SPANISH HARLEM – The Los Angeles Dodgers are the Champions of Baseball.
Congratulations are in order because they came back from 3-1 against the Atlanta Braves to make to the World Series but also beat another really good team in the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s a feel good story of sorts and even more so if you are actually a Dodgers fan. They finally get over the hump after losing 2 World Series in 3 years. It wasn’t easy for the Dodgers, as they lost to teams that were accused of cheating. First came the Houston Astros and then the Boston Red Sox, who employed the mastermind of that cheating scandal as their manager and were found to transit real time sign information via the iPhone watch during their championship season.
All in all, the Dodgers were the better team. They had the better players and the used their abundance of money wisely. This gets me to the point I want to make: Does this championship really matter? I know a Dodgers fan will say yes, they endured tough losses to teams that were cheaters and it’s easy to say they could have won both if the other team weren’t cheating… but we will never know. I asked my brother if the New York Yankees would of won the World Series this year “Would you be happy?” He hesitated a bit and said it would of felt weird and I thought the same thing. Sure, I would of enjoyed saying that we won our 28th Championship but I would have an asterisk on it. I know the Dodgers are one of the top teams in baseball and were the favorites to make the World Series but everything about this year has been weird for any baseball team that could of it won it.
Kevin Cash’s Big Mistake
I wanted to put my own perspective about the decision to take Blake Snell out of the game when the Tampa Bay Rays were leading 1 zip, in the 6th inning with only 73 pitches thrown. The reason is definitely analytics and the numbers behind them. All teams in baseball have departments that crunch numbers to tell them what the match-ups will be. Who does best against what and who can’t hit these types of pitches, etc., so you try to put yourself in the best position to succeed because you rely on the numbers as fact. We favor this match up or this pitcher gets hit hard the 3rd time through the order and that freaking sucks.
I don’t knock Kevin Cash for taking Snell out because that is the way the game is played. Management wants to play the numbers because analytics people know what’s best. The manager is not the only guy making decisions, these decisions are made before the game is even played. Remember when the Yankees started Deivi Garcia and then switched to J.A. Happ the following inning… yup management. I don’t know if Cash would of made the same decision if the higher ups weren’t involved but they have definitely taken the feel a manager might have out of the equation.
Blake Snell is your ace and a Cy Young winner, if the analytics doesn’t tell you that then something is wrong? Comment below and come back tomorrow for someone who is always right, Different Matt.
Until next Time…
