In late June, when I decided to flip Acuna back to get Altuve and spark a bevy of deals that led me to come up with the team I have today, the sole goal was to face Jim Vaughn in the NLCS.
Well, it was a little more dramatic than I wanted, but here I am, celebrating on the eve before my franchise’s biggest playoff battle since 2012.
This did not seem plausible Saturday morning.
For a small window on Friday night, I thought I may have the lead on Saturday morning, but it fell apart and once again, I was trailing 13-6-3 to the Dude.
But then, led by Mallex Smith’s five singles and two stolen bases over the weekend, I rallied to take a lead Saturday and extend it out to 11-7-4 on Sunday.
“It was a team effort,” Mallex said to reporters Sunday evening, as he scraped the wiz off his steak sandwich. He threw it in the trash and turned back to the reporters, “I’m boycotting this delicious cheesesteak staple this week.”
That’s a company man right there. He’s quickly working his way toward keeper status.
The ALDS saw the Crox Sox running away with a 13-6-3 win, but it was closer than that score suggests. The pitching line in this matchup is rather insane as the Crox Sox won walks 28-29, they tied strikeouts at 87, Crox won ERA 2.36-2.64, Crox won WHIP 1.051-1.060, and they tied quality starts at 4.
One more good start for a Gambler pitcher could have led him to five wins and turned 13-6-3 loss to 11-10-1 win.
At the plate, Crox was more dominant, scoring 39 runs, 49 singles, 12 doubles, 3 triples, 12 homers, 7 stolen bases and .309 average. Outside of homers, all of the categories were easily won.
“I’m humbled by how the Crox Sox have persevered from many early season injuries,” Mr. O’Reilly said Sunday night. “I was once just a shy, little boy from central New Jersey. I’m now face-to-face with the AL’s defending champ, ready for the week to come.
That’s right. Now, that shy Jersey boy gets to sit down and feast on some Breakfast.
As he sits, he takes a large spoonful of the hashbrowns and scrambled eggs, and curls his nose.
“Man, this is cold,” he says.
Yes, the Breakfast hasn’t won a matchup since the first week of August, and to make matters worse, his starter pitchers keep putting on Mardi Gras beads and joining the insane party that is happening on his DL.
I just assume it’s an insane party because it’s been at max capacity all season.
Even the fire marshal had to be called in a few months ago to make sure the DL was up to code.
The question now is, will Chris Sale and Lance McCullers leave that party to help get Breakfast a JLB championship parade?
Sale should be back Tuesday, but only as a simple Tampa Bay-like opener.
That opening appearance better last more than 2 innings. He's going to need it.
The Crox Sox has quietly had the JLB’s best pitching staff. The League-best 3.64 ERA and 2,089 Ks is better than the Cheese Steaks dream team of pitchers. Add in 80 saves to 93 holds, the balance is there to dominate.
The only team better in bullpen balance is the Slammers with 86 saves and 121 holds.
Maybe, just maybe, these bullpens could clash in the World Series?
Well, it would take major upsets to do so.
Cheese and Breakfast — man, they go well together — have had amazing follow-up campaigns to their 2017 World Series appearances.
A combined 487 regular-season wins help each win their divisions by double-digits.
To say they’re heavy favorites would be an understatement.
But at the same time, to say that they are sitting comfortable this week, would be a huge lie.
Comments