Category Archives: League Championship Series

October 24, 2023

Diamondbacks NL Champs

The Diamondbacks win their second National League Pennant, downing the Phillies 4-2 as they win the last two games of the NLCS on the road. Corbin Carroll had the best game at the plate, three for three with a sacrifice fly, scoring two runs and driving in the other two.

The pitching worked well. Brandon Pfaadt gave the team four inning, allowing two runs. Then the bullpen allowed just one hit and two walks over the last five innings, with no hits after the fifth inning.

It’s great the two team not in the series for a long time will meet in the southwest. Texas tries to win their first championship, while the Diamondbacks lifted the trophy over 20 years ago. I think it’s important for baseball to have lots of different teams appearing in the World Series so I’m happy for the outcome.

October 24, 2023

Bottom of the Ninth

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Paul Sewald comes in to close game seven for the Diamondbacks, Arizona leading Philadelphia 4-2. Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh, and Cristian Pache are scheduled to hit.

Update: Castellanos hits a 1-1 pitch to rightfield for the first out.

Update: Marsh fouls off the first two pitches he sees. He hits a 2-2 pitch deep down the line in leftfield, but in the park for an out. Two down.

Update: Jake Cave pinch hits.

Update: Cave falls behind 1-2. He flies out down the line in rightfield, and the Diamondbacks win the NL Pennant!

October 24, 2023

Just Ks

Kevin Ginkel of the Diamondbacks strikes out all three Phillies he faces in the eighth inning. That means Philadelphia will go to the bottom of the ninth with the bottom of the order up and will be trailing by at least two runs. Things are looking good for Arizona.

October 24, 2023

Phillies Threat

The Phillies draw two walks with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. That leads to the removal of Andrew Saalfrank by the Diamondbacks. The tying runs are on base for Trea Turner as Kevin Ginkel comes in to pitch. Ginkel has yet to be charged with a run in 7 1/3 post-season innings, striking out ten along the way.

Update: Turner flies out to center for the second out. That brings up Bryce Harper.

Update: Harper also flies out to center, and the Diamondbacks may not need to see them again. The Diamondbacks lead the Phillies 4-2 at the end of seven innings.

October 24, 2023

The Sacrifice of Carroll

In the top of the seventh inning with one out, Geraldo Perdomo singles and Ketel Marte doubles to bring up Corbin Carroll. With two strikes, he gets a high pitch from Jose Alvarado, and drives it to leftfield for a sacrifice fly. The Diamondbacks lead 4-2 the Phillies with Carroll either driving in or scoring all four runs

October 24, 2023

One Run Strategy

Emmanuel Rivera leads off the top of the fifth with a single for the Diamondbacks. He is bunted over to second, and after a K by Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll delivers a single up the middle to tie the Phillies at two. Carroll is three for three, scoring the first run and driving in the second.

That chases Phillies starter Ranger Suarez from the game. Suarez did not walk a batter and struck out six in a fine start.

Update: Jeff Hoffman comes in to pitch for the Phillies, and Carroll steals second.

Update: Gabriel Moreno singles to right to score Carroll and give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead. He then gets caught in a run down as he thought the throw was going through. That’s the end of the inning.

October 24, 2023

Walk Run

Brandon Pfaadt walks Alec Bohm in the bottom of the fourth inning, Pfaadt’s first walk in three games. The walk costs, as Bryson Stott doubles to left-center to drive in Bohm, and the Phillies lead the Diamondbacks 2-1. J.T. Realmuto singles to put runners on first and third as the threat continues.

Update: Pfaadt pitches carefully to Brandon Marsh and walks him to load the bases with two out.

Update: Number 9 hitter Johan Rojas strikes out to end the inning. The DBacks bend, but don’t break as the Phillies lead 2-1.

October 24, 2023

La Bohmba

Alec Bohm of the Phillies leads off the bottom second with a home run to tie the Diamondbacks at one. It’s Bohm’s first home run of the post season, and the first run allowed by Pfaadt since the wild card round.

October 24, 2023

Early Threat

With one out in the top of the first inning, the Diamondbacks get singles from Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno to put runners on first and third. Christian Walker hits a slow roller to short, and the force at second allows Carroll to score and take a 1-0 lead over the Phillies.

October 24, 2023

Garcia MVP

I’m so old I can no longer stay up to see who wins the LCS MVP. There’s no surprise in the AL as it goes to Adolis Garcia of Texas:

García, named MVP of the ALCS, capped off Game 7 of the series against cross-state rival Houston with a bang. Two homers, five RBI and a pennant were all she wrote for El Bombi as the Rangers secured the 11-4 win on Monday night to advance to their third Fall Classic in franchise history.
MSN.com

The Rangers put up some gaudy slugging percentages against Houston, but Garcia slugged over .400 points better than anyone else on the team with a 1.143 mark. He did not draw a walk in the series, but he was hit by a pitch.

