A Near Perfect Day of Baseball Games

In today’s Five-Tool Newsletter, we look at why yesterday’s postseason slate was so great and preview the conclusion of tonight’s Mets-Padres series.

For baseball fans without any vested interests in the eight teams playing this weekend, yesterday was just about the perfect day of games. The four games delivered just the right combination of tension and action—the formula for any good baseball game—by showcasing the variety of genres only our game can provide.

Consider the Guardians series-clinching win over the Rays, or baseball’s version of a comedy built around a great premise: What if two teams that don’t score a lot of runs and don’t allow a lot of runs played a three-game playoff series? This lived up to that billing. It was laughable for the same reason it was exciting. The game remained 0–0 through 14 and ½ innings, making it the longest scoreless game in postseason history, and its run time more than doubled Game 1’s brisk 2-hour, 17-minute pace (the quickest for a playoff game since 1999).

We never knew how, when or if it was going to end. When it finally did, it came suddenly and unexpectedly, and it was wholly satisfying. Guardians rookie outfielder Óscar González, 24, obliterated an 85-mph cutter from Rays 36-year-old righthander Corey Kluber—who won two Cy Youngs with Cleveland in 2014 and ’17—to lead off the 15th inning.

González celebrated with all the joy you’d expect from a player whose walk-up music is the “SpongeBob SquarePants” theme song :: David Dermer/AP

The second game of the day was the classic comeback story. The Blue Jays, facing elimination, led 8–1 after five innings. They had knocked around Mariners starter Robbie Ray (who just last year won the Cy Young Award while with with Toronto) and then battered right-handed reliever Paul Sewald, who had a 2.67 ERA and 20 saves this season, when he entered in the fifth with his team trailing by three. And then…

The Mariners harnessed all the might of the Seattle seagods, navigating rough waters, avoiding those jagged rocks on yonder shore and commencing a counter barrage on the enemy vessel, The Blue Jay. Somehow, the Toronto bullpen was even more terrible than my maritime analogies. Lefty Tim Mayza relieved starter Kevin Gausman with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, and promptly skipped his first pitch off the dirt in front of home plate and to the backstop, allowing the runner from third to score. The batter, Carlos Santana, whiffed at Mayza’s second pitch, a nasty sinker on the outside corner. Mayza went back to that same pitch again, but this time it leaked out over the plate and Santana hammered it for a three-run jack. 8–5 Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays added their ninth run in the home half of the seventh, when Danny Jansen lined an RBI single to left off Penn Murfee (which is, in fact, the correct spelling of a real name of a real person in the Seattle bullpen).

Next came the final rising action and climax to this comeback story, starring Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh as The Big Dumper. Eugenio Suárez lofted a 79.1-mph double down the left-field line (hit probability of 4% per Statcast) to begin the Seattle eighth, setting up The Big Dumper’s RBI single. 9–6 Blue Jays.

After another Mariners single, the third straight hit to start the inning, Toronto had seen enough of Anthony Bass and brought in All-Star closer Jordan Romano to face Adam Frazier, who, of course, singled to load the bases. Romano settled in, striking out Santana and Dylan Moore, and he would have escaped the bases-loaded, no-out jam unscathed if not for J.P. Crawford’s perfectly-placed bases-clearing double to tie the game.

(The excitement of Crawford’s double was muted because of a scary injury during the play. Blue Jays center fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette collided as they each dove for the blooper. Bichette’s elbow hit the back of Springer’s neck and both players went down. Bichette was slightly shaken but fine; Springer stayed down. He eventually sat up and was carted off the field. Interim manager John Schneider told reporters after the game that Springer was “doing O.K.,” and would be evaluated for a few other things in the coming days.)

With one out in the ninth, The Big Dumper took a big dump on a 2–1 Romano heater for a two bagger. (I’m showing great restraint by not calling the double a No. 2.) After a flyout, Frazier roped a slider to the right-field wall for a double. Dumper scored the go-ahead run easily. 10–9 Mariners.

Raleigh went 4-for-8 with a double, a home run, three RBIs and four runs scored in the AL Wild-Card Series :: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports

The final two games of the day—the Mets’ 7–3 win over the Padres to force tonight’s winner-take-all Game 3, and the Phillies’ 2–0 clincher vs. the Cardinals—felt more one-sided than the first two, but each had their moments of drama, mainly because of both winning teams have a comprehensive catalog of chaotic of collapses.

Down five runs, San Diego loaded the bases with a hit batsman, a walk and another walk. A third walk forced in a run and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Buck Showalter relieved Adam Ottavino with Seth Lugo, having already used closer Edwin Díaz in the seventh and eighth innings. Josh Bell grounded out. Game over.

St. Louis was down to its last out when the Cardinals Devil Magic started brewing. Corey Dickerson singled to left and Yadier Molina, in his final big-league at bat, lined a base hit to right. That brought Tommy Edman to the plate, representing the winning run, but he popped out to third to end the game and the Cardinals’ season.

