Cards From Matt

     About a week ago I received some cards from Matt of Diamond Jesters. I must thank him for his generosity. I received six cards from him (though one of them I got for a brother, so have only five with me), and this marks the second such trade I've made with him.

    Favorite card in this trade: I really like all the cards, but I think I have to go with the Toys 'R' Us John Olerud. Brian Johnson gets the silver.

    I like the way the camera picked up the shine on the Shawn Green card too.

    Thanks again for the trade Matt! The cards are always appreciated. 

    

    Have a great week, happy collecting, and good luck to your postseason team (though can we please not have a Yankees/Dodgers World Series?) 

I Think My Brain Just Broke

     We've successfully reached the end of the Divisional Series. It has been insane, to say the least. So much so that I think my mind needs a break before the Championship Series begin. But there's little time for that.

    Where to start? I know, how about in Philadelphia?
    Coming into this series, I don't know who ever thought that the Mets were going to take it, let alone in four games. The Phillies hitters forgot how to swing a baseball bat, and the whole bullpen forgot how to throw the ball. Meanwhile, guys like Jose Quintana are throwing gems for the Mets??? 
    Pete Alonso, after tripping over his bat and hitting into a double play because of it (which was hilarious to watch, by the way), cranked two home runs, both of them very decisive ones. And Francisco Lindor came up clutch in game 4, swatting a grand slam while down a run, and the Mets send the Phillies home, depressed and with some frosting to eat, while they move on. 

    I was rooting so hard for the Royals to beat the Yankees (sorry to a lot of people out there), but it just wasn't meant to be. They lost the series 3-1, though the offense of the Yanks looked a bit shaky. Giancarlo Stanton led the hitters with a .375 batting average and an OPS of 1.132. The pitching staff really did look good for the team though, who allowed just 14 runs across the four games. They're moving on too, hoping to take their 28th World Series, and first since 2009.

    Moving on to the final National League Series. The Dodgers and Padres fought an absolute war in this one. It was everything you ever wanted in a series, between staring at home runs for 40 years, getting baseballs thrown at you after robbing home runs, Mookie Betts finally doing something in a postseason, and a few blowout victories.

    After San Diego bashed 6 home runs en route to a 10-2 win and then took the next game, the Dodgers looked dead. But they came back to win game four by a score of 8-0, hammering Dylan Cease. 

    And when game 5 rolled around, the pitching matchup was two Japanese starters in Yu Darvish and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers came ahead 1-0 on an Enrique Hernandez home run in the second inning, and scored again in the seventh on a Teoscar Hernandez home run. And the Padres just forgot how to hit, so it's the Dodgers moving on. This messes up my entire bracket, which had the Padres winning the World Series. I am very unamused.

    And finally, for the Tigers. Oh the Tigers! They got shellacked in the first game of the series against the Flying Toasters; Indians, I'm sorry (by the way, shellacked is going to be used a lot more frequently on this blog). Then the Tigers won the next two, and the series looked in the bag. Then we lost. Oh well, Skubal is starting tomorrow, what could possibly go wrong?

    Everything. 

    Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off of Skubal, and he just plain got lit up, and the Tigers lost, 7-3. Now they're eliminated. I said before game two of the series that the Tigers need to win every game Skubal starts this postseason if they want a chance at the World Series. Well, this one was Skubal's fault. I have to be honest, though it hurts me to say it. He needs to own up to this one.

    Spoiler alert, none of these cards are actually mine. I've neglected to gather any 2024 cards of these guys, so I just scanned them. I know, I'm a liar.

    Now that the Tigers and Padres are kicked from the postseason, I just don't care anymore. I'll probably be rooting for the Mets, I guess, since I have a friend who desperately wants them to win, and I told him that if he roots for the Tigers, then I'll quit rooting against the Mets. Most likely I won't watch much of the rest of the playoffs. I am rooting against literally every team left (I know, it's a me problem), and have been more busy lately.

    Good luck to your teams if they're still in, and if not, I feel you. But, have a great rest of your weekend, happy collecting, and goodnight!

