Tag: MLB

The Sad Story Of Mel Hall

When I was a kid, there was a outfielder for the Cleveland Indians who used to put batting gloves in each back pocket so that when he hit a home run, he could “wave goodbye” to the other team. In the parlance of the day, Mel Hall was a “hot dog.”

Funnily enough, he never got to wave goodbye to the other team more than 18 times in a season, so the gimmick may have been lost on the masses.

The Chicago Cubs selected Hall in the second round of the 1978 draft out of Port Byron High School in New York, which is about 30 miles west of Syracuse. Three years later, on September 3, 1981, he made his MLB debut, flying out to right field against Doyle Alexander of the Giants. He would get into ten more games the remainder of the year, collecting one hit in twelve plate appearances.

Hall became an everyday player for the Cubs in 1983, slashing .283/.352/.488 for a 128 OPS+, which was good for third place in Rookie of the Year voting.

The Cubs traded the outfielder to the Indians in mid-June of 1984. And while his numbers with Chicago were better than with Cleveland, he was still a solid performer for his new American League club (104 OPS+).

A car accident kept Hall out of nearly the entire 1985 season. He came back in 1986 and slashed .296/.346/.493, with a then-career-high 18 home runs. 1987 and 1988 were more of the same.

Prior to the 1989 season, Cleveland traded the outfielder to the Yankees, and that is when and where the real trouble began. During spring training, he brought both his wife and his girlfriend to the team hotel and then proceeded to watch them get into a fight near the pool. While on the injured list, he got into a violent wrestling match with Rickey Henderson. And then he brought a gun into the clubhouse. In the years before “Manny being Manny,” the team seemed to shrug it all off, with Hall stating, it’s “me being Mel Hall.”

He still played in 113 games that year for the Bombers, hit 17 homers and had a 103 OPS+.

His production was roughly the same in 1990. 1991 was up there with his best seasons, as he slashed .285/.321/.455, setting a career-high with 19 homers and 80 RBI. In 1992, he did it again, putting up about the same numbers, including his all-time high of 81 RBI.

And yet, when his contract with the Yankees expired, no MLB team wanted him. So, Hall took his talents east, and signed a two-year, $4 million contract to play for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the NPB. He then played for the Chunichi Dragons, before coming back stateside in 1996 with the San Francisco Giants. That experiment lasted a month, as the club released him after he got three singles in 25 at-bats.

Not willing to give up, he signed a minor league contract with the White Sox, but that lasted only twelve days. Years later he would try his hand at independent ball, but that didn’t lead anywhere.

While playing in New York, Hall was known to have two great passions: spending money and chasing women. That, unto itself, made Hall like many athletes. Unfortunately, Hall had a proclivity for young women. It started with him inviting a 15-year-old (and her family) to a game at Yankee Stadium in 1989. And then there were others. It took until 2007 for Hall to be arrested. It happened in Texas, where he was charged with two counts of sexual assault and of having sex with a woman under the age of 17. During the investigation, a second victim – under the age of 14 – was identified. A twelve-year-old girl was determined to have been raped by Hall.

He was ultimately convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, where he currently resides. His earliest possible parole would be in late 2031, when Hall will be 71 years old. Based on his actions off the field, that simply may be too soon to let this predator free.

Hall could have made a name for himself as an irreverent player and a fan favorite. Instead, he became a clubhouse cancer, a pariah, and a convicted felon.

It will be a long time until Mel Hall can ever again… PLAY BALL!!

We Don’t Talk Enough About Orel Hershiser

Not enough is written about Orel Hershiser’s career, and, specifically, his 1988 season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Hershiser out of Bowling Green State University in the 17th round in 1979. He made his major league debut four years later, pitching one inning, giving up two hits, and one run to the Montreal Expos.

For the first few years of his career, Hershiser was an enigma:

  • 1984: 11-8, 2.66 ERA
  • 1986: 14-14, 3.85 ERA
  • 1987: 16-16, 3.06 ERA

Smashed in the middle of those middling seasons was 1985, when he went 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA, and came in third in Cy Young voting. So, everyone in baseball knew that greatness lived within him.

