League Championship Series — Baseball Bench Coach

This week is my favorite time of the baseball season. You see, each day I’ll be tuned into one, and sometimes two, League Championship Series games. For me it’s a notch above the opening week of the season, the All-Star break festivities, the last seven days of the regular season, and yes, even the World Series. Just like the Sweet 16 weekend in college basketball or the conference championship games in the NFL, the ALCS and NLCS are all about doing everything you can as a team to get to the ultimate goal, in baseball the World Series. Let’s take a look at the matchups in both leagues and perhaps throw in a prediction or two.

Boston Red Sox vs. Houston Astros. Going into the ALCS, most thought it was going to be a slugfest. The teams haven’t disappointed in splitting the first two games with 23 combined runs. Indeed, in the ALDS both the Astros and Red Sox scored 31 total runs in their 4-game series wins over Chicago and Tampa Bay. That’s an average for each team of just under 8 runs per game. Boston does it with a combination of some established Red Sox stars (Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, and J.D. Martinez) and new additions this season (Kike Hernandez and Alex Verdugo, as well as Kyle Schwarber, a July trade deadline addition). It’s a formidable top six in the lineup. Houston in the last several years has maintained one of the great batting orders, which includes Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, Jose Alvarez, Alex Correa, Yuli Gurriel, and the past month’s sensation, Kyle Tucker. You know these names because the Astros have been in the last five ALCS matchups.

Both pitching staffs are left with the puzzle of how to get 27 outs against the slugging, opposing lineups. The Astros’ starting staff is in shambles right now. Their ace, Lance McCullers, second in the AL in ERA this season, is not on the ALCS roster due to forearm stiffness. Starters Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia made early exits in the first two games of the series, Garcia due to injury. Dusty Baker’s hopes of getting a quality start in the series may rest on the right shoulder of Zach Greinke, who has been less than consistent this season. The Red Sox hurlers, with the likes of starters Chris Sale, ace Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Nick Pivetta, provide a little more stability at the front end of a game. It may be that the ALCS is decided in the bullpen as both managers tend to turn early in games to a host of top relievers.

The ALCS home sites are two fun, and certainly contrasting, ballparks. Minute Maid Park opened in 2000, complete with a retractable roof for those brutal south Texas summer nights. When the ballpark first opened, it featured Tal’s Hill, a 30 foot incline in centerfield with a flag pole. Perhaps after hearing the many complaints of centerfielders, that crazy quirk was removed after the 2016 season. Playing the outfield in the Houston ballpark continues to be an adventure though, as evidenced by a fair ball hitting the roof and changing course in Game 1. During the late innings you might hear the fans singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, a great tradition in Houston. The tune will change tonight at Fenway Park as the nationwide audience will be treated to a little “Sweet Caroline”. Of course, Fenway is MLB’s oldest ballpark, built in 1912. It too has its quirks – “The Triangle” in right centerfield, Pesky’s Pole down the right field line, and the “Green Monster” in left.

It’s impossible to review a Red Sox vs. Astros matchup without addressing the cheating scandals. This veteran Astros squad will always be known for using technology to steal signs of opposing teams during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, and particularly the taint of its 2017 Series win over the Dodgers. After a lengthy investigation, MLB suspended then general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch for the 2020 seasons, but gave immunity to all players involved. One of the MLB report’s findings was that then bench coach Alex Cora was the mastermind of the 2017 sign stealing. Cora left Houston to manage Boston on way to the Red Sox 2018 World Series title. A second MLB investigation, this time into the Red Sox shenanigans, concluded that a Boston replay staffer operated a scheme to decode opponents’ signs during the Red Sox 2018 season. Again, no players were reprimanded. Because of Cora’s involvement in the Astros’ cheating, he was also suspended for the 2020 season. Crazily, Boston rehired Cora as manager for the 2021 season. From a fan perspective, it’s tough to root for either franchise in this ALCS. I’ll grudgingly take the Red Sox in 7 games.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves. The 2021 NLCS begins and ends on the mound. Expect a string of closely played, low scoring affairs as seen in the first two games, both walk off wins by the Braves. LA seemingly has an advantage on the starting end with 20-game winner Julio Urias, ace Max Scherzer, and standout Walker Buehler. Yet, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went with a “bullpen game” in Game 1, something that your Coach does not favor. The Braves haven’t been to the World Series in more than 20 years when Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz graced the pitching rubber. Although not quite that threesome, Atlanta’s new trio of starters, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Ian Anderson, do form a strong rotation. In the four-game NLDS win over Milwaukee, they allowed only 4 runs combined. While Fried gave Atlanta another quality start in Game 1 of the NLCS, Anderson was pulled in Game 2 after giving up just two runs in three innings.

Los Angeles’ offensive production centers around leadoff batter and right fielder, Mookie Betts. Betts is no stranger to playoff action. When Mookie was with Boston in 2018, he won the AL MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and batting title, as his Red Sox won the World Series. Betts had four hits in the Dodgers’ Game 5 clincher over the Giants in the NLDS. The Braves feature last season’s NL MVP, Freddie Freeman. He is a five-time MLB All-Star, a 2018 Gold Glover, and a Silver Slugger winner in 2019 and 2020. It was his 8th inning home run in Game 4 of the Milwaukee series that catapulted the Braves into their second straight NLCS appearance. Although Freddie is hitless in the first two games of the NLCS, watch him rebound when the teams resume play tomorrow. He is also one of the true gentlemen in the game. Recently, when a reporter asked Freeman why he chats with opposing teams’ players on first base, Freddie responded that everyone who reaches base should be congratulated.

The dugouts are helmed by two of the best managers in the game. LA’s Roberts, who played for five MLB teams during the course of his 10-year MLB career, was named the Dodgers skipper in 2016 after a coaching stint with the Padres. He brought the first Dodgers’ world championship since 1988 to LA last season. Brian Snitker of the Braves is the ultimate baseball lifer. He played catcher and first base in the Atlanta minor league system from 1977 to 1980, never reaching the big leagues. After his playing career he served as a roving instructor, minor league manager, bullpen coach, and third base coach for the Braves for 33 years before being named the Atlanta skipper in October, 2013. It promises to be quite a chess match between Roberts and Snitker.

Both teams made critical July trade deadline acquisitions. The LA headliner is certainly its acquisition of Max Scherzer from the Nationals. You name the accolade and Mad Max can claim it. He has won three Cy Young awards (capturing them in both leagues), pitched two no-hitters, and of course led the Nationals to the 2019 world championship. A lesser splash was Atlanta’s July trade for Joc Pederson from the Cubs. Joc has been a mainstay in the Braves outfield, especially with the season ending injury to Ronald Acuna, Jr. Pederson is known as “Mr. Joctober” after hitting three home runs for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, a huge HR in the 2018 Series, and batting .400 in LA’s World Series winner last season. In the 2021 NLDS, his 3-run HR lifted the Braves to a Game Three 3-0 win over Milwaukee. I like Atlanta to take the National League pennant in seven games.

Until next season,

your Baseball Bench Coach

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot! Give me those Braves in six games over the Red Sox in the World Series.