2023 MLB Playoffs: Championship Series

Texas Rangers Beat the Houston Astros in 7 Games:

Game 1: As i’ve said this entire postseason, the Rangers are playing with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. I guess when you go into a series against the team that some would say stole their division title right out from under them, you would want to prove why you’re better. What better way to do that than to shut out the Astros at home? Although he took the loss, Justin Verlander still had a good showing with 6.2 innings, two runs, six hits and five strike outs. Not his strongest outing but he kept his team in it. His counterpart Jordan Montgomery had very similar numbers. He went 6.1 innings, gave up zero runs off of five hits and six strike outs. It was very much a pitcher’s duel tonight. Ultimately, while I can appreciate that this game meant something to the Rangers. Set the tone for the series but this game was not all that exciting. Texas’s two runs came off of a single by Jonah Heim in the top of the second and Leody Taveras home run in the top of the fifth. I felt that this game missed the magic. I didn’t see any plays that ‘saved’ the game or aided in the loss. But i’m interested to see just how far Texas will take this. Game 2 is tomorrow with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound for Texas and Framber Valdez representing Houston.

Game 2: Ohhhhhh Yes. I’m liking the way this series is shaping up. And it was a lot more interesting than last night’s game. Let’s start with Texas getting the jump on Framber Valdez in the first inning. Four runs? That’s how you send a message that game one wasn’t a fluke. And anytime Minute Maid Park is left silent, it’s a good time. Robbie Grossman started the scoring off by getting Marcus Semien across the plate on a fielding error by Framber Valdez. Followed by RBI singles by Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe. Fear not though, Houston would not remain silent tonight. Yordan Alvarez kept his streak alive by dropping a ball into the second deck of the right field stands. 420 feet to be exact and 108mph off the bat. Incredibly impressive. Although not enough to give Houston a lead, Jonah Heim would answer back anyways with a blast of his own putting Texas up 5-1. Chase McCormick had a nice diving catch in the top of the fourth to keep a speedy Corey Seager off the base paths. Alex Bregman tried to close the gap with a home run of his own in the bottom of the fourth. Nothing of note would happen again until the bottom of the sixth inning when Michael Brantley laced an RBI double up the middle. And Yordan Alvarez, who is practically carrying this team on his back, made a valiant effort with yet another home run in th bottom of the eighth. But alas, it wasn’t enough. The Rangers took the victory and a 2-0 in the series. We have a day off tomorrow and then at least two more games in Arlington. Let’s see if the Rangers can keep this streak going.

Game 3: Well…I was hoping that would have gone differently. I guess the silver lining is that it won’t be a sweep and we get at least five games out of this series. As someone who has watched Max Scherzer dominate since he was in Detroit, it almost pains me. to see him struggle in a game like this. Fun fact, when he played with the Nationals- same year they won the World Champs title- Max was in a similar situation where he was injured in such a way that he couldn’t move on his own. He took the time he needed to rest, came back later in the series and was outstanding. Tonight was not like that night. He lasted five innings and I wouldn’t call them valiant by any stretch of the imagination. He gave up five runs on a wild pitch that scored a batter that got on base when he hit him, then a two runs on a single that found it’s way to the outfield on an infield deflection, a Jose Altuve home run and another single all before the fifth inning. This put the Rangers in a bit of a pickle (no pun intended). Josh Jung did his best to start a rally with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth but that would be all they could get. Houston would respond back in the top of the seventh off a two run Yordan Alvarez single to center field. When I tell you that this man is just a run producer to this preseason, I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. Josh Jung would again try and close that gap with some run production of his own by jacking another ball to the outfield seats for two more runs. Jeremy Pena would extend the Astro lead briefly with a little right field single and Adolis Garcia, who i’ve mentioned before is the Rangers version of Yordan Alvarez, again tried to rally in the bottom of the eighth with the same single of his own but it just wouldn’t come together for the Rangers in the end. The Astros will make this a minimum five-game series with their win tonight.

