We’re still a way off from a World Series matchup. But it’s starting to come into view, just a bit.
In a frenetic few hours, Game 2 of the American League Championship Series and Game 1 of its National League counterpart unfolded, revealing more and more about the four teams still vying for a spot in the Fall Classic.
With that, USA TODAY Sports breaks down the winners and losers from a wild day of playoff developments:
Winners
Blake Snell
Beyond joining folks like Sandy Koufax and Don Larsen in postseason lore, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Blake Snell in NLCS Game 1 was just how unbothered he was.
Was the man’s heart rate even measurable? Did he exult, even a little, after any of his 10 strikeouts? Was he nervous watching the bullpen nearly unravel his eight near-perfect innings as he sipped on his purple drink of electrolytes in the dugout?
Snell became the first pitcher since Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game in 1956 to face the minimum 24 batters through eight innings of a postseason game, Caleb Durbin’s scratch hit immediately erased when Snell picked him off first. And he joined Koufax and Clayton Kershaw as the only Dodgers with a 10-strikeout game in a scoreless postseason start.
Snell’s postseason to date: 21 innings pitched, six hits, two runs, 28 strikeouts, four walks.
Had Rōki Sasaki and Blake Treinen conspired to blow this masterpiece in the bottom of the ninth, the discourse would have been wild: Dave Roberts questioned for yanking Snell after 102 pitches, the wound from Snell’s early hook – against the Dodgers no less – in Game 5 of the 2020 World Series reopened.
Instead, the Dodgers held on and Snell’s masterpiece had no smudges.
Jorge Polanco
If we had our way and a Conn Smythe Trophy was awarded for baseball’s ever-expanding playoffs, Polanco would be firmly entrenched in the favorite’s role.
What an eight-day run: A two-homer game off Tarik Skubal, a walk-off, ALDS-ending 15th-inning RBI single, a go-ahead hit in Game 1 of the ALCS and then the go-ahead, three-run homer in Game 2 that sent Seattle home with a real chance to win its first pennant.
His postseason tote board so far: Eight hits, 11 RBIs and a folk hero status for life, probably, for a team that declined his option one year ago yet brought him back. Good thing.
The Mariners bullpen
They coughed up Game 4 of the ALDS – and have been essentially unhittable since. These fellows – with help from a couple of starters making cameos – covered 10 innings, giving up just one run, in the 15-inning ALDS Game 5 epic.
And in the ALCS? Through two games: Nine innings, one hit, no runs, four strikeouts, four walks.
Bryan Woo
Remember this guy? Best pitcher on the Mariners? Well, an ill-timed pectoral strain kept him out of the ALDS, but his mates rallied to extend the season. The Mariners put him on the ALCS roster, scheduled a bullpen session and held their breath that they might not need him for a minute.
Now, they have a 2-0 lead and can safely slot Woo into a Game 5, if necessary. Or get him into a game at his leisure, ideally in a low stress environment that shakes the cobwebs so he can steer fully into a potential World Series start.
Losers
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
After pulverizing Yankees pitching in their ALDS, Guerrero seemed destined for an October star turn. Instead, he’s hitless in his first seven ALCS at-bats and the Blue Jays are starving for offense.
Certainly, it can turn in a hurry for sluggers like Vladdy, and the Blue Jays typically play well at T-Mobile Park, though we’ll see how many fans straggle down from British Columbia with playoff ticket demand as it is.
John Schneider
Been a rough couple games for the Toronto manager, who didn’t give ace Kevin Gausman the chance to finish the sixth inning after he was stellar up to that point in Game 1. A reliever allowed the go-ahead run to score, and the Blue Jays have been down since.
A night later, with phenom Trey Yesavage’s velocity down a bit, Schneider decided to let him go out for the fifth. Two batters later, it was first-and-second, nobody out, Louis Varland trying to punch out of the mess and Polanco dinged him for the pivotal three-run homer.
The decisions won’t get any easier as the series winds on, with Shane Bieber likely to create a similar early- or middle-innings conundrum in Game 3, and a potential bullpen fest in Game 4.
Thanksgiving, Canada-style
Those Canadians are on to something: If you drop Thanksgiving in early October, it gives the holiday the run it deserves, and we’re not exposed to Halloween candy on store shelves by August.
Yet this Canadian Thanksgiving fell on the high holy day of ALCS Game 2 – and it was ruined in part by a native son. Josh Naylor, hailing from Mississauga, about 25 kilometres from Rogers Centre, put Game 2 out of reach with a sky-high two-run home run to right field.
Naylor has been an absolute godsend for the Mariners since coming over in trade from Arizona, stealing bases and hitting bombs and largely providing stout defense and veteran leadership. Just don’t expect them to save him any turkey legs up north this year.
Tagging up
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a few thousand times: “Tag! Tag! Tag!”
That’s the siren call of the third base coach, and it’s almost always wise to heed it. Yet Teoscar Hernández got stuck in no man’s land by one of the strangest plays in baseball history, one that likely left third base coach Dino Ebel singing a different tune.
“Run! Run! Run!”
Hernández was on third when a bases-loaded fly ball was seemingly hauled in by Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick. Yet the ball popped out of his glove enough that Hernández saw that flash of white, stopped his run home, went back to the bag and finally began his journey of 90 feet toward home.
Alas, the ball was never caught, as it grazed the wall between Frelick bobbles, making it a force play at home. And somehow, the Brewers made 8-6-2 from about 400 feet away a reality, Hernández sliding in just late as William Contreras recognized the situation and stretched like a first baseman to ensure the out.
As a little treat, the Brewers got a double play out of it thanks to the confusion on the basepaths. And the rest of us were reminded of an oft-forgotten provision about tagging up: The runner can leave as soon as the defense touches the ball, not when the catch is completed.
Hey, this isn’t the NFL.
