2016 AL Wild Card: Baltimore Orioles vs.Toronto Blue Jays

going for the Blue Jays here.

Go Jays.

Rooting O's, think Jays will probably win. Machado has been ice cold lately.

I know AL baseball even less than usual this year.

Not sure if I'm confident or not. First wild card game ever for the Jays--if I'm counting right, one of the last seven teams who've never played one.

Reddit is calling it "bird bowl".
I like it.

c'mon O's. My team as a kid when I lived in Maryland, then my family moved to Seattle, so I've doubled the futility.

Tillman starts I guess?

Stroman's scheduled for the Jays, but maybe it's more like Stroman/Liriano/Estrada as one starter for the first seven innings.

that's a nutty fun fact. the O's are the first AL team to play in a second WC game.

The Yankees and Red Sox have 12 between them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_League_Wild_Card_winners

I see what you mean--I goofed.

Which also invalidates what I said above...what I meant was that the Jays are one of the last seven A.L. teams to go into the playoffs as a wild card team.

I wanna beat down the Rangers in the playoffs so bad.

Don't know how accurate these stats are (or whether they're career or just this season), but according to the Fan this morning, the guy whose turn it is, Stroman, gets belted by the Orioles--ERA over 8.00. Off the guy who'd be on short rest, Estrada, Baltimore's hitting .177. And Liriano (who'd have an extra day of rest) was great against them last week, but overall the Orioles are hitting over .300 against him.

Have a feeling they'll go with Estrada and bring in one of the other two the first time Baltimore clogs up the bases.

I'd expect Estrada.

Tillman on the hill for Baltimore

i guess Estrada is a no-go on three days rest... so either Liriano or Stroman.

it's stroman

fuck. i like Stro – don't get me wrong. but... fuck.

The offense had better show up tomorrow.

kinda rooting for a 17-inning, 14-13 game won by a position player pitching

It could be Chris Davis's second extra-inning win!

kinda hard not to root for a Tex-Tor rematch given last year's insanity

would love a Chris Davis / Ryan Goins pitching match-up!

https://twitter.com/bychrisblack/status/782974191888920576
Key Orioles Career vs Stroman:
Trumbo 5-11 (.455)
Kim 3-7 (.429)
Jones 6-15 (.400)
Wieters 5-14 (.357), 2 HR
Davis 4-13 (.308)

º~º

i may join the voices calling for Gibby's head if we lose this one.

Not crazy about this decision--irrational loyalty has gotten a lot of managers into a lot of trouble.

These are all small sample sizes you guys. If we lose it'll be because Stroman hasn't been consistent all season against anyone. Estrada in the second half has been unpredictable too, and on short rest I like his chances even less. It'll be all hands on deck and I expect two or three starting pitchers to be in the game before handing it off to whatever passes for a bullpen.

That's how I'm trying to think of it too--that whoever starts, he probably won't be left in long enough to fall more than a couple of runs behind anyway.

Guys guys guys, don't you know Stroman is a big game performer?

To be fair to Stroman, he has been a better pitcher than Tillman and he plays at home. I'd be more concerned with the bullpen, heck I'm rooting for the Jays for this game, I am more concerned with the bullpen.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Much ridicule on the radio this morning (from the awful Dean Blundell, so take it for what it's worth) over the idea that everyone was consulted on the Stroman start, including "the analytics guys." If true, you have to wonder what numbers they were looking at (or, more likely, if they lost the argument).

Stroman is a ground ball pitcher pitching in front of a good defense vs a home run hitting team that can't run? It's not rocket science.

ya, i concede there are good arguments for both. still would prefer Liriano on account of how lousy the O's are against lefties. but he'd be super valuable out of the pen as well instead of having to endure Loup/Cecil.

(xpost) In theory, maybe, but they sure did belt him around this year...Anyway, the decision's made, and Liriano in long relief is a plus. Stroman's ability to get the crowd going could help too if he pitches even moderately well.

Gleeman handicaps the game (i think all BP articles are free this week?)

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=30502

Everybody seems to think Toronto has the advantage in this game, and maybe they're right, but as an Orioles fan I have a good feeling about this game. I'd rather face the Blue Jays than the Tigers (though I might rather have faced the Tigers at home than the Blue Jays in Canada.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Never realized how big Matt Sisters is playing catcher. He is huge.