It looks like admiring a shot that hit the wall in the outfield for a single didn’t deter the voters from picking Garcia.

October 24, 2023

Playoffs Today

Brandon Pfaadt takes on Ranger Suarez as the Diamondbacks battle the Phillies for the National League Pennant in game seven of the NLCS. Pfaadt got knocked around as he opened the post season for Arizona, but since then he spun ten shutout innings, striking out 11 with no walks and just four hits allowed. Suarez made three good starts, allowing just one run in 14 innings, the only run coming on a solo homer. He’s given up just seven hits.

Neither pitcher goes deep, however, so this game may depend on who avoids the bad reliever. The Diamondbacks bullpen this post-season allowed a .242/.333/.348 slash line, while the Phillies come in at .238/.337/.305. Note that both pens are more than willing to pitch around batters to get outs from weaker hitters.

Enjoy!

October 23, 2023

Rangers AL Champs

The Rangers beat the Astros 11-4 to win the American League Pennant for 2023. The team just kept piling on the hits, 15 in all with two doubles and four home runs. Congratulations to the Rangers, who get another chance to win the first World Series in their franchise history.

The Astros go from being the only team to get swept four games at home in a seven games series to being the only team to have it happen twice!

Tomorrow night Rangers will learn who they will be playing in the World Series as the National League Champion will be decided.

October 23, 2023

Garcia Again

Adolis Garcia just hit his second home run of the game in the top of the eighth inning. That gives him seven post-season home runs, five this series. The Rangers lead the Astros 11-3.

October 23, 2023

Lowe Blow

Nathaniel Lowe of the Rangers hits a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 10-2 over the Astros. Lowe’s had rather a poor post-season, coming into this game hitting .222/.255/.378. Four of his eleven hits have gone for extra bases, however.

October 23, 2023

Carter Connects

Evan Carter comes up with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning and doubles in two runs. Adolis Garcia follows with a single for two more runs, and the Rangers lead the Astros 8-2. That’s a long way to come back for Houston.

Corey Seager singled in the inning, and now needs the triple for the cycle.

Update: Jonah Heim singles with two out to put runners on first and third, knocking out J.P. France. France hasn’t been hit this hard since Agincourt.

October 23, 2023

Bregman Blast

Alex Bregman homers high off the wall in leftfield to cut the Rangers lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning. That’s the nineteenth post-season home run of Bregman’s career, and the third of this series.

Yordan Alvarez then triples off the wall, and the tying run is at the plate.

October 23, 2023

Garcia Does it Again

Adolis Garcia homers in the top of the third inning for homers in four consecutive games. That sets a record for consecutive games with a home run in the post season. He breaks the record set by both Donn Clendenon and Henry Aaron in 1969, and Nick Castellanos in 2023.

The Rangers lead the Astros 4-1.

Correction: Something bothered me about my result, and I checked my code again and I’m finding current streaks. I’m going to fix this sometime today when I have time.

October 23, 2023

Breaking the Stadium

Jose Altuve hits a ball that breaks a pane in the leftfield scoreboard. The hit goes for a double. It’s a good start for Astros after giving up three runs in the top of the first inning.

That’s his sixth extra-base hit of the 2023 post season.

Update: After an intentional walk to Yordan Alvarez, Jose Abreu delivers an RBI single. Michael Brantley then hits into a double play, but the Astros get one run back and trail the Rangers 3-1.

October 23, 2023

Rangers Dangers

Corey Seager of the Rangers breaks from his slump with a solo home run from the second slot to give Texas an early 1-0 lead over the Astros. The hits then keep coming as the next four hitters reach base with a walk and three hits, as the Rangers take a 3-0 lead with just one out in first.

Adolis Garcia did showboat on his hit, standing at the plate as the ball hit the wall in leftfield, and he ended up with a single. He did make up for the gaffe by stealing second, one of two steals in the inning.

Cristian Javier faces just six batters and is pulled from the game.

Update: Phil Maton comes on and strikes out the next two batters to end the inning.

October 23, 2023

Two Games Sevens

The Diamondbacks defeat the Phillies 5-1 behind great pitching from Merrill Kelly and the bullpen. Kelly allowed one run in five innings, and the bullpen shut the Phillies down the rest of the way. Kelly threw 90 pitches and wanted to go back for the sixth inning, but Torey Lovullo stuck with his game plan. If the bullpen blew up in the sixth, there would be no end of second guessing.