Why am I Even Here? (A Hockey Post)

    Man, I know absolutely nothing about hockey. All I know is that you hit the puck into the goal, and fight like there's no tomorrow. However, when some friends set up a fantasy hockey league a few weeks ago, I decided I'd give it a whirl. I'm afraid I'm not quite paying as much attention to it as fantasy baseball, mostly just putting my players in every day and leaving it at that.

    Just my luck I got twelfth draft position in the twelve-man league, but whatever, we'll make the best out of it. I drafted almost completely out of the pre-draft rankings that were given me.

   

 In the first round (twelfth overall), I drafted this guy: 

    I'm not entirely sure who J.T. Miller is, but he was ranked at pre-season 11 and was the highest ranked guy available, so I grabbed him. I guess he's really good, as he is 100% rostered and scored the most points last season out of anybody on my team. He plays his first game of the season today.

    In the second round and 13th overall pick I got Matthew Tkachuk. Again, I had no idea who this was, but he was pre-season 12. He played his first game (with the Florida Panthers) yesterday, and won 6-4.

    When I was asked by the people of my league which was my favorite hockey team, I used an interesting method to choose. Since the only two hockey players I really knew coming into the season were Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid (this shows just how little I know), I didn't really have a favorite team. So, I pulled up good old Hockey Reference and chose the worst team to be my favorite. This team happened to be the San Jose Sharks, who went 19-54-9 last season.  

    I very briefly looked at which Sharks players I should draft. I ended up drafting Matt Walman, but dropped in favor of what was said to be a better defenseman. However, there was this one hot young rookie, no more than 18 years of age, who I aimed to draft. That man, or kid rather, was no other than.....

    Unfortunately, I couldn't draft Macklin. But if somebody asked me who my favorite hockey player is, I think I would have to go with him. Let the records show that he's my favorite before he becomes a beast. Macklin hasn't played an NHL game yet, but the Sharks will play tomorrow against the Blues. 

    Well, there's my brief hockey history. I own probably about a dozen hockey cards, which cost a dollar or less at a card store, and all from the '90s. I expect to get shellacked in fantasy hockey, since a few of the guys in the league are big-time hockey followers. Oh well though. I'm in it for the fun.

    Y'all have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting! Now I gotta go get my mind back to baseball matters.... 

Twins?

    There are these two guys....

                               and                                   

    For reference, the man on the left is Nico Hoerner. On the right, Luke Skywalker. Yeah, I know, this is loony. But, I just finished watching the Star Wars movies (the real Star Wars movies, meaning the first six), and it's been in my head for a long while that Nico looks like Luke (you know, eye color, facial features, especially the split chin, which you can't see as well in the picture of Nico). But after watching the movies, come on, I have to post it

    I could go into detail about how much I like Luke Skywalker, but that would take thousands of words. Let me just use a few: he's a true hero, strong, courageous, compassionate; one of the best movie characters you'll ever see.

    I could go into detail about how much I like Nico Hoerner, but that would probably take a few hundred words. He's a contact hitting sensation (as shown by his 10.3% strikeout rate this year, less than half of the league average) and an amazing fielder. A great player all-around, and one that I especially like since he's not hitting bombs left and right and still makes his impact in different ways.

    These probably aren't the best pictures for my point of view, but I think I got the point across. If you look at them, you'll see it. 

    I knew this had to be a post, though not about baseball cards, and not really about the game. It's here that I would make a really cheesy Star Wars crack, but for the sake of the readers, I'll hold off. But for now, have a great week, happy collecting, and may the force be with you (there it is).

I'm sorry, did you say a figure skater?

     No, it was speed skater.

This is Eddy Alvarez

This is Eddy Alvarez

    Interesting, very interesting. Let me just start by saying that from the second this card had been revealed to me from the package from whence it came, I loved it. Not really for any real reason, I guess. I do like the photo on the front of the card.

    Eddy Alvarez participated in speed skating in the 2014 Winter Olympics. He must have been pretty good at it, for he won a silver medal. But once through at the Winter Olympics, Alvarez decided to work as an infielder.

    Growing up he loved both sports, but due to an injury, devoted his time to just skating. But I guess he couldn't hold back that love for baseball very long. 

    Alvarez played 45 games for the White Sox organization in 2014, batting .346/.433/.500 in that time, playing in both rookie ball and A.

