It's time the U.S. started celebrating Christmas on December 25.

"There was a time with the Mets, briefly, when we talked about 'Harvey Day' when it was Matt Harvey’s turn to pitch."

Matt Harvey.

You're talking about Matt Harvey again.

"But now we have "Jake Day" with the Mets because of Jacob deGrom, who has been the best starting pitcher in baseball the past two years, with back-to-back National League Cy Young Awards to prove it."

Is that right?

Strange.

I'm a baseball fan who lives in the NY metropolitan area, and I have never heard of this ... who was it again? ... Jacob deGrom?

Huh.

"In Gooden’s two magic years when he was a kid, 1984 and ’85, he was 41-13 with that 2.00 ERA and struck out 544 batters in 494 2/3 innings. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in ’84 and the NL Cy Young Award winner in ’85. Seaver in '72 and ’73 had a record of 40-22 to go with a 2.48 ERA and struck out 500 men in 522 innings. He was fifth in the Cy Young voting in ’72, won it in ’73. And deGrom? In addition to the win-loss record, he has struck out 524 batters in 421 innings."

Harvey, Seaver, Gooden, deGrom.

Great stuff.

You should give Evan and Joe a call in the afternoon.

I mean, look, there's not much here to argue with.

Everyone knows deGrom is great and, because he's a Met ... I guess there are parallels between deGrom and other great Met pitchers.

So what?

DeGrom has been great for a lot longer than two years, but if Lupica has never gotten psyched about "Jake Day" until now, that's because of his own ignorance.

DeGrom was Rookie of the Year way back in 2014, and has been various degrees of great ever since.

On the field, deGrom has never been overshadowed by Harvey, Syndergaard, Wheeler ... Jon Niese, Dice-K Matsusaka, Bartolo Colon.

In Lupica's columns, on the other hand, deGrom has been given short shrift.

Not suddenly.

Still hoping for the best, but this season has always had the Sword of Damocles hanging over its head.

The headline reminded me of a talking head who briefly infiltrated my attention span, screaming that the pandemic is unprecedented and unforeseeable.

The details change, but the pandemic is neither of those things.

Seventh of the depth chart? He's better than that.

At some point, the Yankees just need to trade him and get something valuable in return.

Maybe I'm just mellowing in my old age.

"Now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the Astros won't be booed, either. This year's rescheduled Opening Days will be played in front of nobody -- nobody cheering and nobody booing, the only possible way to have baseball in a pandemic. We all have a good sense of what the game misses when there is nobody cheering. But what does the game miss when there's nobody booing? Quite a lot."

LOL.

Core Five

Healthy and empowered, huh?

Britt and Chappy

I had forgotten how much I missed baseball's childish nicknames.

For a long time, I just assumed Whitaker was in the HOF.

Giancarlo Stanton is the DL Midas

Lojack

Everyone Loses

It really does seem MLB owners and players don't pay any attention to the fans. Few are excited to see the return of baseball for 60 games.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"The 30 Major League Baseball owners want to play 60 games this year. The players want to play 70. Here’s a better idea: How about 0?

On Monday afternoon, the players voted against the owners’ most recent proposal, leaving it to commissioner Rob Manfred to mandate a season. He will likely try to set a schedule of 50 or so games. It doesn’t matter. This isn’t safe anymore. It probably never was.

Many of us have been distracted in recent days by calculating teams’ EBITDA when we should have been calculating states’ coronavirus case rates. I wrote last week that the owners are being intransigent. They are. But the news on Friday of COVID-19 outbreaks in Phillies camp, in Clearwater, Fla.; and in Blue Jays camp, in Dunedin, Fla.; and in Giants camp, in Scottsdale, Ariz., have made it clear: The labor issue is not the problem. The virus is."

Crisis Management

Manfred gets a failing grade.

Even though some factors are beyond his control, he is ultimately responsible for this disaster.

He doesn't even seem like an interested party. He doesn't even seem excited for the return of baseball.

The Commissioner of MLB is doing a great job.

He doesn't even seem to care if MLB has a 2020 season.

A great article by Mike Lupica about Hank Aaron.

“I see kids out there,” he said. “I see black and white. But I see those kids. You know where the social change everybody’s talking about is going to come from? It’s going to come from them. Black or white. They’re the ones who are going to make the change that we need in our country.”

Finally the great Hank Aaron said this:

“I’m not able to move around much anymore. But if I could, I’d be out there marching. I’d be right there at the front of the line.”

Yes, I hope they play baseball this season. This is encouraging.

The commissioner of baseball announces the return of his sport with the enthusiasm one might expect when reviewing the findings of an internal audit.

Living in the past.

Matt Harvey's best season was probably 2013. A long time ago in MLB years.

He did not get a lot of wins in 2013 (9), but he was fourth in the Cy Young Award voting and made his only All Star appearance.

For a few years, Harvey struck out a lot of batters and had an excellent SO/W ratio.

Those days are long gone.

He has not been a good major league pitcher since 2015.

I have never heard anyone refer to Gary Sanchez as "El Gary."

Gary Sanchez's 162-game average is .246, 46 home runs, and 114 RBIs ... and this writer is questioning whether the Yankees should sign him.

If that production was cut in half, even with his defensive troubles and seemingly lazy attitude, Sanchez would be one of the top catchers in baseball.

I think MLB will have a season.

"If that doesn't happen -- if they can't agree on a deal to play in 2020 -- baseball will become a loathed presence on North America's sporting landscape, scorned by many fans. The labor fight will merely be deferred, with escalation in some form all but assured because of the unresolved issues.

Next spring, with only months remaining in the current collective bargaining agreement, the players are more apt to use the threat of a strike. Owners, already damaged by the money losses this year, could be more inclined to dig in and wait out the players, aiming for a lasting reconstruction of baseball's financial model. The labor fight could go on and on, and by the time it all plays out, it's impossible to know how many fans, feeling alienated or disgusted, will leave baseball behind once and for all.

The only sure thing is that the owners and players will lose, unless they settle this standoff that risks mutually assured destruction.

So they have to make a deal. Right?"

We'll see.

I think fans are angry when forced to confront the truth about pro athletes.

Pro athletes are not your friend. Neither is Matt Damon. Neither is Flo from those commercials.

I enjoy baseball as much as anybody, but baseball isn't going to save you and baseball isn't going to save this country:

"Over 100,000 deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. More than forty million unemployed workers. Brutal discrimination flooding news feeds. Protests in Minneapolis. Presidential tweets being censored for glorifying violence. Beloved sports bars and restaurants shutting their doors for good."

Right.

Puts some perspective on a silly diversion like baseball, no?

Also, the President's tweet was not censored. Twitter is a private company and ... oh, forget it ... my goodness, I have tried to explain this on the Internet for over twenty years.

"Baseball can be the first sport to provide a sense of normalcy; a dosage of healing and vital change during these uncertain and tragic times. Instead, players and owners, millionaires and billionaires, are squabbling about pay cuts and how to make up for lost profit — ensuring that baseball fans, their community of consumers, feel like they’re the last thing on their minds."

Fans are not the last thing on the minds of baseball players and owners.

The last thing on their mind, technically, is the Star Games episode with the stars from Gimme a Break. Remember those shows?

"Fans, having accepted they will likely not be attending games at ballparks this year, want baseball, at the very least, to return to their daily lives through their television screens. Fans have seen, read and heard enough about the public back-and-forth between Major League Baseball and the Players Association to understand how this will play out

Money could end up being the reason baseball doesn’t return in 2020."

Oh no! Not money! Players are greedy? Owners are greedy? In 21st Century America? I'm shocked.

