TOR 4, SEA 3; Blue Jays move on

I just keep thinking about all the Bsky posts asking plaintively for a Game 8. It was a nail-biter, fun as hell, and I'm happy for the Jays...but man, it would be nice for Seattle to get to a Classic, ever.

And for half the pool not to get kneecapped, but we have to live in this world.

Last LCS points, with knocked-out picks in italics...

Arozarena 1
Canzone 0
Crawford 2
Naylor 1
Polanco 1
Raleigh 4
JRod 6
Suarez 1

Bichette 0
Guerrero Jr. 1
Kirk 1
Schneider 0
Springer 4

MVP for us, unsurprisingly, is Vladdy. LVP...I don't know, I guess Canzone, but if you're looking at expectations vs. performance, you could argue it's Arozarena. (Schneider didn't notch a TB this series, but wasn't getting at-bats; what can you do.) Barger and Clement looking likely for the Victorino if a Dodger doesn't steal it from them.

But that's a problem for the weekend. Now, we're looking at the money. Here again, italics mean the slate has no picks left, and will fall out of the updates going forward.

110 Izzo
108 Quinn
102 Crase AL

101 MArbour 1
99 Mectomy

The rest of us, after the jump...

TOR 6, SEA 2

A number of the serieses in the 2025 postseason haven't lived up to their potential; the ALCS doesn't have that problem. A certain Mets-osity to last night's defense aside, both teams feel pretty locked in -- at just the right time for a winner-take-all game tonight.

Some individual hitters have cooled, but that's what makes things interesting around here. Points!

Arozarena 2
Canzone! 1
Crawford 0
Naylor 5
Polanco 0
Raleigh 0
Rodriguez 0
Suarez 1

Bichette 0
Guerrero 5
Kirk 1
Schneider 0
Springer 0

Vlad Jr. just an absolute monster this past week. You love to see it.

Slight realignment of the money going into Game 7:

105 Izzo
96 Quinn 2
90 MArbour 1 and Crase AL

89 Mectomy
86 Mopsiukas 1
84 Bauer Snoozical

Everyone else after the jump!

LAD 5, MIL 1; Dodgers move on

It's a mitzvah of sorts that Shohei Ohtani had the Ohtani-est, unicorniest postseason game in the history of baseball last night -- not just because we got to watch it (live, and the Bluesky timeline, which was 33 1/3 short variations on "hooooooly crap"), but because, thanks to that, the conversation is about that and not as much about the Crew not really showing up for the LCS. 

Someone made the comment on Bsky last night that the Brewers hadn't seemed "in" any of these games since last week; watching Yelich flapping at garbage sinkers the last couple days, he was overmatched, but also it looked like he didn't want to be there really. How did a team this well-oiled and dominant for six months, with that many big win streaks, just...recede?

Not to take anything away from the Dodger starters, or their professional postseason hitting attack. The team is not the defending champ for no reason. But the Brewers had opportunities and let them starve in a positively Metsy fashion. I'm not a pro athlete and what I don't know is a lot, but this specific instance of a team getting out over the canyon, looking down, and plummeting out of recognizable view is remarkable.

"Great, you've remarked, now get to the points!!" - Ohtani pickers

On it! You know the drill: picks and slates in italics are out. Relatively minor damage compared with what we'll see in a couple days, and lbr, these Brewer picks weren't critical anyway, but:

Chourio 3
Frelick 0
Turang 0
Yelich 0

The Crew's series in a nutshell: Chourio playing hurt but trying to make things happen; Turang and Yelich doing shit-all to help. Frelick does have the fewest TB of the group...but barely, notching 6 to Turang's 7 and Yeli's 8. Yelich looked worse, but I forgot Turang existed for most of the post, so he's the pool's series LVP.

In happier news,

Betts 1
Freeman 1
Hernandez T 1
Ohtani 12
Pages 0

Nobody else among the Dodger picks had as many as 10 TB for the entire LCS. Ohtani is the MVP here, and everywhere else, truly. Best "smelling a fart" faces on the mound? Ohtani. Legend. Kiké, Edman, and Will Smith doing that Victorinoid thing the lower half of the Dodger order always does in October.

All righty: the full standings, which actually complicate things more than they clarify them, because there's a clear leader and then a bunch of people splitting place and show. (And Brady's out; sorry, honey.)