    Eddy Alvarez debuted in the Majors in 2020. He played in 12 games, and had seven hits in 37 at-bats for the Marlins. After a short tenure in the minors where he batted .320, Alvarez got another shot in the Majors in 2021. There, in 24 games and 64 at-bats, Alvarez slashed .188/.297/.328. It wasn't all bad though - he hit his first major league home run (this came off of Charlie Morton).

    Alvarez then played for the Dodgers in 2022, where he hit .160 in 25 at-bats. 2023 saw Alvarez spending his whole year in the minors, where he slashed .286/.402/.476 in 64 games on the farms.

     In 2024, at the age of 34, Eddy Alvarez found himself in the Red Sox organization, AAA to be exact. He played 115 games there, all in AAA, and slashed .247/.349/.462 with 18 home runs and 77 RBI. Not bad for a 34-year old, 5-foot 8-inch skater. He was bought by the Mets, and had 11 plate appearances with them in the regular season. He went 0-for-9 with a walk and a hit by pitch.

    One thing Alvarez got to do in 2024 was pitch at the big-league level. On September 20th, the Mets were getting thrown around by the Phillies, and Eddy Alvarez came in to pitch for New York, down 10 runs. He threw a scoreless inning on 15 pitches, striking out Weston Wilson and allowing a double to Kyle Schwarber. 

    Alvarez played in that very last doubleheader between the Mets and Braves, one day before the Wild Card Series began. Though the Mets defeated the Brewers in the series, they did so without the speed skating, baseball playing Eddy Alvarez. Alas, they designated him for assignment, which can't feel too good.

    Whether he calls it quits after his brief appearance in 2024 or continues to play in the minors in the hopes of being called up again to play for the big club, only time can tell. Whatever happens, I'll always think of Eddy Alvarez as a really cool baseball player and athlete. 

    "As soon as I finished skating, watching video of me stealing baseball bags was funny."

                                                                                                                        -Eddy Alvarez

    (May not have been as good a quote as Stargell's, but I thought it was funny)

I'm Puzzled

    Firstly, I've gotta give respect to my dudes down in Detroit. They dealt with Houston well, to the dismay of a few of my Astros-fan friends. Good job especially to Tarik Skubal, who took a beating in that first game and kept on going.

    The Padres are also moving on. The offense looked pretty good for them, and they match up against the Dodgers next. I am recording the game-by-logs of Jackson Merrill's first postseason appearance, if you'd like to check it out. 

    And congrats to the Royals, who dealt the Orioles a swift blow and are going to New York to face the Yankees in the ALDS. Good luck Kansas City; you'll need it.

    Lastly, the final game of the Wild Card Series between the Brewers and Mets is today. The rookie Tobias Myers is throwing for Milwaukee against New York's Jose Quintana. Should be a good game.

    

    Now then, down to business. I was looking through my cards, and I found this:

    What puzzles me (yes, bad pun intended) is that I don't remember where I got this card from. Reflecting back, I probably happened to get it  in one of those 660-card boxes my old card store was selling. 

    I've never seen this card (we'll just say card) before. I've seen the big 63-piece, 21 part puzzles before, and of the Willie Stargell variety, but this one is the size of a normal baseball card. It seems to be the smaller version of the Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond King Willie Stargell puzzle. 

    Stargell played 21 seasons in the Majors from 1962-1982. In that time the Hall-of-Fame leftfielder slashed .282/.360/.529 with 2,232 hits and 475 home runs in 2,360 games. He was a 7-time All-Star, and won the MVP award in 1979 (and the World Series MVP that season too).

    I suppose it's fitting to mention Stargell as we are in the postseason. He won two World Series and a WS MVP in 1979, when he hit .400 with four doubles and three home runs against the Orioles. Stargell had a career .278/.359/.511 postseason slash line in 36 games.

    Anyway, I thought it was a cool find, and the brief research I did on Willie showed me that he was a very hard-working person, but one who had a love for playing the game, which gives him my utmost respect.

'When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say "Play ball." '

                                                                                                                -Willie Stargell

Okay, now here we go

     That doubleheader between the Braves and Mets was ridiculous. In an attempt to save Chris Sale and Max Fried, Spencer Schwellenbach got the ball for the Braves against Tylor Megill of the Mets. 