Listen up, poor people ... "middle class" people ... sub-millionaire front line  losers. Rich people don't care about you other than your value as a consumer.

"The feud between MLB and the players may go on for another week, maybe even another month. It will go on as long as it takes for both sides to reach an agreement on salary and, to a smaller degree, health protocols. Major league players are the best at what they do, and they perform in a system that greatly rewards them for those talents. But the longer the groups squabble, the more they have to lose. For now, fans are following along closely. But the clock is ticking on the longevity of their enthusiasm for the sport."

I think they're going to play baseball this year.

The feud will be quickly forgotten; a short-term unnecessary PR hit. Forgotten until the next contract negotiations.

They'll play, alright. Half a season, goofy scheduling, empty ballparks, bad TV ratings after an Opening Day surge, and general difficulty trying to attract young fans, speed up the game, compete with other entertainment, and legitimize the results of an 80-game season.

Ultimately, it doesn't even come down to money. The virus will make the final decision.

At this point, it looks optimistic that the health concerns of the players can be mitigated. But we still don't know much about the virus and it could have a second surge throughout the planet, throughout the country, and surely throughout a baseball locker room.

Tim Tebow.

This probably overstates the case in both directions.

The next three months can't elevate MLB to the top and the pandemic alone can't kill it.

On the other hand, MLB shouldn't act like nothing's wrong.

Casual fans aren't missing it too much.

Consider the source.

Alex Rodriguez, a well-known paragon of effective and conciliatory MLB player/owner relationships, is now the voice of all the American frontline heroes. Such as himself.

The biggest star of the city is Mike Lupica.

Can Lupica go an entire article without bringing up the 2004 ALCS?

Also, there is no such thing as biggest star of the city:

"The nickname for Aaron Judge, of course, is All Rise. Except he keeps sitting down, even though there is no Yankees right now and no baseball."

I get it!

His nickname is "rise" (like a judge, which is his last name), but he "sits" because he is injured.

The turns of phrase are truly genius.


"Judge looked like one of the biggest and brightest stars in baseball. He hit 52 home runs in 2017 and finished second in the MVP voting in the American League."
Correct.

It wasn't long ago.


"So he might have been lucky to get on the field 100 times, after he missed 50 games in 2018 and 60 games in 2019. I’ve pointed this out before, but you know when Mike Trout has missed 50 games in a season?

Never, is when."
 

You know how many times David Wright missed 50 games?

 

I don't know.

 

It was a lot.

 

Didn't bother Lupica because Lupica was in love with the Mets.

 

 

"Jeter played shortstop, for 20 years. He played 19 full seasons. He missed 50 or more games in a season exactly one time, when a broken ankle suffered the previous October wouldn’t heal properly. Then came a quad strain and then came Jeter finally being shut down for good. In the end he played just 17 games in 2013. Other than that, the fewest games he’s ever played in a full Yankee season was 119."

 

What is the bar you're setting here?

 

Mike Trout and Derek Jeter?

 

 

"Maybe Judge does have a ton of Jeter in him. But he seems to have some Mickey Mantle in him, too. Mantle once looked like Superman, too. Until he wasn’t. He kept fighting through injuries, almost all of them to his legs, and finally limped away from the game for good when he was 36."

 

Now Lupica is comparing Judge to Mickey Mantle and acting like a Mantle career would be a disappointment.

 

Mantle is a baseball immortal.

If Judge manages half the career of Mantle, he would be not only the biggest star in New York, but a sure HOFer himself.

 

 

"If there is baseball by summer, imagine what it would be like in the place I started calling Baseball New York a long time ago if we had Alonso hitting homers on his side of the city and Judge hitting them on his side. Neither one of them chasing 50 this season, just each other."

 

"Baseball New York."

 

 

"Judge shouldn’t just be one of the stars of baseball. He should be the biggest star in New York sports right now, because of those 52 during the ’17 season, during which Judge carried the Yankees all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Trash Cans. Mickey Mantle hit 52 in his Triple Crown season of 1956, and then in ’61, when he was chasing Roger Maris and they were both chasing Babe Ruth and Mantle ended up with 54."

 

So I think in a roundabout way you're saying that Alonso has passed Judge as the best player in  "Baseball New York"?

 

Yeah.

 

No one cares.

 

Yankee fans just want Judge to get healthy and, when he does, he'll probably be a great player. Maybe not as good as Alonso, who knows? I think, for any current ballplayer, the juiciness of the baseball will affect their numbers quite a bit.

 

Having said that, it's almost impossible to imagine Judge's career approaching Trout, Jeter, or Mantle.

 

 

Also, if you're going to create a place called Baseball New York, and you want to discuss the current biggest star, it's crazy to not even mention the Baseball New York player who has won back-to-back Cy Young Awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure how often I agree with Bob Nightengale.

"Let’s see, we had Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker chastising the players for opposing MLB's revenue-sharing plan, saying they owe it to fans to take a pay cut and play ball during this horrific economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Never mind that the narrative is false.

Former All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira urged players to bow down to MLB owners and accept their revenue-sharing proposal for the good of the country. Never mind that he earned $213 million in his career.

...

'After this agreement was reached,' Boras told USA TODAY Sports, 'you can’t come forward with a dynamic and say, "Hi, I want to privatize the gains and socialize the losses."'"

Fifty percent of $0 is $0.

We can only hope the contract negotiations are not a moot point.


Surely, there is little public appetite for typical collective bargaining.

But I also don't think it's up to MLB players to give the country hope or put their own welfare at risk.


We know MLB players aren't essential.

You know how we know?

Because they aren't risking their lives on the front line:


“The problem is you have people all over the world taking pay cuts, losing their jobs, losing their lives. Frontline workers putting their lives at risk. These are unprecedented times."

These are very different outcomes, "taking a pay cut" and "losing your life."


I don't expect the players will take the PR hit complaining (too much) about pay cuts.

But they will demand safe working conditions and refuse to put themselves and their families at unnecessary risk.

The opinions of Rob Manfred, Tony Clark, and Mark Teixeira don't matter.

The virus gets the last word.

The greatest play in baseball history?

This is the most fun the author has had a baseball park, ever.

An old, fat steroid cheat pitcher gets a lucky swing in a May game vs. the Padres.

I think (hope) Gary Cohen was being ironic when he excitedly called it the greatest moment in baseball history.

Signs of life

Plus, I saw toilet paper in the supermarket aisles this morning.

I hope there is a baseball season.

Sad to say, I agree.

MLB may face a near-existential crisis. Are a lot of fans realizing they don't miss it too much? No one knows, it's difficult to predict.

One optimistic scenario is fans FLOCKING back to stadiums and ballparks and theaters and releasing all the pent-up energy.

One pessimistic scenario is a re-organized stay-at-home/social distancing society.

MLB is a game of habit, as they say. The habit may have been broken for fans who aren't diehards.

Maybe they don't have to buy 100% of the team.

The timing for raising money isn't good?

Interest rates are 0.00% I think.

Very unrealistic.

Since when does a baseball game take less than two hours?

Reality sets in.

"But there are a million ways the Jenga stack could fall: What if the person delivering groceries to the biodome walks by someone who coughs on the lettuce and a week later, a player tests positive? Is there an option other than shutting down the whole operation for 14 days?

'No,' says Bergstrom.

And that’s really the end of the conversation. Even if we can start this, we almost certainly can’t finish it. Just look at South Korea and Japan, which both believed they had the outbreak under control and have since pushed back the start dates of their professional baseball seasons. In response to ESPN's reporting on the MLB biodome scenario this week, former Medicare and Medicaid head Andy Slavitt tweeted, 'I’m as big a sports fan as anybody, but this is reckless. Leagues need to follow the science & do the right thing.' "

Will MLB recover from a skipped season?

