So the 111-win Dodgers are done, brushed aside by a team that finished 22 games in its wake. And defending World Series champion Atlanta is outta here, too, shown the gate by a Phillies team that finished third in its division, 14 games adrift of the Braves and Mets in the NL East.
This means it's an 89-win team (San Diego) against an 87-win (Philadelphia) in the NLCS, and ain't October glorious? October is the month when the maples blaze and the baseball verities come out to play. It's the month when the landscape becomes an artist's rendering, and In a short series, pitching is everything.
Because, look, San Diego won because it had better pitching, having gone out and gotten maybe the best closer in baseball (Josh Hader) to go with a dependable collection of starters. And the Phillies won because, yes, they can pound baseballs into misshapen lumps, but also because they had Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler and a bunch of other guys throwing seeds from the hill.
So, yeah, arms are dangerous when the nights turn cool and the playoffs heat up. And you know what confirms this, other than the Padres and the Phillies?
The fact it's Monday morning and the New York Yankees are still breathing.
Down 2-1 in the best-of-five ALDS to the young Cleveland Guardians (who, yes, have some pitching, too), the Yanks sent Gerrit Cole out there to save their season, and Gerrit Cole did Gerrit Cole things to do just that. He gave the pinstripes seven peerless innings last night, scattering six hits and striking out eight, and that gave his wounded, tattered bullpen a rest. It also allowed the Yankees to force a game five with a 4-2 win.
That brings it all down to tonight in New York, when the Guardians send Aaron Civale to the hill and the Yankees start Jameson Taillon, who took the loss in game five.
May the best appendage win.
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