    Schwellenbach threw a gem; he went 7+ innings, giving up just four hits and a run (inherited runner) while punching out 5. He left the game  in the eighth inning with a 3-0 lead, only to see that dashed in one of the most embarrassing relief performance I've ever seen. The Atlanta pen gave up five runs in the inning, plus the lone inherited runner from Schwellebach scored. That man needs a raise.

    Then the team came back, scoring four in the bottom of the eighth inning. Pierce Johnson came on in the top of the ninth with a 7-6 lead before giving up a single to Starling Marte and a bomb to Francisco Lindor, and the Braves would fall 8-7. 

    So now the Mets are in the playoffs, and there's no point starting Sean Manaea or Luis Severino in the second game. So they started Joey Lucchesi, junkballer and inventer of the 'churve'. Meanwhile, the Braves needed to fill in for Chris Sale, who was dealing with back spasms. Grant Holmes came to hill, and excelled, firing four scoreless innings. The Braves won 3-0, and Reynaldo Lopez got a hold, something you'd expect from last year, but not 2024.

    Now that that's through, we have the seeds for the National League, and I can complete my predictions. And you know how I said yesterday that this post would be shorter? Well, I unintentionally lied, but here we are. Let's take a look at the seedings, shall we?

1: Los Angeles Dodgers
2: Philadelphia Phillies
3: Milwaukee Brewers
4: San Diego Padres
5: Atlanta Braves
6: New York Mets

    The Dodgers and Phillies will be getting the byes.

Brewers vs. Mets

    I'll start with the third division winner. The Brewers have a decent offense. Obviously the loss of Christian Yelich hurts, but nonetheless the team is slashing .248/.326/.403 (5th, 3rd and 7th in the league respectively). The power numbers aren't amazing, but the offense is definitely there. As far as pitching is concerned, they are second in the league with a 3.65 ERA. Though they don't really have any aces, the Brew Crew is having solid seasons out of Freddy Peralta (3.68) and Tobias Myers (3.00). Colin Rea has been good for the most part, and Aaron Civale has a 3.53 ERA since coming over at the trade deadline. What may be the story for the Brewers this season, and possibly what saves them in the postseason, is the relief staff. Trevor Megill (brother of Tylor), Jared Koenig, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams have all been very good, and there are some hidden treasures that can be used across October. None of this even talks of the elite defense of the team, which will surely come in handy.

    Now for the Mets. They are just a good team. They aren't outstanding at anything. The offense is good - fourth most in the league in home runs at 207 - but their collective slash line is .246/.319/.415, which is a little bit better than the Brewers. The pitching staff has a 3.96 ERA, with no exceptional starters at the head, the best being Sean Manaea, who sits at a 12-6 record and 3.47 ERA. But I don't know that I trust the 4.44 ERA of 2023 and 4.96 mark of 2022. I guess we need to see. Their bullpen is very mediocre. Edwin Diaz and Reed Garret are having decent years out of the pen, but all in all it's not great.

    Based on this analysis, I think I'm going to have to guess the Brewers moving on. I think they have a team built well enough to potentially win the World Series, although with the star power of some of these teams, I'm not entirely sure how likely that is.

Padres vs. Braves

    Starting with the offense of the Padres. They have the highest batting average in the National League at .263, and that's ridiculous! They also have the most hits in the league (1456), a .324 OBP (5th) and .420 slugging percentage (4th). Assuming that the team is going with a four man rotation in the playoffs, they'll be starting either Michael King, Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish or Joe Musgrove every game, which is likely the best starting rotation in the National League (for the playoffs). The Padres bullpen is also solid, with guys like Robert Suarez, Tanner Scott, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam all having great years. Amazing what this team has been able to accomplish without Juan Soto or Josh Hader who left after last year.