My first thought is Yelich.

Soto I would eliminate for obvious reasons ... we don't know how many strikeouts he avoided because of help from his teammates in the dugout banging on a trash can.

Torres I'm hoping is the real deal, and I think he is, but he fattened his stats bigtime against the Orioles.

Alonso I don't know what to say ... I don't think it's anti-Mets bias ... I just think it's way too early to project him as a decade-long superstar ... and I don't know what MLB is going to do about the super-balls. I just have a hunch that the ball gets deadened and he hits 27 HRs instead of 50.

I don't agree at all.

Again, what else are you going to write about?

The Yankees will benefit from the delay and so will the Mets.

Guess why?

You get one guess.

That's right.

Because they currently have players on the DL and this gives those players time to get healthy!


Well, guess what?

It also gives Verlander, Ohtani, and Sale time to get healthy.


The Yankees' biggest strength is their depth.

While lamenting their injuries last season, you can't ignore the fact that they won 103 games.

I'd put the under/over at 100 games played.

"Officially, Major League Baseball has not yet abandoned the hope of playing a 162-game schedule. Unofficially, that possibility all but evaporated when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended no gatherings of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. That recommendation carries through May 10 (and could be extended based on the trajectory of the coronavirus spread)."

There is also a possibility the whole season will be cancelled.

I'd say it's a small possibility.

I also thought it was a small possibility that the Prime Rate would fall to 0.00 and my 401(k) would take a 35% "correction."


Now, I've got nothing against Tom Verducci ... and what is he supposed to write about when no baseball is being played?

His genius observations are that a shorter season would have an impact on the outcomes of the season ... in all the obvious ways you thought of right away.

When you put it that way ...

"You can argue, as President Roosevelt did during World War II, that an anxious nation is heartened by the continued normalcy of its games. But these games don’t even count. No one is heartened by the continued normalcy of watching a series of Double A relievers try to master their curveball."

Bad news for Aaron Judge, the Yankees, Yankee fans, and the Yankee trainers.

Good news for ... Pete Alonso?


No, I'm not reading another Lupica article about Alex Rodriguez.

I'm sure Lupica is right to some extent.

I don't understand ARod's resurgent popularity and ARod has no credibility when it comes to cheating. On the rare occasion I listen to what he's talking about, I  find him somewhat inarticulate and unimaginative in his baseball analyses.

Why are we still talking about Alex Rodriguez?

ARod retired from baseball in 2016.


As news of Judge's stress fracture makes the rounds, here's an awesome take:

"If Aaron Judge can’t stay on the field this season, after missing a total of 110 games the past two, then Pete Alonso has a chance to be the baseball star of the summer."

Good on Pete Alonso!

I suppose Lupica means New York Only baseball star of the summer?

Which, of course, Alonso could be even if Judge is healthy?

So Pete Alonso is good is your point?

Can there be more than one New York baseball star of the summer in 2020?

Is Healthy Judge just going to steal the spotlight from Alonso, ruining Alonso's bid for baseball star of the summer?

Or can they both co-exist, along with several other stars of the summer?

I never understood this rule and I don't like it.

Throw in Tebow and it's a deal.

Maybe the problem is you.

Designated Hitter is not murky.

Aubrey Huff's free speech rights are intact.

If they weren't, you wouldn't be hearing from him.

I actually tend to agree with Huff on this one. It sounds like an over-reaction by the Giants to satirical tweets.

Outside of SF, was anyone in the country clamoring for the 10-year anniversary of the 2010 Giants WS title?

Invite him to the reunion. He’ll stand in the corner and eat some pigs-in-a-blanket while wearing a JCPenney suit. This doesn’t need to be on the national radar.

But in terms of Freedom of Speech, the Giants can exclude you from their reunion simply because they don’t like you. It sounds as if that’s what they did and they were forthright about this.

In terms of the First Amendment itself, the Giants are not a Government agent … Huff has been embarrassed perhaps (it’s questionable), but he hasn’t been fined or jailed or intimidated by the State. 

In fact, the State probably loves him.

You Know Who will probably give Huff a medal.

Big names piling on the Astros.

This seems to indicate a fracture amongst the players which is quite different than the reaction to the PED scandal.

I'm also quite surprised.

The odds are stacked.

"Entering his fourth season with the Mets, the 32-year-old left fielder is coming off a 2019 season at Triple-A Syracuse in which he struggled, slashing .164/.299/.338 with four home runs and 19 runs batted in over 77 games.

So the odds are more than stacked up against Tebow, the former college football star at the University of Florida (2006-09) and three-year NFL quarterback (2010-12) who signed a minor-league contract with the Mets in September 2016. But he's back once again for his latest Spring Training with the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where Tebow embraces another opportunity."

What about his arm?

It's not you, it's me. I read his stuff, so I'm to blame.

Lupica with a predictable about face:

"And yet with all that drama, because there always seems to be drama around the Mets, in the best of times, they are still getting ready to play the season.

And guess what?

They have a chance to be good. Maybe really good."

This is Lupica seven whole days ago.

Keeping Score

"As one scout this week told me, 'They'll win 90-95 games easy if Diaz figures it out again. And they should have a championship bullpen.'

Hard to argue."

My first observation is that 90 wins is a good season. Third place in your division.

95 wins is a playoff spot.

In the 2020 NL East, 95 wins seems like a stretch.



This kind of prediction also assumes that nothing else changes between 2019 and 2020. Like, we start with a baseline of 86 wins. Then Diaz is better, Betances helps, and that's 90 - 95 wins.

It may work out exactly like that.

No one knows.

But since we keep score on everything, I will predict it doesn't work out that way.


"Because if Diaz again becomes a reliable closer, the Mets should be monsters in the late innings, with newcomer Dellin Betances likely sliding in as the primary set-up man and Seth Lugo then available as an Andrew Miller-like wild card, helping to lock down games with multiple-inning outings wherever needed."

You just changed the parameters of the discussion.

It's not just Diaz who's going to single-handedly get you an extra 4-to-9 wins by being the most dominant relief pitcher in baseball history.

He's going to triple-handedly join an already-dominant bullpen.

Yeah, I'll buy that. If everyone on the Mets is good, then they will surely win a lot of games.



"'Potentially, and I say potentially with great caution,' said another scout, 'they've got a better pen than just about everyone -- even the Yankees. But obviously there's a lot of uncertainty, starting with Diaz.'"

An unnamed scout said it, so I guess it doesn't mean much.

How can a professional athlete not realize he is 25 pounds overweight?

Get ready for endless stories about Spring Training Optimism.

Last year at this time, Troy Tulowitzki was going to hit 25 HRs and provide clubhouse leadership.

So weird how the Astros cheating scandal has brought Pete Rose into the spotlight again ...

... not so much because of the President's tweet, just listening to angry people on sports radio.


Gambling is worse than steroids or sign stealing.

Gambling is an existential threat to baseball. Sign stealing is not, and, as the 1990s proved beyond any doubt, steroid use surely is not.


No surprise that Trump's tweet is inaccurate ... Trump has no idea which teams Rose bet on ... and, obviously, this is not the point.

The point is that MLB does not need a manager who owes a bookie $250k and is looking for a way out.

Also, whatever you think of Giamatti's original punishment, Rose is his own worst enemy. Rose lied over and over and has never shown contrition to this day.


I kind of think Rose belongs in the HOF, unceremoniously, just so the world would shut up about him and move on. I don't think the HOF is for angels.