That greatness was achieved in his magical 1988. He started the year with a three-hit shoutout against the Giants. He then went 8-1/3 innings, giving up one run in a win against Atlanta. Followed by a complete game win against the Braves five days later. Then he threw six innings, allowing just one earned run against the Giants. Next, while facing the Cardinals, he went eight innings and gave up three (!) earned runs.

When the calendar flipped to May, the Pirates touched him up for ten hits, but could only manage two earned runs. With the win, he ran his record to 6-0. The Buccos apparently had his number, as in Pittsburgh a week later he had his first bad game (12 hits, seven earned runs, three walks, and three homers allowed), suffering his first loss of the year. The next week he gave up just one earned run on five hits, but the Dodgers didn’t score, so he took his second loss.

Over the next ten weeks Hershiser went 12-6 with a 2.99 ERA and a 2/1 strikeout to walk ratio, which was just fine, but actually below his season totals to that point: 18-8, 2.84 ERA, 2.25 K/BB ratio. And that is when he decided to turn legend. Well, maybe even a bit before that.

You see, on August 19th, he threw a complete game shutout against the Expos. On August 24th, he threw seven scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the top of the eighth to the Mets, but did not allow them to score in the ninth (the Dodgers lost 2-1). On August 30th, he held the Expos scoreless for four innings, had a two-run blip in the fifth, and then shut them down for the final four innings. Those four innings would be the start of the incredible month to follow. And, to be clear, even before “The Streak” began, Hershiser had allowed no runs in 12 of his previous 14 innings (two runs in each of those two blemished frames).

As we all know, Hershiser went all of September without giving up a run. He went 5-0, threw 55 innings allowing just 30 hits, and struck out 34 while walking only nine batters. Oh, did I mention that – prior to coming out of a tie game in which he pitched ten innings and broke Don Drysdale’s scoreless innings streak — Hershiser had thrown eight consecutive complete games.

In his first playoff start, against the Mets in the NLCS, he went 8-1/3, but got a no-decision when Jay Howell couldn’t hold the lead. Four days later, Hershisher gave up one earned run over six innings in another Dodgers’ loss.

But since six innings was mere child’s play, the ace came in as a relief pitcher in the 12th inning the next day. After Kirk Gibson’s home run in the top half of the inning staked Los Angeles to a 5-4 lead, Tim Leary gave up back-to-back singles before recording the first out of the inning. Jesse Orosco (the former Met) came on to face two lefties, walking Keith Hernandez to load the bases, but then he got Darryl Strawberry to pop out to second. With the right-handed hitting Kevin McReynolds coming up with the bases loaded and the Dodgers facing a potential 3-1 deficit in the series, Tommy Lasorda called on “Bulldog” to get the final out. Three pitches later, he did just that.

It was no shock when he took the mound for Game 7 of the NLCS three days later at home and threw a five-hit shutout, propelling the Dodgers to the pennant.

Even superheroes need a day off, so Hershiser skipped Game 1 of the World Series, but started Game 2 in Los Angeles against the shell-shocked Athletics (try to recall how Game 1 of the 1988 World Series ended). He, of course, threw a three-hit shutout to put the Dodgers up to two games to none. Four days later, he took the hill for Game 5 and threw yet another complete game, yielding two runs on four hits, as the Dodgers won the World Series.

When all was said and done, counting both the regular season and the playoffs, in 1988 Hershiser tossed 309-2/3 innings, threw 18 complete games including ten shutouts, and went a combined 26-8. He won the NLCS MVP, World Series MVP, and Cy Young Award.

Hershiser pitched for 12 more seasons after that historic 1988. For his career, he went 204-150, with a 3.48 ERA and a 3.69 FIP. He appeared in the 1995 World Series with Cleveland after being named the ALCS MVP. He is in the Top-100 of all-time pitcher bWAR, but, unfortunately, is not likely to ever gain induction into the Hall of Fame. No matter, he was still a force of nature.

