ALCS

Royals 14 Blue Jays 2, Royals lead Series 3-1

The Royals put a quick four on the board in the top of the first off of Blue Jays’ knuckleballer R.A. Dickey:

After going quiet for the middle third of the game, the Royals offense came back to life, and they just. kept. coming. They scored 14 runs on 15 hits — only two of which went for extra bases. You’re good at math so you know that means KC hit 13 singles, and they also drew 5 walks. That’s a whole lot of “keeping the line moving.”

Royals’ starter Chris Young went only 4.2 innings and allowed two runs, but that was enough given the strength and depth of their bullpen. Four relievers combined for 4.1 innings of shutout ball, topped off by old friend Franklin Morales in the 9th.

Kansas City has a chance to secure their second consecutive trip to the World Series starting this afternoon at 4 on FS1. Endison Volquez vs. Marco Estrada. This didn’t work out too well for Toronto the first time around.

NLCS

Mets 5 Cubs 2, Mets lead Series 3-0

This one was a little more exciting than the ALCS game. The Mets jumped on Cubs’ starter Kyle Hendricks right away thanks to a David Wright single and a Yoenis Cespedes double.

In the bottom of the first, the Cubbies evened things up on this opposite field job by Kyle Schwarber, which also set the Cubs franchise record for home runs in a single postseason.

That pitch is legitimately 10″ off the plate and up. Incredible display of power by the 22 year old.

Speaking of records and incredible, have you heard about this guy Daniel Murphy?

In the bottom of the 3rd he goes yard, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead and ties Carlos Beltran’s record of homering in five straight postseason games. He has six homers in eight postseason games.

Bottom 4 with the Cubs now trailing by a run, Jorge Soler absolutely cranks a 3-1 Jacob deGrom fastball out to right-center.

He must’ve been sitting middle-away because that is an absolutely gorgeous swing on a ball on the outer half. 2-2 ballgame.

deGrom had a similar outing to his Game 5 start against the Dodgers — a little shaky early but composed himself and turned in an impressive performance.

PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
deGrom (W, 1-0)	7.0	4	2	2	1	7	2	2.57

In the top of the 6th, Cespedes hit a leadoff single, Duda sacrificed him over to second, d’Arnaud grounds out, but not before Cespedes swiped third with relative ease. This left Yoenis at third with two outs and Michael Conforto batting. Cubs’ pitcher Trevor Cahill struck him out on a nasty breaking ball in the dirt. Maybe a little too nasty:

New York would add a couple of insurance runs in the 7th, and guess who was in the middle of it all?

The poor Cubs. Obviously some of this damage was self-inflicted, but there were a couple of bad breaks mixed in there as well.

The Mets will go for the series sweep tonight at 8PM on TBS. Steven Matz vs. Jason Hammel. I’d say this one is a toss-up simply because the Cubs will use anyone and everyone out of the bullpen if Hammel gets into trouble.

The Mets will really want to take care of business in this game, because they could be looking at Lester in Game 5, Arrieta in Game 6, and be forced to play a Game 7, which is always a crapshoot.

ALCS – Royals lead Blue Jays 2-0

Game 1: Royals 5 Blue Jays 0

On Friday night Edinson Volquez spun 6 shutout innings thanks to a lively two-seam fastball. He didn’t always know where it was going (4 walks in those 6 innings) but neither did the Blue Jays’ hitters, who managed only two hits and struck out five times against Edinson.

The Royals offense was led by Alcides Escobar’s two doubles and two runs scored. This must really stick in the craw of noted L7 Weenie Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk (Correction: It was Puliot, not Calcaterra. But Crag is still a weenie) since earlier this postseason he bashed Escobar and Kansas City manager Ned Yost for batting him leadoff. Escobar has an OPS of .867 this postseason.

Game 2: Royals 6 Blue Jays 3

Poor David Price. Similar to Clayton Kershaw in last year’s NLDS, for awhile it looked like this was going to be the start that silenced all of the naysayers. After surrendering a leadoff single to Escobar, Price was dominant, retiring the next 18 men in a row.

The Blue Jays offense had also done their part, building a 3-0 lead in support of their ace. Alas, a miscommunication on a Ben Zobrist pop up was all it took for Price’s outing to come crashing down:

Once the Royals bullpen is handed a lead after the 7th, they’re not going to give it back. Royals take a 2-0 series lead heading into tonight’s game in Toronto.

