Everybody Is Gonna Want Gerrit Cole, MLB Denies De-Juicing the Balls, and Other Cubs Bullets

Oct 11, 2019

The NLCS kicks off tonight in St. Louis, with the Cardinals hosting the Nationals, who have long been my favorite Major League Baseball club. Did you not know?

The Astros punched their ticket to the ALCS last night behind another dominating Gerrit Cole performance, and plenty of power. That is such a silly good team, and it’s going to be a fun series against the Yankees starting tomorrow night. The Cubs will just have to wait to interview bench coach Joe Espada (and maybe Yankees special assistant Carlos Beltran) if they really want it.

Speaking of the win, the baseball lust for Gerrit Cole grows so much:

Gerrit Cole is just something else. His free agency, man. He is going to clear $220 million, and maybe by a lot. And if he stays healthy, the team that gets him is going to find it was totally worth it. https://t.co/ovcyZwEbCl
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 11, 2019

The next-longest streaks, according to @EliasSports : Pedro Martínez (40 innings in 1999) and Johan Santana (39 innings in 2002).

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 11, 2019

I really do expect he breaks records in free agency, with David Price’s $217 million guarantee the floor. Would the Cubs really commit that much to a starting pitcher? When you look out a couple years at what they have (or not) in the rotation, I’ll make a big, fat strong argument that the Cubs *should*, but only one team is going to get Cole, and about 10 teams are going to seriously pursue him. More on him when his season actually ends. Just … take it easy on him, Astros.

The Cubs and Pirates really represent the two sides of the question on whether it’s better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all:

On Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow and a damning indictment of the Pirates front office and pitcher-development system. Since GM was hired, pitchers drafted and developed by Pittsburgh have been twice as valuable (by WAR) for other teams as for the Pirates.https://t.co/Ts2ZdvcPHE
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) October 11, 2019

Pet food, outdoor tools, and backpacks are among your Deals of the Day at Amazon today.

In response to the analysis that showed the drag on the baseball has spiked dramatically this postseason (suggesting the juiced ball has been quietly de-juiced), MLB issued a statement saying the only difference in the balls is the stamp:

BREAKING: MLB issues statement on baseballs used in postseason. “Balls that are used in the Postseason are pulled from the same batches as balls used in the regular season…. only difference is the stamp placed on the ball.” Additional comments: pic.twitter.com/SX9NqfykiY
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) October 10, 2019

I don’t expect the stamp is to blame, so either the analysis was a fluke (it was such a dramatic and instant change, though … ), or there are inconsistencies in the batches (for reasons MLB doesn’t appear to know), and the batch(es) grabbed for the postseason happened to be slightly different than many of the ones we’d previously seen data for. That seems pretty plausible, no? If so, at some point, when more batches cycle in for the LCS/World Series, maybe we see juiced balls again? What an unfortunate story this whole thing is. Just fix it, people. Preferably before the 2020 season begins, and preferably in a way that is predictable, so you can inform teams that things will be back to the 2015/16 environment.

Speaking of that era, memories:

On this day in 2016, the Cubs pulled off an unbelievable 9th inning comeback to beat the Giants and win the NLDS. (clip via MLBtv) pic.twitter.com/34FFsey8yI
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 11, 2019

Every win in that series was so special, man. You had the Game One Lester gem and Javy homer, you had the Game Two offense provided by Kyle Hendricks and Travis Wood, and then you had that crazy Game Four comeback. Heck, even the Game Three loss was an incredible game (remember Kris Bryant tying it in the 9th with a homer, and then the game goes 13 innings?).

Padres pitcher Jacob Nix allegedly broke into a house and got tased through a doggie door and I just don’t even, man:

PD: San Diego Padres pitcher kicked, tased after breaking into #Peoria home: https://t.co/7Go8fkSyTS #abc15 pic.twitter.com/owkccJ1pkP

— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) October 10, 2019

Fun for Bulls fans (and only fun):

Well this is just all kinds of fun: Coby and Derrick, side by side. (via @BullsReddit) pic.twitter.com/87Ch3aTlFE

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) October 11, 2019

written by

Brett Taylor

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.

Everybody Is Gonna Want Gerrit Cole, MLB Denies De-Juicing the Balls, and Other Cubs Bullets

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