And, like I said, not enough is written about him or his season for the ages.

PLAY BALL!!

First Pitch Dingers: Welcome To The Show

On April 23rd, Atlanta Braves pitcher JR Ritchie made his major league debut. Taken 35th overall in the 2022 draft off Bainbridge Island in Washington State, he pitched in all levels in the minors, including making five starts at Triple-A Gwinnett to begin the 2026 season.

On that Thursday afternoon, after the Braves failed to score in the top of the first inning in Washington (DC), Ritchie took the hill. His first pitch was recorded as a 93.5-mph four seam fastball. It was also recorded that Nationals’ leadoff hitter James Wood turned it around at 102-mph, hitting it 387 feet into the right field stands. “Welcome to the Show!”

Two pitches later he induced Luis Garcia to ground out to second to record his first major league out. And five pitches later he had his first career strikeout, setting down José Tena with a nasty change-up. Ritchie struck out Tena again in the fourth inning before surrendering his second home run, this time to CJ Abrams. Abrams squared it up even better than Wood, crushing the ball 107-mph and 426 feet to center field. Ritchie bounced right back, striking out Jacob Young looking on a nasty 2-2 curveball. When all was said and done, Richie went seven innings, gave up five hits (two of which were those homers), two earned runs (on those dingers), walked two, struck out seven, and earned his first big league win. “Welcome to the Show,” indeed.

With that first inning big fly, Richie became the first Braves pitcher since 1977 to give up a home run on his first major league pitch, matching Mickey Mahler who did the same to/for Derrel Thomas against the Giants in a game the Braves ended up losing 8-7 in eleven innings. Mahler did not pitch nearly as well as Richie, going 3-2/3, giving up four hits, three earned runs, while walking two and striking out three. Like Ritchie, he also gave up two dingers in his debut, but he was long gone before the game was decided, whereas Richie got the win. The good news for Mahler is that, according to Baseball Reference, there was a total of 1,029 fans in attendance for that mid-afternoon Tuesday game at the old Candlestick Park (a meager 14,613 caught Ritchie’s mid-afternoon gem).

Tobias Myers was the last to pull off the feat in the National League, on April 23, 2024, while pitching for the Brewers against the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen took him deep, but then Myers settled in. He retired 14 of the next 18 batters, sprinkling in three singles and a walk against four strikeouts. Unfortunately for Myers, the Brewers could only muster one late run on a Gary Sanchez homer, and the rookie took the loss in his debut.

Interestingly, a first career pitch dinger has not happened in the American League since 2015, when Jose De Paula did so against Andrew Romine of the Tigers in the sixth inning of Detroit’s blowout victory over the Yankees (12-4).

After the game, Ritchie seemed to take everything in stride: “One pitch into it, I was kind of like, ‘Oh no.’ But after that, I bounced back really well. I stayed with my game plan. I was really happy about that. Yeah, this will always be a very, very special day for me.”

Ritchie, who ranks #79 on MLB’s prospect list, and #2 on the Braves’ list, was supposed to face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp that day, but dialed it up at Nationals Park instead. He became the first Braves pitcher to record seven or more strikeouts and allow two runs or less, while throwing at least seven innings, in his debut. Not too shabby for a rookie pitcher and an organization that dates back to 1876.

PLAY BALL!!

2026 National League Preview – Reader’s Digest Version

With the 2026 MLB season quickly approaching, it’s a good time to have a little refresher about what transpired during the Hot Stove Season, what moves have been made, and what each time might expect out of the coming campaign.

There is a great deal to get caught up on, so we will try to synthesize each team in a sentence or three.

Today we will look at the National League, with the American League on tap for next Tuesday.

So, without any further ado, in alphabetical order:

Arizona Diamondbacks

Corbin Carroll had hamate surgery, but should be back by Opening Day. However, he may not have the power that we have come to expect.

Nearly 40-year old Carlos Santana will be playing first base. Nolan Arenado waived his no trade clause, came over from St. Louis, and will play third. Merrill Kelly signed for two years, and Zac Gallen and Paul Sewald are back.

