November 7:
Welp, we tried, but it's over. As expected, Cole was back to his old self in Game Four, and we never really had a chance against him. One two-out rally by Akron after another killed us. And as usual, our offense gave up in the late innings against what should be a sub-par bullpen.
Game Five was your typical ridiculous, aggravating, DMB game -- the type of game that makes you want to never play the game again. Up by a score of 6-1 -- finally, some breathing room! -- Shohei Ohtani once again fell apart for no reason whatsoever. Yet another two-out rally produced FOUR runs for Akron, making it a one-run game. They inevitably tied it.
It took an Adley Rutschman walk-off to eke out a win. Acuna and Riley went 0-for-10 and Akron STILL managed to score six runs.
Game Six was yet another frustrating mess. We were forced into extra innings, and I was forced to use my Game Seven starter (Crawford) just to try to get through the game and force a Game Seven. DJ used two left-handed relievers against us, and I absolutely STACKED my lineup with lefty-killers. Didn't matter. We couldn't score a fucking run. Ohtani finally came through with a solo shot in the 12th.
We needed Crawford to give us just ONE MORE INNING. But he couldn't do it. Game over. Series over. Season over.
Akron's offense throughout this entire series was just fucking relentless. They never gave us one opportunity to breathe. Steven Kwan is such an annoying prick. Dude had a .340 OBP in MLB, but we could. Not. Keep. Him. Off. The. Fucking. Bases. Austin Riley was a goddamn machine. Pitching around him was pointless. We somehow managed to keep Acuna somewhat at bay, and yet he's the one who drove the final nail into our coffin in the end.
What a frustrating end to a frustrating season.
November 5:
We unexpectedly roughed-up Gerrit Cole in Game One, and won that game easily. Normally, you'd think that would be great news, but as it turns out, that could mean the end of our postseason. The reason why: our offense proceeded to roll over and die over the next two games. And now Cole, who threw only 78 pitches in that Game One, is now fresh and ready to go for Game Four.
Beating Cole once was a stroke of luck we don't experience often. Doing it twice would be less likely than being struck by lightning twice. Akron is all but guaranteed to win the next game, which means we would need to sweep the rest of this series in order to win.
I don't see that happening. This team has shown no heart all season long, and the playoffs are merely an extension of the regular season malaise we witnessed for 160 games. It seems difficult to imagine that a 104-win team can't hit when it counts, and yet we've seen it far too often to dismiss it out of hand.
Watching this team muddle through the postseason, I get the same sickening feeling in my stomach that I had watching the Yankees in this 2024 postseason. Same exact vibes. No heart whatsoever.
November 1:
Scouting the Akron Ryche, it is easy to find their weaknesses, but the problem is that their two greatest strengths are so incredibly strong it almost doesn't matter. Ronald Acuna is an absolute BEAST. My game plan is to avoid him as much as possible. That means pitching around him almost always and intentionally walking him in crucial situations. I will likely even pitch around him when he leads off each game of this series. I'd rather get beaten by ANY of the other eight hitters in the lineup.
The other beast is Gerrit Cole. The dude doesn't allow any hits or home runs or walks. He strikes out a ton. He's dominant against both sides of the plate. There is no weakness to exploit there. We can't even really play small ball against him because: a) no one on our roster can bunt, and b) Akron catching has been SO dominant cutting down base stealers this season, I don't dare run on them. This means sitting back and hoping to string together a few hits by sheer luck.
Akron's rotation will be a surprise, regardless of what DJ Shepard decides. He could use Cole three times in the series, limiting his pitch count to 80 or so pitches per outing. He could use Brandon Woodruff for five innings. He carried Wade Miley on the roster for a reason. Perhaps that means he'll go with a standard four-man rotation with Miley pitching in Game Four? I really have no idea what DJ will do, but I'm prepared as best I can, regardless.
The Akron roster is super tiltled toward right-handers, both the hitters and pitchers. This plays to our advantage as far as bullpen matchups go. I think we match up well with this team, but in this game, that usually means nothing.
October 31:
I didn't expect to be here, but here I am. As long as I'm here, I may as well try to win this thing.
The first order of business is choosing the 26-man Division Series roster. Unfortunately, Aaron Hicks is not eligible. Fortunately, Akron will likely use mostly right-handed starters against us.
There isn't much to decide on my end. We'll go with a straightforward starting rotation of Ohtani, Eovaldi, Crawford, and Lorenzen. On paper, Ohtani is our fourth-best starter, but I know he's better than that, and he's pitched well against Akron this year. Akron hits righties better than lefties, but that's irrelevant, since there is no chance in hell that any of our lefty starters will earn a roster spot.
Our starting lineup is set in stone:
1. Adley Rutschman, C
2. Brandon Belt, 1B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Shohei Ohtani, DH
5. Jason Heyward, RF
6. Wilmer Flores, 2B
7. Rafael Devers, 3B
8. Lane Thomas, LF
9. Paul DeJong, SS
That's twelve. The bullpen is a pretty easy call:
Moreta
Stephenson
Hamilton
Strahm
Chavez
Kahnle
The bench:
Riley Adams
Andrew Benintendi
Garrett Cooper
Stone Garrett
Jorge Mateo
Davis Schneider
Nick Senzel
That's 25.
Hicks would make a fantastic 26th player, but alas...
It boils down to the 11th member of the pitching staff. Would I rather use Craig Kimbrel or Brooks Raley? Kimbrel strikes out a ton of batters and gives up a ton of homers. Raley is a lefty who is lethal against righties. Austin Riley and Patrick Wisdom have had trouble against lefties. Riley and Wisdom also strike out a lot. This is a tough call. I'll have to go with Kimbrel.
