MLB's Covid Plan is Stupid

The MLB is set to embark on a 60-game journey through the coronavirus-infested United States. Unlike pretty much every other American sport, MLB is eschewing the bubble concept, instead demanding its team to travel the country.

As a boxing fan, I closely watched Top Rank's Las Vegas experiment. Top Rank attempted two cards a weeks, about six fights each card. The boxers were only allowed to bring a couple of people into the bubble. About 20% of fights were canceled because of positive covid-19 tests. In boxing, a canceled match can be disappointing, but the show can still go on. In team sports, it will be difficult to imagine how the leagues will deal with canceled games. The MLS had a very modest plan and multiple teams had to go home because of positive tests.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and it's a fun sprint, but one of the best case scenarios is the MLB finishes the season and the playoffs, but the champion is just basically the team that had fewer impact players testing positive for covid-19. Also,m why would they institute the DH for every game? It seems like they're moving in the wrong direction. Wouldn't you want fewer players active in each game and each game to be as quick as possible? If anything, baseball should move toward extinguishing the DH, a ridiculous gimmick from the 1970s that saps the game of its strategy for pure meathead offense. The DH is also illogical. It's like have a designated free throw shooter in basketball or a designated punch absorber in boxing.

It's quite possible that baseball games will be canceled outright and teams, if not the entire season, will have to shutdown prematurely. Hopefully, before someone gets terribly sick. I love watching sports, but not at the expense of people dying. I hope the players and staff stay safe.

Jewish World Series Recap

This is a tough World Series matchup for Jews. The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers are battling, but it has nothing to do with these two teams. These organizations have had Jewish players before. Of course the great Sandy Koufax pitched for the Dodgers and the less great Brad Ausmus caught for the Astros. But both organizations have taken a dark turn in recent years.

Game 1 featured Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel who inexplicably pronounces his surname "Kikel". He faced Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez. Kike went 1-3 against Kikel. Every time Kike came up to bat against Kikel, I took our mezuzah down and brought it inside. Then I hid in my attic. Hopefully  the Dodgers sweep so I don't have to revisit this fear in Game 5.

2017 MLB Postseason Predictions

Wild Card Games (of which I hate the concept)
Yankees over Twins
Dbacks over Rockies

Division Series
Cleveland over Yankees 3-1
Houston over Boston 3-2

Nats over Cubs 3-1
Dodgers over Dbacks 3-0

LCS
Houston over Cleveland 4-2
Nats over Dodgers 4-2

World Series
Nats over Astros 4-1

Game 7: An Ace in the Hole

The scoring in Game 7 ended early. In the second inning, Jeremy Guthrie plunked Pablo Sandoval, who went 3 for 3. Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt both singled, which loaded the bases. Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford hit sac flies to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, Billy Butler singled off of Tim Hudson. Alex Gordon doubled him in. Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch. Gordon made it the third and Omar Infante his a sac fly tying the game at 2. Hudson was removed for Jeremy Affeldt, who pitched two and a third innings of scoreless ball.

In the third, the Giants went away softly, but the Royals continued to put pressure. Lorenzo Cain singled off of Affeldt. Eric Hosmer pulled a scorcher. Second baseman Joe Panik dove and started a memorable double play, which killed Kansas City's momentum.

After singled by Sandoval and Pence in the fourth, Guthrie was lifted for Kelvin Herrera with one out. Herrera pitched well, throwing two and two-thirds innings and striking out four, but a single to Michael Morse scored Sandoval in the fourth. The Giants led 3-2.

Madison Bumgarner entered for the Giants in the fifth. Most figured he'd give San Francisco about an inning or so. Instead, his performance was one of the most impressive and clutch in recent baseball history. In five innings, after a pitching a shutout in Game 5, he gave up two hits and struck out four.

Bumgarner won the World Series MVP and the Giants captured their third championship in five seasons.

Game 6: A Blowout and a Game 7

The Kansas City Royals allowed fans to cancel any non-baseball plans the for the tomorrow night with a seven run second inning. When it was all over, the Royals had won 10-0.

Lorenzo Cain knocked in three runs and Eric Hasmer added two more. The three and four hitters combined to go 4 for 8 with 2 walks. Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer off Hunter Strickland in the seventh.

In addition to Kansas City's bats coming alive, young Yordani Ventura shut down the Giants in seven innings, only giving up three hits. The Giants were not as fortunate on the hill. Jake Peavy was credited with giving up five runs. Yusmeiro Petit gave up two and so did Jean Machi.