Game 4: Mmm… I mean, at least it’s tied? I don’t really know how to analyze this game other than with just the facts. The Rangers shit the bed. If we have learned anything over the past few years, it’s that you cannot give an Astros team any hope of a chance at coming back in a series or they will most likely find a way to do just that. Alex Bregman got an early start to the festivities with a dart of a triple to the center field wall which got them to an early 2-0 start. And I know what you’re thinking. Where is Yordan? It’s the first inning, shouldn’t he have already homered at least once? Well, it wasn’t a home run this time but he did bring the first inning run total up to three with a single to center. Now here is where I thought this game was going to be interesting. Adolis Garcia answered the call and helped put a run on the board for the Rangers in the bottom of the second with a home run of his own. Followed by Josh Jung who had a sac fly to cut the lead down to one. Corey Seager would eventually take an opportunity to ride a high fast ball to the bullpen in left center field to tie it up at three. That would be where it would stall out for the Rangers regiment. The top of the fourth is where it took off for Houston’s battery. They would go on to score four runs off a Yordan Alvarez sac fly and a Jose Abreu three-run homer. The Rangers were practically silent while this barrage happened. After their first three innings, they only recorded three more hits, one walk and five strike outs. You can’t put up numbers like that in the postseason with numbers like that and expect to win. Not when Yordan Alvarez and Chase McCormick tacked on an additional three runs to ultimately give the Astros a 10-3 win over the Rangers. The pitching, at least for the Rangers was really nothing note worthy. Obvious by the score. But the Astros bullpen was literally lights out. We meet back tomorrow for the last game in Arlington. Who will squeeze ahead?

Game 5: This series is now incredibly interesting and infuriatingly disappointing. Seriously- you have a Texas team that is up by two in the top of the ninth and relief pitcher Leclerc did not have the command he needed to face the line up that he did. After walking Perez and Singleton, he left a changeup hanging inside and over the plate and Jose Altuve (the little cheater) just took it for a ride. The only reason it would be remotely exciting to probably just Astros fans is because it put them in front and gave the Rangers very little time to do anything about it. In the end, they weren’t able to come back from that one.

Game 6: Tonight we have a rematch of game two of this series with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound for the Rangers and Framber Valdez representing Houston. Framber Valdez is looking like the American League’s version of Clayton Kershaw. A Cy Young candidate from the regular season is struggling in the postseason. He’s lasted longer tonight than he did in most other games in previous series but he only threw five innings and gave up three runs off of five hits. Mitch Garver is coming through in this series and getting the Rangers on the board with a nice little homer to right field. Which was in response to yet another Yordan Alvarez RBI single at the bottom of the first. Nathan Eovaldi is looking good tonight as well. He and the Rangers staff are playing strategically and I like it. Walking Yordan in the third intentionally shows me that someone is finally paying attention. And it had no adverse impact. Jonah Heim came through in the top of the fourth, giving the Rangers a two run lead in the top of the fourth. Mitch Garver then came around again with an RBI double in the top of the eighth giving the Texas a 4-2 lead. Eovaldi was great for Texas tonight. He went a little of six innings, only gave up two runs off of five hits and struck out four batters. The top of the ninth is looking worse and worse for Houston the more batters they see. Bases loaded, one out, and their worst enemy (and possibly series MVP should Texas win) Adolis Garcia decided to launch a ball at 110 miles per hour to clear the bases. The Rangers came in needing to win tonight to force a game seven and they did just that. We will reconvene tomorrow to determine who will represent the American League in the World Series this year.

