While TJ and Richie kicked their feet up and enjoyed their bye weeks, competition was at an all-time high in the quarterfinal round as both matches were still undecided late into Sunday. Facing a 5-4 deficit and only needing a 5-5 tie to advance, (4) Colin needed a save from Blake Parker to break a 2-2 tie in the Saves category. That dream went up in smoke when Parker came out in the 8th inning to protect a 5-3 lead, effectively ending Colin’s season. It stings a little more when you find out that Parker’s blown save on Monday – ironically a save that would have given Colin the edge he needed – likely caused Mike Sciocia to look elsewhere for the team’s next save opportunity, which happened to be on Sunday. It’s another disappointing end to the season for Colin, who’s now gone 13 seasons without a championship.
For his efforts, Alex is awarded a date with TJ who finished with the 3rd best regular season in league history. While the malnourished Asian woman finished on a low note (1-2, 7-16-7 to finish the season) he still fields an imposing team headlined by young sluggers Rhys Hoskins (#1 last 30 days) and Aaron Judge (#38 last 7 days), who (gulp) has appeared to find himself in the last week or two. We get a great showdown between the first half MVP (Judge) and second half MVP, Giancarlo Stanton. Either of these guys can win a week for a team and while Judge is going a little better right now, Stanton still has a legit shot at 60 HR and will be trying his damnedest to get there.
Another good “head to head” match will be Alex’s Strasburg vs TJ’s Robbie Ray, who are both ranked in the top 10 over the last 7, 14, and 30 days. Michael Wacha was brilliant for Alex last week, netting 2 wins and 13 K’s with low ratios. TJ has the better closers by name, but save chances are a fickle friend (just ask Colin). Both teams enter the semi-finals remarkably healthy. Overall, TJ’s offense is clicking on all cylinders (14 HR during last week’s bye) and with the tie-breaker in hand, he’s the favorite to advance to the finals here.
Jarrett’s match with Tim came down to Sunday Night Baseball. Trevor Bauer, the seventh SP of the day between these two, swung K, ERA, and WHIP for Jarrett. Tim nearly pulled the upset on the back of Francisco Lindor’s great game but it wasn’t enough. Jarrett avoided the irony of ironies (he traded Lindor to Tim in the offseason) and advanced 5-4.
Jarrett now sets his sights on Richie, who finished a comfortable 11 games ahead of Jarrett in the regular season. Richie went 10-1 over the final 11 weeks in the regular season. His only loss in that stretch came against – yep, you guessed it – Jarrett. Jarrett has owned Richie in 2017 thus far, beating him in both matches by a combined 12-7 margin. Richie’s offense was a force in the regular season winning at a 69.5% clip, but they’ve cooled off lately (three players in the top 200 ranked). The loss of Miguel Sano compounded with Eduardo Nunez’s DTD status leaves him with an iffy 3B situation. Jarrett’s offense is faring better of late and he has three guys ranked 36th or better over the last 7 days, but he’s also recently lost Michael Conforto for the season after he made the unnatural baseball motion of swinging a bat. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, it’s the most Mets thing ever. Jarrett managed to advance last week despite his cornerstone 1B Paul Goldschmidt missing substantial time, but he’s back now and appears to be 100% healthy (HR on Sunday) which is just fucking awesome news.
Clayton Kershaw is also back for the two time defending champion and could potentially get a two start week if the Dodgers want to keep him on a regular schedule (please Dodgers, don’t do this). But truthfully, all of Jarrett’s pitchers have been struggling recently. Bumgardner and Keuchel have ERA’s above 5 over the last two weeks and Dellin Betances is back to a setup role in New York. Richie’s Staaf has been sharper with as SP’s Corey Kluber (projected 2 start week), Luke Weaver, and Luis Severino all sitting in the top 35 ranked players over the last 30 days. In the bullpens, Richie has the quantity, Jarrett has the quality. Regardless who wins, think about this: after combining for 0 titles from 2002-2013, there is a 50-50 shot that the last four titles will belong to them.
Playoff History:
Alex is 2-0 against TJ (6-4 in the 2005 quarterfinals, 5-4 in the 2010 consolation game)
Richie and Jarrett have never faced each other in the playoffs.
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