Spellcheck from Wieters...

Bautista's a free agent at the end of the year! Gotta show up in the playoffs.

kinda rooting for a 17-inning, 14-13 game won by a position player pitching

― mookieproof, Monday, October 3, 2016 4:21 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh don't even with the "kinda" you're rooting for this with every fiber of yr being

(it would be kinda amusing tbh)

stroman looks p solid thus far

holy crap i hate this ump

I was just going to say: he's been consistent, but he sure is giving both pitchers a couple of inches on the low outside corner.

oh i'm not talking about his zone, just the sounds he makes

i swear i never hear Ron Darling bring up this 'shutdown inning' crap on Mets games

and Ripken, what it means is Torre shoulda used Rivera the same way in big regular season games too

tfw you step away and come back to see manny hitting a HR but it's just goddamn midseason footage and he's not even at-bat

really isn't enough talk about the chances of the benches clearing tonight

oof laser

great catch by Pillar.

TBS convinced we need to see homers replayed from the worst seat in the house

should have voted orange and black :-)

so you agree with Seinfeld that it's just "rooting for laundry"

this ump does sound like an ump from a video game announcing balls and strikes

Still not used to those rec league-looking O's hats.

four innings in just 70 minutes WTF?

Stroman is working quickly, and Jays are swinging at everything tonight.

Dangerous inning coming up. This is where Gibbons tries to squeeze too much out of Stroman and the game gets out of hand.

Trading him certainly made sense at the time, but if the Mariners could have gotten more for Trumbo than a racist dipshit...

next inning, Cal will list managers who like making outs on the bases.

is this on goddamn ESPN Radio?

he should of had that one.

lol at not scoring too

yep yep

Tillman finally pitching the way i expected him to when i picked him for the negative fantasy team

Good omen. Jays have done nothing but leave those runners on second and third the past month.

tie game, turning into a good game.

that double play, jesus.

For about the fourth time on this thread, I must now tell myself to shut the fuck up.

wasn't really expecting tillman to get pulled there

that too-hard-hit tying single might've been the omen

disappointed buck left tillman in that long, pleasantly surprised he pulled him that soon

Fuck that DP. Worst possible time. Now it's a battle of bullpens in a tie game, and every Jay will try to be a hero and hit a home run rather than try to get on base. Big advantage to Baltimore.

STROMAN going through the order for a third time WTF????

doing fine so far

@jonahkeri
Orioles pitching givens, Orioles pitching takens away

tried to make a similar play on words but not as good as my compatriot.

I'm still in shock that they left Stroman in to face Trumbo with a man on.

If anyone can fill me in on one reason to feel good about this situation, please speak up.

Glad to know tbs will play some march madness games.

that was the fastest wieters has ever run

‏@JeffPassan

Jonathan Schoop career:

vs. RHP: .247/.274/.455
vs. LHP: .216/.260/.294

Jays just took out a LHP for RHP to face Schoop with LHH on deck.

i mean those numbers still suck

gj martin

That's way down on the list of questionable Jays decisions tonight.

How in the world does a converted shortstop look like peak Dennis Eckersley out there?

the issue was that he was drafted as a shortstop and shouldn't have been, i remember that being a real shock at the time

he is also garbage against lefties. i have no idea how he was able to get 6 straight righties

Ah, Blue Jays fans.

an unfortunate reminder of assholes in stadia everywhere

bout 2 get lit in rogers centre

do they have a mandate to destroy canadian stereotypes of niceness or something?

Single most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in a Jays game. Sorry, world.

maybe that's the same fan who did the same exact thing to nate mcclouth a few years back

i hate buck showalter and i also hate jays fans so i'm basically at a loss here.

Stupid thing to do obviously but TBS' indignation is a bit much considering that Jeffrey Maier is a treasured part of baseball "lore".

lol same xp

i think ive only seen a game in that place with NTBT, who is a prince of decorum of course

i do like adam jones tho i fully support him if he decides to declare war on canada

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2672159/McLouth-drink.gif

mookieproof on his way to have his wish.