Game 7: At least the Lone Star state is keeping it interesting. Houston is through three pitchers in just as many innings. Their starter Christian Javier didn’t even make it a full inning. Max Scherzer on the other hand, made it a little less than three innings but held off the Astros. The Astros bullpen, no matter who takes the mound can’t solve the perplexing problem that is Adolis Garcia. If the Rangers take this series and make it to the World Series, I honestly cannot name one other player who deserves to be Division Series MVP more than that man. And to think that he was put on waivers by the team just a few weeks ago. Corey Seager finally found his swing with a bomb to right field. Followed closely by a very long and high RBI single from Adolis Garcia to quickly put the Rangers up 2-0 but they would get one more before the end of the inning with a Mitch Garver single as well. Jose Altuve would get a jump on Max Scherzer as well with a hard double off the left field wall. Texas has got a good strategy and walked Yordan Alvarez. But an RBI single from Jose Abreu. We move on to the top of the third where Adolis Garcia would strike again with a laser just inside the right field foul pole. And there was no doubt. In the bottom of the third, Alex Bregman would answer back with a home run of his own. Cutting the run differential to two. Yordan Alvarez’s luck started to look up though, after Alex’s home run, he laced a triple into the left center field gap but it wouldn’t do anything to help in the end. Now let’s talk about the top of the fourth. The Ranger’s decided they were done tip toeing around and just unleashed their offensive armory. With the bases loaded, Evan Carter doubled scoring two additional runs. At this point, you think that Houston would have taken a play out of Texas’s book and taken the power away from the one person who has consistently been a thorn in their side but alas, they allowed Adolis Garcia to the plate and he made them pay for it with yet another 2-RBI single, extending the Arlington lead from four to six. It was quiet on both sides for a bit on both sides after this. A couple singles here and there but nothing substantial. Not until the top of the sixth with Nathanial Lowe, a kind of under the radar hero in my book, got one right over Kyle Tucker’s glove and into the right field stands to tack on another two runs. If we are keeping track, it’s now 10-2 Rangers. Again, the bats were relatively quite with the exception of an additional run for Houston. Right up until a certain thorn in the Houston side came up to bat in the top of the eighth. Do you think that the Astros took my advice and walked him? They surely did not. And again, he made them pay for it with his second home run of the night. That’s 11-3. Let us not get too excited about the Trashstros going down so quickly. If anyone can blow a lead, its Aroldis Chapman. I won’t say that this is what is happening but you have one out, one runner on and you nail the number seven batter in the line up on the inside of the back leg? That’s not an easy place to miss. He worked his way out of it though. Only for Leclerc to give up a solo homer to Jose Altuve in the bottom of the ninth. While that may not seem like a lot because you know, they are still down by 7, baseball is the magical sport where you can be down to your last strike in a game while being down by 7 runs and still win. But today will not be that day. The Texas Rangers will represent the American League in the World Series. Defeating the reigning Champions 4—3.

The Texas Rangers will play the winner of the National League Championship Series depending on who takes game seven tomorrow night between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona Diamondbacks Beat the Philadelphia Phillies in 7 Games:

Game 1: I am not at all surprised by this game. I knew going into this series that it will be an uphill battle for the Diamondbacks. This Phillies team is what the Dodgers should have looked like in the Division Series. Not to mention it’s Bryce Harper’s birthday so you know he balled out. We started off tonight with Dueling Zacs’. Zac Gallen is on the mound for Arizona. Zack Wheeler is up for Philadelphia. Kyle Schwarber made the decision to get Philly on board first with a “Schwarbomb” in the bottom of the first inning. Followed closely by Bryce Harper who wanted to have a little birthday fun and sent a ball 420 feet putting Philly up 2-0. Don’t worry though, Nick Castellanos will not be left out. He got in on the home run action in the bottom of the second. Bryce and J.T. would go on to throw out some singles to garner two additional runs which gave Phillies a 5-0 lead. Arizona tried to get back in it. I have to give them credit for that. They would not take it lying down. Geraldo Perdomo got them on the board finally in the top of the sixth with a two run shot to the outfield seats. I was hoping this would maybe spark a rally but it really didn’t. Sure they scored one more run in the top of the seventh off a Christian Walker sac fly but any hope of a rally pretty much died after that. To be fair, the Phillies are the first team that the Diamondbacks have faced that have actually put up a fight from the start. This series isn’t going to be one of pitching prowess. It’ll be who can hit the ball the farthest the most. I’m stoked.