NLCS – Mets lead Cubs 2-0

Game 1: Mets 4 Cubs 2

Daniel Murphy is the greatest baseball player of all time. He opened the scoring in this one with a first inning solo shot off of John Lester.

Travis d’Arnaud added a solo shot off of the apple in dead center field, and Matt Harvey allowed only two runs in 7.2 innings, striking out nine and walking two on just 97 pitches. This was obviously huge for Harvey. Given the innings limit controversy, every start is under a microscope and the Mets fans will either love him or hate him before it’s all said and done. I think it’s pretty obvious how they feel after this one.

Oh yeah, this is how this game ended:

Game 2: Mets 4 Cubs 1

Have I mentioned that Daniel Murphy is playing well right now?

For those keeping score at home, in his last four postseason games, Murphy has homered off of Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, John Lester, and Jake Arrieta. I’ll repeat my earlier claim: he is the greatest ballplayer of all time.

Thor was on the mound for the Mets and was dominant, but had to leave after 5.2 innings due to a high pitch count. In that time he allowed one run and recorded nine strikeouts. He got a little help from Curtis Granderson in the top of the second when he robbed Chris Coghlan of a homer:

The Mets take a 2-0 series lead into game three in Chicago tomorrow night.

Both home teams took care of business in the LCS but, at least in basketball, they say it’s not a series until somebody loses at home.

Toronto 6, Texas 3 – Toronto Wins ALDS 3-2

Everything you need to know about this game happened in a wild, controversial, heated, 53-minute-long 7th inning.

First, with two outs in the top of the 7th, the game is tied at two with Rugned Odor at third and Shin-Soo Choo batting:

The ball is certainly in play, but it seems unfair that the umpire almost immediately signaled a dead ball, which didn’t give the Blue Jays a chance to make a play on the advancing runner. (Sidenote: I love how Harold Reynolds immediately says “Ball’s dead!” and two seconds later is saying “Why’s it dead? Why’s it dead? That ball’s alive!”)

So with the Rangers ahead 3-2 on an extremely controversial play, this happens in the bottom of the inning:

Not pictured in the above highlight – the aftermath of Joey Bats’ home run:

A few thoughts here:

1. The Rangers could not have Schruted this any harder, blowing a 2-0 series lead and melting down with a lead in the 7th in this one, but I really feel bad for Elvis Andrus. He always seems like a good, funny dude and he had a brutal inning that ultimately led to Texas’ downfall.
2. Kind of a dickish admiration/bat flip by Bautista, but given the emotion of the inning, I can’t really blame him. That being said, if it had been one of the Rangers that had done this, Jose would’ve had the mounties arrest him before he got to the plate.
3. Really poor showing from the Toronto fans here. It’s one thing to throw beer cans and bottles on the field after the blown call (inexcusable, dangerous and childish, but somewhat understandable), it’s another to do it again after your team does something good, improbably and incredibly, in the franchise’s biggest game in 20 years. Clean it up, hosers.

Kansas City 7, Houston 2 – Royals Win ALDS 3-2

Houston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Luis Valbuena home run in the second, and it looked like Johnny Cueto may once again have a largely ineffective start for KC.

People were already starting to question the decision to bring him in, to give up prospects, to put all of their chips in the Cueto basket for a half-season rental.

But then Johnny remembered who he was and starting plowing through the Astros lineup. His body language changed notably. He was swaggering to and fro. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

Doth he ever.

He retired the next 19 men in order following the Valbuena long ball.

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Cueto (W, 1-0)	8.0	2	2	2	0	8	1	3.86

The Royals took the lead in the bottom of the 5th on an Alex Rios chopper that went down the 3rd base line for a double, scoring Sal Perez and Alex Gordon and never looked back.

The exclamation point was this Kendrys Morales three-run bomb off of Dallas Keuchel, featuring an adorable little skip when he knew he got all of it.

So we’re all set for the ALCS: Royals vs. Blue Jays Game One tomorrow night at 7:30PM on FOX.

Tonight: Game 5 between the Mets and Dodgers for the right to play the Cubs in the NLCS, 8PM on TBS.

Thank God we live in these times.