Stupid thing to do obviously but TBS' indignation is a bit much considering that Jeffrey Maier is a treasured part of baseball "lore".

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:23 PM (thirty-three seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude jeffrey maier was 12! and throwing full beers at ppl is actually dangerous!

ugh adam's in excitable mode

yeah the brat at least didnt launch a projectile

could literally roll the ball to him and he'll swing at it

down 3 - 0 and got out of it.

Can't see a parallel between Maier and what that guy did--even if Maier had been an adult, it still wouldn't been as reckless.

At the risk of ensuring he goes all Bill Buckner in the 9th, I will tentatively say that Edwin's been outstanding at first tonight.

I'm glad you guys see the silver lining in the worst umpiring call in baseball history.

^Merkle's Boner!

btw not having cable or a digital antenna that gets anything, this is the first night i've seen a Trump ad.

Again, it's inexcusable to throw things on the field but it wasn't a ten pound weight it was a can of beer. Worst case scenario is a small bruise and the batter is called out for interference.

Maier turned an entire postseason around.

lol that's ridiculous

chuckled at fan holding WE WANT ODOR sign

hockey crowd showed up

worst case scenario is catastrophic leg injury to athlete trying to avoid unknown projectile if that isn't obvious to anyone

are we not beyond this yet

I've moved on to Travis killing two rallies in this game.

so I guess if Grilli and Osuna pitch the 8th and 9th and this goes to extra innings, the Jays are in trouble?

No--we've got Dickey.

sort of wish this was a real series just so givens and brach can buzzsaw through this pile of RHH every game

Dickey was left off the roster for this game!

did he say "He Cueto him?"

lol why?

good sign

if brach doesn't pitch the 9th buck is broken

we've got nothing after britton

playoffs need Cueto

STOP SWINGING AT 3-0 FUCK

debatable xp, arguably wrong

Oh, man, is this set up for drama.

(Didn't know that about Dickey...do we have Goins or Barney if we need them?)

lol what a terrible swing

Heart of the order for the Jays. If Buck goes with Brach and it doesn't work he is going to get severely grilled. If it works he is a genius.

15 innings later, john gibbons strikes out david simon on a knuckleball and the jays win 4-3

fun game

can't wait to break slothroprhymes heart

that would require yr team actually facing mine, which is quite unlikely on both sides

i suggest they win it here

I am so very embarrassed by the beer throwing moron. I'm so sorry.

Heart of the order for the Jays. If Buck goes with Brach and it doesn't work he is going to get severely grilled. If it works he is a genius.

― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:48 PM (forty-nine seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

brach and britton both have a .180 wOBA against righties

he'll get grilled if it doesn't work but that doesn't make it the wrong choice

oh my

nice

oh god has donaldson's hair become a weird half mohawk half rattail thing like clay buchholz's?

Load 'em up?

ok bring britton in

brach and britton both have a .180 wOBA against righties

he'll get grilled if it doesn't work but that doesn't make it the wrong choice

― qualx, Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:51 PM (thirty-two seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally agree. was just stating the situation.

that is an interesting intentional walk

Still no Britton!

disappointing

big k

o'day!!???

why

this is gonna get weird

ok Showalter is a Mathenyesque save moron, too

we're gonna lose

hahahahahha

do fans agree with that walk? there were no outs at the time

definitely don't pitch your best pitcher in this spot

i hope the Jays win right now in the name of all that is good and holy

brach after however many pitches is gonna do better than o'day

yeah i get it any run and it's over

damn

i love you buck

bonus baseball

i knew i had a good reason to hate russell martin

wow

ahahahahahahahahaha

that's why buck is buck and we're just nerds in front of a television.

bastards!

Two of these double plays have been on the first pitch from a guy coming into the game. It might help to see if he starts off with a ball or something.