This will be the first Game 7 of the World Series since 2002.

Game 5 - A Masterpiece

The Giants' Madison Bumgarner continued his incredible World Series run. He pitched nine shutout innings in Game 5. he struck out eight and only allowed four hits.

James Shields, who has had a difficult postseason, finally settled down. He gave up a couple of singles int he second inning that led to an RBI groundout by Brandon Crawford. In the fourth, a couple of singles led to a Crawford RBI hit. Shields went six innings and only gave up those two runs.

Kelvin Herrera pitched a scoreless seventh, but struggled in the eight. Wade Davis, who has a microscopic ERA, finally showed he was human in the same inning. Pinch-hitter Juan Perez doubled in two off Davis. Crawford got his third RBI of the game later in the inning.

The Giants won 5-0 and took a 302 series lead heading back to Kansas City.

Game 4 - Momentum Swings

The Giants manufactured a run in the first when Gregor Blanco walked and later scored on a Hunter Pence forceout. Kansas City came back in the third with a vengeance.

The Royals sent ten men to the plate in the inning. Pitcher Jason Vargas made two of the Royals' outs. Eric Hosmer, Omar Infante, and Salvador Perez all had RBI knocks in the inning. Infante's hit brought in two. KC ousted the Giants' starter, Ryan Vogelsong, from the game. And yet, in retrospect, the Royals lost the game right here.

With the bases loaded, Vargas strode to the plate for the second time int he inning. He worked the count to 2-2 and took a close pitch that was called a ball. He thought it had been ball four and trotted down towards first base. He was called back and struck out on the next pitch, one that seemed out of the strike zone.

Buster Posey drove pinch-hitter Matt Duffy home int he bottom of the third. Vargas was taken out in the fifth inning Joe Panik led that inning off with a double. He scored when Hunter Pence smacked a single. Pence scored on a sac fly tying the game.

Brandon Finnegan pitched the sixth and gave up three more runs. The Giants did it with small ball, constantly moving the line.Finnegan allowed the first two Giants to reach in the seventh. Then, the bottom fell out. He was replaced by Tim Collins. Blanco bunted and Collins threw the ball away. One scored on the play. Panik doubled in two and Pence doubled in Panik. By the time the Giants' onslaught was over, the score was 11-4.

Meanwhile, Yusmeiro Petit was San Francisco's unsung hero again. He had earned wins int he Division Series and in the NLCS. Earlier in the year, Petit quietly set the MLB record for most consecutive batters retired. While that record should have brought him heaps of praise, it took an outstanding playoff performance to bring him the appropriate notoriety. As the Giants fought back to get into the game, take the lead, and ultimately run away with it, Petit threw three scoreless innings just when the Royals' attack was at its most confident.

The Giants' 11-4 victory tied the series at two games a piece.

Game 3 - NL Baseball

Game 3 was a relatively quick game and the only close contest thus far int he World Series. Alcides Escobar, who has played a great shortstop, doubled to open the game. He was moved over to third. Then Lorenzo Cain grounded him in.

Tim Hudson of the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie of the Royals shut down opposing bats until both ran into trouble in the 6th. Escobar singled before Alex Gordon doubled him in. Eric Hosmer knocked in Gordon and Kansas City took a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Brandon Crawford got on with a basehit before pinch-hitter Michael Morse doubled him home. Kelvin Herrera replaced Gutherie and got out of the inning giving up only one more run on a Buster Posey groundout.

Herrera went an inning and a third, rookie Brandon Finnegan got two outs, and Wade Davis pitched a scoreless eighth. Greg Holland got hte save int he ninth. Kansas City won 3-2 and take a 2-1 series lead.

Game 2 - Homerun Fury

Both teams scored in the first. Gregor Blanco led off with a homerun to lead off the game for the Giants. Billy Butler singled in Lorenzo Cain in the bottom of the inning. Flame throwing Yordano Ventura then settled down for Kansas City.

Alcides Escobar doubled in Omar Infante in the second. Jake Peavy then threw three scoreless innings. In the fourth, Pablo Sandoval doubled before Brandon Belt knocked him in with a double of his own. The game stayed knotted at two a piece until the sixth inning.

The Giants had two on in the top of the inning, but Belt and Michael Morse got out. In the bottom of the sixth, all hell broke loose. Peavy left after giving up a single to Cain and a walk to Eric Hosmer. Jean Machi came in and promptly was knocked out by a Butler single that scored a run.

