Stopping play in the middle of the game wasn’t really an option, but it was difficult to enjoy or even be interested in last night’s World Series game given the tragic news out of the Dominican Republic about Oscar Taveras. I thought Fox handled delivery of the story as well as they possibly could, but the game just felt so, so secondary.
Baseball is what we have, though. So, on with it.
The Giants beat the Royals 5-0 last night behind, once again, a dominant Madison Bumgarner outing. How is this guy so good in the playoffs? He’s great all year, but he’s been exceptionally ridiculous in the playoffs. In the World Series, in particular, he’s now got a 0.29 ERA for his career. Small sample? Stepping up? All I know is he threw a shutout last night, allowing just four hits, no walks, and struck out eight. That’s insane.
I am definitely of the mind that you don’t build a roster for the postseason, and that the playoffs are something of a crapshoot even on an individual player level. But, man, watching Bumgarner, it’s hard not to think about the impact a guy like that has on a playoff series, and about how I want the Cubs to have about four of them. I guess that’s good for the regular season, too.
James Shields finally had a non-bad start (wouldn’t quite call it “good”): six innings, two earned, eight hits, one walk, four strikeouts. If his season is over, the postseason struggles will probably be a talking point for much of the period when he’s in the rumor headlines.
The series shifts back to Kansas City now, with Game 6 on Tuesday night at 7pm CT. Jake Peavy faces Yordano Ventura.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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