On the other hand, MLB is allowed to make its own rules. MLB is allowed to decide that gambling is the worst crime of all.

Somehow, this jerkoff overrated crook and statutory rapist has become a sympathetic, gritty, throwback hero to old, white men.

Maybe it helped more than I initially thought.

The pronounced decrease in "chase rates" would seem to indicate that the batters were cheating often and it helped a lot.

Maybe he's angry at the Mets for ignoring Buck Showalter?

I don't really believe in the Battle for New York anyway, but I can't recall Lupica disregarding the Mets. Maybe he'll change his tune by Opening Day?

Ahead of his time.

Imagine this guy with a juiced ball and acceptance of high strikeout rates?

He'd be ... he'd be ... Greg Bird.

"It's worth remembering ..."

Mike Lupica wants to talk about ARod some more:

"You can start here with sign stealing in baseball, and this week’s historical fallout because of it: The ones who got sanctioned got what they deserved. They were no better than all the drug cheats in the sport who thought they’d never get caught until they did. Those were the players who knew what they were doing was wrong and against the rules and kept doing it, going for the needle or however they got their happy juice. Know why? Because cheating worked for them."

I mean, sure.

One notable difference, of course, is that zero players were punished this time around.

I personally think the punishments were surprisingly harsh, but, whatever. I took it as a pre-emptive strike by the Commissioner who will be unable to push back against a tide of technological advancements.

"All of them can come back from this, by the way. You know why? Because Alex Rodriguez came back from twice being outed as a drug cheat; for lying about it after getting caught in Biogenesis; for being more than willing to take down anybody including the Yankees team doctor to save himself, and acting like then-Commissioner Bud Selig was the one engaged in a witch hunt against him, and hoax. And that’s the short list with Rodriguez.

Some people have short memories about the headbangers Rodriguez hired to save him. But not everybody does, starting with baseball executives who went as far as having their homes electronically swept when Rodriguez was in the barrel with Selig and Manfred, his top lieutenant at the time.

You know where Rodriguez is now, five years after serving his one-year Biogeneis suspension: He 's the mayor of baseball, with regular jobs on both ESPN and Fox. If he can come back, so can Luhnow, so can Hinch, so can Cora, so can Carlos Beltran, who never got to manage a game with the Mets because what he did with the Astros finally caught up with him.

The late George Steinbrenner was suspended twice from baseball, by two different commissioners -- still a world record for an owner that might never be broken. He got it for illegal campaign contributions to the Richard Nixon campaign, and got it again for paying a gambler named Howie Spira $50,000 to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield, one of Steinbrenner’s star players. You know what happened after that. Steinbrenner came back: The Yankees won four World Series in five years and nearly made it five in six years, and when Steinbrenner died, he was regarded as the patron saint of the modern New York Yankees."

I'm not disputing any of this ... I mean, I didn't read the whole thing, but I get the gist.

The gist being Mike Lupica really hates the Yankees in general and ARod in particular.


"Yankee fans are always going to believe they got robbed in the 2017 American League Championship Series. Fair enough. But if it was cameras and garbage cans and sign stealing that beat them in that series, somebody please explain to me how the Astros knowing the Yankees’ signs kept the Yankees to three runs in the four games of that series played in Minute Maid Park."

Well, that is probably because the Cheating Astros had good pitchers?

Maybe the Cheating Astros were a better team than the Yankees?

Their title is not being vacated. I personally don't think the sign stealing makes that much of a difference. But the Astros also have lost the benefit of the doubt.


(One minor point that seems to be overlooked quite often is that the Yankees would have had to beat the Dodgers to actually win a Championship, but again, this is all Imaginary Baseball League.)

If you don't need to cheat to win ... well, you can finish the thought, you cheating cheaters.


Sir Lupica is a True and Just Guardian of the Game when the dishonest person is wearing Pinstripes.

When a dishonest person is on a team that beat the Yankees, this his focus  shifts to the Yankees.


"Everybody gets the we-wuz-robbed mentality from the fans, and now from CC Sabathia. I get it, you get it, people in outer space get it. But before anybody around here gets too righteous about all of this, it’s worth remembering that when the Yankees won their last World Series, in 2009, their best hitter was Rodriguez. Who didn’t just have priors with performance-enhancing drugs, whether he ever tested positive or not, he had futures in the pipeline, with all his great and good friends at Biogenesis."

See?

I agree that lots of loudmouths are about to get thrown off of high horses.

But what do the 2017 Astros have to do with the 2009 Yankees?


As for the impact of ARod on the 2019 World Series, Hideki Matsui hit .615 in the 2009 World Series and won the MVP.

ARod hit .250.

But ARod was their "best hitter" ... and that tidbit is "worth remembering."

"Could baseball have hit the Astros harder? Sure. But take a step back and look at where we are right now in baseball, because of the sanctions just handed down: Three teams, Astros and Red Sox and Mets, are looking for managers a month from spring training. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the sport. The Astros are also looking for a new general manager, less than three months after leading the World Series three games to two.

Again: Do you think that anybody is going to go to an iPad or laptop to cheat the game ever again? Send up a flare if somebody does, and risks their baseball life in the process."

Second part first: Yes.

I'll send up 1,000 flares right now.

At this moment, the Astros are pondering ways to get away with stealing signs for the 2020 season. All 30 teams, actually. They're trying to figure out the line they're not allowed to cross and how to do everything right up to that line and then they'll occasionally cross it.


First part second: "The Astros are also looking for a new GM after leading the World Series 3 games to 2."

Yeah, but ... oh, never freaking mind.

It's the same reason Milli Vanilli never got another record contract.

it isn't funny, for one thing ...

Also, it brings to mind an aphorism about glass houses.

Let it go.

Zoom in on the crotch.

Mike Lupica also thinks there is no way the Yankees will miss the playoffs in 2020.

"So it really is silly to look at this as a 9-year deal. Think five or six. The Yankees got their guy, you bet. Now we see if he gets them back to the Canyon of Heroes. You don’t measure this deal in wins or Cy Young Awards. You measure it in lower Manhattan."

It's almost as if this wacko journalist is saying the Yankees should be insulted by the notion that they have to win in the regular season.

Mike Lupica doesn't think the Yankees will make the playoffs in 2020.

2020 is here.

As we prepare for our annual Mike Lupica preseason prediction that the Mets will win 100 games and take back the town from the Yankees ... a battle the Yankees don't even know they're in ... let's get an early January warmup:

"Nothing has changed since the Gerrit Cole signing, by the way.

Still getting the idea that the Yankees are supposed to feel insulted if they are asked to actually play the regular season."

Meaning what?

That you don't think the Yankees will make the playoffs?

Or that most baseball fans and observers think the Yankees will make the playoffs?


If you don't think the Yankees will make the playoffs, go ahead and say it. Then you get some sort of credit by those keeping score if you were correct with your bold prediction.

But you're not even talking about that.

You're talking about the reaction from the sports media.

Who you are chastising for making the obvious observation that the Yankees are expected to make the playoffs in 2020.


Last year, without Gerrit Cole, the Yankees won 103 games.

The Yankees play in a depleted AL East.

I therefore agree with the majority of people who think the Yankees are shoo-ins for he playoffs in 2020.

Normal disclaimers about injuries apply, but, you know what? The Yankees are very deep. I have no problem fast-forwarding he discussion to the playoffs.


"Man, Mets fans ought to be hoping that Josh Donaldson signs with anybody except the Nationals or the Twins."

Maybe it's an inside joke.

The Nationals, of course, are in the Mets' division.

The Twins?

Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Why are we talking about Josh Donaldson?