Atlanta Braves

Should the Braves run incense around the stadium to rid themselves of their bad luck? Last year, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And this season is off to a rough start. Ha-Seong Kim, signed to play shortstop, slipped on the ice in his native South Korea, which required hand surgery, and now will be out for at least the first two months. Pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep will miss at least two months because of elbow surgeries, and Joey Went tore his ACL. Catcher Sean Murphy is out for the first part of the season as he recovers from hip surgery.

And the biggest story is that after missing half of last season due to a PED suspension, left fielder Jurickson Profar will be gone for all of 2026 after getting popped again. Is this the end of his career (he has one year and $14M remaining on his deal)?

Chicago Cubs

Alex Bregman will be the Cubs’ everyday third baseman after signing a five-year/$175M contract. Shota Imanaga is back. Pete Crow-Armstrong needs to be more like his first half self (.265/.302/.544, 21 homers, 71 RBI, 27 stolen bases) than his second half self (.216/.262/.372, 6 homers, 24 RBI, eight stolen bases).

Anything less than a division title will feel like a lost season to the fans on the North Side.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds lost out on getting Ohio native Kyle Schwarber to leave Philadelphia to hit a ton of dingers at Great American Ballpark. So, they brought back former Red Eugenio Suarez (he played there from 2015-2021), who hit 49 homers last season.

Any team with Elly De La Cruz in the lineup is worth watching. But, watch out for the final diagnosis on ace Hunter Greene, who is seeing a specialist about stiffness in his right (throwing) elbow.

Colorado Rockies

A new front office is in place to bring the team into the 21st century. After a decade working for the Cleveland Browns, Paul DePodesta will be running the show, and after more than a decade working for the Dodgers, Josh Byrnes was hired as general manager. Regardless of their pedigree, it will take at least a few years for them to implement enough meaningful change for this team to be anything other than woeful.

Los Angeles Dodgers

When you have won back-to-back World Series titles, what do you do for an encore? You go out and get the two best free agents on the market. To do so, you simply outbid the wealthiest owner in the game, and give Edwin Díaz $69M and Kyle Tucker $60M per year(!) for four years. And to keep the fanbase happy, you re-sign Kiké Hernández.

Miami Marlins

In: pitcher Pete Fairbanks, utility guy Christopher Morel, and potential future outfield star Owen Caissie.

Out: Right-handed fireballer Edward Cabrera.

If everything breaks right, and other teams falter, the Marlins will vie with the Braves for fourth place in the division.

Milwaukee Brewers

This is a team that keeps losing players (and a star manager) and just keeps on winning. The Brewers won the NL Central last year, and are predicted to win it again in 2026.

Freddy Peralta is gone (traded to the Mets). Rookie of the Year finalist Caleb Durbin is gone (traded to the Red Sox). Fourth place Rookie of the Year finisher Isaac Collins is gone (traded to the Royals). Jose Quintana and Rhys Hoskins are gone as free agents.

But, Brandon Woodruff should be back, Jacob Misiorowski should only get better, and Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester round out a strong pitching staff.

Come October, don’t be shocked to see this motley Brew Crew back in the playoffs.

New York Mets

The off-season got off to a rough start for a team that missed the playoffs by one game, on the last day of the 2025 season. First they traded fan-favorite Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien. Then they lost Edwin Díaz to the Dodgers. Then they allowed franchise home run king Pete Alonso to sign with the Orioles without even making him an offer. Then they traded fan-favorite Jeff McNeil to the A’s for really nothing more than salary relief. Then they lost out on Kyle Tucker (to the Dodgers, again).

But, they signed Bo Bichette to play third base, Devin Williams to close, and traded for the oft-injured but amazing-when-healthy center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Will that be enough to get Steve Cohen the ring he so desperately covets?

