Rapid Reactions to All of the Early 2015 MLB Division Series Action
The early poll results are in, and they indicate this year's Major League Baseball postseason is rife with drama, intrigue and controversy as the Division Series kick off.
The No. 1 story of the early going has been Chase Utley's ugly slide that broke Ruben Tejada's leg while helping the Los Angeles Dodgers tie their series against the New York Mets. The aftermath of it all, mainly Utley's suspension, has sparked all sorts of reaction regarding the slide itself, the punishment and sliding rules along with their enforcement.
But there has been plenty else to discuss. Each series is at least two games deep going into Monday, and every team involved has at least one win, which is good for potential drama and ratings.
Let's get to discussing.
MLB Making It Up as It Goes
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The league's reaction to Chase Utley's slide was a classic case of a knee-jerk reaction fueled by public and media outrage. It was not one based on precedent, and it failed in terms of the league's accepting responsibility or accountability for the unchecked culture of unnecessary physical harm it has harbored for decades.
Chase Utley was MLB's scapegoat, and his two-game suspension handed down Sunday night was heavy-handed so that baseball can try to avoid any blame coming its way.
Generations after generations of players have done the takeout slide in a way similar to what Utley did Saturday. The league has barely batted an eyelash in virtually all instances, but because of the backlash and uproar that came immediately after Utley's late slide into Ruben Tejada, it felt it had to react to deflect its own criticism for not enforcing the rules on the books or protecting vulnerable middle infielders the way it did catchers a few years ago.
Had Utley known there was a history of the league's suspending players for such takeout slides, you could bet the franchise his breaking up of that double play would have looked very different. However, Utley's slide has been an accepted part of the game, legal or not, from its inception right up until Howie Kendrick hit that ball up the middle and caused Utley to do what he did.
That brings us to our next item up for discussion…
Chase Utley's Slide Was Dirty, and Usually Accepted
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Late slides like Chase Utley's can be called "dirty" because they usually are. They are not meant to do anything but make contact with the fielder and prevent him from completing the double-play turn.
It is an accepted part of the game, and it is a culture that has barely changed over the years and one MLB accepts on a daily basis, as these kinds of actions can be seen over and over again throughout the regular season. It was similar to slides we have already seen in this postseason, as Fox Sports 1 analyst and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas said on the air Sunday.
"Chase did what all players are taught to do in this situation—break up the double play," Utley's agent, Joel Wolfe, said in a statement. "We routinely see plays at second base similar to this one that have not resulted in suspensions. Chase feels terrible about Ruben Tejada's injury, and everyone who knows him knows that he would never intentionally hurt anybody."
In fact, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, part of Utley's suspension appeal was to pull videos of similar slides to show that MLB has completely ignored disciplining players for doing what he did. And he would be 100 percent correct in that assessment.
Baseball is overdue for a rule that better protects its middle infielders from those kinds of malicious slides, and if anything good is going to come of this Utley-Tejada situation, it is that MLB is now forced into one for next season.
Jacob deGrom Revels Under Brightest Lights
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We have seen this kind of outstanding performance before from Jacob deGrom, the New York Mets ace who dazzled a national audience in Game 1 of the team's National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The second-year right-hander and last season's NL Rookie of the Year put on a show at the All-Star Game in July when he struck out three American League hitters with 10 pitches. It was the kind of performance that puts an under-the-radar guy like deGrom on the national map.
Friday night's Game 1 performance made him a bona fide star. Dueling against the ace of aces, Clayton Kershaw, deGrom threw seven shutout innings and struck out 13 hitters in the win.
The outing, his first in the postseason, showed what that All-Star night had already shown us all: This guy shines brightest on the biggest stages.
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Clayton Kershaw Is Not a Choke Artist
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The national narrative is to crush Clayton Kershaw for his postseason struggles. His 4.99 ERA and 1-6 record—the Los Angeles Dodgers are 3-6 in his starts—make it easy to twirl that tale.
The "quality start" is not a great stat to gauge a starter's effectiveness, we know. But for the sake of this argument, Kershaw has given the club six quality starts in his nine turns, including his last two, though he took losses in both of those.
"I got outpitched," Kershaw told reporters Friday after the New York Mets beat him despite his allowing three runs over 6.2 innings and striking out 11.
The reality is that Kershaw has had two really bad starts in the postseason, both against the St. Louis Cardinals. He allowed seven runs to them in four innings in 2013, and last year he imploded and gave up eight in 6.2 innings. Take out either one of those outings from his total numbers, and that ERA starts to look much better.
The problem is the Dodgers are not winning in his starts despite his giving the team chances. His "I got outpitched" quote can be applied a few times over his postseason career on days when he pitched relatively well.
The real narrative here is not that Kershaw chokes in October. It is that he has set the bar so high for himself during the regular season that he fails to reach it in the playoffs. We are so accustomed to his brilliance that we expect it always. When it does not happen, the criticism is thick.
Kris Bryant Is Not a Postseason Bust
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Want to see some insanity? Do a Twitter search with the words "Kris Bryant bust," and you'll see plenty.
