2026 Division Series: NYY-TB; CWS-CLE; ATL-LAD; SD-MIL

Now we go. Eight teams remain and we welcome back the bye teams: Rays, Brewers, Guardians, Dodgers. Best of five, so everyone gets a chance to have home games. If you don’t like the better seed in the wild card round getting the home game advantage, win more games. (Red Sox fans who’ve been complaining about this, I’m addressing you. 🫵🏻)

Every single year someone complains that the bye, which allows teams to let their pulled pork arms cool off and banged up players to rest, actually puts teams at a disadvantage. Let’s see how that actually plays out!

Who are your picks to go through? And, if you’re feeling inspired, who’s going to make a name for themselves this year?

nyy/tbr - i have managed to not see any tampa bay games this season so idk how they're succeeding but i'm certainly rooting for them over the yankees

cws/cle - seems pretty even but i am rooting for the white sox and think they will take it

atl/lad - the dodgers are not winning another world series this year but i do not think atl is the team that's going to take them down

sd/mil - this feels like the most exciting series, the team that got hot at the end of the season vs the regular-season stalwarts who tend to struggle in the postseason. i'm rooting milwaukee but i def think sd could take it

it's going to be round 100 degrees on the field in LA tomorrow

*around

The Phillies are gone--who I was rooting for out of vanity, not allegiance--so I guess I'm with the Brewers now; in the AL, the White Sox.

Rays/White Sox/Brewers/Dodgers

Worth noting that ATL went 5-1 against LAD this year.

Rooting Rays, Sox, Braves. No real rooting interest in the SD-MIL series but agree w/ NA that it should be a hot one.

Oops--thought it was Dodgers/Padres. So Brewers and Braves.

Although let me be the nine millionth person to say they really need to get rid of that chant...Have players ever spoken out against it?

Padres are fucking corny

would obv be rooting for the Rays and ChiSox, and I think they both have a good shot.

idk if the Braves can get past the Dodgers but they can hang w/them so it might work out if a couple things break in their direction. i just think the LA rotation is too tough, Sale is as good or better than any of them but he's only one guy.

Pads are hot but Mis is possibly the best pitcher in MLB and Henderson certainly pitched like a top ten SP down the stretch, so i'm leaning Milwaukee.

i'm not too broken up about the Cubs not making it to this round, they're a good team but not a great team yet, it's possible next season they'll make an ascendant move, similar to 2015 into 2016.

that series is going 5 games xp

LA vs ATL that is

Tampa Bay
White Sox
Atlanta
San Diego

I would not mind the Brewers winning but San Diego is so hot right now that I think they can carry that all the way to the end.

Undeviled Rays
Blessed Sox
Doyers
BrewCrew

My preferences in order

AL
Rays
White Sox

NL
Braves
Brewers
Padres

The White Sox are easily the most fun team remaining

Murakami talking about his translator being drunk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB6DtpGtAg8

Pope letter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgNalqyEy7k

Pope being asked about the team getting to the playoffs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CifdbtYszuo

The Pope interrupting the reporter to correct his baseball knowledge is unbelievable. I can’t believe this.

is edlose diaz on the dodgers roster? just checked and he quietly had a good couple of appearances to close out the season

Although let me be the nine millionth person to say they really need to get rid of that chant...Have players ever spoken out against it?

― clemenza, Friday, October 2, 2026 10:51 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

They literally do a HR celebration w two tomahawks

i'm rooting for sox in the AL and brewcrew in the NL. i do think it'd be funny tho if the yankees won it all without judge

is edlose diaz on the dodgers roster? just checked and he quietly had a good couple of appearances to close out the season

Yeah but I don't know if he'll be out there in high leverage situations yet

LA Going with Skubal over Yama for game one, I guess you could go either way there.

(xpost) Again, I'm surprised. Maybe Atlanta players don't want to alienate the fanbase by speaking out, maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing. To me, the chant isn't all that much less offensive than the Cleveland logo (and just plain annoying to boot).

(xpost) Again, I'm surprised. Maybe Atlanta players don't want to alienate the fanbase by speaking out, maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing. To me, the chant isn't all that much less offensive than the Cleveland logo (and just plain annoying to boot).

