Openers still an undesirable concept
It still makes people uncomfortable. The A’s were so uncertain about their rotation, they went with the opener concept in last year’s wildcard game at Yankee Stadium. It was a disaster, perhaps a lesson learned — and hardly a window into the future of important postseason games.
Liam Hendriks drew the starting assignment that night and quickly gave up a tworun homer to Aaron Judge. Five relievers were to follow in a 72 loss, Fernando Rodney and
Blake Treinen responsible for the other five runs.
It’s pretty safe to say the A’s want to avoid such a thing if they can get back to that winnertakeall game, mostly likely against Cleveland, Minnesota or Tampa Bay at the home of the team with the best record. The Giants’ rotation is in flux, but
Madison Bumgarner would be a cinch to start a wildcard game if his schedule allows. (Neither manager Bruce Bochy nor president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is particularly fond of starting games with a relief pitcher.) And when you look at the current landscape, it’s obvious that an oldschool rotation, rich in starters expected to go deep into the game, is highly preferred.
The Houston Astros are a clear favorite to reach the World Series behind Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke. The Dodgers and Nationals are loaded. The Yankees are taking relentless heat for failing to add a starter to their flagging rotation. Tampa Bay, always at the vanguard of experimentation, would be most likely to ride its bullpen in the postseason, but not in a wildcard game with Blake
Snell and Charlie Morton such attractive options.
“Starting pitching is king,” Nationals general manager
Mike Rizzo told NBC Sports Washington in December. “Our philosophy is pitching, defense, athleticism . ... We’ve seen the ‘bullpenning’ and that type of thing in playoff baseball, and that’s fine. But for the marathon that is the season, you better have some starters you can run out there and give you a chance to win each and every day, and that’s what we’ve always tried to do.”
It’s by far the best way to go.
A lot to ask
What the Giants would be up against, the way it looks now, in a wildcard setup: Having to beat Max Scherzer and the Nationals on the road, then lining up against the Dodgers in the Division Series . ... You’re probably dreaming if you see San Francisco in the World Series, but that’s not the point. Let’s not hear any secondguessing on Zaidi’s tradedeadline strategy if the Giants stumble out of the playoff picture. They’re going for it. They’re appeasing a fan base suddenly revitalized. They’re making people happy in the clubhouse. And their future still looks bright, with a lot of promising talent on the horizon . ... Key starters for the Bay Area teams, young and old: Johnny Cueto, if he’s able to return in September, and A’s prospect Jesus
Luzardo, still a long shot for this season but so exceptionally talented, you can’t rule him out. ... Reporting to the Twins after being dealt by the Giants, a blearyeyed Sam Dyson arrived at Marlins Park on Thursday with the game already in progress. He wound up in the closer’s role, asked to protect a 41 lead in the bottom of the ninth, and after allowing a walk, a single, Jon Berti’s RBI double and another walk, he was off to the showers. (Miami eventually won 54 in the 12th.) “I didn’t do my job,” Dyson told reporters. “It’s a bad first impression.” It will get better, and how curious to be watching Dyson and Sergio Romo out of the bullpen as the Twins push toward the playoffs . ... Glad to see Hunter Pence staying at home in Texas, where he belongs, after rumors of a trade. “He’s is the most relentless guy I’ve ever been around ... he’s even better than I was told,” Rangers manager Chris Wood
ward told the Dallas Morning News. “In so many ways, he sees the bigger picture, the vision of what I want for this team.”
From reader Ralph Lozon, in Richmond: Dodger Stadium’s constant noise is “awful, but to me, the incessant live drumming at every A’s game is just as annoying. It’s so bad I won’t even watch the games on TV. How about a plea to ban the drums so A’s fans can enjoy the real sounds of the game?” The 3Dot opinion: Agreed. It’s minorleague junk . ... What’s an “oldfashioned baseball trade,” as we heard people reference last week? Hard to say, but here’s the standard: After the 1959 season, the Indians traded the American League homerun champion (Rocky Colavi
to, 42) to Detroit for the batting champion (Harvey Kuenn, .353) . ... Reds pitcher Amir
Garrett drew an eightgame suspension for his part in the brawl against Pittsburgh, and it was an incredible sight: Garrett rushing the Pirates’ dugout to basically take on the entire team. “Hitters charge the mound,” said ESPN analyst/ historian Tim Kurkjian. “No pitcher has ever charged the dugout until (Tuesday) night.” ... The Warriors’ Klay Thomp
son, recovering from ACL surgery, to ESPN: “To say the dynasty is over I think is a little ignorant. I’m gonna come back even better and more athletic.” Thompson put no timetable on his return, but said it likely wouldn’t happen before the February AllStar break . ... And thanks to Stanford coach David
Shaw, on the Pac12’s Media Day, addressing the preposterous idea of starting games at 9 a.m.: “For us, it means waking up your players at 6 in the morning. All the (sleep) studies we’ve read and conducted ourselves on our campus, it’s better for young people to perform athletically if they get a full night’s sleep. And I don’t know that you can find any group of 18 to22yearold young people that are going to bed at 10 o’clock at night to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning to be make sure they can perform athletically.” As for an 11 or 11:30 a.m. start: “That would great,” he said.