There is no other team I hate like I hate the Yanks. Let's hope Toronto meaning Schneider (and FO Atkins if the order to use IKF and pitch to Judge came from there) ******** the bed does't come to be tipping point of this series. Tomorrow terrible Toronto BP v flamethrower Schitter so 5th game coming. Toronto fans had been up in arms of using late trade craps like IKF in the final stretch of regular season when they did't earn it and team lost lead in AL East. Dude was let go by Pirates. Guy was put in for D but taken out with 6-1 lead for terrible defender PH Barger and both ending up making crucial errors and causing Yanks runs to come in. Pitching to Judge at 6-3 was stupid and arrogant. He had like 4 hard hit balls prev in series even pitched how Judge is, batting .500 and allthough media feasting on that 1 terrible K, he was locked in. He did't only make it 6-6, he made Yanks and crowd to believe. Also the pitch was 100mph and very very high inside....it was't a mistake pitch, it was mistake to pitch to him. There is no other player who homers that keeping it fair. To underline stupidness of the decision, Schneider walks him int. later losing 6-8 situation. Just don't remember ever being this irritated about non Astros baseball game and will lose my s**t if Yanks win this and walk over the Mariners in ALCS.
It's all just teeny tiny sample sizes, baseball playoffs are almost completely worthless if you're trying to evaluate players. Judge has like 240 playoff ABs, that's basically 1/3 of a season spread out over a decade.
I don’t think it’s completely worthless - there are definitely players who do better or worse with the added pressure. For whatever reason Kike Hernandez is always ass in the regular season but turns into a superstar in the playoffs. Judge started this postseason off hitting well the first few games and I think that’s allowed him to relax and lock in.
That’s what tiny sample sizes do, they make you think something supernatural is happening vs just randomness
For one postseason, yes I agree with you - 275 plate appearances for Kike Hernandez is not a "tiny sample size".
Absolutely it is, it’s a completely meaningless sample size. The only way you could argue his playoff stuff is real would be if he intentionally tanks during the regular season. If he was actually capable of being an .870 ops player, guess what, he would he and make 30 mil a year instead of being a bench guy.
We'll agree to disagree on what a meaningless sample size is then - generally sample sizes over 100 PAs are considered meaningful. Aaron Judge statistically is a better hitter than David Ortiz. Game 7 of the World Series game on the line I'll take David Ortiz 10 times out 10. If you don't think certain players perform better in the playoffs than others, I don't know what to tell you. This is across all sports.
Fun fact from Mike Petriello on X: The average pitch the Cubs batters have seen this postseason is 92.7 MPH. Not the average "fastball." The average PITCH. All of them. That's faster than the average fastball the 2008 Cubs saw in the playoffs: 92.4.
Not sure I've seen team wear more jewelry than the Mariners. Meanwhile, Raleigh looks like he manages a Luby's
Tigers are only in the playoffs because the Stros had a billion injuries and were essentially the same level of ass...
Hinch pulling his starter too early...where have we seen that before? Mize rolling with 6 Ks through 3 innings then they immediate score off their pen.