Ryan Helsley, who is Cherokee, has spoken out against it. There are only a handful of Native American players in the league. It might take one of them being a Brave to make that change. (And I do not wish it for them to be traded there, to be clear. Just commenting on how it seems this only comes to the forefront when a player talks about it.)

https://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/story/_/id/27769140/st-louis-cardinals-ryan-helsley-calls-atlanta-braves-use-tomahawk-chop-disrespectful

It seems that the org were making some gestures towards changing it, but now have dropped that entirely?

Game 1: Chi White Sox @ Cleveland
1:00 PM ET
TBS / truTV
Alex Faust, Ron Darling

Game 1: Atlanta @ LA Dodgers
4:00 PM ET
FOX
Joe Davis, John Smoltz

Game 1: NY Yankees @ Tampa Bay
6:30 PM ET
TBS / truTV
Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur

Game 1: San Diego @ Milwaukee
8:30 PM ET
FS1
Adam Amin, Adam Wainwright, AJ Pierzynski

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeAy4wrR3mI/

Bulletin board material

PUT THE FUCKING CAMERA BEHIND THE MOUND

Munetaka Murakami drives in his bff Miguel Vargas with a nuke

can't believe tommy pham is in the playoffs and the mets are not

Ron Darling commenting too

Kyle Teel is really good at ABS. White Sox take the first game 3-0.

Ump getting cooked

I can’t get over Kyle Tucker’s home/road splits do they not have a sports psychologist on staff?!

Some commentator on Skubal: mumble mumble mumble he’s got that CHANGEUP and mumble they want to keep guys healthier so mumble mumble that CHANGEUP is gonna help with that

1) doesn’t a changeup work best when paired with a fastball?
2) Skubal has had surgery on his left arm three times (TJS in college, flexor tendon in 2022, loose bodies removal this year)

god i'm so tired of watching this dodgers team

Lmao Ohtani down year is .889 OPS

its so irritating that the Dodgers got Skubal

skubal's hat is absolutely soaked

that home run was worth $60m aav

Every single run scored via the humble dinger, as God intended

Not an unexpected result today

Smith-Shwaver 1) should never have made the postseason roster 2) if he was going to be deployed it should’ve been for a blowout.

rasmussen with 23 swinging strikes through seven

that'a a lot

Here we go. This series should be so much fun!

105, 105, 103 (ball), o1 out

*91

Padres got 25 pitches out of Moz.

jesus rasmussen's line is amazing.

Miz off to a bumpy start

Padres are so fucking hot

And another run

if only they had saved him for the playoffs instead of letting him get gassed in pointless games after they'd clinched.

58 high stress pitches through 2

I think Verducci was right. They are making a heck of a lot of contact on the fastball.

Imagine not giving up nine runs to the Yankees. Real loaves and fishes stuff at the Trop.

Robbie Ray

But usually its because of him losing control of the strike zone

Like I was saying, back to back walks

Not deep enough

Got out of it

They played the Grateful Dead.

They need to increase the number of challenges to 3 in the playoffs

counterpoint: no

That was high but called a strike to make my point

Why wouldn't you want to make the correct calls?

Ump has not been good tonight

Here we go

They get out of it

What a play

christ was that ever a robbery

and now 2 pitches 2 outs

Wow

what a blast

Only gave up one seems like a win

Regardless, this is a great game

Gets out of it

on three pitches

Hit the roof?

Oh my god I’ve never seen that before hahahahaha

insane

Absolutely insane

Baseball gods are on the Brewers side this year!

Ty france robbed by the upper limits of available physical space

three out of four will do

https://i.postimg.cc/Hxw1HVKC/Screenshot-2026-10-04-at-6-59-25-AM.png

Apparently given the angle + exit velocity that’s only a home run in Houston. Dunno if I buy that but he did hit it insanely high, off the bat it looked foul

It’s hard to fathom that ball not going out when you see how much the angle changes with the impact and the fact that he’s standing on the warning track when he catches the ball.

counterpoint: if no roof that ball would have been taken by the wind, who knows where it would have ended ip

France's reaction was not what i would have expected for such an absolute moon shot – assumed it was going foul until the announcers started losing their minds

I can’t believe people are still talking about that and not Austin Wells.

Wonder if he would have been safe if he didn't slow up.