Why are we talking about the Twins?

Why are we talking about the Mets recoiling in horror if Donaldson signs with the Twins in contrast to every other team?

Brian Cashman is not going to get fired.

A regular Nostradamus over here.

Lupica actually publishes an article where he picks nine teams to win the World Series:

"Not giving odds here. This isn’t the sports book at Caesars Palace. No particular order for the rest of the field. But if the Yankees don’t win the World Series, who might?"

No.

It isn't the sports book at Caesars Palace.

The sports book at Caesars Palace has more integrity.


It's not even nine teams. It's nine teams "if the Yankees don't win." That's ten teams total. Out of 30.

I mean, unless you're trying to miss on purpose, one of these teams will almost certainly win the World Series.


"I just don’t believe in the Cubs, at least as presently constituted, and actually think the White Sox might be a more fun team to watch in 2020. I’ve seen too many postseason failures from the Twins against the Yankees to believe in them. The Red Sox are a lot of things right now. A serious contender doesn’t appear to be one of them."

Good to know.

At least it's an actual opinion, written down for posterity, without a hedge.

Mike Lupica does not think the Cubs or Red Sox are going to be good in 2020.


But why not just include the Cubs and White Sox and a few more teams while you're at it?

Bump it up to 12 or 13.

Heck, you can pick these teams randomly and you'd have a good shot at picking the winner.

ARod's contract was worth it. Maybe not for the Rangers.

The Yankees' net worth is now estimated at $4.6 billion. It rose so quickly, I was off by 50%. In my mind, it was $3 billion.


Today is the anniversary of ARod's mind-blowing Rangers' contract.

It's in the news.


According to this analysis ...

"The Yankees paid him $307.8 million for 12 seasons, 351 home runs, 2 MVPs, and one World Series trophy. In the end, the Yankees did get a lot of good production from Rodriguez, but it was also clear that they also got a lot of the bad as his production quickly fell off a cliff at the end."

The first comment I heard the morning after the Cole signing was, "Cole needs to win at least two rings with the Yankees."

Probably won't happen.

Rings, WAR, salary divided by WAR ... all of this analysis misses the main point.



As I've mentioned many times before, ARod's presence immediately pushed the Yankee attendance from 3 million to 4 million, and it stayed there.

It would not be inaccurate to describe the new Stadium as the House that ARod Built.


I'm relying on one guy (Mike Ozanian) to provide the data, and I didn't do all the work.

I'd like to see the rise in the Yankees' net worth year after year since that day in 2004 when they traded away Alfonso Soriano.

This is especially impressive in the context that the Jeter-led four-ring Yankees couldn't do the trick. It was the inexplicably entertaining Villain/Hero.


The Yankees are not a sports team, they are a brand.

The Yankees are not in the baseball business, they are in the entertainment business.

Of course the Yankee owners want a winning team ... because that means more people come to the stadium and walk around with $500 in their pocket.


Do you know how I know ARod's contract was worth it? Because people are still talking about it. In terms of tactical efficiency, I suppose it could be considered a bust.

But how many units did Hiroki Kuroda move?

How many people drove to the South Bronx to buy a Jon Lieber jersey?

Did anyone notice when Bob Abreu sunbathed topless in Central Park? (I have no evidence of this, but try to get the image out of your head.)


Is the Cole signing worth it?

Of course it isn't ... if you really think this is about baseball productivity and payroll efficiency

Come see me in nine years and I'm inclined to believe the Yankee Machine will be rolling along, stronger than ever.

Miller finally made the HOF.

Bittersweet because it's posthumous, but I still never thought I'd see the day.

There is no such thing as story of the decade.

As you read this, please don't forget that it's written by a guy who thinks Josh Hamilton's home run streak at Yankee Stadium ... during the HR Derby ... is one of the greatest moments in Yankee Stadium history:

"This all plays out a little over a month from when last season, and the last decade, ended with a tremendous World Series, won by the Washington Nationals in seven games after they trailed the Astros three games to two, and with the series returning to Minute Maid Park."

Which is a reminder that this is written by a guy who explained how important home field advantage is during the playoffs.


"So before we do turn the page, and before baseball does start making Hot Stove headlines, it is worth noting again that nobody had a better October in the past decade, not even the Cubs, than the Nationals did, starting with their National League Wild Card Game win against the Brewers."

No, I don't know what that could possible mean.

Every team that won the World Series had the Best October.

It's binary. You win or you do not win.


"Think of them as the Cubs without more than a century of waiting."

Then they're not the Cubs.

Follow?

The narrative is the same as the Cubs ... without the central theme that gave the Cubs a compelling narrative.


"Fact is, nobody ever had a better October in any decade."

Nobody ever had a better October in any decade than the Washington Nationals in 2019.

That's a "fact" according to the deranged author.


Then, there is a bunch of nonsensical interpretations of baseball games, by which the 2019 Nationals became the best October baseball team in the history of baseball.

"People always say ..."

"If the Yankees still didn’t have Jacoby (We Hardly Knew Ye) Ellsbury on the books and hadn’t made the trade for Giancarlo Stanton, how much money would they be willing to throw at Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg?"

Gee, I don't know.

Maybe $800 thousand?

No.

$1 billion?

No.

$250 billion.

If not for the contracts of Ellsbury and Stanton, the Yankees would offer $250 billion to Gerrit Cole. One-year contract worth $250 billion.

We go through this every year, over and over, and some people never learn.

Most people apply their personal economic rules to an infinite Corporation currently worth $3 billion.

The Yankees don't want to overpay for Cole or Strasburg.

Cashman has some vague upper limit based on the salary tax, but that's mostly PR.

Lupica's stupid observation is particularly moot since the Yankees only owe Ellsbury between $0 and $26 million.

Cole is going to get, say, 7 years, $225 million, escalator clauses, player opt outs, the whole shebang. If the Yankees really want him, the Yankees will not be outbid.

So, in the year 2027, Cole's salary will be $40 million ... and Cole will probably be washed up by that time.

Any team that signs this man to a long-term contract knows the risks involved. Or any long-term baseball contract, for that matter. Or any long-term anything, for that matter.

But the thing that's stopping the Yankees from pulling the trigger is a long-forgotten $5 million buyout of Jacoby Ellsbury?

No way.


"The books" Lupica is referring to aren't even the correct books.

The income statement is blah blah blah. The Yankees are far more concerned with the balance sheet.

Don't measure a 2-year $26 million contract vs. the $360 million the Yankees will spend on player salaries during those two years (even though $26 million doesn't sound like a heckuva lot when framed in those terms).

Instead, measure a 2-year, $26 million contract vs. $3 billion in assets.

"Don Mattingly belongs in the Hall of Fame.

So does Thurman Munson.

People always say that Mattingly’s level of excellence didn’t last long enough.

Neither did Sandy Koufax’s."

So take Koufax out.

Oh, it's too late to do that.

"Not saying that you compare Mattingly’s excellence with Koufax’s.

Nobody would ever say that."

Nobody would ever say the thing I just said.

"But starting in 1984 and going through the 1989 season (and before his back gave out), Don Mattingly knocked in 684 runs.

His batting averages were these: .343, .324, .352, .327, .311, 303.

In his prime, his fellow players, in a New York Times poll, once voted him the best player in the game.

There are a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame who were never considered the best in the game for one day of their careers."

This is true.

Also, there are a lot of guys not in the Hall of Fame who would have won a players' poll as best player in the game.

That's the end of Lupica's argument. Since Sandy Koufax had a short career with a relatively short period of supremacy, then Mattingly and Munson belong in the HOF.

Not a tough sell to a New York audience.

