The Dodgers have to be leading baseball in dumb luck double plays. Rays had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, threatening a big inning when they hit a frozen rope right into the pitcher's glove that got the runner at 2nd picked off.
Even better is that after he was removed from the game and told to isolate, he came back out to celebrate the win and was hugging people and interacting with everyone.
Snell had not pitched 6 innings all season. I think his longest start was 5.2. His season total was 50 innings in 11 starts. I don’t know what those pitch counts were. If he’s left in, and gets blown up, the narrative would be “why did Cash leave him in longer than he did all season?”, so I don’t blame the manager for handling him how he’s handled him all year. I’ll be curious to hear NYY weigh in though. Since I don’t know much about pitching specifically, it seems to me the reason the Rays lost was because they could only manage one run in an elimination game.
I've got a couple different thoughts on this... 1. I can't fault Kevin Cash. It's not what I would have done, but the Rays have made it this far by being pioneers in the analytics field. Why change who you are in the biggest moments? There's an old saying about dancing with who you brought. Snell goes out and gives up two, and Cash is ripped. 2. I absolutely hate it for Snell. He had the opportunity to do something special, and we will never know how far he truly could have gone. 3. I hate making decisions purely based on analytics. Analytics are clearly here to stay, and it has changed the game. However, it needs to be used as part of the decision making process, not as the be all/end all. Snell was dealing. Yes he hasn't gone that deep all year, but at the end of the day, this series was going to be over for him when he walked off the mound last night. There's a mental aspect that goes into knowing you get a few months off, not to mention how much he was hyped up with adrenaline in the big game scenario. He had plenty left in the tank. 4. The biggest issue that I don't think has been covered is what taking him out of the game did for the Dodgers mentally. Those that have been around the game know that it's a momentum game, and there are days you are on the on-deck circle and you know you have very little shot against the guy standing 60'6" away. That was the Dodgers last night. It didn't matter who Cash brought in, the moment he signaled to the pen it gave the Dodgers hope, and it swung the momentum back to them. 5. Lastly, this is further proof to me, and hopefully to the rest of baseball (looking at your dumbass Manfred) that the human element needs to be celebrated in baseball. This was a tremendous postseason for MLB. Big games on TV every night. Umpires had an outstanding showing and should shutup the automated strike zone calls for a while, and old school managing with gut decisions will be brought back to the forefront.
That’s a good point on number 4. They actually did mention that on the broadcast, but just briefly, so I had forgotten they brought it up.
roberts loves to do dumb shit like that. no feel of the game ever considered. amazing he let urias close it out.
good points on momentum shift Gives batters who are on their heels all night, a boost. Straight up adrenaline shot. Its the freaking world series and the kid is balling. "the kid was dealing and I went with my gut" sits much better with me than "the sheet told me to do it", in situations such as this. Lost my love for the Dodgers many years ago, so really didn't care who won, but did enjoy seeing some nasty pitchers. You can see it in their eyes at times on close ups. Someone should compare the eyes and body language of the Dodgers dugout before the pitching change, to immediately after. Game ended then, it appears.
I think the idea of going 100% on analytics is insane. Sure, use it as a guide, but trust the feel of the game. This goes for any and every sport. Pitchers OPS jumps third time through line up (btw, Snell's barely does)? Great. Keep it under consideration. He's mowing them down left and right? Ok, have a quick trigger but see what he can do. 4th and 2 and the data says kick field goal? We've been averaging 7 yards a carry and they've not come close to stopping us? Go for it. Sorry, numbers get you part of the way there, but not all the way. I will always stand by that.
And now it’s confirmed. What I want to know is, why does he want to manage baseball now that PEDs are banned?