Uribe was throwing every pitch low I'm just glad he got out of it

What a catch

I thought they had it

Or at least a hit

oh man he was like a foot away from tying this up :/

hahahaha....yes!!!

Unbelievable

Error only cost 1

These are awfully good games

You can't make that mistake

You can't make that mistake

wow what a pitch by Ashby. absolutely needed that

hell yeah we still in this

Didn’t cost them

It has felt like a lot of the defensive issues in this game have been high pressure situations

I don’t mean because of the score, I mean because of fast runners

Yeah, good game

Or close plays

We'll see if Miller is as good as they say

Nasty

We'll see if Miller is as good as they say

Is this comment a joke?

looks pretty good to me

Yes, tongue in cheek

Xpost

Wow

Two innings saves seem to never work

This is crazy

surely not

they couldn't

Power v Power

104

Unbelievable

ohhhhh

40 pitches is so fucking dumb in that situation

hahahahaha wow what an inning

brewers with the team of destiny vibes

Yeeeeeeee hawwwwww

grats froggy

yeah i really have to question leaving him out there

https://www.mlb.com/news/mason-miller-pitches-two-scoreless-innings-in-padres-win relevant (from June)

Every time he completes an inning, if there’s another inning to be pitched, Miller wants to pitch it. He makes his feelings known when he comes off the field.

His manager, Craig Stammen, usually isn’t so keen. Miller is the best closer in baseball right now. The Padres have designs on a deep run into October. They need him fresh down the stretch.

109.5 off the bat

i looked it up, most pitches he'd thrown all season was 34 in 1.1 IP back in May.

absolute cinema

Time to watch a Snell no hitter

0.1, not a bad effort

Pressure

rowdy tellez sighting

dodgers should be thanking their stars the brave bats went completely lifeless against Snell’s 5 walks

just endless bullpen games, eh?

btw happy 10th anniversary of edwing sending the jays to the ALDS while zack britton watched from the bullpen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPF0UD5PNlI

sugar looked good and his fastball hit 101 ;_;

Diaz has looked good for the past month. Only 5 games, but a .4 whip and no runs allowed

Big run

might wanna get Sasaki outta there

Man I am on the Didier Fuentes bandwagon

And the Ray Kerr bandwagon

We might lose, but I'll never lose my love for Maximum Muncy

Kinda suprised they're pulling him, Weiss must have been taking some notes watching Padres-Brewers

was gonna say we just saw this

ah nuts

Bullpen game over Snell, who would have thought?

Bullpen game over Snell, who would have thought?

After all those Fox studio goobers picked LA, I knew ATL had this one.

I thought Snell looked like the best pitcher in baseball coming into this game. You can certify me as not knowing ball

I kinda blame Teo for this one

i'm as surprised as you tbh. next matchup will be Sale v Yamamoto!

I hope Sale can be effective on “normal” rest — they’ve given him extra rest all season.

gutsy win from atlanta

That Padres vs Brewers game! Baseball doesn't get any better than that.

We’re watching CWS-CLE. Travis Bazzana at the plate.

Commentator: He was a first overall pick, of course, first from Australia, where baseball is growing…(pause) of course he was cricket captain at school

I look over at user Sharivari and he has a look on his face that only comes up when I bring up the few South Asians in the game, a look which I will call “not good enough to play cricket professionally”

will always remember gavin williams for taking a no no into the 9th against the mets last year. dude is a beast

mistake to pull him? (unsure where his pitch count was at)

98 pitches but had given up a rocket (104.7 exit velo) right before so Vogt invoked his catcher experience

i was promised slap hitting shit goblins, where are they?

anyone else feel like a lot of balls are getting thrown away so far this playoffs?

make the yankees play baseball

We gotta stop playing baseball indoors cmon

Man I bet that White Sox plane going back to Chicago is going to need to be deep cleaned after the flight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZ0w7vMz-4

Just enough room

will never not get results by making the yankees play baseball

He looked out

About as close as you can get

Yanks just don't deserve it. Rays-Sox is gonna rock

5 errors by the Yankees, so far, one more and they break a record.

Are there any other fields with bullpens in foul territory or is the Trop the last one?

Oakland but that is temporary

Ol, Sacramento

The official scorer took away one of those errors.