You forgot Ron Guidry and Don Gullett; Orel Hershiser and Kevin Brown; Fernando Valenzuela and Bob Welch.

Not to mention Lou Whitaker, Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Bobby Grich, Fred Lynn, and Jorge Posada.

I wouldn't use Koufax as a HOF shoo-in. He captured the imagination of lots of voters during a super-dominant stretch during a high-mound pitchers' era. Koufax is a low bar for HOFers.

Mattingly probably passes that low bar, I suppose, and so does Dale Murphy ... and Al Oliver ... and Dwight Evans ... and ...

The question is ...

Mark Teixeira with some insightful insider commentary:


 "Playing in New York is not for everybody And maybe Gerrit Cole will thrive in New York. But if you told me, as the top free agent on the market, and I'm a West Coast guy, and the Dodgers and Angels are sitting there drooling over me. I'm probably going to look there before I look at the Yankees. I think money being equal, he's not going to the Yankees. If the Yankees completely blow everyone out of the water, then he'll end up in pinstripes."

So Cole will not sign with the Yankees, unless he does.

Gerrit Cole has never won a World Series.

Neither has Clayton Kershaw.

Neither have a lot of big free agent players.

Difference is, for some reason, Cole is the Face of Successful Championship Megadeals.



Then, in order to support his current argument about the value of megadeals, Mike Lupica wrote the following, which seems to reverse his stance for the past fifteen years:

"Rodriguez had been with the Yankees since 2004, opted out of his old Rangers contract during the 2007 World Series, re-upped with the Yankees for the ’08 season. The Yankees won it all in 2009. They couldn’t have done it without him..."


Then Lupica just embarrasses himself, continuing his weird fascination with David Price"

"In the third season after David Price signed his contract with the Red Sox, they won another World Series. And absolutely, hands-down, 100 percent don’t win it without him."

The Red Sox don't win the World Series without David Price? How do you figure?

"Whether or not he’s always pitched like an ace since joining the Red Sox, when they needed him to pitch like a total star in the ALCS against the Astros, starting and relieving, he did that."

That's terrific.

He gave up 4 runs in 10 2/3 innings during the ALCS against the Astros.

You know how the Red Sox could have conceivably won without Price?

If they pitched a guy who gave up 3 runs in 10 2/3 innings.


Then the same observation about Scherzer. He signed a big contract, he pitched pretty well at times in the playoffs, and his team won the World Series.




I can list dozens of nobodies who pitched better than Price and Scherzer in small sample size crunch time.

• Lance McCullers Jr.
• Brad Penny
• David Weathers

Yeah, man. The Red Sox didn't need to pay David Price all that money to win the World Series. They just needed David Weathers and his 0.82 postseason ERA.


So what does this prove?

It doesn't prove anything.

I can find a list of players who fit a criteria and a list of accomplishments and there will always be a cross-section of the two lists.


Most of the time, megadeals don't pay off, if the sole goal is to win the World Series.

Not because the players are bad or because the deals are ill-advised. It's just because winning the World Series is difficult, only one team wins it per year, and one player can't win it all by themselves.

2019 NL MVP

BBWAA

Name	Points
Cody Bellinger	362
Christian Yelich	317
Anthony Rendon	242
Ketel Marte	198
Ronald Acuna Jr.	155
Nolan Arenado	120
Pete Alonso	102
Freddie Freeman	90
Juan Soto	45
Jacob deGrom	44
Josh Donaldson	27
Trevor Story	26
Jack Flaherty	9
J.T. Realmuto	8
Yasmani Grandal	4
Max Muncy	4
Stephen Strasburg	4
Eugenio Suarez	4
Hyun-Jin Ryu	3
Paul Godschmidt	2
Kolten Wong	2
Kevin Pillar	1
Max Scherzer	1

Felz Poll

Name	Points
Cody Bellinger	25
Christian Yelich	24
Anthony Rendon	11
Ronald Acuna Jr.	5
Freddie Freeman	3
Pete Alonso	2

2019 AL MVP

BBWAA

Name	Points
Mike Trout	355
Alex Bregman	335
Marcus Semien	228
DJ Lemahieu	178
Xander Bogaerts	147
Matt Chapman	89
George Springer	69
Mookie Betts	67
Nelson Cruz	62
Gerrit Cole	61
Justin Verlander	56
Rafael Devers	40
Jorge Polanco	20
Austin Meadows	15
Francisco Lindor	13
Carlos Santana	9
Gleyber Torres	8
Eddie Rosario	6
Jose Abreu	5
Max Kepler	2
J.D. Martinez	1
Yoan Mondaca	1
Charlie Morton	1
Matt Olson	1
Jorge Soler	1

Felz Poll

Name	Points
Mike Trout	27
Alex Bregman	22
Nelson Cruz	5
DJ Lemahieu	5
Mookie Betts	3
Rafael Devers	3
Xander Bogaerts	2
Marcus Semien	2
Jorge Polanco	1

MVP Votes

Random observations:

1. Lemahieu made a nice showing with fourth place.
2. Neither Machado nor Harper received one vote.

2019 NL Cy Young Award

BBWAA

Name	Points
Jacob deGrom	207
Hyun-Jin Ryu	88
Max Scherzer	72
Jack Flaherty	69
Stephen Strasburg	53
Mike Soroka	9
Sonny Gray	4
Clayton Kershaw	3
Walker Buehler	2
Kirby Yates	2
Patrick Corbin	1

Felz Poll

Name	Points
Jacob deGrom	25
Hyun-Jin Ryu	12
Stephen Strasburg	11
Max Scherzer	10
Mike Soroka	6
Jack Flaherty	3
Josh Hader	2
Max Fried	1

2019 AL Cy Young Award

BBWAA

Name	Points
Justin Verlander	171
Gerrit Cole	159
Charlie Morton	75
Shane Bieber	64
Lance Lynn	18
Lucas Giolito	8
Eduardo Rodriguez	8
Mike Minor	7

Felz Poll

Name	Points
Justin Verlander	28
Gerrit Cole	21
Shane/Justin Bieber	8
Mike Minor	4
Charlie Morton	4
Domingo German	3
Zach Greinke	2
Aroldis Chapman	1
Lance Lynn	1

This goes beyond gamesmanship

... and if it is widespread, then it's widespread cheating.

I think Beltran will probably do a good job. Maybe. Who knows?

Carlos Beltran is a future HOFer who is one of the best postseason performers in the history of baseball.

In the 2006 NLCS, he hit .296 with 3 HRs and a 1.054 OPS.

In the last out of the series, Adam Wainwright threw a Big Boy Major League curveball and Beltran struck out.

That's the whole idea of competition. There's a highly-skilled person on the other side who is paid a lot of money to achieve a result contrary to your goals. Nobody ever batted 1.000 in major league baseball.

Mets fans suffering from PTSD have more than "occasional grumbles" about this at-bat from 13 years ago:

"Beltran's tenure with the Mets between 2005 and 2011 wasn't all smooth sailing. There are still occasional grumbles about his looking strikeout to end the 2006 National League Championship Series. He later clashed with the team over the timing of his knee surgery in 2010, and he was thrown under the bus by owner Fred Wilpon in 2011. He was eventually traded to the San Francisco Giants during the latter season."

Young Yankee players were very productive when Joe Girardi was the manager of the Yankees.

“I went through that with the Marlins and went through that with the Yankees,” Girardi added. “And I felt that I was able to get the most out of those (young) players. We were one game from reaching the World Series, so if there was a problem, it didn’t show up in the wins and losses.”

Cashman is smarter than you.

Everything Cashman is saying is right.

