By Yours Truly
https://fancredsports.com/Articles/its-not-going-to-be-just-another-manic-mondayWho would have thought upon awakening Sunday morning that two National League divisions would end up with ties for first place by way of blowouts? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the Dodgers would have to tap smooth rookie Walter Buehler instead of Hall of Famer-in-waiting Clayton Kershaw to face down the Rockies in a win-or-go-wild-card NL West tiebreaker come Monday? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the faded Nationals---in a position to send the Rockies to the wild card game---would decide to say thanks for the great effort, Max Scherzer, but you've done enough and wait 'till next year, when Scherzer was ready, on his regular day, on his regular rest, to go forth and play spoil sport? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the Cardinals, who put on a tremendous run after Mike Shildt was tapped to take the bridge from Mike Matheny in June, would run out of gas a little too soon and then prove the Cubs' ticket to the NL Central tiebreaker? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the Mets finishing a season murdered in June with a 33-22 finish would look better than the once-perennial Nats by way of Noah Syndergaard throwing a closing day shutout? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the Phillies, a year ahead of the presumed schedule, would look like they might snatch the NL East only to dissipate so dramatically down the September stretch while the Braves---also a year ahead of the once-presumed schedule---held more than enough to take the division almost handily? Neither did I.
Who would have thought the Dodgers, the Rockies, the Cubs, and the Brewers would bludgeon their way to Monday's tiebreaker games by out-scoring the opposition 48-5---with all five of those runs coming from the Cardinals against the Cubs? Neither did I.
Who would have thought Gio Gonzalez, one of the discards in the Nats' mid-to-later-season fire sale, who'd looked like he was seeing his best pitching further back in the rearview mirror, would pitch five scoreless for the Brewers Sunday afternoon? Neither did I.
Who would have thought Christian Yelich would get an extra day to secure the National League's first Triple Crown winner since . . . 1937? (Joe Medwick.) Neither did I.
But then I didn't think the Orioles, who didn't look all that much like contenders coming out of spring training as it was, would collapse so profoundly that they would lose what this year's Red Sox almost won.
Nor did I think the Mets could possibly be bitten a second straight season by such a nasty injury bug, a rash of inconsistency on the field and in attitude, say goodbye at last to injury-and-attitude-compromised Matt Harvey, survive a 5-21 June, lose a general manager to illness, continue enduring front office and ownership vicissitudes, put Jacob deGrom in a position to win a Cy Young Award with a 10-9 won-lost record, and then still finish with seven more wins this year than last.
Nor did I think the Athletics, who didn't look terrible but didn't quite look like a contender when spring training ended, would swing, throw, and sway their way to the American League wild card game with a reasonable chance of overtaking the Yankees in the game.
Nor did I think Nats general manager Mike Rizzo would be so quick on the trigger after Shawn Kelley's uncharacteristic trade-deadline-day tantrum, when he surrendered a ninth-inning bomb after mixed umpire signals during a Nats blowout, that he'd trade Kelley to the A's, where he'd become a critical element in the A's hanging in, hanging tough, and making the wild card game after they once had a realistic shot at the AL West title.
Nor did I think the defending world champion Astros, whom you pretty much knew early and often were heading back to the postseason this year, would do it with the most wins in any season they've played since their 1962 birth, meaning they've won 207 games last year and this.
For fans whose teams say goodbye for the season, take heart. You have only 179 days to go before the winter of your malcontent (as winter always is without a baseball game going on somewhere across these United States) yields to the sweet winds of spring. For fans whose teams have October to play, stay tuned. For Cub, Brewer, Dodger, and Rockie fans, and those who just plain love the game and its virtuosity at drawing drama from any and all sources, it's not going to be just another manic Monday---it may be the most manic in the histories of your heroes.
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