Every day is a good day to revisit Buck Martinez's critique of the Yankees: "The Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is. They have a lot of wild pitches, they make a lot of mistakes in the field, and they don’t run the bases very well. If they don’t hit home runs, they don’t have a chance to win."

I thought the Guardians blew the game, the White Sox were unravelling in the early innings, Williams was dealing, and they let them off the hook. I was rooting for them, but the White Sox in the ALCS would be an incredible story.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/10/02/white-sox-players-feel-welcoming-clubhouse-vibe-has-brought-the-best-out-of-each-other-munetaka-murakami-miguel-vargas-davis-martin-tristan-peters

CLEVELAND – In some respects, the close friendship that’s formed between White Sox All-Stars Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami was inevitable.

“I mean, just look at his face,” Vargas said. “He’s a funny guy, just looking at him. I think he’s the best guy ever.”

Vargas added that most of the Spanish-language slang that Murakami flaunted during his first media scrum in spring training, he knew upon arrival. The Sox international scouting team got nothing but raves on Murakami’s makeup as they dug in on him, and asked how long it took for him to get a feel of his new first baseman’s personality, manager Will Venable shrugged and said “Like, two days.”

I hope Sale can be effective on “normal” rest — they’ve given him extra rest all season.

― be dang if it aint (WmC), Monday, October 5, 2026 12:09 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this was posted on a braves community site, and i think most people would take a well-rested over the 4-day rest version of Sale:

4 days rest:

56 IP (5.6 IP/GS), 231 TBF, 51 H, 26 R, 24 ER, 9 HR, 14 BB, 74 K
11.9 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 1.4 HR/9, 5.3 K/BB
3.86 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 3.07 xFIP

greater than 4 days rest:

237.1 IP (6.1 IP/GS), 948 TBF, 185 H, 58 R, 53 ER, 13 HR, 51 BB, 297 K
11.3 K/9, 0.4 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, 5.8 K/B
2.01 ERA, 2.22 FIP, 2.86 xFIP.

CHW have the mandate of heaven this year, correct?

I wouldn’t say that. I think they’re a pretty good team, easily the most fun, but I’m not sure they have the pitching to get through the ALCS.

The favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, Schlittler didn’t live up to his own lofty standards. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings, striking out only two batters. He registered just seven total swings-and-misses on 76 pitches.

But his teammates? They were about as helpful as a weighted vest to a tourist floating off the St. Pete Pier.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7664898/2026/10/06/yankees-game-2-alds-mistakes-errors-rays/

Ugh, Kenny Albert… I can just see him shuffling through his notes trying to find something unstupid to say.

Okay if the Dodgers can just do that 4 more times then they'll get through Sale and into the Braves seemingly untouchable bullpen

Also cmon I get hating the dodgers is the moral duty of every non-dodger baseball fan, but are braves fans really booing freddie freeman? It was the braves who fumbled keeping him! boooooo

Albert was not planned:
https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/onsi/joe-davis-kenny-albert-fox-dodgers-vs-braves-nlds-game-3-in-last-minute-switch

nice try Yamamoto

Hearing a lot of chatter around town that maybe we should guillotine Harris for bunting on Yama. Personally I think that would be taking it slightly too far, but I understand the sentiment

What a play, highway robbery

That was the inning to do it :(

Whatever it takes, let all the barves bunt. Yamamoto’s too good.

Unlucky Tucker

Sale is showing cracks but the Braves defense is filling them

Lol can't defend that. Postseason Kike is inevitable

Kike is built for October

Thought of this the other night watching an inning where Yandy & Aranda made two outs on three pitches against Cole, and Caminero then worked a 12 pitch AB that I’m sure Rasmussen appreciated:

After a Giants pitcher struggled through a long inning, wearing himself out throwing way too many pitches, Burrell barked at upcoming Giants hitters, “You have to take pitches! Give our guy time to catch his breath!”

Like, the bottom of the lineup is the bottom of the lineup, but if your ace is going up against a lineup that is always a grind and you have a precious lifeline to go up at home, you can’t be striking out on three pitches or flying or popping out on one.

xp please remember the accent

Turns off game

Something positive at least

Yoshi in the zone

Also built for October

Sale not looking too sharp

omg 33-0 when yama has 3+ run support is crazy

great jinx by me

pretty mid jinx, they're still up by 2! i'm sure you could jinx little better.

there's absolutely no chance Yoshi gives up a run in the 7th

he is simply too good!

