NEWSLETTER
The kiddos got to do a special trick or treat event yesterday with folks setting up the trunks of their cars as Halloween scenes and fun what-have-you. They also got candy, though I’m sure the real treat was getting to spend quality family time with ole mom and dad.
• Game 5 was a tight one, with the Dodgers taking the early lead, and holding on throughout the rest of the game:
• Clayton Kershaw pitched well in possibly the most important start of his long playoff career (it saw him become the leader in career postseason strikeouts), and helped give the Dodgers two chances to win it all.
October Kershaw — the one who wins games — showed up in the World Series again. Defining Clayton Kershaw in the postseason never has been easy, but this year it is: He was exactly what the Dodgers needed. If they win a ring, he’ll have earned it. Column: https://t.co/KHqqjkgkjV pic.twitter.com/Vlf5SIWdXB
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 26, 2020
• Kershaw, one of the best pitchers of all-time, hasn’t been THAT bad in the postseason for his career. It’s just that his results int the playoffs have tracked roughly with that of a league-average starter, rather than an all-time great. Mostly, he’s been bitten by homers – he gives them up at twice the rate in the postseason than the regular season – and you will always wonder if that’s a product of him wearing down, him facing better lineups, a 200-ish-inning fluke, or a combination of the three. Whatever the case, while I’m not rooting for the Dodgers to win it all, I certainly don’t have a beef with Kershaw performing well on the biggest stage.
• By the way, after pitching next season at age 33 and earning another $31 million, Kershaw is scheduled to be a free agent.
• Game 6 of the World Series is Tuesday night at 7pm CT.
• The love for Willson Contreras this weekend (he was the best in baseball, by far, at preventing strikes from being called balls), I’m reminded of some of what Jon Lester had to say about the guy who became his every-start catcher (via Marquee):
“I think this year, this offseason and then coming into spring, we saw a little bit of a different Willy — a little more confident back there. I know guys have been on him about his pitch-framing and the pitch-stealing, all the new metrics, stuff behind the plate. I think the quarantine did him some good. He really focused on that catching side.
“The one thing I’ve seen over the last year, year-and-a-half that he’s done a really good job at in growing is separating his at-bats from coming behind the dish and that’s a hard, hard thing to do. You see it all the time in the infield, the outfield — guys take their at-bats out there. And that’s one position that that’s really important that you don’t do that with.
“He’s done an unbelievable job with growing, learning the new way he’s catching. He’s meant a lot. We’ve grown together. I’ve turned into a newer version of me — or, I guess, an older, newer version of me. We’ve had to adapt. We’ve had to learn on the fly and he’s meant a lot to me at this point in my career. The feedback and the confidence and the kick in the butts that he does sometimes. He’s just done a really good job — not only with me, but our whole staff.”
• Contreras’s value to the Cubs has no doubt increased not only in the ways we can quantify statistically, but also likely in game-management, pitcher-evaluation on the fly, and pitch-calling. I don’t think we can ignore that stuff when we notice how well the pitchers performed this year, many of them beyond expectations. (Ditto some love for Victor Caratini on that front.)
• When we talk about the Cubs’ failure to set themselves up better for the long-term, we think about players that didn’t get traded before their value sank. Well, it’s largely because you’re confronted by these kinds of difficult choices: Contreras, for a current example, right now has enormous value … but that’s true whether it’s enormous “trade” value, or just enormous value to your own team. The best organizations know how to sort that kind of question out, and in the last few years, the Cubs have simply held onto everyone, arguably to their detriment. (This is not a commentary on whether the Cubs should now trade one of the most valuable catchers in the game – Contreras is just the most obvious example this year.)
• LEGO sets, active clothes, breadmakers, speakers, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon. #ad
• I know that he’s big and strong, and I know that there’s a rotational element to it, but I still don’t understand how this motion turns into 102 mph:
Brusdar Graterol 102mph Fastball. pic.twitter.com/ZSuaelzNZx
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 24, 2020
• Is this it? Is this the moment we’ll look back and say that was when 2020 finally started to turn around:
Agricultural department workers wearing protective suits have eradicated the first nest of giant "murder hornets" — so-called for decimating honeybee colonies — discovered in the US, vacuuming them out of a tree in Washington state https://t.co/xnjvho2qNS #AsianGiantHornets
— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 25, 2020
Hey, we’re trying to get our Bears Twitter account up to 25,000 followers by tonight’s game against the Rams, so smack that follow button if you aren’t already:
