In July, it was looking pretty good for both Choo and
Cheese. They did trail the division leaders, but they themselves had a decent
lead for the first wild card in their respective leagues and there was little
chance at that point that they’d be caught.
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Big League Choo
TRADED
Charlie Blackmon, to Crox on July 10
Carlos Gonzalez, to Cheese on July 11
Austin Hedges, to Cheese on July 11
J.D. Martinez, to Breakfast on July 11
Noah Syndergaard, to Cheese on July 22
Jose De Leon, to Cheese on July 29
Alex Reyes, to Breakfast on July 31
Aroldis Chapman, to ERA on July 31
Jeremy Hellickson, to ERA on July 31
Ben Zobrist, to ERA on July 31
ACQUIRED
Alex Reyes, on July 10
Masahiro Tanaka, on July 11
Travis Jankowski, on July 11
Tanner Roark, on July 11
Clint Frazier, on July 31
DJ LeMahieu, on July 31
Jon Gray, on July 31
Victor Martinez, on July 31
Philly Cheese Steaks
TRADED
Sonny Gray, to Crox on July 16
J.A. Happ, to Choo on July 22
Odubel Herrera, to Choo on July 22
Jose De Leon, to Choo on July 22
Jose Bautista, to Choo on July 29
Jason Hammel, to ERA on July 30
Austin Hedges, to ERA on July 30
Jose De Leon, to Breakfast on Aug. 1
Brian Dozier, to Breakfast on Aug. 1
Jaime Garcia, to Breakfast on Aug. 1
ACQUIRED
Andrew Benintendi, on July 16
Brandon McCarthy, on July 16
Mike Leake, on July 16
Billy Hamilton, on July 30
Matt Carpenter, on Aug. 1
Marco Estrada, on Aug. 1
Matt Shoemaker, on Aug. 1
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Still, they felt the need to tinker. And tinker some more.
And then tinker some more.
And the question after they both lost to the No. 3 seeds in
the first round of the playoffs, “Did they ruin their chances in July?”
Let’s take a look. The deals just below Brian from Family Guy are all the deals made by —
and between — the two teams. (Acquired doesn’t include the players traded if it
went to the other because why double up the transaction?)
Let’s analyze this list.
First off, a reminder, this is just deals from July 10 to Aug. 1.
That’s a hell of a lot
of moves for teams that were winning at that point.
You can look at some of the weeks some of these guys had and just wonder.
Like, how nice would it have been for Choo to have the two
doubles, homer and six RBIs by Cargo? How nice would it have been to have that
save by Aroldis Chapman?
How nice would it have been to have Brian Dozier’s four
homers and six RBIs for the Cheese?
Now, I know I’m playing Monday Morning Quarterback here, and
quite frankly, there are millions of scenarios that could have played out had
they not made some or all of these trades.
It’s impossible to sit here and calculate what they could
have had.
All I can do is look at the list and wonder why change
so much when you’re playing well and a virtual lock for the playoffs?
Perhaps it was the mighty Outs. His team is just so good,
they felt they had to get even better to have a chance to beat him.
Yet, in their haste to build a team that could maybe compete
with Brian, they wound up overlooking those other Brians.
Brians. So many Brians. Seventy-five percent of the
remaining teams are Brians. Parker is the odd man out in the Brian Cup, and he
has to be a bit scared after losing yet another key pitcher over the bye week.
First, let’s talk about the lower-seeded Brians who upset
the No. 2 seeds on each side. No good order to go with this, so let’s start
with the one who snuck into the playoffs in the final week.
Steroid.ERA was out of this world last week, batting .330
with 38 runs, 53 singles, 20 doubles, 8 homer (which he lost 9-8) and 42 RBIs.
He also had one more walk than Cheese (16-15) and 6 SACs to Cheese’s 1.
Pitching wasn’t that great, but he still won five categories because he had
fewer walks, losses and blown saves. The big difference really could have been
the Ivan Nova complete-game win. That gave him two categories in the 12-9-1 win
over Cheese.
Cheese was virtually out of it by Wednesday and was playing
catchup all week.
The other Brian victory, Crox’s 9-7-6 triumph was much
closer all week. It went back and forth faster than they could exchange insults
via text. In the end, it was the power of Crox over the weekend that did Choo
in. Crox got 6 homers and 11 RBIs on Saturday and Sunday to win HRs by 13-9 and
RBIs 37-29.
Two former Choos contributed to that power surge as David
Ortiz and Charlie Blackmon had two of the six long balls.
Ortiz wasn’t alone for the Sox. The Crox Sox rode the Sox
wave — of both Red and White hue — to the ALCS. Dustin Pedroia had a homer and
7 RBIs; Hanley Ramirez had 2 homers and 5 RBIs; and Jose Abreu had 8 singles, a
homer and 4 RBIs. Together, they had 11 runs.
Now, for Crox and ERA, it’s on to the No. 1 seeds. This is
really where it’s been sketchy in JLB history. Since 2010, only the Outs, in
2013, have taken their No. 1 seed status and gone on to win a World Series.
Wild card winners have claimed the other four World Series, including three No.
3 seeds.
It really plays well for Steroid.ERA, the only wild card
left in the National League who happens to be a No. 3 seed.
Yes, I know Crox is a 3 seed, too, but the American League
hasn’t won a World Series since Parker was relevant back in 2010.
Parker is relevant again and the Crox is one of the hottest teams in the JLB. Maybe that run of NL titles ends this year.
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