    The Braves just barely got into the playoffs, but managed to grab the fifth seed anyway. The team has been plagued by injuries all year, losing Spencer Strider after just nine innings and two starts, losing Ronald Acuna Jr, Ozzie Albies (who is back with the club) and Austin Riley. Nonetheless, the offense has been decent, hitting 213 home runs, which is second in the league, and slashing ..243/.309/.415. And you know how I said the Padres may have the best postseason rotation in the NL? Well, I may have lied actually. The Braves as a team have the best ERA in the National League (tied best in the MLB) at 3.49, and the top four starters are Chris Sale, Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach, all of whom are having really good years. But Chris Sale may be out the whole of the Wild Card series due to back spasms, and so Charlie Morton may see a few starts in this his last big-league season.

    These teams seem to be fairly well matched. Honestly, I think the loss of Chris Sale may be the decider in this series. It also hurts that the Braves need to play today when they had a doubleheader yesterday, which quite possibly rends Joe Jimenez and Raisel Iglesias out for today, and Spencer Schwellenbach out. I think that might be what kills them. I think the Padres take this one.

    Assuming that all of my predictions are correct, we would have matchups in the NLDS of:

    Dodgers vs. Padres

    Phillies vs. Brewers

Dodgers vs. Padres

    I've already gone over the Padres, so I'll just analyze the Dodgers in this one. The Dodgers have the most homers in the NL at 233, and the best slash line at .258/.335/.446. This is definitely an extremely scary offense headed by Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, and Mookie Betts. Their pitching staff is their weak point, and this is due to injuries by Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone and Clayton Kershaw. Right now it looks like their four man rotation would consist of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty and Landon Knack, which is rather unimpressive. Walker Buehler has been straight-up bad, which comes as a bit of a surprise to me, and Knack has less than 70 big-league innings. Obviously Flaherty and Yamamoto are very good. Though they don't have a closer set in stone, the team has plenty of options for late inning work between Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson.

    Something that bugs me is that the Dodgers can never seem to bring it all together in the postseason. Maybe Shohei can change that, but I don't know. The Padres have a team that could beat the Dodgers; in fact, I think they'd have the best shot of it of all the NL playoff squads. They beat the team last year in the NLDS too. I think the pitching injuries might do the Dodgers in, and I would guess that the Padres take the series (maybe now would be a good time to mention that all opinions are property of me?).

Phillies vs. Brewers

    Again, I've already been over the Brewers. The Phillies have one of the best offenses in the league, with a team slash of .257/.325/.425. They have Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm, who are all having good years. The Phils have 198 home runs, fifth in the league. The team is fourth in the league with a 3.85 ERA, and the four man rotation of the team would be Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez, another very good rotation. Their bullpen is decent. Jeff Hoffman, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Calos Estevez have been good all year, but Jose Alvarez and Jose Ruiz have been inconsistent. 

    Though I really like what the Brewers bring to the table, I think that both the offense and rotation of Philadelphia are going to beat them in the series.

NLCS: Phillies vs. Padres

    Didn't these teams meet last year? Both of these teams play very well together, and have very similar strengths. The ERAs of the two teams are almost identical, and the offenses have their strengths. I like the bullpen of the Padres more, though the Phillies also have a good pen. I think I'm going to guess the Padres on this one. I think that they have the team to beat the odds and take out both the Dodgers and Phillies.

World Series: Yankees vs. Padres

    If all of my predictions are correct (well, I guess not all of the have to be correct), the Yankees will be facing off with the Padres in the World Series. The Yankees would have the home field advantage. I like the top five or six in the Yankees lineup, though last three are a bit of a weak link. I like the rotation and bullpen of the Padres staff, but it will be difficult for any team to contain Judge and Soto. This is gutsy, but I think I'm going to predict a Padres World Series. The team is clutch, have a very good pitching staff, and I think will be able to contain most of the Yankees lineup (of course with the exceptions of Judge and Soto).

    Well, that'll do it for my playoff predictions. I have the Padres winning it, but I also have a whole bunch of upsets. Let me know what y'all think and who you predict to win it all. I'll get back to my regular posts soon; I have a lot to do with the blog, but the playoffs are enveloping me a little bit. 

    Y'all have a great week, good luck to your teams, and happy collecting!

   

     I would also like to mention the deaths of Pete Rose and the other celebrities (and all) who passed away this week. I don't want to draw away from this with the advent of the 2024 playoffs. May they rest in peace.