You've got to at least let him start the 8th, nasty inning

Diaz sighting

Don't know about this braves organisation playing mii channel music during Miggy's injury delay and i'm a goofy goober for Diaz's pitchcom delay

xp please remember the accent

ty

that was a really dumb challenge

dying at "goddammit Merrill"

What the hell is wrong with the score bug tonight?

This is a fun series

Not enough but 2 will work.

May seems a little rattled

whoa I didn't know you could actually yank a pitcher who isn't hurt in the middle of an AB

Love May, but don't think he's got much time left in the big leagues

xp Roberts replaced Emmet Sheehan mid AB with a 1-2 count last year in the wildcard and the reds followed suit replacing their batter. It was very strange

Could have went to third base there

Announcers talked about it a lot

with a base hit Chourio (age 22) would become the franchise leader in RBIs, dunno if that's more impressive or sad

How did that happen

That was not deep enough

Something in the water

yea I was surprised he went, CF must have a weak arm

Saved a run

awww drat

Gets out of it

lol that was fast

Wow

Four pitch walks are never good

Six balls in a row

What a game

Unbelievable

ahhh damn it

These Brewers are something else

the drought is over

hell yeah Yeli

would love it if that RBI opened the flood gates for him

jesus is Contreras ever bad at challenges. first and now wastes another m

got the walk anyway :)

This is crazy

Yeli deserves a signature postseason moment c'mon lets go

This has been the best series, so I'm glad that its continuing.

uggghhhhhh not that

oh well

thought that was gonna tie it

Padres had dad power tonight

Yamamoto in the playoffs: 8-1, 2.14 ERA. He's on another level.

not so fun stat for Milwaukee - last night marked their 12th straight road playoff loss, which ties the all time record. they can beat it tonight.

(xpost) Not researched, but the small group that pops into my head (which he's now clearly joined): Koufax, Gibson, Schilling, Bumgartner, and one of Smoltz or Glavine--I think Smoltz. Before that, not sure.

Ditch that 't' in Bumgarner...

I think I saw something on First Take with pretty much that exact group. sorta why I've tempered my expectations for Milwaukee, even if they do get past San Diego we'll have Yamamoto, Skubal, and Snell waiting for us

Braves apparently 1-29 with runners in scoring position this postseason. no idea how they're going to snatch 2 away from these dodgers with that kind of performance.

no chance in hell

What the fuck are the Guardians doing throwing a rookie with 15 MLB innings out in a win or go home game

this will be the last day with at least 4 ballgames on the schedule until next year

Venable is not impressed with Teel pissing away both challenges like that

insane aura from vargas with those sunglasses

Lmao what the fuck is this

guardsball!

Jram stealing home is audacious

Teel is having the game from hell

wow potential fourth out play there. guess they’re teaching it now!

Fuentes is going to strike out 8 straight to finish the game isn't he?

omg teo please

LactualllyFG

and another standard postseason dismissal of the Braves appears to be in order

god it would have been so funny if teoscar had been picked off

It would've been the most teoscar thing to possibly happen, I really thought it was inevitable when they went to replay

Max, Muncy

as per my previous post

Max, Muncy

― H.P, Wednesday, October 7, 2026 5:30 PM (thirty minutes ago)

I was surprised that the Braves got 1

...game

Here we go

Brewers absolutely need to win this game

yankees fans messing everything up

Brewers pulled a rabbit out of the hat with the bases loaded in the first

It's a relief for the Braves to be out. It was painful to watch everyone not named Harris at the plate.

Curious why Ortiz didn’t go for the double play there he had time

Well I sure hope this isn’t a must win for Milwaukee because their bats go ice cold on the road in the playoffs. If they score more than one tonight it’ll be a miracle

Sorry WmC, I was rooting for the Braves but they had no chance against the Dodgers. Sadly, that is probably true for everyone else as well.

They need to win to give them the best chance in the next round.

Even tho I have been on the Padres bandwagon, the Brewers are the team that needs to advance especially after going up 2-0.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are about to be swept

Alright come on miracle

Aggressive, I like it and scored them a run

That was hit so far

Sorry WmC, I was rooting for the Braves but they had no chance against the Dodgers. Sadly, that is probably true for everyone else as well.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, October 7, 2026 10:32 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Braves were 5-1 against them during the regular season!

