HOU 4, PHI 1; Astros are World Champs

...Sure, whatever. Okay: I'm happy for Dusty Baker and Trey Mancini. I'm happy I don't have to hear that execrable booth anymore. But I'm sad the Phillies couldn't close the deal; I'm sad baseball is done for the season. A weird one, granted, but it's weird every year in a different way, so we'll see how MLB tries to mess with my head in 2023.

Last points of 2022:

Altuve 1
Alvarez 4
Tucker 0

None of them managed to catch Machado for most overall BPP points (more on that in a moment)...and nobody managed to catch Zombie Reid 2 for the win. We did, however, see another late shuffle at the top thanks to that Alvarez bomb, as one of the last multi-pick slates lurched into the money...which is as follows!

52 Reid 2 ($245)
50 Yuhan ($70)
48 Cameron ($35)

Well done, everyone! I'll send winnings out tomorrow. Rest of the standings and "awards" after the jump!

Maddeningly close for a couple of the remaining slates:

47 Rogge
46 Drake

41 Bingham 
40 Tormey and Fell

37 Cayenne
35 Dunn
32 Reid 1

25 SDB

Like I said, a strange year, and a Game 7 might have changed a couple of fates, but: we'll never know.

We'll also never know how it might have looked if anyone had picked Schwarber, which I regretted not doing several times, but he's not the pool MVP for the Series, of course; that's Kyle Tucker, by a nose. (Pool LVP for the Series, weirdly, is Alvarez, but there's only a two-point swing there.)

The BPP Shane Victorino Memorial Hottest Unpicked Player Award for the Series looks like Jeremy Peña, but for the entire postseason, I think you have to give it to Bryce Harper, especially since he's a Phillie.

And the Most Valuable Pick remains Manny Machado, with Canha, Goldie, and Toro sharing LVP honors this year.

Thanks so much for playing in 2022; it's always a joy to watch/rant along with you all each October. One last time: check my math; congrats to our top finishers; and pitchers and catchers report in 99 days. 

Until next year! - SDB

PHI 3, HOU 2

I feel like I should post some variation on the how-it-started/how-it's-going meme here; based on the first inning, it seemed like a big gaudy score was on the horizon, with a final score of 11-7 or something like that. That's not how it turned out, and all the points the pool picked up were in the bank with the first pitch of the game. 

Now, if I had any real idea how these things were going to go, I wouldn't be in dead last (aaaaagain), but I don't know how much more baseball there is. I think the Phils had to come out last night and break Houston's backs, and that didn't happen.

Here's what did happen: a new look for the money for the first time since the LCSes.

52 Reid 2
46 Yuhan
45 Drake

43 Rogge and Cameron

40 Bingham
39 Tormey and Fell

34 Dunn
33 Cayenne

28 Reid 1
24 SDB

No game tonight with the teams traveling to Houston. What happens from here? If last night was in fact the Phils' best/most important chance, I think the Astros handle their business tomorrow night and, with the exception of some scuffling around third place, the standings here probably stay about the same.

But I don't know! I hope I'm wrong. I don't care for the Astros and I always want more baseball. We'll find out either way starting at 8:03 (.........sigh with these start times) PM ET on FOX (super-sigh). Good luck!

HOU 5, PHI 0 (no-hitter!)

...Neat! Completely unexpected, especially after last night; marred somewhat by the customary dingus commentary from the FOX booth (do you...want to mention who no-hit the Phils in April? because it was the Mets, jackass); still: neat. 

AND it didn't handcuff our picks!

Altuve 1
Alvarez 1
Tucker 2

They didn't do enough damage to change the money, but we've got at least two games left...

52 Reid 2
46 Yuhan
43 Rogge

42 Drake
40 Cameron

37 Bingham
36 Tormey and Fell

33 Cayenne
31 Dunn

28 Reid 1
21 SDB

Last game of the Philly set tomorrow, same time, same channel; Verlander v. Thor. See you on the far side of that one, and good luck...

PHI 7, HOU 0

I would apologize for the late update, but there...is no update, functionally. I don't know if McCullers was tipping pitches, but since Philly pitchers weren't, none of the picks got points. 