Have any questions or comments for our team? Send a note to mlb@si.com.

1. THE OPENER

“[This] does not represent the closing of a window for the Cardinals. (This team is simply too good for that.) But it does represent the end of an era. It means a goodbye for two franchise icons, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, who are both retiring and, by extension, guaranteeing that baseball will never look quite the same here again…

“And it’s hard to imagine that it could have happened in more disappointing fashion for the Cardinals. After a sloppy, uncharacteristic meltdown in the ninth inning of Game 1, they failed to get hot enough to melt anything in the first place in Game 2. Their lineup faced an excellent starting pitcher in the Phillies’ Aaron Nola. But even in that context, the failures of their biggest hitters were glaring, especially in the biggest situations.”

That’s Emma Baccellieri from Busch Stadium, writing about the end of a magical season and era for the Cardinals.

Cardinals’ Seemingly Storybook Season Closes With an Unhappy Ending by Emma Baccellieri
Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina did their part in Game 2 against the Phillies, but St. Louis’s MVP candidates faltered when it mattered most.

2. ICYMI

Need to get caught up on what’s happened so far in the Mets-Padres series? We’ve got you covered!

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso crushed a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth inning of New York’s Game 2 win over the Padres :: John Minchillo/AP

The Mets Just Might Be Enough by Stephanie Apstein
Pushed to the brink of what would have been a devastating elimination, the Mets looked more like their best selves in Game 2 against the Padres.

The Mets Only Have Themselves to Blame for Their Game 1 Starting Pitching Debacle by Stephanie Apstein
New York tried to get cute with its first three starters. Now, it’s one loss away from a more than promising season ending in heartbreak.

Before tonight’s Game 3 between the Mets and Padres, check out these stories from earlier this season about each team.

First, Stephanie Apstein chronicled the Mets’ push to transition from MLB’s most confounding organization into a normal, winning team.

How the New Mets Are (Mostly) Overcoming Decades of Dysfunction by Stephanie Apstein
Are attitude and personnel and money enough for this wayward franchise to become a normal winning team?

And here’s two columns from Tom Verducci about the Padres, because you really can’t explain how they got here without both of them.

The Padres Are the Ideal Team for Baseball Fans by Tom Verducci
They operate the way you think you would if you had the money to own a team the way San Diego owner Peter Seidler does.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Costs the Padres Their Dream Season by Tom Verducci
They had every star lined up—until a little Clostebol blew up their plans.

And finally, some breaking news about the Yankees…

Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman Off ALDS Roster After Unexcused Absence by Zach Koons

3. WORTH NOTING from Stephanie Apstein

If you thought the Mets and Padres game—it took four hours and 13 minutes and was nearly lapped by Cardinals–Phillies, which started an hour later—was a good advertisement for the upcoming rule changes, well, so did the Mets. “How many balls would that be with the pitch clock next year?” one of them crowed after it was all over. (Pitchers who take too long will be penalized with a ball, hitters, with a strike.) The drama of the playoffs is wonderful. The dead time is not. So cherish these endless step-offs; in a month, you will never see them again.

4. W2W4 from Will Laws

Joe Musgrove and Chris Bassitt are set to face off in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Padres-Mets series on Sunday at 7:07 p.m. ET on ESPN. Bassitt has faced San Diego twice this season. In the first matchup on June 8, the Padres roughed him up at Petco Park for seven runs in 3 ⅓ innings, Bassitt’s shortest start of the season. He did recover to hold them to two runs over seven innings with a season-high 11 strikeouts on July 23 in Queens, though. So who knows how that’ll go! (If you’re wondering, Musgrove faced the Mets once this season and was charged with four earned runs, including a home run to Pete Alonso, in 5 ⅓ innings.)

Buck Showalter’s interesting decision to bring in Edwin Díaz with the Mets up by one in the seventh inning of Saturday’s win, and his even more interesting decision to keep Díaz in for the eighth even after the Mets extended their lead to five runs, could have an impact on the closer’s availability Sunday. He should be able to finish one frame, but could he be counted on for another multi-inning outing? If not, and it ends up biting New York, Showalter’s aggressive usage of him Saturday could be questioned.

5. THE CLOSER from Emma Baccellieri

The Cardinals’ early exit means retirement for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. But what about this team’s other iconic, talented veteran, Adam Wainwright? Despite a September fade, the righty still had a season of above-average production, with a 3.71 ERA (103 ERA+) in 191 innings. (Yes, 191 innings! At his age!) But the 41-year-old demurred on the subject of his future after Game 2. “I’ll tell you this,” said the pitcher, who did not appear in the wild-card round, “I don’t like not pitching in a playoff series. So you could take that one of two ways. You can take that as it’s been a good run, or you could take that as it’s motivation to never let it happen again.”

That’s all from us today. We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow. In the meantime, share this newsletter with your friends and family, and tell them to sign up at SI.com/newsletters. If you have any questions or comments, shoot us an email at mlb@si.com.