Boone back next year?

Sadly, that is probably true for everyone else as well.

Conceding that I have barely watched the playoffs thus far, I strongly disagree with that. They beat the hardly-overwhelming Jays last year with freakish luck and one amazing starting pitcher. They still have him, but they won't have the former, and--I hope, and I assume--they'll be playing a team that won 103 games.

Still a long way to go

And because of that they added Skubal, Tucker and even a closer Diaz.

Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow

They have superstars at ever position to boot.

Xpost

and also the Braves had no reliable starting pitching for basically the entire second half

Braves should just shut Sale down until May next year in the hopes they make another playoff run.

With Atlanta out I’m going to go full on for the Brewers since both sides of my family are from there!

I'll grant you Skubal; their 1-2 is formidable. (More formidable than Mis and Logan Henderson? Not by much.) But Tucker and Diaz were busts this year.

You can buy your way into the playoffs--won't argue with that. You can't--I believe--buy yourself a WS win. You have to win that on the field.

Good point and I hope your right!

Brewers have had an awful lot of baserunners to only score 3

Tucker and Diaz have not been bust in the playoffs and one reasons for my animosity.

Can't wait for my edit button

Hell yeah Ashby

Alright Uribe please throw strikes

Ouch

Oh my God

Ahahahah suck it Machado

How bout that defense!!!!

Uribe threw like one strike that inning

Congrats frogbs

Now go beat the Dodgers

I will try my hardest!!!!

man. stressful series. every game felt like a coin flip

I know I gotta work tomorrow but I gotta have a drink with the boys on TV

Do you guys really not give a shit about the AL at all? How are there not 100 posts about the Yankees fan interference homer knocking them out of the playoffs, it’s incredibly funny

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/849838/play/47

https://i.postimg.cc/FzwJqsNN/IMG-1929.jpg

xp joke about a Cashman yanks mediocre post season exit? It's stale bread at this point

If we're going to rank comedies though, game 2's gazillion errors takes the top spot

https://streamable.com/ewlmkr I love him so much

https://i.postimg.cc/FzwJqsNN/IMG-1929.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/hGwsggSC/IMG-1930.jpg
They also had this amazing clip of him in the dugout when Schlittler was getting pulled

https://streamable.com/86gla5

Something also to note: 3/4 CS participants are the winners of their leagues and with big W totals too, hopefully this year finally kills the “bye teams suffer from extra time to rest their bullpens boohoo” myth. You can see a bit of rust in the lineups but being able to rest your best arms and have an advantage through all the banged up players doing the same is still an advantage, just like it always was.

Eh I draw it up as hot vs. not. Sometimes you play yourself into form (low win team riding a streak to a wc upsetting a giant that win-padded early I.e 2022 padres-dodgers nlds) and sometimes you play out of it (Boone Yankees????). Whatever, an infinite amount of moving parts, better to just appreciate the magic of winning wherever it exhibits

How are there not 100 posts about the Yankees fan interference homer knocking them out of the playoffs, it’s incredibly funny

That is weird (and mea culpa--I didn't watch an inning of that game). I think it's maybe more of an ILB thing, an across-the-board decline in posting over the years. Last year's WS saw a return, primarily because of the posters with rooting interests (and the epic nature of the series). But I think the decline has been mostly steady.

I actually think ilb is busier than a good portion of the board even amongst the decline! Just puzzling to me that there are all these people who don’t watch a single inning of any of the AL games - which have been really good! - but we have a flurry for the NL series? That’s not including people like frogbs (congratulations btw) with actual rooting interests, it’s really the people who aren’t following teams that are still in!

I am biased to the Rays ofc but the White Sox have been so much fun to watch for the most part, and the Yankees bed shitting in spectacular style. Not (really?) having a go, I’m just like damn guys you are missing some fun stuff on the Junior circuit…

All year, out there, the focus has been on the NL; all you read about the AL this year was the Keystone Kops battle for the wild card. Tampa Bay is obviously a very good team that almost won 100 (you know my own personal bias--they're so fucking good, I despise them).

on the fan interference call, how did they decide to allow the runner on first to score? shouldn't it have been a ground-rule double? or is it up to ump discretion in that situation?

