EXPANSION COULD TRIGGER REALIGNMENT, LONGER POSTSEASON

There seems to be a building consensus that baseball will soon be headed to a 32-team configuration.

Lol, wut? I thought the consensus was that there were already two too many teams (Athletics, Rays) and that expansion is off the table until those teams find a home, anyway:

One proposal would be to geographically restructure into four divisions, which would create a major reduction in travel, particularly for teams on the East Coast and West Coast, and add to the natural rivalries by not ...

ALCS Game 3 OMNICHATTER, for October 16, 2017

Houston leads New York 2-0.

Perrotto: Managerial Rumors and Rumblings

Gossip covers the following—

Phillies: Mickey Callaway, Gary DiSarcina, Juan Samuel
Tigers: Fredi Gonzalez, Gabe Kapler
Mets: Robin Ventura, Mickey Callaway, Alex Cora, Bob Geren

Joe Maddon calls John Lackey, not Wade Davis | MLB.com

He’ll be well rested for game 3.

“I really just needed him for the save tonight,” Maddon said. “He had limited pitches. It was one inning only, and in these circumstances, you don’t get him up and then don’t get him in. So if we had caught the lead, he would have pitched. That’s it.”

Scandal surrounding the Atlanta Braves is creating more questions | The Telegraph

The allegations include tampering charges, inappropriate conduct with international prospects and the bundling of international signing bonuses. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this past week the Braves’ breach of rules violations are “unprecedented in scope.”

Sources have told The Telegraph that Major League Baseball continues to be surprised at how many potential violations are being discovered. Numerous calls, from agents, scouts and other teams, have been made to the Major ...

OTP 16 October 2017: Sorry, Yankee fans: Trump’s claim that he can ensure victory simply isn’t true

As is sometimes the case with Trump’s tweet’s, his claims don’t hold up. We identified 14 games that Trump has attended since 1988, including two preseason games and the game above. Of those 14 games, the Yankees won eight and lost six — 57 percent of the time during seasons when the Yankees won 60 percent of their games overall.

In other words — Trump might be a jinx.

With bat flips and fly balls, Yasiel Puig puts on a swaggering Game 1 show | Plaschke

He ran out of the dugout during introductions with his tongue wagging playfully out of his mouth. He took off his cap to reveal lightning bolts shaved into his haircut.

Then, a couple of hours later, with a bat flip and a chest thump and roars that made Dodger Stadium literally shake, the Yasiel Puig Show officially began.

NLCS Game 2 OMNICHATTER, for October 15, 2017

The Dodgers lead the series 1-0.

Nick Cafardo: Brian Cashman and the Yankees followed the Red Sox’ blueprint — and may have done it better

“I tried to take what successful franchises like the Red Sox and Indians did and what Theo and Ben and [Indians president of baseball operations] Chris Antonetti were doing and how they handled their young players with their amateur scouting and drafting and building a farm system. I looked at everything,” said Cashman, who has won five championships.

Josh Reddick saves Astros with great plays | MLB.com

Gardner, no slouch on the basepaths, ran from home to third base in 11.24 seconds, his third-fastest time this year—just not quite fast enough.

Astros outfielder Josh Reddick discusses his key defense in Game 2, including a leaping catch at the wall and an outfield assist.

“I was just a little out of whack running from second there,” Gardner said. “I still caught the inside of the bag, but I wasn’t able to push off it like I needed to.

“I knew I was out by three or four inches. I slid to the ...

Charlie Culberson learns of grandmother’s death, then delivers in big way to Dodgers’ win - LA Times

Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “I looked at it just like everyone looked at it and, as the rule states, he was in violation.”

The debate hit home for Culberson, who came up with Posey in the Giants’ minor league system. The alternative to the rule, Culberson said, would be to let him run over the catcher in trying to dislodge the ball, with all the injury risk that entails for both parties.

“It’s a run,” Culberson said. “Our lives, and our health, is a little more ...

Bullpen’s failure, Joe Maddon’s decisions cost Cubs more than play at plate - Chicago Tribune

Maddon spent the rest of the postgame news conference addressing a controversial play that didn’t affect the game as much as the bullpen’s failure, the offense’s ineffectiveness or his own judgment. Relievers Rondon and Mike Montgomery gave up home runs and the Cubs managed four hits, so remember that when declaring how wonderful it was that Maddon made a strong stand against a weak rule.

Umpires ejected Maddon in the sixth inning for arguing after a replay review reversed a call, declaring ...

MORRISSEY: Jose Quintana stays focused despite long, scary journey | Chicago Sun-Times

This wasn’t the plan.

Or, if the plan was to have the Cubs’ flight diverted because the wife of the next day’s starting pitcher needed medical attention, forcing the plane to sit on the tarmac for five hours in Albuquerque and the pitcher to stay with his wife in New Mexico before flying that night to Los Angeles, then it needs to go on the permanent record of whoever planned this for Jose Quintana.

Yankees’ playoff run is already creating new memories for fans - NY Daily News

“I was so high up that night,” a friend of mine from television was saying the other day, talking about that time when the Yankees began to matter again. “But I was there.”

It is part of the beauty of sports, not just baseball. There was a night a few years ago when Jack Nicklaus was talking about people who meet him and want to talk about all the championships that he won in golf, the way we’re talking today about other championships the Yankees have won.

“They want to tell you ...

