Hey, Hobbits aren't the only ones who eat a second breakfast!
The JLB just got its second helping.
OK, the Lord of the Rings reference surely lost Choo (who is now asking, "What is Lord of the Rings?")
With a 24-21-3 win, Big Ol' Country Breakfast is the Big Ol' World Series Champion again. He joins the Cheese Steaks and the Bensalem Slammers* as the only three-time World Series Champs. Breakfast and Cheese Steaks also are the only teams to have won three World Series in four years**.
The Steaks did it in 2015 and again in back-to-back years, 2017 and 2018. Breakfast followed in his footsteps winning in 2019 and now in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022.
The fact that we're saying this over calling Dude a two-time World Series Champion is quite wild. Lebowski won Week 1 of the World Series 16-8-0. He led 16-5-3 on Saturday of the matchup, so Sam's big nibbling of categories at the end of the blowout paid dividends.
He stole a base, scored 17 runs and earned 12 walks to win each category — the latter two by just one each — and make the matchup 16-8-0.
That was pivotal as it would turn out.
Sam came out on fire in Week 2, and Dude was instantly worried.
Could the improbable happen?
Yes, yes it could.
Sam won Week 2 by a score of 16-5-3 to take the overall series 24-21-3.
For the Dude, it is a tough pill to swallow with how insane his starting pitching was over the two weeks. He lost ERA and WHIP in Week 2 despite having at 1.99 ERA and 0.951 WHIP. That's just cruel. He also went 13-1 and split those categories thanks to Sam's 8-0 mark.
Over the two weeks, the Dude's pitching went 22-3 with a 2.30 ERA, 0.978 WHIP and 206 Ks. ... That's a Cy Young pitcher.
To his credit, Sam hung tough over two weeks going 14-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 189 Ks. Truly just a pair of amazing pitching performances.
But really, where this all unraveled for the Dude was the bullpen. Yes, his offense struggled in the second leg and he can look at that as a reason why he lost, but the fact is, over two weeks, he went 0-7-1 in the four bullpen categories. Sam, overall, had 12 saves, 8 holds, 9 IRS and zero blown saves. The Dude blew 4 saves and had 8 saves, 3 holds and 8 IRS.
For Breakfast, as we saw how the starting pitching went, it was important for his offense to show up in Week 2, and it certainly did. He batted .301/.352 with 13 homers and 37 RBIs.
Matt Olson got hot and managed to get 9 at-bats for Sam, hitting 3 homers, walking twice and hitting a very key sacrifice. He was struggling so much, he did not start all week for Sam, which could have been scary if this matchup was closer because Sam benched 2 other homers, 2 singles, 3 RBIs, 3 walks and 4 runs from Olson.
Other offensive standouts included Luis Garcia (.389, HR, 7 RBIs), Jeremy Pena (.556, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs), JD Martinez (.360, 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, 6 runs) and Mitch Haniger (.333, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs).
Just like the NLCS, where a few little things could have changed it all, the Dude went into the final Sunday just needing to win the 3 tied categories — IRS, stolen bases, walks. He wins those, he wins the World Series.
That's just how close it was.
Dude wanted to play for 3 more days, and we can easily see why. It was just one of those battles that didn't deserve a loser.
And whereas the season must come to an end, I can promise you this: On Opening Day 2023, we will see the Dude and Sam rematching in the opening two-week battle.
Less will be on the line, but then again, if these two meet again in the World Series and play this kind of matchup, you just never know if we'll get to that tiebreaker that brings the regular-season meeting into play.
With the way the JLB has played out, that may have some good odds. .. Which means Butter will add it into a 14-leg parlay.
* Screw you, Choo, and your snide comment you made at this point
** Choo did the opposite: Lost three World Series in four years.
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