MLB Playoffs: The ABCs of October (and One Day in September)

Hey look, the calendar hasn’t even flipped over to October yet and the baseball playoffs are about to get underway tonight in Kansas City when the Royals — playing in the postseason for the first time since 1985! — host the Athletics in the American League Wild Card game. Excited? If your favorite team is playing in the postseason you’re probably pumped up — or in my case full of nausea and nervous energy. However if your team didn’t make the postseason or you don’t follow baseball, well, allow me to apologize that this isn’t a post about college football or Michelle Jenneke.

Anyways, here’s my best attempt at a semi-factual semi-lighthearted ABCs of the postseason. Enjoy!

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A is for the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles California: Yep, the Angels won a baseball-best 98 games, essentially in a vacuum. Despite fielding the best player in the game, Mike Trout, the Angels played a mostly anonymous season — something we can safely attribute to an East Coast Media bias.

The Angels led baseball in runs this year. Every Los Angeles regular posted an OPS north of .700. Albert Pujols drove in 105 but his slash line of .272/.324/.466 is well below his career peak with the Cardinals. Anaheim’s best pitcher — Garrett Richards — is out for the year, too and yet this team kept on winning — again while everyone in the media on the East Coast, myself included, was asleep.

Fun fact: Halos’ manager Mike Scioscia leads all baseball managers in all-time guest appearances on The Simpsons with two.

B is for Buctoberfest: The Pirates official online playoff hashtag is #Buctober, but for the second straight year I’m putting my foot down and using the much more fun #Buctoberfest.

Despite playing in 11 less games, statistically Andrew McCutchen was better in 2014 than his MVP-winning campaign a year ago. He led the NL in on-base percentage (.410) and OPS (.952), but he’ll likely lose out on the MVP award to the next guy on our alphabetical list …

C is for Clayton Kershaw: One of my favorite parts of baseball cards were when the league leaders stats were bolded or had a little diamond on the back next to the stat. Kershaw’s 2014 card is almost all bold numbers as he led the National League in the following: wins, ERA, complete games, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, Ks-per-9 and Strikeout-to-walk ratio — although I’m not sure Topps ever included the last couple categories. One more fun Kershaw stat: his highest ERA in a full season is 2.91.

How the 26-year-old can translate his regular season dominance into the postseason bears close watching. In 38.1 postseason innings his ERA is a pedestrian 4.23. Kershaw also lost twice to the Cardinals in last year’s NLCS. Given that the postseason is now three rounds instead of two, I wonder if a starting pitcher can carry a team all the way?

There’s going to be a lot of first, second and third guessing of Don Mattingly depending how he uses Kershaw, particularly when the opportunity arises to throw him on short rest. The Dodgers threw him in Game 4 of the 2013 NLDS vs. the Braves on three-day’s rest and won the series — Kershaw gave up two unearned runs in six innings. Los Angeles’ top three with Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu is excellent, but if the Dodgers advance to the NLCS or World Series they’ll probably need a fourth starter at some point, unless Kershaw and Greinke go old school and pull a Drysdale/Koufax type thing.

D is for Don Denkinger: Arguably the most famous blown-call in World Series history took place in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1985 between the Cardinals and Royals. First base ump Don Denkinger wrongly called Jorge Orta safe, prompting a meltdown from Todd Worrell, Whitey Herzog and the rest of the Cardinals. The Royals came back to win the game and then the Series the next day. It’s also the last time the Royals played in the postseason until Tuesday night’s Wild Card affair with the Athletics, whereas the Cardinals have won five NL pennants and two World Series.

With replay rules in effect we won’t see something as bad as Denkinger’s call, hopefully, ever again. Of course baseball assigns six umps two who have one job: judge fair or foul on the right and left field lines. Throughout history this simple task has often proven difficult.

Question for Royals fans, as I posed to Jason Lisk on the first Hard Pass Podcast, do the Royals need to reach the ALDS for it to feel like the playoff drought is truly over or will losing in the one-off Wild Card game suffice after 29 long years?

E is for Eric Sogard: The bespectacled Oakland second baseman almost won MLB’s “Face of Baseball” contest in the spring, losing to David Wright which would have been a good Internet joke. Less funny? Sogard’s anemic  .567 OPS in 291 at bats.