We had a full slate of four games on Columbus Day, each game exciting and highlighted by compelling storylines. I can’t remember another divisional series round with such intrigue and drama, but maybe that’s just because I’m more plugged in to the games? Either way, I’m not complaining.

ALDS

Kansas City 9, Houston 6, Series tied 2-2

This one was wild. After a normal 6 1/2 innings, the Astros led the Royals 3-2. In the bottom of the 7th, 21 year-old Carlos Correa hit his second dinger of the game with Jose Altuve aboard, and Colby Rasmus followed that up with a solo job of his own to give the Astros a 6-2 lead.

Rasmus has been colossal for the ‘Stros thus far in the playoffs, posting a 2.161 OPS, including 3 home runs.

Everyone was feeling pretty good in Houston, especially the guy running Governor Greg Abbott’s official twitter feed.

Oops…The office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted a congratulatory message to Astros when they were up, 6-2. pic.twitter.com/iwCDk5IhKu

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 12, 2015

To say this is where the wheels came off for the Astros would be like saying “this is where the wheels came off” when the Titanic hit that iceberg.

In the top of the 8th, the redoubtable Will Harris (he of a 1.90 regular season ERA) surrendered three straight hits to start the inning, which is where the action picks up here:

Tony Sipp’s reaction to the Correa error is one of the most emotional, demonstrative reactions you’ll ever see on a Major League baseball field.

Eric Hosmer added a two run homer in the top of the 9th to give the Royals a comfortable 9-6 win.

Quote of the game: “Baseball is crazy.” – Carlos Gomez.

Unappreciated: Lance McCullers’ great outing in a potential series-clinching win before the trainwreck began.

Strange: The bullpen phones went out late in this game, which meant that the dugout would yell to the outfielders, who would yell to the bullpen to say who they wanted to warm up. This added to the circus atmosphere … The win goes to Ryan Madson after giving up all those runs and owning a 9.00 ERA and the loss goes to Tony Sipp with a 0.00 ERA.

Toronto 8, Texas 4, Series tied 2-2

The Blue Jays jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead thanks to homers from Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello, and Kevin Pillar.

The Jays tacked on three more in the top of the third to jump out to an early 7-0 advantage.

The real story line in this one was that David Price came on in relief of R.A. Dickey with two outs in the 5th. This was a do-or-die game for the Blue Jays, but with a 7-1 lead, you’d think they could piece together the second half of the game with their existing bullpen options, and keep Price available for the all-important Game 5. But Price got the call and wasn’t great, giving up three runs in three innings, but “earning” the win along the way.

The general consensus seems to be that the Jays wanted Stroman to pitch the winner-take-all game regardless, and by pitching Price yesterday in relief they were able to avoid all of the drama that would come along with that decision. This makes sense because the Rangers struggle with off speed stuff, and Price is more of a fastball/slider guy. He has also been awful in the playoffs in his career.

Both ALDS will play win or go home games on Wednesday. The two series have mirrored each other closely.

NLDS

Chicago 8, St. Louis 6, Chicago leads 2-1

The Cubs set a Major League record by becoming the first team to ever hit SIX home runs in a postseason game.

This offensive outburst backed a less-than-stellar Jake Arrieta, who surrendered four earned runs in 5.2 innings, but still managed to strike out nine men.

Something to keep an eye on: Addison Russell injured himself on a triple and had to leave the game. Could be big down the road, but Javy Baez isn’t a bad insurance policy to have.

New York 13, Los Angeles 7, New York leads 2-1

In the top of the second, Mets starter Matt Harvey surrendered three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. This brought up Yasmani Grandal, who cleared the bases with a single and an error from Curtis Granderson.

Just about a worse-case scenario start for Harvey and the Mets, considering Matt needed to turn in a solid effort to make Mets fans forget about the whole innings limit debacle.

However, Granderson would redeem himself and Harvey in the next inning, when the Mets put together a little rally of their own, scoring one on a Lucas Duda RBI single, then loading the bases with one out. This brought up Harvey, who K’d, leaving the inning in the hands of the man who just committed the costly error.

4-3 New York after two.

In The bottom of the 4th, former Red Sox great Yoenis Cespedes hit a three run MISSILE to put the Met lead at 10-3, sparking a “we want Utley” chant from the delirious Citi Field crowd.

Both the Cubs and the Mets have a chance to clinch in today’s games, starting at 4:30 and 8 PM respectively.