When the Astros or Nationals lose the World Series, will a reporter ask the GM why his team's season was a failure?

After three games in the Ultimate Test of the World Series, which starting pitcher has pitched like an ace?

I can state with no hesitation that Tanaka, Severino, and Paxton would have pitched better than any of them. I could be wrong about that, but this is not about right and wrong -- it's about confirmation bias.

Clayton Kershaw is the World Series MVP.

How adorable. A bunch of cigar-chomping scouts getting per diems to tell the Washington coaches that Jose Altuve is good:

"They don’t have a single person in their front office from Harvard, Yale or M.I.T.

They believe in pouring money into their scouting and player department.

They have 10 scouts and advisers who are 60 or older – including two who were alive the last time the nation’s capital had a team in the World Series.

They are the Washington Nationals. And they are putting on an old-school beatdown on the Houston Astros."

This is such a nonsense narrative by scared old people.

Like when someone says this song from 20 years ago takes me back to when life was simpler. Of course life was simpler 20 years ago. Not because the world was simple, but because you were a kid in your jammies watching cartoons on television.

Or when people say they were happy that they experienced their childhood before technology took over. If you were born in the past 1,500 years, you were born in a technologically advanced age. 

"The Nationals are proving that it’s still cool to believe in old-fashioned scouting, treat players like human beings instead of assets and value experience as a positive instead of a negative."

The Brewers "should have" beat the Nationals. I guess Hader was not treated as a ... human being?

The Nationals fell behind the powerhouse Dodgers 2-0 in a five-game series. 

Then the Dodgers took the lead into the 8th inning of Game Five.

If Bob Nightengale didn't pick the Nationals before Game Three of the NLDS, then this article is BS. Which it is.

"This is an organization that values old-school scouting and experience perhaps more than any other. They have a staff that includes six former scouting directors, four former managers, two former GMs and every member of their pro scouting staff played professional baseball.

The Nationals blanketed the landscape with scouts this postseason. They had two on every team in the playoffs, including five alone on the American League Championship Series.

The Astros, who don’t have a traditional pro scout, never bothered to send a soul to advance the Nationals during the playoffs."

Give me a break.

The Astros haven't been out-pitched, out-hit, and out-fielded. They've been out-scouted?

"And a subtle reminder this is still a people’s game, played by players, not assets, where clubhouse culture is critical to a team’s success."

It's such a lazy insult to the other 31 teams.

Boone played Hicks on a hunch and it paid off. 

Boone also played Encarnacion and, whether Boone viewed Encarnacion as a "human being" or an "asset," Encarnacion sure played like a liability.

It's such a lazy analysis in other ways, too.

 

One team always wins the World Series. That team always does something right. They're always the team of destiny. That's just 20-20 hindsight garbage.

Before the playoffs started, I heard a lot about the importance of getting the home field advantage. BS.

Before the WS started, I heard a lot about the momentum-killing week-long layoff. BS.

Before the WS started, I also heard a lot about the starting pitching showcase it was going to be. Until they started playing the games. Good Pitching Always Beats Good Hitting ... Except When it Doesn't.

You know what no one said before the WS started?

That the Nationals were going to win.

Another moot point.

Seemingly, the Yankees are clinging to Stanton and presumably losing a Tauchman roster spot because they're worried about losing Stanton for the World Series.

The World Series?

Riiiiiight.

Since the Astros scored zero runs in Game One ...

... I find this to be a moot point and an ineffective strategy.

Fate.

"The good news for the Washington Nationals is that they are in their first World Series."

Full stop.

Thanks for your most recent contribution to MLB.com's coverage of baseball. 


"They beat the champions of the National League West and now they’ve swept the champs of the NL Central."

Yeah.

We know.


"They were down two games to one to the Dodgers and came back to win Game 4. They were down 3-1 in the late innings of Game 5 at Dodger Stadium, and then Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto hit back-to-back home runs against Clayton Kershaw, and Howie Kendrick began turning into Mr. October for the Nats."


 Yeah.

We know.

Who do you think reads articles on MLB.com?

People who have no idea what is happening in MLB?


"Now here they are."

Waiting."

This article will surely help them whittle away their precious time.


"That’s the bad news for the Nationals, riding all this crazy momentum. They wait and keep waiting until the series between the Astros and Yankees is over. And while they wait, they hope that when they start playing again, at either Minute Maid Park or at Yankee Stadium, that they won’t have suffered from the Curse of the Tigers."

You've never heard of the Curse of the Tigers, have you?

Because it isn't a thing.

There is no bad news for the Nationals.

They are waiting to play in the World Series.

The following teams are waiting until April, and all of them would trade their No News for the Nationals' Bad News:

1. Dodgers
2. A's
3. Rays
4. Indians
5. Cardinals
6. Braves
7. Twins
8. Red Sox
9. Mets
10. Cubs
11. Brewers
12. Diamondbacks
13. Phillies
14. Reds
15. Rockies
16. Angels
17. Blue Jays
18. Giants
19. Rangers
20. Pirates
21. Mariners
22. White Sox
23. Padres
24. Marlins
25. Royals
26. Orioles 
27. Tigers

Almost a cheap home run.

A heck of a lot of talk about a warning track fly ball.


The Yankees were not intimidated by Cole.

The Yankees got a lot of runners on base and in scoring position.

But the Yankees could not cash in.

Cole gutted out seven shutout innings and won fair and square.


"Almost home runs" are also known as "fly outs."

"Foul home runs" are also known as strikes.

"Almost strikes" are also known as balls.

"Almost wins" are also known as losses.


Oh, and bunting wasn't going to save the Yankees.

Gardner wasn't going to bunt in five runs in the first inning.

The sportswriter hall of fame must have a very high bar.

"Supposed to" is my favorite phrase in the whole wide world.

It is a lazy, meaningless observation:

"The Astros, who went out and got Zack Greinke at the Trade Deadline, were supposed to have the edge with starting pitching over the Yankees, who didn’t do anything about pitching at the Deadline. Then Masahiro Tanaka was brilliant in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Greinke got lit up by the Yankees the way the Rays lit him up in Game 3 of the Astros-Rays Division Series."

In all fairness, 3 runs in 6 innings is not being "lit up."


"Then the Yankees gave the ball to James Paxton, who’d been their best starter the second half of the season, in Game 2"

Then what happened?

 
"Only Aaron Boone pulled Paxton in the third inning. Paxton had only given up one run to that point, but there were two runners on and Alex Bregman was coming to the plate. Paxton was gone."

Wow!

Since I watched the game, I already knew this.

But please continue ... the tension is building!


"By the time Game 2 was over, Boone would have done what the Yankees have done since the Deadline: Made a bet that the best bullpen on the planet could carry the Yankees to what would have been their biggest victory of the season so far, and a 2-0 series lead."

The Yankees relied on their bullpen before the trade deadline, too.

You have not yet told me anything that I didn't know by looking at the box score.


"And his relievers nearly made that bet pay off. Boone used eight of them from the third to the 11th at Minute Maid Park. They only gave the Astros two runs from the third until the bottom of the 11th. By then, Boone was out of relievers and pitching J.A. Happ, who’d been one of his starters."

I knew it! I thought the whole time that J.A. Happ was one of the Yankee starting pitchers. I was right!

Sabathia, too! 'Member when he came in to pitch? He had (?) also been one of Boone's starters ... and he still is one of Boone's starters.

You know what else is weird? Boone wasn't actually out of relievers. Even though you said "Boone was out of relievers."

He just chose two of his starters instead of his relievers. It's true!

Granted, the remaining relievers are not the "high leverage" relievers. Their names are Luis Cessa and Tyler Lyons.