F is for Fans, Best in Baseball: Surprise, surprise, the Cardinals are in the playoffs for the 10th time this century. Another October tradition? People moaning about Cardinals fans, the self-appointed “Best Fans in Baseball.” The Wall Street Journal even claims to have conducted a scientific study proving it Cardinals fans have surpassed the Yankees as most-loathed in baseball. Admittedly a lot of the anti-Cardinal fan vitriol is lost on me.

F is also for Fox Sports 1: The majority of the National League playoffs will air on Fox Sports 1, rather than network Fox. Will this event finally be the event that draw eyeballs to the fledgling cable sports network for a sustained period of time?

F is also for the Face of Baseball: Drink every time this is mentioned in regard to Trout this October; do a shot if Trout is mentioned in the same breath as Derek Jeter.

G is for Goggles: Who provides the goggles for baseball’s post-clinch beer/champagne celebrations? Does the clubhouse attendent have to tramp over to the local Dick’s and buy three dozen? Does Oakley provide them free of charge each ensuing round? As we know, nothing makes baseball players giddier than popping on goggles, popping some bottles and dousing annoying reporters with alcohol. If you’re scoring at home the new playoff formats allow up to six locker room champagne celebrations over the course of September and October, so Oakley is probably getting its money’s worth if only for next-day sports blog #content.

H is for Heterochromia iridum: That’s the condition which causes Tigers’ starter Max Scherzer to have two different colored eyes. Scherzer turned down a reported deal close to $150 million in Spring Training following his 2013 Cy Young season. In 2014 Scherzer was essentially just as good, striking out 252 in 220 innings. He’s probably going to get a $200+ million deal (cough, cough Cubs), but another great postseason will seal it. The Tigers will hope his (likely) final season in Detroit ends with that elusive World Series crown.

H is also for Hunter Pence: Maybe in a few years the BWWAA will create a social media award, or something. Pence is probably a shoo-in.

I is for Ian Desmond: The 29-year-old shortstop posted his third-straight 20+ home run season for the Nationals. He no longer sports a sweet mustache, dropping his #Natitude rating two or three points in the process.

I is also for Raul Ibañez: The 42-year-old made the Royals Wild Card game roster and is probably the only active player in the playoffs this year who can actually remember the 1985 World Series. Fourteen players on the Royals postseason roster were born after the ’85 series, including stalwarts like Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Greg Holland.

J is for Joba and Jayson’ Beards: The Red Sox won the World Series last year and everyone loved to talk about the team’s eclectic collection of beards. Werth deserves praise for a) shutting people up about his contract thanks for another productive offensive season (.292/.394/.455)  and b) pre-dating the Red Sox hirsute look by a couple years:

And Joba, well, we haven’t seen anyone rebel this far from the Yankees anti-facial hair policy in decades:

J is also for James, Big Game: Baseball, in my mind, is better with nicknames like Catfish, the Splendid Splinter or the Big Train. Big Game James might be the best one we have to work with in 2014, even if it’s not 100 percent accurate all the time. Handing the ball to Shields in a do-or-die game — potentially his last in a Royals uniform — is a big reason the club parted with Wil Myers (and Jake Odorizzi) a couple years ago. At least Kansas City will still have Wade Davis, pending wherever Shields signs as a free agent.

J is also for Jones, Adam: If baseball is in need of more “stars” in a post-Jeter landscape, Jones is a great candidate — especially if he can lead the Orioles to their first World Series title since 1983. Jones also provided my favorite quote of the season earlier this year, talking about dopes who run onto the field. Does the Sports Illustrated jinx still exist? If it does O’s fans might want to look away.

K is for Kemp, Matt: Kemp’s career looked like it might be derailed by injuries. In September he finally again regained his form and once again played like an MVP candidate posting a .322/.347/.700 line with nine home runs. Defensively and on the bath paths Kemp is no longer the five-tool stud he once was, but his bat has come alive at the right time for the Dodgers.

K is also for Kauffman Stadium: One highlight featuring a Willie Wilson motoring around an Astroturf infield for a triple and or something with Steve “Bye Bye” Balboni is all I ask of you tonight, ESPN. It’s the least you can do.

L is for Lester, Jon: Oakland traded Yoenis Cespedes to Boston on July 31 for Lester and promptly went 22-33 in the final two months of the season, to barely qualify ahead of the Mariners for the final playoff spot. This factoid has, by my rough estimate, been repeated 1,503 times over the last month or so. That said, Lester owns a 1.84 lifetime ERA vs. Kansas City and is 3-0 against the Royals this year. Long term, maybe Oakland gave up too much for a three-month rental on Lester, but for one game tonight they have, apparently, the right guy on the mound.