Philadelphia Phillies

Will this be the year that age catches up to the Phils (their starting lineup will average 33 years old)? Will this be the year that this group of stars finishes the goal of winning their first World Series since 2008? With both Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto back, and with Ranger Suarez and Nick Castellanos gone, it is time to put up or get split up.

Pittsburgh Pirates

With the second-best pitcher on the planet, Paul Skenes, with phenom Bubba Chandler coming up the mound right behind him, with Marcell Ozuna as the everyday DH, with Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe covering the right side of the infield, this is a team that should be playing meaningful baseball in September, and has an outside shot of playing in October. That is something Yinzers can get excited about.

And keep an eye on potential Rookie of the Year Konnor Griffin, who may make his big league debut at shortstop as a teenager.

St. Louis Cardinals

This is the first year since 2006 that John Mozeliak has not been at the helm of the team. Chaim Bloom is now in charge after taking a year to learn every facet of the organization. He immediately traded first baseman Willson Contreras and pitcher Sonny Gray to Boston, and then ate $31M to send Nolan Arenado to Arizona.

JJ Wetherholt could be the Rookie of the Year at second base, and Masyn Winn could win his first Gold Glove at short.

The Cardinals need to do something to improve attendance, which had the largest fall off last season, down 22% (more than 7,700 fans per game).

San Diego Padres

After the death of principal Peter Seidler, the team is now for sale. But, to provide stability, president of baseball operations AJ Preller signed an extension through at least 2028.

The club lost Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez and Luis Arraez. They added Nick Castellanos (for the MLB minimum after the Phillies waived him). The lineup still boasts Fernando Tatís Jr. (who could be an MVP if he did not play in a league with Shohei Ohtani), Manny Machado (who continues to burnish his Hall of Fame credentials), Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill (looking to bounce back from a sophomore slump), and Jake Cronenworth.

It may not be enough to overtake the Dodgers, but it may be enough to play baseball in October.

San Francisco Giants

The gutsiest move of the off-season was Buster Posey hiring University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as the team’s manager, the first time anyone has ever gone from the college ranks to MLB skipper with no stops in between.

Maybe the second gutsiest move of the off-season was paying Luis Arraez $12M to be their second baseman when he ranked 299th out of 311 defenders in Fielding Run Value in 2023, the last time he played there consistently.

Harrison Bader should help solidify their outfield defense and provide some occasional pop.

Washington Nationals

Unlike the Phillies, youth is the talk of the nation’s capital. New manager Blake Butera is 33 years old; new general manager Anirudh Kilambi is 31; and new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is just 35. And no one in the projected starting lineup is older than 27.

James Wood projects to have another incredible season. Will Dylan Crews finally show the promise that made him the number two pick in the 2023 draft, right behind his LSU teammate, Paul Skenes?

Regardless of who does what, the Nationals still appear to be amongst the worst teams in baseball, with FanGraphs projecting just 69 wins.

Note: The American League review/summary will be available next week.

PLAY BALL!!

Dodger Stadium Has Hosted Many Of Clayton Kershaw’s Greatest Moments

Last Monday night, Clayton Kershaw entered Game 3 of this year’s World Series in the 12th inning, with the score still tied, with two outs, and with the bases loaded. According to him – and later confirmed – it was the first and only time he had pitched in extra innings in his illustrious 18-year career. Kershaw cannot recall ever pitching in extra innings at any point in his life.

And yet, when the bullpen gate opened in left field at Dodger Stadium, the three-time Cy Young winner, eleven-time All-Star, two-time World Series winner (now three-time), one-time MVP, and soon-to-be first-ballot Hall of Famer, strode to the mound in the biggest moment of his team’s 2025 season.

The series was tied at one game apiece. The score was tied at 5, and had been that way since Shohei Ohtani’s second home run of the game evened everything up in the seventh inning. With two outs, the visiting Blue Jays had loaded the bases against Emmit Sheehan on two walks and an 85-foot slow roller to third. Manager Dave Roberts walked to the mound, took the ball from Sheehan, and motioned for the lefty who had been loose for at least four innings. In fairness, Kershaw has come out of the ’pen in years past, but never in a moment as fraught as this one, and never against a team that simply refuses to swing and miss.