The teams play once again in Philadelphia Tuesday night for the NL Pennant.

October 23, 2023

Thompson in Relief

Ryan Thompson comes on in relief of Merrill Kelly. Kelly allowed three hits, three walks, and one run in five innings. He struck out eight. Kelly was not happy at the end of the fifth inning when he was told he was done.

Thompson gets the first out in the bottom of the sixth, but then gives up a hit to Bryson Stott of the Phillies. Arizona leads 4-1.

Update: Thompson get the final two batters on air outs and the the 4-1 lead remains intact.

October 23, 2023

Triple Trouble

Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte combine for the fourth Diamondbacks run in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Carroll singles, then Marte follows with an RBI triple. Marte now has three post-season triples in his career, matching his post-season home run total. The triple chases Aaron Nola of the Phillies from the game.

The Diamondbacks lead 4-1.

October 23, 2023

Phillies Strike Back

With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Brandon Marsh of the Phillies singles in JT Realmuto from second base. Arizona rightfielder Corbin Carroll makes a mistake, throwing for Realmuto at the plate, allowing Marsh to go to second. Unlike most catchers, Realmuto runs well.

The Diamondbacks lead the Phillies 3-1.

Update: With two out and Marsh on third, Kyle Schwarber walks for the second time in the game.

Update: Trea Turner strikes out to end the inning.

October 23, 2023

Pham Bam

Tommy Pham of the Diamondbacks leads off the top of the second inning with a home run a few rows up the seats in leftfield. That’s his second home run of the post-season and first in the NLCS.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr.follows with his second home run of this post season, and Arizona leads the Phillies 2-0.

Update: After a walk, Evan Longoria drills the first pitch to the wall in left-center for an RBI double. A big doubles hitter for his career, that was his seventh in 46 post-season games.

October 23, 2023

Bad BABIP

The Phillies put two balls in play in the bottom of the first for two outs and a BABIP of 0.000. They do put two men on base as Merrill Kelly of the Diamondbacks pitches around Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, walking both. His control looked good against the other three hitters, so not giving those two sluggers anything to hit appears to be the strategy.

No score after one inning.

October 23, 2023

Good BABIP

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The Diamondbacks came out of the first inning against Aaron Nola with a 1.000 BABIP as Gabriel Moreno singles, but the other ~~four~~ three batters strike out. Nola now owns ten strikeouts in seven innings in this NLCS. Arizona is going to need to get the bat on the ball more.

There’s no score as the Phillies come to bat in the bottom of the first.

October 23, 2023

Playoffs Today

Today turns out to be a rare day when both LCS feature potentially clinching games. My favorite came in 1986, when the Mets and Astros dueled in extra innings, and the Red Sox completed a comeback from down 3-1 against the Angels.

The Diamondbacks try to force a game seven in Philadelphia starting at 5 PM EDT. Merrill Kelly battles Aaron Nola. Kelly allowed three home runs in game two, two to Kyle Schwarber. Kelly did a good job limiting home runs in the regular season, and he will need to find a way to return to that today. Nola won all three of his post-season starts, twice throwing short shutouts. He’s walked two and struck out 19 in the 2023 post season, helping him to a 0.96 ERA.

Max Scherzer takes the mound for the Rangers against Cristian Javier. The Rangers have to hope the game three start by Scherzer knocked some of the rust off as he returned from an injury. On the good side, he walked one and struck out four in his four innings. On the bad side, he allowed five hits and five runs. Javier proved tough to hit early in that game, as the Rangers put the ball in play against him, but most of those batted balls turned into outs. Javier allowed just two runs and four hits in 10 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

October 22, 2023

Winner Take All

The Rangers beat the Astros 9-2, and we get our first winner-take-all game of the 2023 post-season. There are two possible clinching games on Monday, so get home from work early to enjoy them both!

October 22, 2023

Painful RBI

The slumping Corey Seager of the Rangers comes up with the bases loaded and none out in the top of the ninth inning against new reliever Ryne Stanek. Stanek hits Seager in the right shin with the second pitch. Seager gets an RBI and the Rangers lead the Astros 5-2. It’s Seager’s second RBI of the series.

Update: With one out, Adolis Garcia, who struck out four times in the game, hits a 1-1 pitch over the leftfield wall for a grand slam, and the Rangers lead 9-2. He was swinging hard and wild all game, but he got that pitch.

October 22, 2023

Garver Again

Mitch Garver doubles in a run in the top of the eighth inning to extend the Rangers lead over the Astros to 4-2. Garver will not get the chance for the cycle as he is removed for a pinch runner. He ends the game with a three for four, with two runs and two RBI.