M is for Madison Bumgarner: A couple notes about the Giants lefty, who’ll start Wednesday night in Pittsburgh. This year he’s waged a one-man war against Yasiel Puig, culminating in last week’s dust-up that was, assuredly, “not a fight.” He celebrated the Giants postseason berth with three beers at once, too. The Hickory, N.C., native also put together the best year in the batter’s box by a pitcher in recent memory with four homers, 15 RBIs and a .755 OPS.

N is for #Natitude and Natty Boh: The Mid-Atlantic/Beltway region is vying with Los Angeles to be the baseball capital of October. Without turning this into a beer snob conversation, can we agree the Orioles-themed Natty Boh tallboy cans are great? (Well, this is the Internet so obviously that plea will fall on deaf keyboards.)

O is for O.com Coliseum: The Athletics need to win tonight in Kansas City for the O to host another playoff game. Let’s hope it does, if only to hear Josh Reddick walk up to the plate to the sweet sax sounds of “Careless Whisper” one more time.

P is for Pedro Martinez: The future Hall of Famer is, easily, the best part of TBS’ baseball coverage, which carries the entire American League postseason this fall.

Q is for …? : I couldn’t think of anything and didn’t want to use Dan Quisenberry since I already mentioned the 1985 Royals numerous times, although I made it this far without a George Brett reference. Anyways, here’s a new song by AC/DC that TBS will use at every commercial break in an attempt to drive sports bloggers insane:

R is for Ratings: The ratings for postseason baseball will be talked about a lot over the next month and, erroneously, applied to determine the health of the entire sport. Fun!

R is also for Reynolds, Harold: This is the first baseball postseason since, I think, the 1891 American Association playoffs, which won’t include commentary from Tim McCarver. In turn, expect Harold Reynolds, teamed with Joe Buck and Tom Verducci on Fox, to get most of the heat from the online peanut gallery, as mocking the announcers and the baseball playoffs go hand-in-hand.

S is for Selig, Bud: Bye Bud, long may you run.

T is for Tillman, Chris: Decent bet: most hardcore baseball fans couldn’t name more than one pitcher in the Orioles rotation. Even so, Buck Showalter’s team posted the third-best team ERA in the American League without a big-name hurler even as their top free agent acquisition, Ubaldo Jimenez, flirting with a 5.00 ERA most of the year. Enter Tillman, who’ll get the ball in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. the Tigers. Tillman’s stats (3.34 ERA/1.23 WHIP)  don’t wow you, but he did hold the Tigers to one run and five hits over 8+ innings back in April.

U is for Unknowns: As I wrote last week, this postseason feels like it will be rife with unsung, unknown players making key contributions.

V is for Victor Martinez: How’s this for a contract year? The Tigers designated hitter hit 32 home runs and struck out 42 times.

W is for Wainwright, Adam: Timing is everything in life, right? If Wainwright didn’t pitch in the same era as Clayton Kershaw he’d probably have a couple Cy Young awards on his mantle. Wainwright, unlike Kershaw, does have two World Series rings, so there’s that. Oh right, Wainwright and Kershaw are expected to go head-to-head Friday night in the NLDS Game 1 in Los Angeles, which is worth getting excited for.

X is for Xavier Scruggs: By the time the Cardinals set their NLDS roster it’s doubtful the 26-year-old September call-up will be included. But hey, he’s an “X” and there’s never been a player with a last name starting with X to play in Major League Baseball. So there’s a bonus fun fact.

Y is for Yasiel Puig: The Dodgers star is in the playoffs for the second straight season. I’ll be monitoring whomever copied-and-pasted their unwritten rules outrage columns from 2013 and recycled them this October.

Y is for Yost, Ned: Bunt is a proverbial four-letter word for Royals fans. At least Yost can’t screw up the Kelvin Herrera-Davis-Holland late-inning scenario … can he?

Z is for Zimmermann, Jordan: Zimmermann tossed a no-hitter on Sunday, capping an excellent season for the Nationals pitching staff which posted the best ERA in baseball at 3.03. A 1-2-3 punch of Stephen Strasburg, Zimmerman and Doug Fister, based on current form, is formidable. Unless these guys go the distance the Nationals will still need to get high leverage outs from either Drew Storen or Tyler Clippard rather than rely on demoted closer Rafael Soriano whose confidence appears to be shattered.

(This has probably been too long to count as Yardwork.)