Eye Black

No Brewers baseball for a few days, but we can use this thread to discuss other Division Series games. Schedule for Monday, October 8th:

Over six seasons from 2012-2017 the Washington Nationals averaged 93 wins per season and made zero appearances in the NLCS. The Brewers are heading to the NLCS for the second time this decade.

NLCS Bound!!!!!!

A-Rod says, “Rockies have the Brewers just where they want them.”

I find it even funnier since he was drafted by the other organization participating in this baseball game.

I see a lot of people (on social media) making fun of how bad this Rockies team is, but they are also the team that took the Dodgers to a game 163 for the division this year.

The Brewers bullpen seems good... and deep... and good.

The Final Boss looks cold. Nice hit Shaw.

Not upset, just pointing out that our crappy offense is still crappy. The Rockies gifted us those runs. Well they were a ball hitting off Braun’s heel away from a third run the inning prior, it goes both ways.

Miley did great today, but no way I would let him go even a little bit into the third time through the Rockies order.

I know we’ve been saying Braun has been struck by some tough luck this season, but that was another level.

What a bad break.

Facts are clearly optional today That fake fun fact managed to annoy both fan bases.

I liked the pitch grips graphic as well. Here are the screenshots...

I am a little nervous that Miley is going to get hit around today. I wouldn’t be surprised if he struggles through 4 or 5 innings and is replaced in a still close game. I do expect the Brewers bats to breakout a bit.

Here are the platoon splits and home/away splits for German Marquez. He relies on his breaking stuff to be effective, which doesn’t appear to have played nearly as well at Coors Field this season...

Strangely on the DirecTV show listing for MLB Network doesn’t currently list the Brewers-Rockies game. I am sure it will be on, but if I want to DVR the game I have set it to record 6 listed episodes of MLB Tonight.

I am also not a meteorologist, but it appears that any chance of rain at this point would be near the very end of the game (assuming a 3-to-3.5 hour game).

[pre]Brewers Lineup Rockies Lineup 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 1. Charlie Blackmon (L) CF 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF 2. DJ LeMahieu ® 2B 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 3. Nolan Arenado ® 3B 4. Travis Shaw (L) 2B 4. Trevor Story ® SS 5. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 5. Matt Holliday ® LF 6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B 6. Carlos González (L) RF 7. Erik Kratz ® C 7. Ian Desmond ® 1B 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS 8. Tony Wolters (L) C 9. Wade Miley (L) P 9. Germán Márquez ® P[/pre] Link: Brewers Game Notes TV Broadcast on MLB Network

Regardless of who they sign they won’t forfeit this selection under the new CBA... A team's highest first-round pick is exempt from forfeiture, any additional first-round picks are eligible. Under the previous CBA, only the top 10 overall picks were exempt from forfeiture, so this is a big change.

I know it is a small sample size, but it seems like Moustakas has had some great swings so far in the first two games of the NLDS. In addition to his three hits, his line out yesterday was an impressive 108-mph off the bat. He also didn’t strike out in either game. I like having him near the middle of the order right now, and wouldn’t hate seeing him remain ahead of Shaw for the game on Sunday.

I think part of what plays into anxiety level is expectations versus the reality of how it plays out. I think that was one of the things that made that Packers game in 2014 particularly painful. For Game 163 on Monday I was nervous almost the entire game. It just seemed like the stakes were so high after all the wins the team had strung together just to force a Game 163 situation. Part of it was also being at Wrigley with the Division championship on the line at a point in time when it genuinely felt like the Brewers were the better team at the moment, and the thought of what a big difference a win versus a loss meant. In the 5th inning Rizzo had already hit a moonshot to tie the game at 1-1. Then a couple of batters later following a premature third strike call, I thought the ball off Heyward’s bat was initially a no doubt home run (it didn’t help that I was surrounded by Cubs fans cheering like crazy), the ball appeared to be absolutely smoked. When the ball fell into Yelich’s glove a couple of feet from the ivy, the feeling of disappointment turned to relief. After that point forward it felt like the Brewers were destined to win the game. After celebrating that win with the Brewers fans who made the trek and stuck around Wrigley afterwards, I have remained surprisingly calm at the playoff games even in the 9th inning of Game 1. I will certainly be disappointed if the team eventually loses a series (especially this one since they are up 2-0), but I think at this point the accomplishments of this team have already made it such an enjoyable season with great memories that I don’t think I’ll be overly devastated with however it ends from here.

This article is interesting in terms of the Brewers will obviously face Ottavino more times throughout this series, and he is extremely susceptible to giving up stolen bases: Adam Ottavino Has a Weakness by Jeff Sullivan.