Philadelphia Phillies looking tough in NLCS

Anyone else feeling as though the Arizona Diamondbacks have run into a buzzsaw in the National League Championship Series?

The Diamondbacks have two quality starting pitchers in Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, and they had them lined up to pitch the first two games in Philadelphia against the Phillies.

The Phillies did not seem impressed. In Monday night's Game 1, Philadelphia hit three home runs in the first two innings off Gallen. Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos all went deep, and Gallen walked off the mound after five innings with his team trailing, 5-0.

The Diamondbacks, as they have done throughout the season, fought back with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, but the Phillies walked away with a 5-3 win.

Game 2 on Tuesday? It was no contest. 

Kelly didn't pitch poorly. He gave up only three hits over 5.2 innings, but the hits were all homers. Schwarber went deep twice, and Trea Turner homered in the first inning. And once Kelly left the game, Philadelphia absolutely pounded the Arizona bullpen and went on to an easy 10-0 victory.

The Phillies have two pretty good starters as well. Zack Wheeler pitched six innings of two-run ball to get the win in Game 1. Aaron Nola tossed six shutout innings to win Game 2.

I was thinking all along that the winner of the Division Series between Philadelphia and the Atlanta Braves would end up as the NL champion. The Phillies won that series, and now they head to Arizona up 2-0 in the NLCS.

The only saving grace for the Diamondbacks is they get to play at home now. However, they've already lost with their two best pitchers on the mound. They face a tough climb against a Philadelphia team that looks awesome right now.

Texas Rangers take 2-0 series lead in ALCS

Coming into the American League Championship Series, the Texas Rangers were 8-32 in their previous 40 games at Houston.

That doesn't matter much now, does it?

The Rangers won each of the first two games of the ALCS in Houston, beating the Astros, 2-0, on Sunday night and following it up with a 5-4 victory on Monday.

Texas left-hander Jordan Montgomery outpitched Houston ace Justin Verlander in Sunday's matchup. Montgomery tossed 6.1 shutout innings, while Verlander gave up two runs over 6.2 innings.

On Monday, the Rangers jumped on Houston starter Framber Valdez for four runs in the first inning, then held on for dear life in the late innings. 

Nathan Eovaldi improved to 3-0 in the playoffs. He gave up three runs over six innings, but his big achievement was pitching out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the bottom of the fifth. That was the moment you felt as though it was the Rangers' night.

Is it the Rangers' year? Well, they are 7-0 in the playoffs, including 6-0 on the road, and now they get to go home with a commanding lead in the ALCS. 

Texas beat the 101-win Baltimore Orioles in the Division Series as part of a remarkable group of upsets. The 90-win Philadelphia Phillies slayed the 104-win Atlanta Braves, while the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers.

It's been a crazy playoff year so far, and that's sparked some calls for changing the playoff format. Supposedly, the regular season has been "devalued" by these results.

Thing is, none of this is all that surprising. Baseball is unlike other sports in the sense that in a short series, a weaker team can beat a stronger team. It happens every week during the regular season, and we don't say a thing about it. When it happens in the playoffs, it's the end of the world.

Honestly, if you want to "reward the regular season," you can't have an expanded playoff. If you have 12 postseason teams, then every one of those 12 teams has at least a puncher's chance.

Right now, the Rangers are playing their best baseball, and they've got the defending champion Astros on the ropes.

Wild card round lacks drama, produces 4 sweeps

When the Tampa Bay Rays started 20-3, who would have thought their season was destined to end in the American League wild card round?

The Texas Rangers swept Tampa Bay in the best-of-three series this week, winning 4-0 on Tuesday and 7-1 on Wednesday.

It was one of four sweeps during the wild card round, but the Rays were probably the most disappointing quick exit of the four teams that lost.

Tampa Bay didn't really blow the AL East -- it won 99 games. You have to give credit to the Baltimore Orioles, who won 101 games and came from behind to take the division. 

That left the Rays matched up with the Rangers in the No. 4-vs.-No. 5 series. Granted, this is a very different Tampa Bay team than the one we saw in April. Starting pitchers Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs are all out for the season. The Rays were also missing their starting middle infield -- Wander Franco (administrative leave) and Brandon Lowe (leg injury).

However, it's still has to be considered a face-plant when a 99-win team gets outscored 11-1 on its home field during a playoff series. 

I'm envious of the Texas lineup -- Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia -- these are star-level players, and I think you win with stars in the playoffs. I'm not sure the Rangers have enough pitching depth, starters or relievers, to beat the Orioles in the next round. However, that lineup gives them a chance.

The Rays weren't the only AL East wild card to exit early, as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by scores of 3-1 and 2-0.

Minnesota has two good starting pitchers in Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, but the Toronto lineup was absolutely terrible with runners in scoring position in this series. The Blue Jays stranded 18 runners in the series, nine in each game.

For the Twins, this is their first playoff series win since 2002. They had lost 18 consecutive postseason games before they won Tuesday. Now, they've won two in a row. I guess they were due. Minnesota faces AL West champ Houston in the next round.

National League

No National League Central Division team has won a postseason series since 2019. In fact, Central Division clubs have lost 20 of their last 22 playoff games.

The 92-win Milwaukee Brewers added to that misery by getting swept in two games by the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks. The Brewers had an early 3-0 lead Tuesday. They lost 6-3. The Brewers had an early 2-0 lead Wednesday. They lost 5-2. 

The Diamondbacks are an athletic team, good defensively, and they showed some power in this series. Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno all homered off Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes in Game 1. Alek Thomas started the Arizona comeback with a homer in Game 2.

Now the Diamondbacks will try their luck against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

On the other side of the bracket, defending NL champion Philadelphia overwhelmed the Miami Marlins, defeating them 4-1 on Tuesday and 7-1 on Wednesday.

That sets up a rematch between the Phillies and the NL East champion Atlanta Braves. Atlanta won a MLB-best 104 wins in the regular season, but Philadelphia upset the Braves in this same round last season.

Without a doubt, Braves-Phillies is the series to watch in the days ahead. The general wisdom says the NL champion will be either the Braves or Dodgers, but the Phillies are the team best positioned to upset that line of thinking.

As I mentioned before, you win with stars in the playoffs, and Philadelphia has some great players -- Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, heck, you gotta throw Kyle Schwarber in there given the way he raises his level of play in the postseason. The Phillies have the stars to match the Braves' guys -- Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, etc.

That series is going to come down to which stars on which team step forward. It should be better theater than this anticlimatic wild card round.

Thankfully, the 2023 season is over

 

Here's a photo of our group on the last day of the 2023 season at Guaranteed Rate Field. Pictured (from left) are me, Brian Alcock, Jen Bubis, Doug Braxton and Tom Braxton.

The Sox lost, 2-1, in 11 innings to the San Diego Padres, finishing the season at 61-101 -- the highest loss total in my lifetime. They celebrated "Fan Appreciation Day" by fielding a starting outfielder of Tyler Naquin, Trayce Thompson an Gavin Sheets.

Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Benintendi did not play.

As has been the case all season, we were charged major league prices to watch a Triple-A caliber team.

The Sox should keep that in mind next time they question fan loyalty, which they inevitably will.

White Sox season ticket holder perk ... It's not much of a perk

I'm not impressed by the so-called perks the White Sox are giving their season ticket holders these days. Maybe it's because I've been a customer for 19 years, and I see the decline in quality.

One year on Fan Appreciation Day, I remember coming home with a couple of really nice Sox hats. I still own and wear both of them, in fact, and it's probably been about 10 years.

Safe to say, I will not be getting anything like that when I attend Fan Appreciation Day this coming Sunday.

The Sox on Wednesday sent out an email to season ticket holders, giving us all two vouchers for the chance to "secure two complimentary promotional items from past and current seasons."

OK, that's not necessarily bad, but look at the list of items that is available, with my reaction in parenthesis:

• Blackhawks/White Sox hats (Might be OK, depending on how it looks)
• NASCAR coolers (We already have nice coolers, and they don't say NASCAR on them.)
• Moncada bobbleheads (I already have it. I was thinking of throwing mine out.)
• Grandal bobbleheads (Are you shitting me?)
• Eloy bobbleheads (I already have two.)
• Dual Eloy/Luis bobbleheads (It's nice, but I already have it.)
• Police and fire hats (Not interested.)
• Indiana Vaughn bobbleheads (Not interested.)
• Margaritaville bobbleheads (Don't even know what this is. Pass.)
• Benny the Elf bobbleheads (Who?)
• 2022 soccer jersey (This is baseball, not soccer.)
• 2022 Hawaiian shirt (I already gave mine to charity.)

Most of this stuff is garbage. It's the sort of thing you would pay $1.50 for at a garage sale. This is supposed to be a benefit? No, it's the Sox trying to get rid of some stuff that would go in the trash anyway.

Dare I say, "Flush it," just like the rest of the 2023 season.

Knee injury ends Luis Robert Jr.'s season

The White Sox on Tuesday placed center fielder Luis Robert Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a mild MCL sprain in his left knee.

Robert injured the knee when he made an awkward slide on a wet field during Sunday's 3-2, rain-shortened win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Before Tuesday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Sox selected the contract of 32-year-old outfielder Tyler Naquin from Triple-A Charlotte. To make room for Naquin on the 40-man roster, the Sox transferred right-handed pitcher Jimmy Lambert (right ankle surgery) to the 60-day injured list.

With only six games to play in the regular season, Robert's 2023 campaign is over. That said, the 26-year-old had the best season of his career to date: Here are his accomplishments:

• 38 home runs
• 36 doubles
• 80 RBIs
• .542 slugging percentage
• 20 stolen bases
• 128 OPS+
• .857 OPS
• 4.9 bWAR
• 5.0 fWAR
• 13 outs above average in CF
• career-high 145 games played
• first career All-Star selection

It would be no surprise if Robert adds a Gold Glove or a Silver Slugger to this list after the season.

The hell of it is, Robert had the breakout season all Sox fans were hoping for, yet the team swirled down the drain anyway.

Robert's pursuit of the 40-homer mark was one reason to watch the final week of this season. That reason is now gone. Good luck drawing fans to the ballpark this week, Sox. No, I don't think Naquin will move the needle.

It's interesting that the Sox added a journeyman outfielder to the roster, instead of recalling Oscar Colas, isn't it?

A few notable numbers as White Sox play out string

There's no need to report everything that's going on with the White Sox as they play out the string in a miserable 2023 season. But here are a few notable things that have happened recently:

• Mike Clevinger pitched all six innings of Sunday's rain-shortened 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander gave up two runs on five hits, and he neither struck out nor walked a batter. This is notable because it's the fifth straight start for Clevinger without a walk. He should get one more start before the season ends. The last time a Sox pitcher went six straight starts without a walk? That was LaMarr Hoyt in his 1983 Cy Young-winning season. Clevinger is 9-8 with a 3.40 ERA this year.
• I was talking baseball with some people at a party Saturday afternoon, and a Sox fan who is in his 70s asked me, "How many hit batters do they have this season? My whole life, I've never seen a pitching staff hit so many batters." I guessed, "More than 70," then went about the business of looking it up. Turns out, the Sox had hit 88 batters as of Saturday afternoon. Well, Clevinger hit two Boston batters on Sunday. That makes 90 hit batsmen, and yes, that is a new team record.
• Dylan Cease had perhaps his best outing of the season Saturday in a 1-0 victory over Boston. He went seven innings, allowing no runs on six hits. He struck out 11 and did not issue a walk. During this performance, Cease cleared the 200-strikeout mark for the third straight season. He has 207 strikeouts this year, after posting 226 strikeouts in 2021 and 227 strikeouts in 2022. Cease becomes only the third pitcher in Sox history to compile 200 or more strikeouts in three different years. The others are Chris Sale, who did it four times from 2013-16, and Ed Walsh, who holds the franchise record with five such years (1907-08, 1910-12).
• In that 1-0 victory, the winning run scored in the top of the ninth inning on Luis Robert Jr.'s 38th home run of the season. With six games to play, Robert still has an outside shot at reaching both 40 doubles and 40 home runs for the season -- he has 36 doubles. The All-Star center fielder also collected his 20th stolen base of the year in Sunday's win. Unfortunately, Robert slid awkwardly in the wet dirt and had to leave the game with right knee soreness. Hopefully, he'll be able to return to the lineup Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks and continue his pursuit of the 40-homer mark.
• The Sox won two of three in Boston despite only scoring six runs in the three-game series. Man, this offense is sleepy. The Sox are 60-96. They will need a 3-3 homestand to avoid a 100-loss season.