Javier Lopez got Alex Gordon to fly out. Then Bruce Bochy made a fateful decision. He brought in Hunter Strickland, a hard-throwing young pitcher with a killer curveball. Strickland didn't give up a run in nine regular season appearances.

Strickland threw a wild pitch allowing Hosmer and Terrance Gore, who had pinch run for Butler, to advance. Salvador Perez then doubled them both in. Next up, Infante smacked a homer. Strickland, who had just given up his fifth four-bagger of the postseason began screaming. Perez was confused, because it seemed as if Strickland was yelling at him. Strickland then yelled at Perez some more and threatened him. Strickland showed a lack of class in the face of his poor performance.

By then, the game was 7-2, which is how it ended. Kansas City tied up the series as it heads west to San Francisco for Game 3.

Game 1 - Rude Visitors

Both teams made the World Series after playing in the Wild Card game. This series is the first time a fourth seed has faced a fifth seed in the series. The 162 game regular season is rapidly losing importance.

The Giants wasted no time in roughing up Kansas City's starter James Shields. Hunter Pence slammed a two-run homer after Pablo Sandoval doubled in a run. The Giants were up 3-0 before Madison Bumgarner took the hill.

Once Bumgartner was on the mound, the game was effectively over. He befuddled the Royals' hitters. Kansas City had a chance in the bottom of the third when Omar Infante reached on shortstop Brandon Crawford's error. Mike Moustakas doubled. But the top of the order failed the Royals. With two outs, Lorenzo Cain walked to load the bases, but cleanup hitter Eric Hosner weakly grounded to second base, uncharacteristically failing in the clutch.

The Giants tacked on two more in the next inning to take a 5-0 lead. Michael Morse knocked in Hunter Pence with a single. Later, when Shields was lifted, Danny Duffy walked Gregor Blanco with the bases loaded.

In the seventh, rookie second baseman Joe Panik tripled home Blanco, who had walked. Duffy was lifted after three plus innings. Sandoval later singled home Panik for the Giants seventh run.

In the bottom of the inning, catcher Salvador Perez nailed a homer off of Bumgarner, who gave up three hits and finished the seventh. Javier Lopez and Hunter Strickland shut the door the rest of the way for a 7-1 Giants victory.

Game 5 - Ortiz Shines Again

David Ortiz has had a legendary World Series. Ortiz is hitting an unconscionable .733 against St. Louis with 2 homers and 6 RBIs. His OPS for the five games is over 2.000. In the first, he doubled home Dustin Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright settled down and pitched five straight shutout innings. Meanwhile Matt Holliday homered off of Jon Lester in the bottom of the third to tie the game. But int eh seventh, Xander Bogaerts and Stephen Drew began a rally which ended with two runs plated when it was all over. Boston had a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Koji Uehara struck out two to solidify the victory. Boston take sa 3-2 lead heading into Game Six back east.

Game 4 - Going Going Gomes

The Cardinals go on the board first when Carlos Beltran singled home Matt Carpenter. The Sox's Clay Buckhholtz only pitched one more inning, but Felix Doubront pitched another 2 and 2/3 innings giving up only one run.

With the score 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Jonny Gomes homered in Dustin Pedoia and David Ortiz. That ended Lance Lynn's day.

In the bottom of the ninth, a banged up Allen Craig pinch hit and laced what normally would be a double off the wall. Instead, he limped to first. Kolten Wong pinch ran. One batter later and with Carlos Beltran up, Wong jumped off first. Boston's closer Koji Uehara picked off Wong and for the second consecutive night, the game ended on a bizarre play.

Boston won 4-2 and tied the series at two.

Game 3 - An Obstruction of Justice?

Boston's Jake Peavy struggled in the first inning. Everything he threw seemed to be over the plate. He may have been fortunate to get out of the inning only giving up two runs. Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina grabbed the two RBIs that inning.

In the fourth, Peavy had loaded the bases with no one out. Pete Kozma, who has been having a nightmarish World Series came to the plate in hope of redeeming himself. Instead, he struck out looking. The pitcher Joe Kelly popped out next and then so did Matt Carpenter.

After Xander Bogaerts tripled off of Kelly in the fifth, he scored on a ground out. In the top of the sixth, Daniel Nava knocked in Shane Victorino to tie the game at two.

Craig Breslow let two men on in the seventh, even though one reached on a dribbler and the other reached on a dubious hit by pitch. Junichi Tazawa gave up the go-ahead single to Matt Holliday which plated two Cards.

