The first four games were slugfests, with the Dodgers scoring 11 to win game 1 and the Rays scoring 9 to win game two. Then the pitching took over, with the Rays taking a 2-1 series lead with a slim 3-2 win in game 3. Making it even closer, the Dodgers evened it up 2-2 with a 1-0 shutout. Tampa returned the shutout favor 4-0 to take the lead 3-2, and in game six the Tampa bullpen turned in 4 scoreless innings while the offense scraped out 4 runs….Mookie Betts went 3-3 and JD Martinez homered for the Dodgers, but Rene Pinto — a bit player with some pop — hit a 3-run homer as Earl Weaver smiled ..read more

DODGERS OVER BRAVES The Braves lost the opener and then got their bats going in game 2, scoring 9 runs off of Verlander and 2 relievers…the Dodger pitching then took over, holding the Braves to just 3 runs over the next 3 games…Verlander acquitted himself in the series-sealing game 5 with 8 shutout innings and Kimbrel got the final out…Fried, another post-season return from the injured list, turned in a quality start before the Dodgers got to the bullpen…Danny Wildes supplant Rick Wynne as the guy with the best record in the league, which is no small feat, even if the DCS didn’t go his way…Dan ..read more

Tampa Bay edges Toronto Toronto took the first game but dropped into a 1-3 hole before fighting back 9-8 in an epic game 5. Blake Snell held the fort down for five innings and the offense put up 8 runs in game 6 led by Yandy Diaz’ 3 RBI including a homer…Poche ended the series on a 3-pitch save…Johnny Mac has more than 1,500 career wins and a career winning record overall…he started the league in 1999 and won the league by 2001…after a 4-year gap he came back and won it again in 2006 and he’s been in the playoffs for each of the past 4 years…Toronto is his 8th team and he briefly led the Rays ..read more

In the actual MLB, all 4 series ended in a 2-game sweep. In the ASFBL not a single one of our 5-game series ended in a sweep. Your winners: Padres upset the division-winning Cubs; after the Cubbies took game one the Padres scored 14 runs in games two and four and survived a 1-0 pitching duel in game three. The ChiCubs had more wins on the season but finished slowly with a 2-8 record over their last 10 games and the Padres rolled in winning 8 of the last 10 and 16 of the last twenty…baseball is about being good over the long season and getting hot at the right time, and Al’s Friars heated up wh ..read more

PLAYOFF NOTES This morning I’ll get the newsletter out; tonight I’ll set up the playoff schedules. I’ll ask for wildcard lineups to be in by Friday night so we can run them Saturday morning. We more or less follow the MLB format except that the wildcard round is 5 games and all others are 7. You can get a playoff rule refresher by clicking on the rules link on the top of the page. END OF THE REGULAR SEASON!!! National League Top seed: Danny Wildes was being pushed hard by the Phillies but finished strong, going 5-1 including a sweep of the 91-win Cub team, and giving Atlanta the best record in ..read more

MUSINGS In the “things you can’t code for” category, Carson Fulmer — a former high draft pick who’d be bouncing around the majors but never pitched more than 32 innings in any year and had missed all of 2022 — got into a game with the Angels on Sept 24 and threw 70 pitches…the very next day he pitched again and threw another inning…and he was better in the second appearance…every year as we pass through the dog days of the baseball season, football starts and my attention shifts for about two weeks…then I realize there are pennant races going on and my TV is back on baseball games first…I am r ..read more

COMMENTARY The Dodgers had an offensive outburst this week…JD Martinez hit 3 homers against Sand Diego on the 12th, Yanier Diaz hit 3 homers against the Martiners on the 16th, and in that same game Anthony Volpe came a single short of the cycle…all of that on route to a 5-1 week, tying Rick with Danny Wildes and the Braves for the best NL record…Danny was 4-2, and edged 1 game up on Adam Symonds and the Phillies for the divisional lead…which creates quite a battle for the last 2 wildcard spots…Milwaukee sits at 78 wins having taken 3 of 4 from the Marlins, but losing 2 of 3 to a Washington tea ..read more

SCHEDULE REVIEW We have 3 more lineup deadlines on Sept 19, Sept 26, and Oct 3. And players waived on those last 2 dates will be not be reassigned since there isn’t enough time for them to be assigned to the new teams and used by the final deadline…next week I’ll post a review of the playoff tiebreakers… COMMENTARY Will Benson of the Reds was a single shy of the cycle on Sept 6 against the Mariners…it was part of a 19-run barrage but was the Reds’ only win of the week…Atlanta went 6-1 to pick up the game they needed to tie the Phillies for first place in the NL East…the Braves had all their ga ..read more

COMMENTARY The Mets had a pretty decent week, and I attribute it to my decision to remove Julio Urias from my active roster…huge improvement in digital clubhouse chemistry and overall karma…respect women, dude…still 19 games behind Adam Symonds’ Phillies, however…feats and failures are below, but there’s a nice symmetry to 3 players hitting 3 homers this week…the whole world is turning into Jose Altuve…Cubs are probably pretty safe with a 7.5-game lead with a month to go, but the Brewers have picked up 5 games over the last 30 and have to feel good about taking 2 of 3 from the division-leaders ..read more

COMMENTARY ASFBL safetey update: No fans have rushed Danny Wildes nor any of his Braves during ASFBL play…Danny is not safe from Adam Symonds and his Phillies this week, however, as they went 6-0 and nudged into first place by half a game…Adam can thank Pat Walsh of the Giants who took a game from the Braves in order to open the space necessary for Adam to complete his run into first place…Greg Achten has not waived a third of his roster…although the ASFBL Mets could probably safely do that and have all their guys clear…Paul Block’s Nationals went 5-1 on the road, taking down the Yankees and d ..read more