They are relief pitchers on the Yankees playoff roster, yes they are.



"Carlos Correa took Happ out of Minute Maid, and the Astros had won, 3-2, and the ALCS was even at 1-1 going back to New York."

No. Way.

Is that really what happened?

Is he the guy who was shushing the crowed while he rounded the bases? Or is he the guy who was holding his hand up to his ear while he rounded the bases?

Lupica is always first with the breaking news.


"So far in this series each team has gotten a big October game from its ace, Tanaka and then Verlander. But the Astros, who beat the Yankees because of their starters two years ago, have two aces this season. The Yankees? They decided they had enough starting pitching in July, because of their bullpen. Now they get the chance to prove it in October. They got the bullpen game they wanted Sunday night. They just did everything except win it."

You know what, Lupica?

Go screw yourself.

"The Yankees should have gotten a starting pitcher" late night WFAN moron caller garbage.


Who was the pitcher the Yankees were going to get?

Stroman? Meh.

Scherzer? Ridiculous.

Syndergaard? Even more Meh and even more ridiculous.

Say Anibal Sanchez with 20-20 hindsight and I'll slap you.


We all know aces are rare and therefore valuable.

What would it have cost the Yankees? Torres and Frazier, at a minimum.

For a guy who can take on Verlander pitch by pitch?

Even if that pitchers exists ... Buehler? Strasburg? ... obviously not available, but the Yankees would maybe have to throw in Sanchez, Urshela, Kahnle, Montgomery, and Andujar.


Remember when the Yankees picked up Encarnacion?

They didn't "need" more home run power, right?

The opportunity presented itself because the price was right.

The Yankees didn't "decide" they had enough starting pitching ... the market didn't allow them to reasonably acquire more starting pitching.

If the Rays were willing to trade Blake Snell for Greg Bird, Cashman would have been all over it.

The "bullpen" strategy worked in Game Two. The problem is the offense got two runs when they needed three.

The most misunderstood stat.

Heard a caller on WFAN say that the Mets had 28 blown saves.

Which is true.

Though not explored deeply, the intimation is that the Mets lost A LOT of games they "should have" won ... "would have" won if their bullpen was better.

Which, of course, is also true.

If any team was better at any aspect of the game, then they'd win more games.

But the stat itself is misunderstood.

Do you know how many blown saves the Yankees had in 2019?

28.

Ottavino had 7 blown saves. Probably in the 6th inning. The Yankees probably came back to win some of those games.

A blown save isn't what you think it is.

It's not always a 9th inning meltdown.

Though there is a stat which measures that. I think it's called "meltdown."


Diaz had some memorable whoppers. So did every team's closer.

Seth Lugo ... the "best reliever in baseball" had a save percentage of 54.5%.

Zach Britton is a good pitcher who had a good year.

His presence in the Mets bullpen is not turning an 86-win team into a 115-win team.

How weird is it that Gardner is batting third?

A weird idea is floating about that he is a clutch playoff performer.

I looked it up just to make sure I remembered correctly.

.204 playoffs BA in 137 AB.

.000 WS BA in 10 AB.

Yes, he has been on the team a long time. The team has not made the World Series a lot during that time.

The Yankees take a 2-0 lead in the ALDS and I've heard the following complaints from both supporters and detractors.

1. The games took too long.
2. The rather contradictory observation that too many fans vacated their seats.
3. The bullpen usage was not optimal.
4. The fans were too quiet.
5. The rather contradictory observation that the fans rowdily shouted "uber" at an opposing pitcher.

The so-called taunt is a little funny, but not very funny.

It's a little clever in the sense that it requires a deep knowledge of a nondescript major league pitcher.


It's  obnoxious in the sense that it's quite clear that 90 percent of the people participating in the chant have no idea why they're doing it.

But that is sometimes part of the fan experience. You collectively and loudly celebrate the misery of your opponents.

I've heard a lot worse than "uber," believe me.

One time, in Minnesota, I remember when the fans referred to visiting player Mike Carp as a fish. Because his last name sounds like a fish. Vicious.

I also remember a time at Yankee Stadium when ... I can't remember who it was precisely, but it may have been Shannon Stewart ... sounds plausible early in his career ... and the fans in the bleachers were relentless for three hours ... "you have a girl's name" ... and the guy finally snapped in the ninth inning, turned around and flipped the bird to everyone in the bleachers.

As expected, that settled the fans down. They apologized for their obnoxious behavior, took their seats, and promised to refrain from drinking alcohol in public settings going forward.

Showalter is not going to manage the Mets next season.

Players who should be the next Mets manager: Buck Showalter, Tony Womack, Willie Randolph, David Ortiz, Theo Epstein, Mookie Wilson, and Evonne Goolagong.

Players who should not be the next Mets manager: Alex Rodriguez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Serena Williams.


I would be surprised if Showalter manages anywhere next year, but I'm not the Baseball Insider.

I'd be shocked beyond belief if Showalter managed the Mets next year.


Showalter's record doesn't hold up too well under scrutiny.

Lupica knows that Brodie isn't going to give up his decision-making power to an old school manager.


Showalter isn't shy about giving interviews.

Lupica doesn't need to do to print this garbage just to stay in good graces with the quote factory.

Good teammates.

One by one, players approached Grisham with encouragement after the loss.

"I can take solace in whatever these guys say to me, especially a lot of the older veteran guys," Grisham said. "I have a lot of faith in them and trust what they say."

One of these is the greatest home run story in baseball history.

Does anyone remember when Judge hit his 50th? Breaking McGwire's rookie home run record?

Of course nobody remembers. Nobody cares about this record.

I had to look it up: "Oh, yeah. McGwire." It's obvious when I looked it up, but I was thinking, like, Mel Ott. Just a guess.


Lupica is embarrassing himself with this stupidity:

"Pete Alonso already made himself one of the great home run stories in baseball history before he broke Aaron Judge’s all-time rookie home run record with No. 53 on Saturday night at Citi Field against the Braves."

You really don't see it?

How zero rookies hit 50 home runs for the first, like, 130 years of major league baseball?

Then two rookies hit 50 home runs in 3 years?

How this rookie record is going to last about 1 season unless they change the ball?

You're lying.

There's no way you don't see it.

You just worship Pete Alonso and his high school coach.

 
"But the narrative is different for him than it was with Judge."

Oh.

The narrative.

The narrative is the screwy aerodynamics of the baseball.


"There were already expectations for Judge by the time he got to Spring Training in 2017, even if nobody had any idea he would hit 52 homers that year."

So?


"No one knew how much game Alonso really had until he got to Spring Training. Then, he started hitting home runs in Florida ... and never stopped."

I find this hard to believe, even for Lupica.

Of course he never stopped. Nobody in MLB stopped.


"When Alonso hit his record-setting, 415-foot shot, it left him with just eight fewer home runs than Roger Maris’ 61 in 1961 and seven fewer than Babe Ruth’s fabled 60."

You can't be serious.

I have to stop reading this.

If you don't largely attribute this to the juiced ball, you are deranged.



You want to talk about baseball history and then you compare Pete Alonso to Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roger Maris, and Babe Ruth?

In a season where two teams hit 300 home runs?


Let me explore a tiny bit of baseball history.

In 1927, Babe Ruth hit 6.5% of MLB's home runs. One man.

Do you know how many Pete Alonso would have had to hit in 2019 to match that percentage? About 450.

Which would be a whole lot for one man to hit in one season. It would be vastly superior to his peers, I can tell you that much.

Who?

Who?

Aaron Judge acting like the next Yankee Captain.

Gotta love that opposite field power generated by a textbook swing.