And therefore the money, and nearby slates, haven't moved since the weekend:

52 Reid 2
45 Yuhan 
42 Rogge

41 Drake

38 Cameron

Full standings can be seen in the previous update, and my comments re: the Astros looking worn out in the update before that. Feels like it's getting late early.

Maybe I'M just worn out by the stupidity coming off the FOX booth in little stink waves, but in any case, Game 4 is at 8 PM ET tonight -- good luck to all!

HOU 5, PHI 1

Pretend I got clever with an "Altuve Comes Alive double album" joke here; while I always want Wheeler, an escapee from the Mets penal system, to do well, the Astros line-up had other ideas last night (not necessarily legal/ethical ones, if my Twitter feed is to be believed). 

But their points are legal here, and after Tucker doubled his points on Friday, José opted to do the same:

Altuve 5
Alvarez 2
Tucker 0

And we've got ourselves a horse race again.

52 Reid 2
45 Yuhan 
42 Rogge

41 Drake

38 Cameron
36 Bingham
35 Tormey

33 Fell
32 Cayenne
30 Dunn

27 Reid 1
20 SDB

Everyone's optimal combinations for who comes off the travel day hitting bombs and who doesn't is an algebra problem beyond my skill set as a retired poetry major -- but I am happy to correct any inputting errors as we wait for the series to resume Monday night. Mistakes on my part, rage on yours, let's hear about it in the comments, and good luck...

PHI 6, HOU 5 (10)

[Swiffers cobweb off BPP spreadsheet] Hey, everyone! Welcome back. A very watchable opener to the World Series; not terribly listenable, and I'm going to have to just suck it up and take the time to sync the TV broadcast to the radio call on the app, because the Smoltigue is very real. But the evening had several plot twists and felt pretty lively despite the long free-baseball runtime.

Meanwhile, in Pointville:

Altuve 1
Alvarez 0
Tucker 9

So the money didn't move, but everyone else did -- and don't look now, but here comes Fell...

52 Reid 2
43 Yuhan
40 Rogge

36 Drake
31 Bingham and Cameron
30 Cayenne and Tormey

28 Fell
25 Reid 1 and Dunn

15 SDB

This is a strange thing to say, maybe, about a team that stomped its division, hadn't lost in the postseason until tonight, and got the bye to rest in the opening round, but the Astros have looked flat all along to me. It seemed particularly in the LCS like they weren't necessarily winning so much as holding still to let their opponents beat themselves, and now, against a team with some mo, that strategy is showing some weaknesses. 

...I don't know. I don't follow the team and it could just be that weird washing-out light in the Juice Box, but I don't think they're going to win and I don't think it's going to take seven games to happen. 

We'll see, as we always do; Game 2 is at the same time tomorrow night. Good luck!

HOU 6, NYY 5; Astros move on

Before the game, Brady and I didn't have much hope that the Yankees could hang on. We don't follow the team that closely, but the team had seemed to lack resilience, starting with that midsummer slump -- not that they weren't good, just also not very tough. (Mets had the same problem towards the end of the season; no bounce-back left.) They only had so many comebacks in them last night, and the Astros had that many plus one.

MVP, points-wise, goes to Alvarez by a nose, though nobody in our picks list looked as good as Shanes Victorino Peña and Bader. LVP is Altuve, but maybe he's heating up just in time.

The point totals illustrate the issue, to an extent:

Altuve 2
Alvarez 3
Tucker 1

Judge 0
Stanton 1

You know what those italics mean.

As the maitre d'pool, it's hard to say which is a bigger nightmare scenario when you're down to only one team picks-wise. Yes, the Astros win knocks out a lot of slates with only Yankees left, but since -- with the exception of Brady -- everyone had that one pick, is it any more interesting to watch a lockstep march of more people* than it is to watch the daily shuffling of fewer people? 

*provided Judge hit a lick, which didn't seem guaranteed

Enough philosophizing; here's the money, with full standings after the jump. (If your slate is in italics, you will not appear in future updates unless you're still rattling around in the top three.)

52 Reid 2
43 Yuhan 1
40 Rogge

37 O'Reilly, Brady, and -- finally dropping out of the money after a WEEK -- Crase
36 Drake