Buck is talented enough to be playing a lineup who make stupid at-bats

Jays need to hire Barry Bonds

to be fair Morbs, Gibbons is even more deep into the Mathenarnia than Buck.

what is up?

banish the wild card

tbh if liriano gets in the o's are probably done

liriano's 1 appearance vs BAL this year: 6.1 shutout innings, 10K 1BB

We blew the chance to win the game in the 9th and now Osuna is injured, no biggie.

is latroy hawkins still a blue jay maybe he could come in

hope bundy's got 5 good innings in him

Tulowitzki's about the only Jay I feel good about up at the plate these days (Pillar, too, to an extent), so I like that he's leading off.

jesus christ why is o'day still out

this feels like it's going 18

I guess Britton will only pitch in a "save situation" tonight.

this is gonna end up being a black mark on buck forever

guys britton literally threw 1.2 innings in a non-save situation 2 nights ago

justin fucking smoak is going to win it

friend on FB:

Maybe Zach Britton is the Designated Survivor?

Jeff Sullivan
8:14 By the way, this year, Britton inherited 53 leads, seven ties, and nine deficits

This should be the last hitter O'Day faces.

Jays secretly activating Billy Koch

Ugh Liriano looks like the Orioles are just gonna meekly ground out three times in a row inning after inning until the Blue Jays finally break through

it's Liriano guys, not Kershaw.

every LHP is kershaw vs the o's

HEY ADAM FUCKING STOP

JUST STOP SWINGING AT ALL

Britton not in the bullpen. Maybe he is being held at the border?

Ugh

This is actually pretty much how I expected the game to go except Trumbo's homer would've been solo and the game would be over.

Awesome. Clock's ticking on our charmed bullpen performance. Score now.

how many pitches has liriano thrown? 4?

Tippy Martinez and Ben McDonald warming.

this is officially the worst call anyone has made in the game

'a real pain in the bottom of ninth hole'

duensing isn't even that good as a loogy

omg lol ubaldo warming, the apocalypse is nigh

jesus

here comes ubaldo

famous last words

buck's a fucking idiot

@jonahkeri
"The Ends Justify The Means: The Buck Showalter Story"

Ubaldon't, amirite

if the jays don't win here they don't deserve to be in the playoffs

Buck's prepared to make fans forget Grady Little

Showalter just burned a pitcher to face one batter (with an 83 career OPS+) in the 11th inning of a tie game. And his closer is still nowhere to be found.

embarrassing

maybe buck murdered him, maybe britton is tyrell wellick

oh the next double play is going to hurt so much.

I will jump out the window if there's another DP here.

"This guy was unhittable once upon a time. We're not seeing the guy who's unhittable NOW this evening."

oh this is it

Two straight K's, CS at home plate, anything but another DP.

night folks

dumb as shit

Well that qualifies.

there's a reason they walked him last time...

so obviously britton is hurt

i guess that is why you walk him

Britton still looking for his passport 'I swear it was in my bag'.

sorry to all Baltimore fans but it'll always be funny to me when a team loses a do-or-die game in extras without using their closer

should only count as a single imho

(that used to be the rule)

Hit almost to the exact same spot at Bautista's HR vs Texas last year.

congrats to Jays, i kinda hope for Ballmer fans' sake there is a problem with Britton

I wear to god the bar I'm at nearly fell over

did they all throw their drinks in celebrations

sorry that was uncalled for

"Ubaldo Jimenez through five pitches in the 11th."

Don't worry, Dusty Baker will do some bullpen move this post season that is even worse.

Please baseball Jesus give us Texas Toronto rematch

u got it

@keithlaw
Either Britton was unavailable or Buck Showalter just blundered his way into playoff history.

Honestly thought they might walk EE and hope for another double play (or an over-anxious Bautista striking out).

Exhausted. Hope Osuna's okay.

there really isn't a single team in the AL i want to root for. go adrian beltre i guess?

bummed we're going to have so few chances at another postseason with manny

i mean manny's looking like his bff arod in the playoffs but after he becomes a NYY this team goes back into storage

at last Pedro, Sheffield questioning Buck's brains on the postgame

lots of players to root for in the Ranger's squad: Beltre, Beltran, Lucroy, Darvish for starters.

all 4 of the panelists in fact xp

i can root for Cleveland despite the mascot shit

Damn I am stupid

How many millions did EE just tack onto his upcoming contract?

lots of players to root for in the Ranger's squad: Beltre, Beltran, Lucroy, Darvish for starters.

― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, October 4, 2016 11:46 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but they have that lucky-team-that-didn't-deserve-it stink to them

o's had that for years so i guess it's natural to root for them

if it's anything but a sudden injury, the Buck quotes are gonna be good/facepalming

cubs better win it all istg

britton was available

maybe buck just didn't want to win

huh

oh buck

is he gonna give us the matt williams 'he's the closer'

for buck's sakes

"(Britton) was fine... We had some good options."

EEEEEDIOT

to be fair, britton should have been unavailable because he'd already pitched the ninth

"nothing philosophical about it"

Buck accepted death as envitable in do or die.

people pinning this on "it wasn't a save situation" are wrong and dumb, buck really isn't that rigid with it

this was buck fucking up in a way that was totally uniquely buck.

buck has this "this is unconventional but if you just believe in me it'll all work out" complex and it's always brilliant until it doesn't work out

he can be allergic to doing the most obvious thing

https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/783517787595608064

at no point in this season was i expecting francisco liriano to win the AL wild card game

used to think it was his brilliant overmanaging and attention to detail but i'm pretty sure he just goes by feeling, and it didn't *feel* right to use britton then

he believes in orioles magic more than the fans they have left

i honestly don't blame him for not using britton.

tho i am *incredibly* drunk right now

"No one has been pitching better for us than Ubaldo."

That is not an old Rockies quote.

tho i am *incredibly* drunk right now

obviously! ;)

Managers change their reliever usage patterns in postseason all the time, as we've seen. Maybe Showalter won't get to.

― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Sunday, October 2, 2016 8:43 AM

obv i am not a sufficiently experienced Buckwatcher

ubaldo held hitters to a .151/.229/.244 line over 35 innings since sept. 1, so it's not like he was a terrible choice

otoh he'd only made 8 appearances out of the bullpen in an 11-year career, and i'd be kinda surprised if many of them began with runners on the corners

Zahn pointed out how much trouble Bautista has with Jiminez--understatement: 38 AB, .079/.222/.105. On the other hand, Encarnacion hadn't had much success either: 41 AB, .220/.360/.366.

obv i am not a sufficiently experienced Buckwatcher

― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 5, 2016 12:18 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh fuck off, i've explained in about 40 different ways that this isn't a pattern

Yeah I think the decision came down to Britton vs Jimenez no matter what, save or no save, etc. It was still unforgivably the wrong decision and we all saw it coming. Perhaps the real mistake was to not ease up Jimenez and put him in the stretch right away.

otoh he'd only made 8 appearances out of the bullpen in an 11-year career, and i'd be kinda surprised if many of them began with runners on the corners

No, Jiminez came in with the bases empty, he gave up all three hits.

oh yeah that's right. well in that case, take him out. i don't know. it's even worse.

It was right after Duensing was brought in to face (and retire) that lefty masher Carrera -- you definitely don't want that guy facing a righty from the sixth inning on.

the first two hits came so quickly it's easy to forget

britton should've been in to face all three, and then the next three if need be

I like Carrera, he's just a weird guy to be playing matchups with in extra innings (regardless of whether your closer is available or not).

as much as this is on buck, important to remember that the offense did literally nothing after stroman was taken out, and the jays don't even have a good pen

Zahn pointed out how much trouble Bautista has with Jiminez--understatement: 38 AB, .079/.222/.105. On the other hand, Encarnacion hadn't had much success either: 41 AB, .220/.360/.366.

Without checking, I wonder how much of that was in the NL when they were all different players (especially Bautista)? Trusting Zaun to use statistics correctly is like trusting kids with matches.

1 for 12 with 3 walks over the last 2 years, and the hit was a single. a few games where a healthy bautista sat. BVP numbers are worthless though.

people pinning this on "it wasn't a save situation" are wrong and dumb, buck really isn't that rigid with it

this was buck fucking up in a way that was totally uniquely buck.

― qualx, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 12:10 AM (one hour ago)

i mean maybe but when you break it down that's what it comes down to. if it were a save situation he would have used britton. it wasn't so he didn't.

like there is a LITTLE room for being creative but showalter crossed that line a long time before that homer

that's... not what it comes down to. he considered britton at various points. he's used britton in non-save situations many times. you're apparently getting on him for... using him in save situations when they actually exist?

it was a horrible move but rigidity is not the issue at all

like he could've been more rigid probably. rigid would've been using britton before ubaldo. i think even matheny would've used britton before that. 29 other managers would've used britton. showalter likes to get tricksy and it failed.