Game 2: Again, the outcome of this game is not surprising. But a 10-0 beat down wasn’t exactly it. Trea Turner started the scoring off with a home run in the bottom of the first. Kyle Schwarber took on the next two RBI’s with two individual home runs in the bottom of the third and the sixth innings. J.T. Realmuto got in on the fun with a 2-run double which Brandon Marsh replicated two batters later with his own RBI double in the bottom of the sixth. Fret not though, they continued their assault into the seventh inning. Alec Bohm wanted in on the RBi action so he sliced a nice double of his own to center field. J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos both added RBI singles. These, when put together account for all 10 runs scored by the Phillies tonight. Aaron Nola was lights out tonight. He threw a stellar six innings allowing only three hits in those six innings and racked up seven strike outs as well. His strong work was followed up by equally strong relief work from former Rockie Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering. As for Arizona, there is quite literally, nothing to write home about for them tonight. I can’t say that anyone did particularly well in my opinion. Pitching was definitely not there and they couldn’t capitalize on the bases or at the plate. We have a travel day tomorrow and then we start a minimum of two, max three game set in Phoenix. I would wager that this may be a sweep if the Diamondbacks can’t figure out this Phillies offense.

Game 3: Of course it was going to be the Cinderella team that handed the Phillies their first 2023 postseason loss. And in spectacular fashion no less. A walk off by none other than Ketel Marte really put a damper on the run the Phillies were looking to make. If it were me, and I was on the mound with an open base I probably wouldn’t have pitched to Marte who was 2 for 4 at the plate when the next guy up, Corbin Carroll was 0 for 4 and looked to get a grounder to the infield for a quick little game ending double play. But that is not what happened. So let me paint the picture. We’re tied. 1-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Runners on first and second. One out. Smart game strategy would have been to walk Ketel Marte with the open base but I understand the goal was to get him to hit into a double play and force extra innings. But as I stated above, he was 2-4 with two doubles on the night going up a Craig Kimbrel who is not pitching like he has in the past. Ketel did what he was asked to and got a single right up the middle. With the speed of Pavin Smith on second, there was no question. Brandon Pfaadt and Ranger Suarez went inning for inning tonight both posting 5.2 and 5.1 scoreless innings respectively. Pfaadt gave up only two hits and struck out nine. Suarez gave up only three hits and struck out seven. Both teams scored their one run in the seventh inning. Up until the ninth inning. this game was a pitchers duel and both teams brought it. Arizona just got the upper hand and capitalized on the opportunity at the very last minute. It makes this series all the more interesting. We continue this series tomorrow in the desert for game four.

Game 4: LET’S F*****G GO! Down by three and the Snakes come back to make it a tie series? I’m here for that kind of drama. Zac Gallen said it best, “Home field advantage matters.”. You’re going to hear everyone and I mean anyone who calls themself a Philly fan blame Craig Kimbrel for this loss (if you take the events of last night into account as well) and while he played a role in it, it was ultimately a decision that rested on the shoulders of the manager. There is no way around that. He didn’t and probably shouldn’t have left Kimbrel out there for as long as he did. Alek Thomas was the real hero of tonight. I don’t think anyone’s bingo card had the Diamondbacks coming from behind two nights in a row. And down by three going into the bottom of the eighth no less. Now to be fair, Arizona got on the board first with one run in the second and the third. But we all know that Philly is not quiet with their bats. Not after they find the ball with it. And boy did they. They saw those two runs and probably thought, “Oh those are cute. Let’s show you how the big boys do it.”. Oh boy did they. Kyle Schwarber (no shock here) found the ball first and took it 409 feet into the stands. It may have been the only run scored in the fourth inning but it started a rally for the Phillies. Brandon Marsh tied the game in the fifth with a gorgeous RBI double that scored J.T Realmuto. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner would both score on a throwing error in the sixth to take the lead and then Trea Turner would put i’m sure what they thought was the final touch with a sac fly in the top of the seventh to give Philadelphia a three run lead. The Snakes said no though. They would not concede. Christian Walker drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh to chip away at the lead. So how did we end up with a score of 6-5 in favor of Arizona? Alek Thomas took that on himself. He tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run home run to the pool and was followed up on by a Gabriel Moreno single that would score and very speedy Ketel Marte. The pitching this game was nothing spectacular. Each team went through eight, that’s right, eight pitchers to get through this game. It was a really interesting bullpen strategy as some were chosen to face specific batters and only those batters at a given time. With the series tied at two a piece, we play our last game in Arizona tomorrow and this series is officially interesting.

