ghost of miles

Riveting last couple of games in Cleveland for the ALCS. Weird how just about every game in the NLCS has been a blowout.

Ohtani now 17-20 in his last 20 AB with RISP (setting an MLB record) and 0-21 with nobody on base. Ohtani’s big blast punctuates historic run of clutch hitting

That one has never been reissued on CD, correct? I know it's not part of Mosaic's Gerald Wilson set.

With their shutout last night, the Dodgers have now tied the 1966 Baltimore Orioles postseason record of holding their opponents scoreless for 33 innings in a row.

Buckle up for Mets-Dodgers and Guardians-Yankees!

Florida board members have definitely been in my thoughts these past few days. Live updates: Hurricane Milton still pounding Florida after carving path of destruction

Hurricane Milton shreds Trop roof

… and now the Dodgers are six innings into a potential bullpen shutout. Surely that’s never happened twice in one day in the postseason? Hell, one alone seems pretty darn unusual.

Tigers threw a bullpen playoff shutout! Impressive.

Having a hard time putting this one back on the shelf…. might have to chase it with the Keynote Fabulous Ellingtonians disc:

Only three innings in, and already a barnburner in San Diego!

Sad news. Among his many accomplishments, he threw a 173-pitch complete game against the Reds in game 4 of the 1975 WS. That’s *two* deep starts in one game by modern-day pitch count standards. He was also very entertaining to watch. Pretty much! Every single division series now a 1-1 dogfight.

Padres were smart to hold out for him in the Soto trade. Mets-Phillies is quite the interesting battle as well. And in the AL playoffs you have *three* teams from the Central Division standing among the final four. That was not on my 2024 MLB bingo card. An entertaining postseason so far!

Agreed on both counts!

Fantastic set, just finished revisiting it a couple of weeks ago. Had no idea that it was already out of print!

Padres looking like they might be the team to beat in the postseason--quite a war they have going on with the Dodgers right now. Interesting that the Soto trade seemed to work out well for both San Diego and the Yankees, with Michael King and Higgy becoming such key players on this year's SD roster. NY did not want to give up King, I can tell you that. He was one of the best homegrown pitchers they'd developed over the past few years. Fortunately Clarke Schmidt (the guy they would have preferred to have included in the trade) has pitched quite well in what would have been King's spot in the rotation. Momentum is definitely in the Padres' favor, heading home after getting through L.A.'s two best starters with a split on the road. Also a tip of the cap to Manny Machado, who used to strike me as an exceptionally talented but less-than-mature player when he was with the Orioles. The meeting he called in the dugout in the 8th after all of the ugliness in the preceding inning clearly helped set the table for San Diego turning the game into a laugher.

Yankees and Royals meeting in the playoffs for the first time in 44 years. Oh man, does that ever bring back childhood baseball memories. Those were epic showdowns. The current Royals looked very, very good to me when the Yankees faced them late this season. I understand their offense may be a little suspect beyond Bobby Witt Jr and Salvador Perez, but so’s NY’s beyond Judge and Soto. Those two guys have off nights and it’s not so hard to shut down this Yankee lineup. Plus NY just lost first Rizzo and then Cortes, both likely for much or all of the postseason. Pinstripe Alley has a write-up on the Royals that will behoove me to study.

Indeed it was! Nail-biting ending to the Tigers-Astros game, with a great trivia twist. Going into the ninth inning, Houston was down 3-0. Since 1990, what's the postseason record of teams entering the final inning with such a deficit or more? 1-538. The only team in the past 24 years to surmount a three-run lead or more in the 9th inning was the 2016 Chicago Cubs, a team that included Jason Heyward on their roster. And Heyward made the final out in yesterday's game--a smoked line-drive that, if not caught, could well have cleared the bases and made Houston only the second postseason team to storm back from a three-run deficit in the ninth in a quarter of a century. Instead, Heyward and his teammates became a part of loss 539. Huzzah! I am definitely rooting for Detroit in this series.

Interesting recent publication—book is arriving today, hoping to read it sometime in the coming weeks: In With the In Crowd: Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America

Hey gang, looking at going to a rock concert at Soldier Field next August. Any board members have any experience seeing music there and offering recommendations on decent seats for a show?

I'm in!