Wouldn’t the runner on first (George Lombard Jr, 94th percentile sprint speed) have scored from first on a ground-rule double? I think that’s a pretty reasonable assumption. If it’s Stanton, then yeah I wouldn’t argue that run should have scored.

i watched guards/sox cause i like both teams and ron darling was on the mic

i only watched a bit of yankees/rays because it was getting late and i don't like the yankees very much. i do like the rays and am hopeful for a rays/brewers ws

looking back at the replay I actually don't think it's that controversial. it doesn't look like it actually would've been a home run, but an RBI double seems about right. funny how fans and support beams have different rules :)

i was at the DJ Shadow show last night, got out in time to see the brewers advance but totally missed this yankees home run debacle and cannot wait to run around the internet and see yankees fans get roasted for whatever happened

It wasn’t going out for sure, the wind wasn’t carrying it that much, but the fan interference means people can say “well it could have taken a freak gust of wind and gone out(?)” as though Yankee stadium existed in some micro climate?

i think at best it might have taken a weird hop or the outfielder might have tripped or something and volpe would have gotten a triple

Also enshittification in the booth watch: someone made the LUDICROUS claim that so and so was the first rookie pitcher to have more than two starts in the postseason and I came up with Bumgarner (2010) and Pfaadt (2023) without even blinking, they need to stop asking AI for this shit.

xp https://media.tenor.com/ckp80QVmCywAAAAM/corey-seager-i-guess-we%27ll-never-know.gif

yankees fan need to apologize to volpe anyhow, he singlehandedly kept them in the game

ya, that interference i don't think changed the game much (if at all); but it is just the perfect cherry on top of their elimination. absolute chefs kiss.

i was at the DJ Shadow show last nigh

how was it? there are still tickets for this Saturday's show, but I hate the venue.

you could argue that Volpe ought to be on 3rd I guess

it was amazing. this is super dorky, but i was hoping he'd talk about the album a little, because it was such a transformative album for me and my taste in music, and there were a few interludes where he spoke about getting his start and finding his original tapes etc. the songs were changed a little from the album versions and worked really well live and then we got a couple bonus tracks after doing the full album.

Nice! Thanks, you might have convinced me to go

opener was very missable tho, not sure if you'll get the same guy (he is the golden state warriors dj, apparently)

surprised there still tix tho. the one here sold out quick enough.

anyways... lol yankees

ya, that interference i don't think changed the game much (if at all); but it is just the perfect cherry on top of their elimination. absolute chefs kiss.

Idk I think people have different opinions on the value of things like “momentum” but the fact they stopped the game, took a run off the board, went back to being a run behind having not been ahead at any point in the series…I wouldn’t say crushing blow to the collective pinstripe psyche but I wouldn’t not say it

ya, that's true

As I'm sure has been pointed out endlessly, last night works fine as karma for Jeffrey Maier. I was playing Scrabble last night; I wish I had been at DJ Shadow.

because there were 2 outs when the Volpe hit happened, the runner was already rounding third when the interference happened, so giving them the extra base was a fair assumption. agree with gyac about the psychological blow, the place was exploding when they thought it was a homer (including the poor souls who came up with the ball)

ok i guess i just didn't know how ground-rule doubles work, i thought it just pushed everyone up two bases no matter what

a rays/white sox series would be the matchup with the least player name recognition for the casual baseball fan, right?

ok i guess i just didn't know how ground-rule doubles work, i thought it just pushed everyone up two bases no matter what

ok that is the rule for a ground-rule double but spectator interference is not the same as a ground-rule double

The spectator interference call led to the umps granting a ground rule double, which it may or may not have ended up as, I’m not really following your point

https://www.mlb.com/news/manny-machado-robbed-of-game-tying-home-run-in-nlds-game-4

this was also a funny storyline from last night

History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes

Kyle Teel is SO bad at ABS challenges ffs

Since this thread has a short public shelf life and I’m the only one here, some useless trivia regarding this White Sox team: a quick look on ao3 (including the non-public stuff 👀) shows that this team is to the previously dead genre of White Sox fanfiction as Jesus was to Lazarus. The (good?) people like Sam Antonacci/Miguel Vargas, since you absolutely do not ask.

i had to look up what ao3 was. i do have even more questions now, but am just going to leave it.

