Man. That’s so sad. That’s partially an indictment on how arcane baseball playoffs have been. And on stupid Kevin Brown and Walt Weiss.
Damn Baggy. Thats a tough one to swallow. I'm just glad we don't get any magicians and their vanishing acts in this era.
He had 3 atrocious series, then 3 good ones, then in '05 he was done but had one of the few highlights in the WS.
Bagwell's batting average of .226 wasn't the problem, it was the lack of extra base hits. 2HR and 4 Doubles, all coming in 2004. It was good that they at least got to taste some success in their twilight years.
If the Astros played 162 games before these playoffs.id agree. Astros had four days off before this series. Garneau hasn’t been great this year but he finished amongst the top FA catchers in WAR from 2019. Stubbs is a fine backup too.
Finding good catchers seems so difficult. Do they get paid like prized positions in other sports? Dont think so. SS seems to be like a QB or a PG
The Braves were a good squad but SD? Kevin Brown still haunts me. I love the move to the AL though. Its fun to be in the mix with NYY and BOS every year. Ill always hate the Yankees more than STL, MIL, or CHC.
Bags has a terrible record in 129 postseason ABs, for sure. But it's always interesting how his name comes up before Biggio's. CB hit .234 in 190 ABs and had an OBP of .295 (compared to Bag's .364). The two of them collectively sank the lineup from 97 to 99, and then Bags came alive in 01 but Biggio was still bad. We got one good series, the 04 NLDS, out of that duo in their late 30s, before Baggy got hurt and retired. Thank god for Berkman and elite pitching in 05, but the late 90s-early aughts era was painful to watch in the playoffs. The current Stros seem to have a lot of guys who shine in the moment. Watching the Minnesota series was like reliving the "here we go again" struggles but from the other side.
Weird Covid fact o the day. The Atlanta Braves have now played more NLDS games at MMP than the Astros have.
Before the complaining about Reddick being in the lineup begins.... Reddick vs Manaea... 10 AB, 4H, .900 OPS Correa, Altuve, and Brantley have been awful against Manaea.
the lineup is also a lot deeper ; protection matters . If the opposing team can game-plan focusing heavily on Bags and Biggio , then i bet that makes a difference. Hard to say for sure how to quantify it , but i definitely believe in the "rising tide lifts all boats" theory for strong batting orders that can put extra pressure on pitchers .