Red Sox Manager John Farrell can be questioned for pinch hitting for Felix Doubrant in the seventh with none on and two out. Doubrant had pitched two dominating innings and the Sox didn't have much going offensively in the inning. The top of the order was due up in the top of the eighth and perhaps it would have made more sense to save Gomes for later. That became especially true when relief pitcher Brandon Workman made his major league debut at the plate in the ninth.

Carlos Martinez gave up two runs in the eighth when Nava hit into a ground out and when Bogaerts singled. The game was tied at four heading into the ninth.

With runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth, Workman faced John Jay. Jay grounded to second when Dustin Pedroia snatched the ball and fired home. Yadier Molina was out. Then, catcher Jared Saltalamacchia fired down to the third. Will Middlebrooks couldn't get the ball. He was positioned about a foot away from third place in fair territory. When the runner, Allen Craig tried to scamper home, Middlebrooks lifted his legs. Though Craig was gunned out at home, obstruction was called.

The Cardinals won 5-4 in walk off fashion in one of the most bizarre endings to a World Series game. St. Louis is now up 2-1 in the series.

Game 2 - Cards Tie it Up

After a pitchers' duel between Michael Wacha of St. Louis and Jon Lackey of Boston through the first three innings, Matt Holliday tripled to lead off the fourth and later scored. A David Ortiz two-run homer int he sixth gave the Sox the lead.

Only Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia have been hitting well for the Sox thus far in the World Series, despite the eight run outburst in Game 1. As it would turn out, the two runs off of Ortiz's bat weren't enough for Boston to win.

An errant throw the next half inning by Boston's Craig Breslow began a chain that would allow three Cardinal runners to cross the plate in the top of the 7th. Carlos Beltran, playing in spite of aching ribs, went 2 for 4 with an RBI. After two strong innings by Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal got the save. The Cardnials won 4-2 to tie the series at one.

Game 1 - Sox Blowout Cards

In the first inning, Pete Kozma wasn't able to grab a throw headed towards him, but umpire Dana DeMuth incorrectly called the Dustin Pedroia out. Manager John Farrell raced out to argue and asked DeMuth to get help from his fellow umpire. DeMuth demurred and the call was reversed. That gave the Sox the bases loaded. Mike Napoli cleared the bases with a three-run double.

Things got worse for the Cardinals in the second. Pitcher Adam Wainwright spaced on a little pop up right to him. Kozma committed another error. And though Carlos Beltran saved a David Ortiz grand slam with a catch near the wall in right, he hurt his ribs crashing into the padding and left the game.

Up 5-0 in the second, Jon Lester pitched into the eighth giving up no runs, five hits, and striking out 8. Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the seventh and the Sox added one more in eighth to win 8-1.

2013 MLB Playoff Precitions

NL
Reds over Pirates

Dodgers over Braves
Reds over Cardinals

Dodgers over Reds

AL
Tampa Bay over Cleveland

Detroit over Oakland
Boston over Tampa Bay

Detroit over Boston

World Series
Detroit over Dodgers

2012 MLB Playoff Predictions

I've waited until after the wild card games to make my predictions as to not give those games any legitimacy.

AL
Detroit 3-1 Oakland
New York 3-1 Baltimore

Detroit 4-1 New York

NL
Washington 3-2 St. Louis
Cincinnati 3-1 San Francisco

Washington 4-0 Cincinnati

World Series
Washington 4-1 Detroit

The Second Wild Card

Baseball has decided that there should be two wild card winners in each league this year. As with most things baseball does these days, it is incredibly stupid.

I like the idea of a single-game playoff between the top two wild card teams if they're tied at the end of the regular season. Otherwise, I hate it. Basically, we just played 162 games and determined that 4th place is better than 5th place. But let's play one extra game just to make sure. It's insane.

I bet you thought it couldn't get stupider. You're wrong. The winner of the wild card gets the first two games of their next series at home! I hope there's a 6-team for that second wild card spot in the National League.

Yet, this idiocy does not compare to how dumb letting the All Star Game decide home field advantage in the World Series.

Yunel Escobar is Homophobic

Homophobic eye-black and the DH? This is why I hate the American League.

I wonder if he used the Sammy Sosa excuse, "I accidentally grabbed my batting practice eye-black."

Maybe it's not his fault.
It could be that he got drunk and passed out before the game and some frat boy wrote all over his face.

Can It Really Be? A Jewish MVP!

Ryan Braun, former NL Rookie of the Year, won the NL MVP for 2011.

YYYYYYYYYYYYIPIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!