Nathan Lukes dug in for a lefty-on-lefty match-up. Kershaw went with a slider, and threw it in the dirt for ball one. He tried it again and got strike one. He tried it again and barely missed the inside corner for ball two. He tried it again and Lukes watched strike two fly by. A fifth straight slider was in the dirt, running the count full. The old expression, “they sell you the whole seat, but you only need the edge,” was true for the more than 52,000 fans in attendance. Kershaw’s wife, Ellen, stood in the second deck behind home plate with her hands either in front of her face or on her head as she watched her beloved try to wiggle out of yet another post-season jam. The sixth pitch was yet another slider, slightly below the zone, but Lukes, taking nothing for granted, fouled it off. According to Statcast, on the seventh pitch of this at-bat, Kershaw threw his hardest fastball of the season – and that was just 91.9-mph – but up enough in the zone to induce Lukes to swing and foul it away. For his final pitch ever at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw went back to the slider, and it was not a particularly good one – low and away – but the left fielder offered at it and hit a slow roller to second. Tommy Edman charged in and flipped the ball to Freddie Freeman with his glove to end the inning, end the rally, and end Kershaw’s career at the only ballpark he has ever called “home.”

The one-batter, three-act, epic in the 12th inning of Game 3 of this year’s World Series is another in the long list of memorable moments for the lanky lefty at Dodger Stadium. It joins the annals of (in chronological order):

May 25, 2008: Clayton Kershaw, age 20, wearing #54, makes his major league debut, going six innings against the Cardinals, allowing two runs on five hits, with a walk and seven strikeouts.

April 1, 2013: As the Opening Day starter against the rival Giants, Kershaw twirls a four-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks. The only run of the game: Kershaw’s first and last career homer in the 8th inning.

June 18, 2014: Kershaw throws his one and only no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies. But for a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez, it would have been a perfect game.

May 15, 2015: Kershaw goes 6-2/3 innings, gives up three runs and four hits while striking out ten Rockies to notch his 100th career win.

October 4, 2015: On the final day of the season, Kershaw faces just 13 batters, allowing two hits, and striking out seven. The sixth K gives him 300 for the season, which is one of just nine such seasons in the 21st century.

August 1, 2019: En route to his 10th win of the year, with a strikeout of Austin Hedges in the 6th inning, he passes Sandy Koufax for the most strikeouts for a left-handed pitcher in Dodger history.

April 30, 2022: After passing Koufax and Don Drysdale, Kershaw passes Don Sutton to become the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader when he fans Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson in the 4th inning.

July 2, 2025: While strikeouts have become increasingly more difficult for Kershaw over the past few seasons, he entered this game needing only three to become the 20th player to join the 3,000 K Club. A slider on his 100th pitch of the game with two outs in the sixth inning froze the Rockies Vinny Capra, allowing history to be made.

And, of course, as referenced above, there was the eight pitch battle on October 27, 2025, that left the bases full of Blue Jays, allowed five more scoreless innings to proceed, and paved the way for Freddie Freeman to play World Series hero once again.

There may be no player in modern baseball history who has provided more highlights, made more memories, and achieved more milestones, in front of his home crowd than Clayton Kershaw. One day there will be a statue of the lefty outside Dodger Stadium, and the only question is which moment in Dodger Blue it will depict. The great news for Los Angelenos and baseball fans the world over, we can relive those highlights again and again, as we most certainly will on warm Sunday afternoon in upstate New York in the summer of 2031, when Clayton Edward Kershaw is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Until then, there is always YouTube (see below).

PLAY BALL!!

Quit Your Whining

In the end, the best team won. That sort of vindicates the system, no?

At the beginning of these playoffs, the first under the expanded format wherein 12 teams were allowed into the dance (2020 excepted), there was a great deal of Sturm and Drang about the early outcomes. When the 89-win Padres knocked off the 101-win Mets in the Wild Card round, and then when those same Padres bested the 111-win Dodgers in the NLDS, and when the 87-win Phillies beat the 101-win Braves, Rob Manfred’s name was being burned in effigy from coast to coast, and even down south.