Me and the Pope Sox.
https://i.postimg.cc/Y91BM0wK/IMG-2032.png
So help me God can someone get a hit because I need something to wash the knowledge that real human beings write about AJ Pierzynski ffs.

Also, the best baseball fic, which is this is not, is there someone is clearly a HUGE nerd for the game. Like I learned about Mike Pizza having acne on his back (with the implication that it was due to steroid use) and Jeter and Arod used to have sleepovers (!) well into their professional careers. I wouldn’t recommend anyone halfway normal reads this, obviously. (But seriously, I felt like I was constantly going “is that true?” and googling something and finding out it was true.)

https://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2771141

THANK GOD WE HAVE LIFE IN THE GAME

lotta walks, eh

RBBI but if Tommy Pham does anything I swear…

xp he only had 49 walks in 186.1 innings

Sam Antonacci grinds out a sac fly so Tommy Pham didn’t get to do anything 😌

also it is astonishing/embarrassing that tommy pham (was) batting fifth for a playoff team in 2026

xps

The Red Sox had Jahmai Jones leading off for them in the Wild Card series. Idk why you’d have Tommy Pham if you have a perfectly good Randal Grichuk right there

were antonacci/vargas the two humping “tip to tip” in the dugout?

Patrick Bailey? Sure ok

xp I don’t know what this means but I assume yes, I’ve seen videos of Antonacci on all fours barking at Vargas coming back to the dugout after hrs

https:// x.com/JomboyMedia/status/2105401239118721089

^ touchin tips

I’ll accept Jram, nice to know he’s not washed

xp they might need to get a bit messy cos it’s not working against GUARDSBALL

i was just thinking that two solo HRs is definitely not what slap hitters do

oh wait jram's homer was two runs? dang

Is this the first time they’ve used Bibee this postseason?

Tim Herrin is a monster. Nobody got a hit off him his previous outings!

HBPing in a run gotta be the most embarrassing way to give one up

herrin looked absolutely gutted after that

I feel for him, not easy to be the dependable guy and not have it working

Guardians pitching up to 7 walks in 4.2 innings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaTElBljOE

bazzball has arrived

u normally have to wait 2 months for 1 Patrick Bailey rbis and then 2 come along at once

Wasn’t Grant Taylor their closer 🫪🫪🫪

KYLE TEEL DID SOMETHING!

is there hope?

Will start watching with the league championships...surprised the White Sox let Cleveland back in. Maybe the Guardians are the surprise underachieving (yes) veteran (not sure) team I thought the Phillies would be this year.

(Definitely not veteran--in the bottom half of average age for both hitters and pitchers across MLB.)

NLCS game 2 is at 2:00 on a Monday. nobody I know get Columbus Day off wtf?

honouring Canadian thanksgiving obvs.

i saw rush at the montreal forum 35 years ago on canadian thanksgiving

'roll the bones' (the song) is somewhat embarrassing but it was a great show

The inaugural Banana Bowl—the championship game of the Banana Ball Championship League—takes place tonight, October 10, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

Game 5

These pitchers are dealing, already three innings down.

José Ramírez!

How did he hit that ball our, smh.

Was just going to say the same thing. I really don't want Cleveland again, but everyone loves J-Ram.

Should not have tried for three there

I like the move, let him pitch

Well they gave him one more batter

Gets out of it

now that they're out of that jam – great performance from Williams; especially after pitching in the previous game.

Good game

Never too late for a miracle

Might be too early though, it's 4:24am in Vatican City. Is Pope Leo up watching???

should gone for three there

Here comes that man again

Cowards

But thay had to walk him

Worked out

cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn soxxxxxxxxx

Congrats to any Guardian fans here

I don't mean to take anything away from the Cleveland pitchers, but 21 strikeouts (53 in three games) is ridiculous. This isn't Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling out there on the mound.

21 strikeouts!

Jram got hot at the right time huh? Sorry I just woke up. Clemenza you are right. I think the White Sox inexperience and youth really got to them. See you in the CS thread (which I will now go make).

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2026/10/red-sox-yankees-most-watched-wild-card-series-nbc/

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2026/10/dodgers-braves-game-1-viewership-high-division-series-roundup/