Not sure why you'd say batter-pitcher stats are worthless (notwithstanding NoTime's point about the bulk of those numbers maybe going back to the NL, which is valid if true--don't know). If the sample size is large enough--and 38 AB is pretty decent--I'd want to know that as a manager, especially at the extremes. Clearly, Bautista does not hit Jiminez well.

I'm guessing 38 abs spread over years is about as worthless as it gets. it takes, what, 150 PAs for numbers to start stabilizing in the season, right? and that's at the low end. and I think it's just for pitchers.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/when-you-should-ignore-the-data/

Batter/Pitcher match-up data has been shown to have no predictive value. In The Book, Tango/Lichtman/Dolphin devote an entire chapter — Ch 6, “Mano a Mano” — to looking for evidence that previous results of specific batter/pitcher match-ups would predict future results in those same match-ups. It wasn’t there. Despite looking at the 30 most extreme examples of matched-pairs where the batter had dominated the pitcher over a three-year period, the group was barely better than average in the fourth season against those same pitchers. When looking at the flip side, where pitchers had dominated the hitters, the results were the same. Most interesting is that there was little difference in actual future performance by the 30 hitters who had dominated their rivals versus those who had been dominated by opposing pitchers. Even at the extremes, specific batter/pitcher data showed no real usefulness in projecting future results.

Thanks, I'll read that over tonight.

I don't know--intuitively, it just seems natural that batters would feel overmatched against certain pitchers (can't figure out their delivery, can't hit a certain pitch of theirs, etc.) and feel like others can't get the ball by them. (Don't tennis players play consistently better than expected against some opponents and consistently worse than expected against others? I don't know tennis that well.) In terms of projecting future results, maybe Bautista does indeed get a hit in that 39th AB--but maybe the data had done a good job predicting the results for AB 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38. Not trying to be difficult or play devil's advocate; when the numbers are as bad as Bautista's are against Jiminez, I'd just rather have that match-up as a manager.

This might be instructive:

http://www.si.com/vault/1955/08/08/604885/the-question-who-is-or-was-the-hardest-pitcher-for-you-to-hit

I'm going to go through that tonight and see what these guys actually did against the pitchers they cite.

gotcha qualx, not a pattern. mlb.com:

"On a certain level, it shouldn't be all that surprising that Showalter didn't use Britton. Like many managers, he has typically refused to put his closers into tie games on the road. Britton entered in a tie game away from home just once all season, which was against the Blue Jays on July 31, when he pitched the ninth and 10th innings of a 2-2 tie (Baltimore went on to win, 6-2, in 12 innings). And that was somewhat of an outlier as he hadn't pitched for five consecutive days before that."

And he looks like such a pleasant guy.

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/36107

He actually looks like a younger Tim Kaine...

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/10/05/alleged-blue-jays-beer-thrower-identified-ken-pagan.html

gotcha qualx, not a pattern. mlb.com:

"On a certain level, it shouldn't be all that surprising that Showalter didn't use Britton. Like many managers, he has typically refused to put his closers into tie games on the road. Britton entered in a tie game away from home just once all season, which was against the Blue Jays on July 31, when he pitched the ninth and 10th innings of a 2-2 tie (Baltimore went on to win, 6-2, in 12 innings). And that was somewhat of an outlier as he hadn't pitched for five consecutive days before that."

― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 5, 2016 11:43 AM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow, whopping sample size of 4 whole games

lol let's see how Buck handles him for the next 20 years, i guess

But while Showalter stated in the postgame press conference that his decision wasn’t based on some philosophical issue, the 11th inning suggests differently. Because the only way you rationalize letting Jimenez face Edwin Encarnacion is if you’re dead set against using your closer in a tie game on the road.

Now, here’s the crazy part: no team in baseball history has ever had a better option for this specific situation than the 2016 Orioles....

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-craziest-part-of-showalters-crazy-decision/

https://twitter.com/CespedesBBQ/status/786987856740974592