Ex-teammate thinks Sanchez has done ‘exceptionally well’ | New York Post

Gary Sanchez’s rough postseason took another bad turn when he botched Didi Gregorius’ throw to the plate in the bottom of the ninth that allowed Jose Altuve to score on Carlos Correa’s double to give the Astros a 2-1 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALCS.

Still, Brian McCann, now on the other side of the field with the Astros, said he believes too much has been made of Sanchez’s defensive issues. And Sanchez has performed well for the most part this postseason.

Justin Verlander gem, Carlos Correa walkoff propel Astros to Game 2 win - Houston Chronicle

Verlander was utterly dominant. The former MVP and Cy Young Award winner became the first starter this postseason to pitch into even the eighth inning and the first Astros to complete nine in the playoffs since Nolan Ryan in the 1986 NLCS.

Verlander allowed only five hits and one walk. He ran his fastball up to 97 mph and his slider up to 89. He filled up the strike zone, throwing 93 of his 124 pitches for strikes.

Dodgers leave Corey Seager off NLCS roster due to back injury

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced their 25-man roster for the National League Championship Series on Saturday, and in a stunning development, star shortstop Corey Seager is not on it.

Seager was held out of the team’s workouts the past two days at Dodger Stadium because of an ailing back, an injury manager Dave Roberts said Seager suffered while sliding into third base during Game 3 of Los Angeles’ sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series.

Can’t Win 4 Losing podcast: Casey Stengel: How to Learn by Losing

With the Yankees in the ’50s, he had the greatest run in managerial history. But before that, Casey Stengel skippered a series of relentlessly terrible teams. Host King Kaufman asks: Did the Old Perfessor learn to win by losing? Plus: What if the worst player on the worst team in a league met the best player on the best team in that league 40 years later? And what if one of those guys was the host of a podcast about losing?

LCS OMNICHATTER for October 14, 2017

Next Twins pitching coach must find ways to miss bats

“Certainly swing-and-miss percentage has become even more of a focus as you watch postseason games and you see pitching staffs that are top to bottom capable of doing that,” Levine said. “So, we’re going to be attentive to that as well in trying to round out our staff with a little bit more means of missing some bats.”

ALCS Game 1 OMNICHATTER, for October 13, 2017

Miami Marlins new owners plan to cut payroll to $90 million | Miami Herald

Getting a team to take the contract *and* send young controllable players back won’t be an easy task.

If the current roster was left unchanged, next year’s payroll would approach $140 million, meaning ownership would need to eliminate about $50 million to get to the $90 million target figure they presented to owners. The owners could always choose to exceed or fall below $90 million.

An opening day payroll of $90 million would have ranked 26th of 30 teams in the majors last season, ahead of ...

For vanquished Nationals, an inning that will live in infamy | WaPo

“Some things like that happen and you just have to be able to deal with it,” Scherzer said. “This game – you can execute pitches and sometimes that’s not enough. You just got to keep going out there, stay within yourself and keep executing pitches. “

And sometimes, as the Nationals found out, you just can’t.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-13-2017

Albuquerque Evening Herald, October 13, 1917:

In one of the stormiest games ever played in a world’s series campaign, the Chicago White Sox came from behind today when defeat stared them in the face and beat the New York Giants by a score of 8 to 5...Salee [sic], the Giants’ twirler, held the Chicagos well in hand until the sixth inning and from there on they batted him to all parts of the field. Both teams fielded wretchedly at times.

There were nine total errors in this game, five of which ...

Cardinals focus on adding talent, not rebuilding | St. Louis Cardinals | stltoday.com

“We’re trying to do this without losing our stride,” said Mozeliak, who moved from GM to president of baseball operations this year. “Arguably, the last two years we have. But we’re going to try to get this right by not having that year of a timeout. … We’re not trying to copy someone. We’re unique. We believe this organization has been on a very, very nice run over the last 17 years and we want to continue that. I’m not using the phrase ‘rebuild’ or ‘redo the ...

Heyman | Jeter’s Hiring And Firing Decisions Annoy Loria

Loria is a bad ex.

When former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria handed over his seat to new owner Derek Jeter, he made some recommendations among the current staff, and for better or worse, Jeter has done mostly the opposite.

Loria, according to sources, suggested that Jeter keep high-ranking baseball people Mike Berger, Jeff McAvoy, Marc Delpiano and Jim Benedict, and that he let go longtime scouting director Stan Meek. Jeter has already fired the four Loria suggested he keep, and word is ...

Inside Baseball AL Notes | Time Its Now For Mike Trout Extension

Jon Heyman’s latest.
NL Notes.

NLDS Game 5 OMNICHATTER for October 12, 2017

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-12-2017

Giants outfielder Benny Kauff, quoted in the New York World, October 12, 1917:

The series looks good to me now. I grabbed a bet of $2,000 to my $200 that we would win four straight. Looks good to me.

Nothing to see here, just a ballplayer writing about betting on his own team in the World Series against the late-1910s white Sox.

Bradford: The real reason Dave Dombrowski fired John Farrell | WEEI

It’s not complicated. John Farrell wasn’t Dave Dombrowski’s guy, and only one of them was leaving town.

The Red Sox president of baseball operations fired his manager Wednesday morning, offering meager crumbs of explanation during a morning press conference. But talking to players who witnessed the dynamic between the two over the course of the last seven months, it became pretty clear how we got here.

Players believed Dombrowski and Farrell didn’t get along. Whether their disagreements were ...