“How could we let this happen?,” fans cried. “What is the purpose of being great in the regular season?,” fans lamented. To me, all I heard was whining. Buck Showalter, the terrific manager of the Mets (as well as many other teams) put it perfectly, and perfectly succinctly: “Play better.” That’s it; that’s all it takes. And maybe a little luck. But it certainly doesn’t require yet another re-working of the playoff schedule because your team, who played so well during the 162-game marathon, forgot to bring their clutch hitting to the playoffs; or had starters get sick; or just got beat in a short series. Welcome, my friends, to baseball.

But with all of this bellyaching early in October, I decided to take a look back to determine if what we were witnessing was an anomaly or part of the game. What I found was neither shocking nor surprising. In fact, what I learned is that these playoffs were very much like most of the ones in the past. Going back to 2000 (just to choose an arbitrary round year), and excepting the wonky 2020 season, there have only been three seasons in which an “upset” didn’t occur (2007, 2009, and 2018). Sure, the Padres-Dodgers 22-win differential is an extreme outlier, but the Phillies-Braves 14-win differential is right there with the 2003 Cubs (13), the 2008 Dodgers (13), and the 2019 Nationals (13).

So, having lower-seeded teams win – regardless of the number of teams in the playoffs – is not a bug, but actually a feature of baseball playoffs system. That’s what makes October (and now November) so great. Let’s take a look:

SEASONROUNDWINNER (Seed/Wins)LOSER (Seed/Wins)WIN DIFFERENTIAL
     
2001NLDSBraves (3/88)Astros (1/93)5
2002ALDSAngeles (4/99)Yankees (1/103)4
2002NLDSGiants (4/95)Braves (1/101)6
2003NLDSCubs (3/88)Braves (1/101)13
2003NLDSMarlins (4/91)Giants (1/100)9
2004NLDSAstros (4/92)Braves (2/96)4
2005NLCSAstros (4/89)Cardinals (1/100)11
2006ALDSTigers (4/95)Yankees (1/97)2
2008ALDSRed Sox (4/95)Angels (1/100)5
2008NLDSDodgers (3/84)Cubs (1/97)13
2010ALDSRangers (3/90)Rays (1/96)6
2011ALDSTigers (3/95)Yankees (1/97)2
2011NLDSCardinals (4/90)Phillies (1/102)12
2012ALDSTigers (3/88)A’s (2/94)6
2012NLDSCardinals (5/88)Nationals (1/98)10
2013ALDSTigers (3/93)A’s (2/96)3
2013NLDSDodgers (3/92)Braves (2/96)4
2014ALDSRoyals (4/89)Angels (1/98)9
2014NLDSGiants (5/88)Nationals (1/96)8
2015NLDSCubs (5/97)Cardinals (1/100)3
2016ALDSBlue Jays (4/89)Rangers (1/95)6
2017ALDSYankees (4/91)Indians* (1/102)11
2019NLDSNationals (4/93)Dodgers (1/106)13
2021ALDSRed Sox (4/92)Rays (1/100)8
2021NLDSBraves (3/88)Brewers (2/95)7

*To keep the historical record accurate, the Yankees beat the “Indians” in 2017.

Sure, by dint of the Padres and the Phillies making a run, the numbers look skewed in 2022. And if the 87-win Fightin’s had beaten the 106-win ‘Stros, there would have been a lot of talk about upsets and unheard ofs, etc. But did the collective masses say we should re-do the World Series format after the Dodgers beat the A’s in 1988? Or when the Marlins felled the Yankees in 2003? Would we have wanted it changed if they had a parade in Philadelphia this week? The obvious answer to all of these is “no.” So kick and scream and lament that your team fell short. But quit your whining. The current system is here to stay (until there is expansion, and then we will see). Do all the math, crunch all the numbers, and then listen to the inimitable Sarah Langs:

PLAY BALL!!