Game 5: The battle of the Zac’s just like game one. Gallen versus Wheeler and it is already going to be a controversial one. Our home plate umpire is really testing the batters from Philly and it would not surprise me if one of them gets thrown out in this game. In the first inning alone, first batter, lead off walk and you can hear J.T. Realmuto get upset with the fourth ball call. Whipping around and saying, “no no no.” to the homeplate umpire. An inning later, Trea Turner would strike out looking on a 3-2 count when he thought it should have been ball four. I happen to think in a regular season game, he may have been thrown out but we all know that postseason baseball plays by different rules. Zack Wheeler is wheeling and dealing tonight. Zac Gallen on the other side has allowed two runs- one of them should have been out at home but an errant throw by Ketel Marte caused Gabriel Moreno to be in the way of a sliding Bryce Harper and for a few moments, it was questionable if he was going to get back up. As a side note, Bryce gets a lot of shit for the type of player he is but as soon as he crossed the plate, he made a bee line for Moreno to check on him and make sure he was ok. That is the real kind of player he is. Luckily, Moreno seems to be ok and continued to stay in the game. Gallen took it in stride though and really dialed in after those two runs until the top of the sixth inning when Kyle Schwarber, which at this point should not be pitched to, launched another home run about 460 feet to straight away center field. That makes five home runs in this series alone. Bryce must have been feeling left out because he came up next and took the seventh pitch of the at bat 444 feet to almost the exact same place- making this a 4-0 game in Philadelphia’s favor. But have no fear, the bottom of the seventh saw last night’s hero, Alek Thomas come to the rescue again with a lead off home run to right center field that would hopefully light a spark in this DBacks offense but the following three batters went down just as quickly as they stepped up. Zack Wheeler will be the star of tonight’s game though. He is the only pitcher in this postseason, from either league to post seven innings pitched and they were glorious innings at that. He was practically lights out the whole game only giving up one run off of six hits and striking out eight. The Phillies would go on to score again with a Realmuto 2-run home run in the top of the 8th just to bolster their lead making it 6-2. Arizona will not go down without a fight though. Down by five, bottom of the ninth, two outs, runners on first and third, Corbin Carroll is at the plate and they couldn’t capitalize. We are headed back to Philly for game six after a day off tomorrow. Can the Phillies make it back to back World Series appearances or will the Diamondbacks continue their Cinderella story with a comeback story that would be talked about for years to come?

