009. Think of all the teams in the past decade that were good for a while and disappeared. The Giants are the exception, not the rule. I'm referring to the Rangers, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Mets, Tigers, A's, Pirates, Brewers, Twins... I could go on. The point is, all of those teams were legit contenders at one point or another, in recent times, and came away with nothing, and are mediocre (or tanking) now. This is also taking into account how poor the division has been recently, aside from the Nats. I don't think it's at all overreacting to be pissed about this, because our fan base should know how rare postseason success is.

Now, onto what actually frustrated me about the series. There were a number of moments, particularly in the last few games, that were just unnecessary and obviously cost the team. The games all run together. First is that inning that killed game 3, I believe it was. It may have zero significance long term, but I think it's alarming that two years in a row this team has managed to give up 10 runs in an inning. Not just any inning, either, the first inning of a meaningful game. There's the term "shutdown inning" in baseball, which refers to the pitcher not giving up runs immediately after you've scored. For game 2 to end how it did, with the Dodgers nearly coming all the way back after being well beaten for 7+ innings, that is not good, to put it simply. It carried over to the next game, with that ridiculous start effectively ending the game by the time the Braves came to bat for the first time. A positive was how that game ended, as again the momentum (arguable if that's a thing from game to game) carried into game 4, which was a win against Kershaw.

I've realized this is more of a summary of the games, rather than moments, but whatever. Game 5 for me was the turning point. Maybe it's because I missed a couple first innings, two of which included all the runs the Dodgers needed to win those games (3 and 6), but the Braves seemed to lose any offensive impetus after scoring early in games 5 and 7. I even knew, deep down, that the same pattern would play out in game 7 as in game 5. I don't know if it's a sense of complacency, or fear, or something else, but they don't grind out at-bats and the Dodgers come back. That's another thing that I'll cover later. Back to game 5. Actually, I'll also quickly say that I think beating Kershaw was a net negative in this series. They thought they had it won at 3-1, hence why they slacked up and didn't have that same intensity and focus.

Like I explained already, the games run together, but looking at the game 5 box score reminded me of a couple frustrating moments that changed the game. One was the Seager home run at 2-0. What I recall is he hits it, Pache runs back, and instead of imitating Mookie Betts, who arguably won the Dodgers the series with a string of impressive catches, he backs into the wall and flat foots the jump, allowing the ball to go out. It won't show up in the books as an error, obviously, but that's a catchable ball, and the Dodgers were on the ropes. Instead, it's now 2-1, which leads me to the next moment. I'm not sure what built up to it, but it's still 2-1, 6th inning. Will Smith vs Will Smith. Greene had come in in the 5th and did alright, before losing it in the 6th, hence why (lefty) Smith came in. He then walks Muncy, before grooving one to Smith after a long at-bat, and he took full advantage. Looking at the box score, another alarming trend comes to mind, which is runs scored with two outs. I think it's a combination of experience and mentality, because winning teams score more run with two outs than they allow. Game 5, and that Smith at-bat in particular simply won the Dodgers the series, and it came with two outs. What frustrated me most was you have the left on left matchup with Muncy, but you walk him. I turned the game off at that point, as I personally know when games are over, and that was the case there. Dodgers added on and that was that.

Same thing actually happened in game 7, with Smith once again driving in runs in an unnecessary situation for the Braves. Ian Anderson, to me at least, looked cooked in the second inning. I remember remarking at how high his pitch count was, and this was at the start of the third. I don't have enough info to verify whether it's pertinent to shift on a guy like Smith in this situation, but Turner and Muncy were on base, with 2 outs, just like the last time. There's that saying, "fool me once...", and it's fitting that the game was at the Rangers' home field. Anyways, there's a base open, with a swing for the fences hitter on deck, and they decide to pitch to Smith. The inevitable happens, of course, and they tie the game. If I'm sitting on my couch at home, thinking "hey, maybe it's not the best idea to pitch to one of their most in-form hitters in this situation", someone who's been coaching for however many years might think the same thing. I mean, it's easy to second guess or whatever, but they have numerous swing and miss guys, with Smith not being one of them, at least later in this series.

Lastly, and most gut-wrenching as a fan, were the idiotic mistakes, particularly on the bases. If we count games 3 and 6 as a wash (over in first inning), as well as the Atlanta wins (1, 2 and 4), it comes down to 5 and 7, as I alluded to earlier. It's not a coincidence that two baserunning errors killed momentum and shifted the impetus over to the Dodgers. I actually didn't see the first one, the Ozuna one in game 5, but after a quick Google search, it was when he left the base early on the nasty Betts catch with one out in the third. Now, again, having not seen it in the moment, I don't have too much to add. What I will say is that really shouldn't happen at this level, much less in the "final four" as it were, and it kinda brings up an issue with the squad, but I'll address that after the next example. It was also an amazing play by Betts, which is why the Dodgers are once again in the World Series, because they have the best roster in the National League. Fast forward to game 7. This one, well, it's typical Braves. Finding ways to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. It's top 4, square at 2-2 after allowing Smith to do damage once again, with runners on second and third (Riley and Swanson, respectively). There are no outs, which is important, because it's a shut down inning situation for the Dodgers, and the Braves are seriously threatening. Oh, and Riley had already driven in a run (Albies). Mind you, it's also the bottom part of the lineup involved, with 6 and 7 on base with 8 at the plate. Markakis grounds it to either Turner or Seager, I forget now, but whoever's covering the 5/6 hole in the shift, and Dansby breaks on contact. He's screwed, gets in a rundown, and for whatever reason, Riley loses his mind and is between second and third. Dansby is tagged, and they allegedly tag Riley sliding into third. I say allegedly because it looked like he beat the tag, or they failed to tag him. Of course, in typical Braves fashion, they decide not to challenge. Mind you, the Ozuna incident was initially called safe, and the Dodgers won the challenge. Also, I feel like Markakis should've been running to second while all this was going on, but that's a moot point. There was a similar situation with the Dodgers later in the game, and being unbiased I must mention that, but they only had one out come from that, rather than killing the entire inning and losing all momentum at that point.

The last point I want to make is I cannot stress enough how irritating it is to see a combination of way too many swings and misses, mental errors, and guys in the field that clearly cannot field their position at an above average level. All of these things are apparent in this Braves team, and it's maybe reflective of the state of MLB this season that they made it this far. Again, that's why it annoys me talking about how bright the future is and all that. I look at the lineup and wonder, how many guys are contact hitters? Not many. Ronald and d'Arnaud looked horrible the final few games, if not the entire series, as if they were gassed or injured. Albies needs to either just hit right-handed or figure out what's going on on the left side, because he's a liability at the plate in the playoffs. Markakis, idk, he's older and didn't have a proper season. Pache is young, so we'll excuse him. Personally, I'd stay away from Ozuna in free agency (unless he can be the DH, if they keep that rule in the NL) because his defense is mediocre and he swings and misses too much. If he can DH, that's cool, go for it. I'd just like more contact hitters and good defenders, because that seems to be what's missing. I was thinking how Duvall being out may have impacted the remainder of the series, and I'm still not sure. Maybe his bat helps, but Pache allows better defenders to be in the field, which is probably why there weren't any glaring errors this series.