100 Izzo
89 Quinn 2, MArbour 1, and Mectomy
84 Crase AL and Bauer Snoozical

81 Mopsiukas 1

79 Dunn 2
77 Winklepleck 1

Everyone else after the jump...

SEA 6, TOR 2

haha, remember this game? That ended like two hours ago? Although I think even Geno would concede that if your game-winning salami is going to become a footnote barely an hour after it happened, it might as well be because of Ohtani, but we'll get to that guy later. (By which I mean tomorrow morning, I'm afraid.)

The ALCS points:

Bichette 0
Guerrero Jr. 2
Kirk 2
Schneider 0
Springer 2

Arozarena 0
Canzone, painfully 0
Crawford 0
Naylor 1
Polanco 0
Raleigh 6
Rodriguez 0
Suarez 8

Polanco cooling off, Suarez nearly doubling his output, and a couple top performers chipping in mean the money has a new look yet again. A short-lived one, granted, but I'm letting us all enjoy this one until the admin dust settles on the NLCS in the AM.

For now...

89 Quinn 2
87 Izzo
84 Crase AL

77 Winklepleck 1 and MArbour 1
76 Mectomy

73 Fell 1, Yuhan, and Bauer Fun
72 Shotwell 1

69 Bauer Snoozical

This series goes back to T.O., and I would not count the Jays out by any means.

I'll update the NL side tomorrow -- not that many picks out, and I think only one slate got eliminated -- and do the full standings then. Anything looks off in the meantime, LMK!

TOR 8, SEA 2

...Well, Max didn't throw a no-no, but he settled in well enough, which was nice to see. You do like to watch a guy who freakin' loves it out there and knows he's got something left to offer. You also like to see a series you know is going to last for a while (it's pointier!).

Pity my reverse jinxes aren't working on the Brewer line-up, but let's see how the Jays tying up the series worked for y'all:

Bichette 0
Guerrero Jr. 5
Kirk 0
Schneider 0
Springer 2

Springer's not having that Vladdy-mash postseason, obviously, but he's steadily chipping his way towards the top of the points board for us.

Arozarena 0
Canzone 1
Crawford 0
Naylor 6
Polanco 0
Raleigh 0
Rodriguez 0
Suarez 1

That reshuffled the money a bit -- and it's pretty crowded just outside the money, too.

83 Izzo
81 Quinn 2
70 Mectomy and Winklepleck 1

69 (nice) Bauer Snoozical, Crase AL, and Fell 1
66 Shotwell 1 and DGB

Everyone else after the jump!

LAD 3, MIL 1

See my previous notes on this match-up. It would have seemed impossible that the Crew would sort of just...subside? But the Dodger pen is doing enough, and the line-up is doing what a postseason Dodger line-up in the '20s does. It's like the Brewers can't "solve" it. 

Tonight's their last chance. Here's last night's points, which on the Brewer side just will not get it done. Yelich continued to look overmatched; I know Glasnow's big, but...guys. 

Chourio 0
Frelick 0
Turang 0
Yelich 1

But on the other hand,

Betts 2
Freeman 0
Hernandez, T 0
Ohtani 3
Pages 1

Like, I guess it's the Mr. Edman show again?

Just the top tier here until I input the other game, but here's the money:

76 Quinn 2 and Izzo
70 Mectomy
69 (nice) Bauer Snoozical

66 Shotwell 1
64 Winklepleck 1
62 Crase AL, Fell 1, and MArbour 1

And a raft of slates at 60, but let's put a pin in this until my Mad Max: Old Dogs review in a few minutes...

TOR 13, SEA 4

The last couple years, when the Mets have a bounce-back game like this, we're always like, guys, save some offense for the rest of the week, yeah? Especially with ol' Husky-Eye going tomorrow, who, bless his heart, needs the back-up. (Although given my confident assertions re: the pitching yesterday, watch Max throw a no-no later. Sigh.)

Still. So many points available -- from both dugouts!

Bichette 0
Guerrero 9
Kirk 5
Schneid-er (sorry, had to) 0
Springer 6

Arozarena 4
Canzone 0
Crawford 1
Naylor 0
Polanco 2
Raleigh 4
JRod 5
Suarez 1

This battering, in all senses of that word, revamped the money pretty thoroughly, with Vladdy taking over from Teoscar as the top-scoring pick...

76 Quinn 2
73 Izzo
66 Shotwell 1

65 Mectomy
64 Bauer Snooze and Winklepleck 1

And a bunch of folks who were on THIS page yesterday are suddenly...after the jump, like so: