Life's a Pitch: MLB Playoffs Thus Far and LCS Predictions

Everyone remember the commercial from the 90s in which Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are conversing about hitting home runs, with the infamous "Chicks dig the longball" quote? In case you don't, here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Needless to say, home runs have been a fascination with fans since the days of Babe Ruth blasting more home runs than entire teams would in a year.

Sure, I like a good home run every now and then. But if you give me what we saw in the 3 winner-take-all games so far in the postseason, I'll trade that for a high scoring game anytime.

Between the Game 5s played in New York, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, there were a total of 11 runs scored between the 6 teams. Here are the totals of the starting pitchers of those games (including Ivan Nova, who was pulled after 2 innings due to an injury):

12 IPs, 11 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, 10Ks (Ariz/Mil)
17 IPs, 9 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 10Ks (StL/Phil)
7 IPs, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 7Ks (NYY/Det)

That's a combined 36 IPs, with 28 hits and 7 walks allowed (WHIP under 1.00), with 7 ERs surrendered (ERA under 2.00) and 27 strikeouts. An average of 6 innings pitched (higher if not for Nova), 1 walk, 5 hits and 1 run allowed, with 5 Ks in those outings for the six pitchers.

Stuff your 12-9 Mile High games in a sack mister - I'll take my 3-2 and 1-0 games all day, especially on the game's highest stage.

LCS Predictions

As everyone who watches baseball knows, it is one of the hardest sports to predict. That's why when I bet baseball, I usually just stick with total run bets. I don't see these LCSes any easier to predict.

I think the Tigers are going to need to win both of Verlander's starts to win this series. I think they'll end up splitting his starts and the Rangers win in 6. The Rangers have a little more depth with pitching and bullpen, especially now that they are using Ogando out of the pen. I think their lineups are both devastating, but as the playoffs have shown, good pitching will usually beat good hitting.

The Cardinals have made a tremendous September push to get to where they are now. However, with Carpenter, who pitched a shutout last night to get the Cardinals to the NLCS, likely only getting one start in the first 5-6 games of the series, I like the pitching that the Brewers can throw out there more. I like the Brewers to win in 6 games as well. With both of these teams knowing each other well (played 18 games in the regular season, splitting them evenly), I expect a very competitive series with the victor scoring less than 4 runs in several of the games.

Since my predictions have been way off so far this year, you Cards and Tigers fans can thank me for your World Series berths in the next 10 days.



Alls Well That Ends: The Wirtz Effect and How a Death Can Help a Business

News just broke that Al Davis has died. My condolences to him and his family.

As far as his business goes, it might not be the worst thing to happen. In fact, it may help them out greatly, if the Bill Wirtz Effect comes into play.

As many Chicago Blackhawks fans remember all too well, the mismanagement of their beloved team caused the team to be an afterthought at best in one of the biggest hockey markets in America, and of course, one of the Original Six teams. Wirtz, notoriously known by many as "Dollar Bill", was considered by many to be the lynch pin behind this terrible stretch of Chicago hockey.

This stretch of time he was president (over 4 decades), he banned home games from being played on TV - for fear of fans not going to the games if they were able to stay home and watch them. I never understood this reasoning, seeing as though just about every team in every sport shows their teams' home games (I know that the NFL has restrictions on showing home games in markets where a game has not sold a certain percentage of tickets). If he was so smart in the business world with liquor distribution and real estate, you figured he might have seen other pro franchises having no problem with this.

Anyways, we all know the Blackhawks' story - they've become relevant again. People actually want to watch them now. Through their actions, the Wirtz kids have amended their father's wrongdoings to the franchise by promoting the Blackhawks through the addition of home games to TV, the Winter Classic to Wrigley Field in 2009 as well as introducing a successful annual convention for Blackhawks fans to attend. This idea came from the bright mind of John McDonough, former Cubs and now Blackhawks president. They went from being to the worst ran franchise in sports to one of the best in a few short years thanks to the actions of the younger Wirtzes and McDonough. Winning a Stanley Cup for the first time in a couple generations didn't hurt things either.

Enter Al Davis. While he didn't have the extended run of no championships/championship appearances like Wirtz did, Davis has become significantly more irrelevant in the past couple decades. His run of success in the 70s and 80s has devolved into the 90s and 2000s Raiders that have been pitiful for the most part. Aside from their playoff appearances in 2002 (where their playoff run ended in the infamous "Tuck Rule" game) and 2003 (where they got slaughtered by their former coach and the Tampa Bay Bucs, not much but bad can be said about the Raiders.

Since that brief run of success, here's a list of QBs who have started for the Raiders: Rick Mirer, Marques Tuiasosopo, Kerry Collins, Andrew Walter, Aaron Brooks, Josh McCown, Daunte Culpepper, Bruce Gradkowski, Charlie Frye, and Jason Campbell. I feel like I'm missing someone...

Oh yeah, JaMarcus Russell! Say what you will about recent first overall picks being busts, but no doubt in my mind is Russell the worst first pick of all time. After three seasons with the Raiders in which he finished with a 7-18 record, he was released. But not before collecting a shit ton of money. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already burned through the money that he got from his $61 million ($32M guaranteed) contract from the Raiders in 2007.

Sadly, one of the best first round picks the Raiders made in the past 15 years was for A KICKER! Sebastian Janikowski, who recently tied the league record for longest field goal (63 yards) was a first round pick for the Raiders in 2000. A fucking kicker in the first round! This from the same team that drafted a punter (Ray Guy) as a first round pick - to date, the only punter ever drafted in the first round.

With Davis' death, I'm hoping that the Wirtz Effect happens and hopefully the Davis heirs are half as intelligent as the Wirtzes were following their dad's passing. The NFL is a lot better league when the Raiders are relevant. Davis was a great contributor to the NFL, but his time of relevance and success had passed.

Let's hope that his passing can lead to the Wirtz Effect for the Raiders and they can return to a proud franchise again.