Playoff Prospectus: Of Ghosts and Pinch-Hit Grand Slams

The piece previewed here, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Meg Rowley, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the playoffs, “Playoff Prospectus.” Additional Game One coverage, exclusive to BP Wrigleyville, can be found here, under the name “Second City October”.

The Cubs and Dodgers kicked off the NLCS last night, and be honest, you thought the Cubs would win. You might be a Dodgers fan, and you might be riding high from Clayton Kershaw in relief, or think Corey Seager has prettier eyes than Kris Bryant. But you read the previews and remembered the Dodgers slashed just .213/.290/.332 in the regular season vs. left-handed pitching, and further remembered Jon Lester on the mound, and got a little sick to your stomach.

You didn’t expect them to win. But you probably didn’t expect them to lose quite like this either. Game 1 was thrilling, then dull, then slow, then suddenly wild. It had a steal of home, a blown save, and a pinch-hit grand slam. And it had ghosts. You probably didn’t see them (they’re ghosts), but they were there (they skipped the fifth and sixth innings because, while Pedro Baez’s relief performance was admirable and important to the Dodgers’ chances, even ghosts fear being bored to death).

The Ghost of One’s True Self

I’m about to be a bit unfair. But this catch being tricky for any fielder is the sort of detail that get unfairly forgotten in a loss.

To read the rest of the piece, please head on over to the main site.

Lead photo courtesy Jon Durr—USA Today Sports.