lordstanley

At one point on Friday's broadcast, I heard a reference to Game 7 of the 1924 World Series. It was a rare postseason all-or-nothing game that went to extra innings. It's a game and series that doesn't quite get the attention it deserves. Here's a fun 13 minute video about it. The series was between the NY Giants and the Washington Senators. The Senators, a charter 1901 American League franchise, won their first ever pennant that season. The legendary Walter Johnson joined them in 2007, played his whole career for them, and finally in his 18th season at the age of 36 had a chance to play in the World Series. Unfortunately for those interested in storybook endings, it looked that Johnson had missed his moments, losing his two starts in Games 1 and 5. In Game 7, the Senators were trailing 3-1 in the 8th inning and Johnson was sitting on the bench. Rather than spoil it for those who don't already know what happened 101 years ago, I suggest you go to the 6:23 mark of the video and see how the deciding game played out. Enjoy actual game footage that was found in an attic in 2014.

Agreed. And it's why I differentiate between "dominant" performances and "great" performances. No question Skubal was dominant on Friday. 2H 1R 0BB 13K in 6.0 IP. For perspective, through 6 innings of his Game 1 WS masterpiece in '68, Bob Gibson was 4H 0R 1BB 11K. Gibson had his 12th strikeout in the 7th, 14th at the end of 8 and then 17th for the complete. So inning for inning, Skubal's was as awesome as Gibson's if not moreso and had the batters just as overmatched. BUT Gibson's extra 3 innings counts for something, counts for a lot. Verlander in Game 5 of the 2012 ALDS pitched a complete game shutout on 4 hits 1 walk and 11 strikeouts. Verlander in Game 5 of the 2013 ALDS pitched 8 innings of shutout ball on 2 hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts. Even if you ignore the run he gave up, I don't think Skubal's performance on Friday can be mentioned in the same breath as Gibson's or Verlander's despite the gigantic number of strikeouts. I get that pitchers aren't asked to pace themselves these days, so this isn't a knock on Skubal, but lower IPs per season and per game mean that modern strikeout and ERA stats need to be discounted to an extent, IMO.

Bryan Woo activated by the Mariners for the ALCS. Bichette still out for the Jays. Bassitt and Scherzer included as pitchers for the ALCS after both having been left off the Jays' ALDS roster.

I’d prefer no box on my screen to the faint Fox box, but I prefer the faint Fox box to the sharp white line boxes. Broadcasters spend so much time of their time now talking about ball-strike calls and pitch counts.

I echo you and others. I had confidence in Javy and had a really good feeling about it. I was still concerned that if it got to two strikes he would chase one far away for a strikeout, but as long as he took cuts at the first couple of pitches in the strike zone he would get the run in. He got his pitches and his swings, but one went foul and one broke his bat. That was the chance. And as for being a game of inches, the throw on the bunt was very close to hitting Meadows or bouncing off the first baseman's glove, there was a chance of a run scoring right there before needing any more dramatic at bats.

6-3, Wings win! We don’t have to give up on the season yet after all, lol.

ENG! Still a minute to go though.

Nice kill. 2:54 to go.

Struggle in the corner of the Leafs end leads to a borderline penalty called on the Wings with 5 minutes to go.

Raymond takes the lead back on the powerplay. Zippy passing. 4-3 Wings!

Great period has flipped the game! 3-2 Wings after 2. Almost added a 4th on a partial break in the dying seconds. It would be huge to get at least a point out of this game.

Leafs open the scoring 2 1/2 minutes in on rheir first shot. Talbot in net.

Yes, going into the series we heard about the scary Mariners lineup. How unlike Harris they acquired big bats at the deadline like Naylor and Suarez. Fine, but through 14 innings last night, that scary lineup had produced 2 runs in their past 18 innings.

This is why last night’s game felt especially tense for the fans of the visiting team. Starting with the bottom of the 9th and before the game-winning hit, the Mariners had 28 at bats, so a homer on any of them would have meant a walkoff loss for the Tigers. Furthermore, over that same span the Mariners had 10 at bats with a runner in scoring position, so each of those times were just a single away from a walkoff. Imagine the Mariners fans’ post-mortem if Seattle had lost after having a runner on 2nd with 0 outs in each of the 10th, 12th and 13th innings.

I’ll be cheering for the Mariners. I like their fans, I’m partial to the Pacific NW. I dislike the Jays - not as intensely as the Leafs and not this Jays’ roster individually - so I’d be jealous if they win.

LOL, Skubal was gassed after 6 and Dan was gassed after 15. What more was there to say. But he could have made it super quick: "Skubal dominant for 6. Carpenter was enormous. Bullpen had rough patches but held the Tigers in. Heart of the order putrid. Tigers lose, season over, the end!".

The Tigers’ extra inning double plays were beautiful to watch. Started by Montero in the 12th and Javy in the 13th, they were executed perfectly and put fans suddenly into bathroom breaks when seconds earlier it looked like the season might end on the next pitch.

True, that’s a good counterpoint. The Tigers had Skubal for 2 of 5 games and he delivered enough to win them the series but in most cases.

I think even at the All Star break, when it looked like the Tigers were putting together a special regular season, advancing any further than this was never a given. You win 95 or 100 games all that does is give you a bye into the LDS. Where you would be facing a tough opponent. Look at the Brewers - winning 20 of 22 in July and August or whatever they did is great fun for the fans at the time but tonight they too face a win or go home LDS Game 5. The Tigers got there and ended up in a coin flip situation and were in fact 7 outs away from the win. There are no great teams in the AL this year and, apart from Game 1 where they would have been toast, I think the Tigers would have had a decent shot with Toronto, albeit as the underdog. I miss the days of a great regular season putting you right into or on the brink of the World Series, but the past is the past. I also miss the days of aces going more than 6 innings in elimination games, and think it should - but not necessarily does - lessen starting pitchers' ability to pull in massive contracts.

Woo did another throwing session today.

I expected another HBP.

Even though Flaherty was shaky to start, you had to leave him in.

One way or the other other we will talk about it for years.