They haven’t looked like it to me. Will a switch suddenly turn on? Stranger things have happened but I would take the under on that happening.
Tampa Bay 2 - 1 Toronto New York 2 - 0 Cleveland Houston 2-1 Minnestoa White Sox 2-0 Oakland --------------- New York 3 Tampa Bay 1 Houston 3 - Chicago 1 ---------------- Houston 4 - New York 3 Los Angeles 2 - 0 Milwaukee St. Louis 2- 0 San Diego Miami 2 - 0 Chicago Atlanta 2 - 1 Cincinnati --------------- Los Angeles 3-0 St. Louis Atlanta 3 - 2 Miami ----------------- Los Angeles 4 - 1 Atlanta Houston 4 Los Angeles 3
Plus we have the most experience winning in the playoffs. That's a switch that doesn't have to be turned on. We have it.
I have a feeling that switching to playoffs mode will help Springer, Altuve, Bregman, Gurriel and Correa who have been hitting and winning in the playoffs for several years running now. Our stars have playoff pedigree none of the other AL teams can match.
Not much of an environment change with empty stands... and then a neutral site. Springer is already hitting the ball very well. Bregman had a power surge last series. Gurriel has been sleep-walking all season, but if anybody has a switch its him. Correa a wild card... but his defense is likely more important/consistent than his offense at this point. Brantley should be fine. Altuve a complete unknown. Also had a power surge last series, but he seems to be the most impacted by the pandemic changes.
I see no reasons why motivation should be a problem, if all this **** can't motivate them I don't know what would.
Never said it always worked. Kareem and Magic ran into the 86 Rockets... Shaq and Kobe coasted. Lebron coasted last year before activating 'playoff mode' and yeah...
Switches turning off and on do happen. But they cant be forecast in advance. Strangely, there have been a couple of the last few years it seemed where we worried that they were playing too well, and may have peaked to early. I will pull numbers out of hat for the hell of it. 50% Chance they turn it around and win series. 45% Chance we see September Astros and go home. 5% Chance we look worse than September Astros and the teams psyche snaps. Wheels fall completely off.
I know we haven't had the best season, but I don't freaking care. The time to win is now, and why not us? After everything that's gone on, and the amount of punishment us fans in areas like SoCal (and NY for some) have taken, I'm not sure I've ever wanted my team to win more than I do this season.
I remember I was at a buddy's house and they didn't have cable so I had to scoreboard watch on my phone. Every time I looked at my phone they scored 1 or 2 more runs. Caught the replay at home.