Bryant, the Chicago Cubs' star third baseman, is three games into his postseason career, and he does not have a hit yet. And over his last 35 at-bats dating back into the regular season, he has three hits.
"He's hit a couple ground balls in situations that he normally doesn't, and that tells me he might be off timing-wise," Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters. "He's fine. You saw the defense in Pittsburgh [in the Wild Card Game]. He's definitely in the moment."
Bryant is likely going to be the National League Rookie of the Year, and it is a deserved honor, as he was the best of a great crop of first-year players in both leagues. Three games into his postseason resume is not enough to deem him great, terrible or anything else.
Rougned Odor Becoming Playoff Star
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Every postseason, someone makes a name for himself. It is a guy who was relatively anonymous to casual baseball fans, and possibly even to some knowledgeable ones, but his playoff performance changes that in a matter of a few games.
Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor has been that guy so far in this postseason.
Through three games against the Toronto Blue Jays, Odor is hitting only .200 (2-for-10), but he has scored five runs using his outstanding speed and had a home run in Toronto that left the park in about half the time it takes a normal human to blink. His OPS, mostly thanks to the homer, is .885, and his OBP is .385.
He has also made some excellent defensive plays against the Blue Jays, including turning a couple of nice double plays Sunday.
"I don't think he's the X-factor anymore. He might have been before the series started," MLB Network analyst Bill Ripken said on-air. "Not anymore. He's the man right now."
David Price Has Demons to Exorcise
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When David Price took the losing decision in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers on Thursday, it was his sixth consecutive postseason defeat. If he loses his next start, he will match Randy Johnson for most consecutive playoff losses.
In Price's six playoff starts, he has a 5.23 ERA in 41.1 innings.
"It's frustrating," Price told reporters. "I hold myself in extremely high regard. I know my teammates do as well. So does the country of Canada.
"I don't throw the ball at all the way I'm capable of throwing it. I'll be ready to throw next time it's my turn."
That turn, assuming it's a start, might not come until a deciding Game 5 if the series gets that far. Then again, it might not come then considering his postseason troubles and Marcus Stroman's emergence as a front-line starter.
Rangers Really Need Prince Fielder to Hit
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Prince Fielder emerged this season to be one of the better hitters in the American League, putting up a 126 OPS+ and making himself a great candidate for the league's Comeback Player of the Year Award a season after he underwent spinal-fusion surgery.
But his regular-season greatness has never spilled over into the playoffs. Entering the AL Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Fielder had 164 postseason plate appearances with a .194/.287/.333 slash line and a .620 OPS.
In this series, he is 1-for-12 with one walk. His lone highlight was his falling over the railing trying to get over it to celebrate the Rangers' extra-inning win after Friday's Game 2.
The Rangers still lead the series 2-1, but if they are going to do much damage over the entirety of the postseason, Fielder needs to be a big part of the offense. And he needs to get there quickly.
Astros Series Lead Should Not Be Surprising
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The Houston Astros won Game 3 at home to lead their American League Division Series against the Kansas City Royals, the team with the league's best regular-season record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
But the Royals played in a soft AL Central and racked up wins while the Astros played in a deeper AL West and led it for much of the summer. Houston's run differential for the year was plus-111, and the Royals clocked in at just plus-83. Not to mention the Astros had a much better rotation.
Responding to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, who tweeted that the Astros were a win away from stunning the Royals and moving to the AL Championship Series, Fox Sports/FanGraphs baseball writer Rob Neyer tweeted, "Maybe the Royals will be stunned, but nobody else should be. Astros played better baseball during [the regular] season."
If the Astros indeed move on to the ALCS, it would hardly be an upset.
Blue Jays Still in Good Position
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The Toronto Blue Jays finally got a win in their series against the Texas Rangers on Sunday and are now down 2-1 going into Monday's Game 4. Despite the deficit, the Jays are in fine position to win the series, though obviously not an ideal one.
The Blue Jays start R.A. Dickey on Monday, and his knuckleball has made him a strong starter since the start of June. In his final 23 starts, Dickey won nine games, the Blue Jays went 14-9 in his turns and he posted a 3.11 ERA in 150.1 innings.
"This second half of the season was better than my second half of my Cy Young year," Dickey said in his press conference Sunday. "So I've been pitching well and I don't see any reason why that would stop."
The Blue Jays also got a bit of a breakout game for the offense in Game 3 in Texas, scattering nine hits and drawing five walks, both highs for the series.
Another promising sign was Troy Tulowitzki's three-run home run. Tulowitzki did not have a hit in the first two games, and in his final 18 regular-season games, he hit .239/.286/.380.
"Your name is still Troy Tulowitzki, and everybody in both leagues knows who Troy Tulowitzki is," MLB Network analyst Bill Ripken said when discussing Sunday's home run. "He didn't have to change his swing, he didn't have to reach for it. This thing drifted back into his sweet spot, and when he got it he juiced it."
If Dickey can get the Blue Jays to a fifth and deciding game, the Blue Jays will play it back in Toronto, where they can choose between David Price and Marcus Stroman to start. Those aren't bad options.
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