Game 6: Arizona said, “Let’s play seven and see what happens.”. Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. both went back to back off Aaron Nola in the second inning, immediately putting the DBacks up 2-0 on the Phillies- at home no less and then Evan Longoria wanted to add on a little insurance with an RBI double. The Phillies started to chip away at that lead immediately with Brandon Marsh coming through with an RBI double which at this point seems like a normal daily occurrence for him. The third and fourth innings were relatively quite bats wise. Merrell Kelly and Aaron Nola dueled it out in these two innings striking out a third of the batters they saw combined. I think Ketel Marte was feeling a bit left out though. When he came to the plate in the top of the fifth, he took the ball for a ride into the right field corner for a triple that would score Corbin Carroll. I’m not sure if Castellanos just didn’t get a good read on where the ball was going to bounce off the wall but I felt that he could have cut it off a bit earlier rather than running around after it. Would it have stopped the run from scoring? I doubt it. Through five innings, Merrell Kelly was outstanding. His stat line for tonight looked a little something like this: 5 innings pitched with three hits, one run, three walks and eight strike outs. He was backed up by his bullpen consisting of Thompson, Saalfrank, Ginkle and Sewald who were all immaculate. In four innings, they gave up a combined three hits and no runs. On the Philadelphia side, it looks like they are devolving inning by inning. Aaron Nola was uncharacteristically off his game. He went 4.1 innings, gave up six hits, four runs, two walks and four strike outs. The bullpen relief of Lorenzen, Kerkering, Kimbrel and Soto did their very best to stop the bleeding but it wouldn’t be enough. We come back tomorrow night for the do or die game. Will Arizona’s time at the ball come to an end or will they continue to the fairytale all the way to the end?.

Game 7: Whoa! It’s still early but my hope is that tonight will not turn into a blow out. I want to see a fight on both sides. Whether that be a pitchers’ duel or call and response at the plate. To start off, we have Ranger Suarez going on Arizona’s starting nine. We should all remember what he did in game five against the Braves (if you haven’t already, go check out the analysis on the Division Series). Brandon Pfaadt will represent the Arizona establishment. Corbin Carroll is coming out, showing why he is a front runner the most likely winner of the NL Rookie of the Year with a nice infield single that would eventually come in to score in the first inning. The Phillies would not answer until the bottom of the second when Alec Bohm sent one deep to tie it up. Brandon Pfaadt is a strike out producer tonight for sure. I heard a stat while watching that he had something like 57 batters between walks? What kind of craziness is that? This kid just turned 25 a couple days ago. I can only imagine the pressure he feels right now. Alec Bohm is not making it easy either. He got on base in the bottom of the fourth and on a Bryson Stott double he legged it all the way home. Have no fear, with the bases loaded and two outs, Pfaadt would get the strike out of Johan Rojas. But that would mean that Philadelphia has taken a 2-1 lead in this decisive. The Diamondbacks will take that lying down though. Corbin Carroll is having a day (or night). He found a way to get a long striding Emmanuel Rivera around the bases and then legged himself around to give the DBacks a 3-2 lead that has extended into the seventh inning. The Phillies line up just looked miffed at the plate for lack of a better term. Top of the seventh we find ourselves looking at one out, Alvarado on the mound for the Phillies and Ketel Marte finally found a nice pitch and laced it to the right field corner for a double. Putting two runs in scoring position. Corbin Carroll walks up to the plate. Hottest hitter of the night- arguably an MVP candidate if Arizona wins tonight. He’s swinging like he is going to send it out but we’ll settle for a sac fly to right field. AZ extends their lead to 2. Rob Thomson went the only route he can when. in a jam like this- he’s gone to his Ace. Zack Wheeler, whose had only a few days of rest is making his first ever relief appearance hoping to just stave off the Diamondbacks and give his team a chance to do what they do best with their bats. He’s done well but I would say that Kevin Ginkle has done better. He’s striking out Bohm, Stott and J.T Realmuto in the eighth and that was after he got Turner and Harper out the inning before. None of these Diamondback pitchers are new to the Phillies but they cannot get a bat on the ball and they are literally down to their last three outs and down by two. They are facing the best acquisition from the trade deadline in Paul Sewald. And He. Was. Outstanding. Three up. Three down and the Phillies hopes of a pennant repeat are over. The Cinderella story Diamondbacks will be moving on to represent the National League in the World Series against the Texas Rangers

Those were some really fun series to watch. In two days, we will see the Arizona Diamondbacks will travel on over to the Arlington area of Texas to start the World Series against the Texas Rangers. This is going to be a great series with both teams playing were last minute wildcard winners and just two season ago, both teams were 100-game losers. As a Rockies fan, it gives me hope.

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