Postseason Trends That Tell Us About 2023, Wainwright Will Eventually Retire, Winter Inside Wrigley Field, and Other Cubs Bullets

Oct 27, 2022

Is today a Nacho Fries kinda day? I think it is. That “limited time” stuff always gets me. I am a marketing executive’s platonic ideal of a customer …

I had definitely noticed that we weren’t seeing the same volume of agonizing about the length of postseason games this year that we were seeing the last two seasons, and sure enough, they are down a little bit. Eno Sarris attributes the drop to Pitchcom:

One thing I missed: Pitchcom is saving as much as four seconds per plate appearance, and shaving significant time off the game.

time of game in postseason:
2018: 3:32
2019: 3:33
2020: 3:34
2021: 3:37
2022: 3:22 https://t.co/dPtmQagdoA— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) October 26, 2022

First and foremost, that’s great. Nobody likes the dead time that happens while pitchers and catchers try to figure out a new set of signs because a runner on base is tugging at his pants in a weird way. Looking forward to next season when even more dead time gets eaten up by the pitch clock. But second and secondmost, it’s kinda hilarious that shaving things down to an AVERAGE of three hours and 22 minutes is a big drop. Good lord things had really just gotten so out of hand.

As for the article Sarris was originally sharing, it’s a very interesting look at how the postseason often serves as an incubator for things that wind up becoming trendy in the regular season. The stakes are highest and the usage lowest, so you often see a lot of “edge case” stuff where teams are grabbing every last little bit of advantage they can. Eventually, a little bit bleeds into the regular season.

One thing Sarris noted about this postseason that caught my eye? Spin rate is back up to the SECOND HIGHEST AVERAGE RATE EVER. Think about that. A year and a half ago, MLB started imposing sticky-stuff checks with severe penalties for violators (of which they caught just two). Spin rates dropped. And then they started climbing back up and up, and now – especially if the postseason is an indicator – they’re right back up to their extreme levels. We don’t yet know of a way to create huge gains in raw spin rate WITHOUT sticky stuff, so it’s a reasonable initial guess that many pitchers have found a way to replicate their old spin rates with new, less-obvious substances than Spider Tack. That seems bad. And if it does continue into next season, you can bet it’s going to come to a head, with the league trying to better re-enforce the sticky stuff ban.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a Fire TV Stick, the fanciest one is on a huge sale at Amazon today. #ad

Adam Wainwright is re-signing with the Cardinals for another season, but this time it will indeed be his final year:

"Long story short: yes, this'll be the last one. Just everybody relax, don't freak out about it."
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) October 26, 2022

It’s New York, so a disappointment in the ALCS means it’s time to wonder if Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone will get the boot, but it’s tentatively expected they will both return. Cashman needs a new contract, which is expected, and if that happens, then Boone returns, too, per SNY. Owner Hal Steinbrenner said of Boone that he doesn’t see a change happening there.

For a while now, the Cubs and the technically-slightly-separate proprietors of Gallagher Way outside Wrigley Field have put on a winter-themed park of sorts, with activities and events. It’s a good use of the space in the offseason, and I’ve enjoyed just being there and walking around (that’s kinda my jam). This year, the area will extend INTO Wrigley Field:

Everything you’ve been waiting for is almost here! ❄️ Set an alarm for tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT. We’re going LIVE with all things #WinterlandatGallagherWay including new activities such as the Wintertube and classics like @TheChristkindl, all starting 11/18: https://t.co/AjGHMrQKgD pic.twitter.com/oIQ78nANrk— Gallagher Way Chicago (@GallagherWayChi) October 26, 2022

Winterland at Gallagher Way begins November 18 and extends INTO Wrigley Field this year. https://t.co/wGN0tryCMB pic.twitter.com/qlp5zB2PKY— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 27, 2022

Starlin Castro facing Yoenis Cespedes in a 2022 professional baseball game (this is happening in the DR this year):

I believe the year is actually 2012. Starlin Castro and Yoenis Cespedes are playing in a baseball game against each other @BleacherNation pic.twitter.com/vm30GsJqk5— Justin Irish (@J_Irish12) October 27, 2022

Shohei Ohtani is a unicorn, part 74:

Sprint time to 1B, top 20 HR hitters:
Ohtani 4.09
Trout 4.30
Adames 4.41
Betts 4.45
Riley 4.50
Schwarber 4.51
Álvarez 4.53
Guerrero Jr. 4.56
Goldschmidt 4.61
Walker 4.64
Olson 4.65
Judge, Rizzo 4.66
Alonso, Santander, Seager 4.67
Machado 4.71
Suarez 4.82
Tellez 4.83
Stanton 5.04 pic.twitter.com/VFDmwwChH0— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) October 26, 2022

The trade was good and appropriate, but dang if this part wasn’t a little brutal:

Roquan Smith Was Live With the Media When He Found Out About the Robert Quinn Tradehttps://t.co/3cRCCKJs9K pic.twitter.com/Ht2CXiG3o2— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) October 26, 2022

True terror:

Made a really scary jack-o-lantern this year. pic.twitter.com/WgaVA45h44
— Fenix 🏳️‍🌈 leggy toaster (@royaltoaster1) October 26, 2022

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.

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