Rates & Barrels - Chad Jennings on the Red Sox's Run, Atlanta Advances, Dodgers-Giants Heads to Game 5

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

Chad Jennings joins Britt and DVR discuss how the Red Sox match up with the Astros ahead of the ALCS, and whether the script they used to oust the Rays in a five-game series can be effective over a best-of-seven. Then, Britt and DVR examine Atlanta's series win over the Brewers, and the Dodgers' series-tying victory in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.  Follow Britt on Twitter: @Britt_Ghiroli Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper Follow Chad on Twitter: @chadjennings22 e-mail: [e-mail] Watch the show *Live* on weekdays at 11:30a ET/8:30a PT on YouTube and subscribe to the Rates & Barrels YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RatesBarrels Subscribe to The Athletic at 50% off for the first year: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Rates and Barrels presented by Topps. Check out Topps Project 70 celebrating 70 years of Topps baseball cards. Derek Van Ryper, Richard Rowley, and Chad Jennings joining us. Chad, of course, covers the Red Sox for The Athletic, one of our two Red Sox beat writers. So, Chad, filling in for Eno Saris as we get ready for a Boston- Houston ALCS. Not quite the script that people imagined back when the season began, but Chad,

thank you for joining us. Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm sure everyone's very, very happy about these two teams. There's nothing controversial at all about either one. It's completely fine. Yeah, public perception of both teams is extremely positive, but there's a lot to get to for this series. And I think if you look back at how they did it, how the Red Sox eliminated the Rays,

a big part of it was having some pitchers come through in some really key spots. Tanner Houck, Nick Pavetta, Eduardo Rodriguez, kind of in games two, three, and four, respectively. part of it was having some pitchers come through in some really key spots tanner hauck nick pavetta eduardo rodriguez kind of in games two three and four respectively i think my question about that trio is how effective can that strategy be with those pitchers over a full seven game series and also adjusting for what is even a more difficult offense to navigate in the astros yeah there's no question you know i mean we i was just talking with Jay Kaplan about this yesterday. He said, who's going to start game two?

It depends on who he uses in game one, which is amazing that you could go into a seven-game series like this and have there be no real set number two starter because of the way you handle the pitching staff. I mean, they have Nate Evaldi, and at at this point that's really the only traditional true starting pitcher they have otherwise i mean the way like you said the way alex got through tampa is you would have said the raised strength right is their pitching depth right they had more they should have had more options than the red sox and and alex just sort of flipped that on its head just by using

his staff the way he did. But, yeah, if that series had gone to a fifth game, I mean, would you trust Sale again in game five to start? So I think he'd kind of run out of – there wasn't much runway left. And now he's going to have to do that even longer. So, yeah, I mean, I think he's going to keep trying to do it. It's just, you know, yeah, again, can you be that aggressive, you know, pull your starter in the, before the end of the second inning in games one and two, when you know, you have that much more to go. Guys, I think I'm going

to call this the America sweetheart series because it's just two lovable teams. As we said, Chad, can you kind of take us through maybe for people who don't follow the Red Sox quite that closely, the Alex Cora factor? To me, it's interesting. And I know after they clinched, a lot of guys spoke about him and his impact. And obviously, everyone knows his role in Houston. He got suspended. He came back. What have you seen, maybe from spring training on, that Cora has done? Yeah, well, it starts in spring training with Alex I think had in the going into the season you know the Red Sox obviously not picked to win they're picked as like the number four team in the division his approach to it was not a like chip on the shoulder let's prove them wrong kind of thing his approach is more Alex is steady I

mean that is his whole his whole thing is it's like a totally calm presence. It's a, so it wasn't so much let's prove them wrong. It was just like, why wouldn't we play in October? Like we're like, they talked about that in team meetings and in staff meetings and whether he's talking about a public or not, it was always, they talked about October all the time from the beginning so that it was not a big deal. Like it was not a, there was no reason to think that this team was not going to go to the playoffs because that was just always there. And then the other thing I think Alex does well is through the

season, he's very cautious. I mean, guys being pulled early because of pitch counts. And I mean, he gives guys days off all the time. You know, Xander Bogarts gets days, you know, they have an off day the next day. He'll give him that day off and rest him when it feels like they don't need to. Pretty strict rules on when he uses pitchers and relievers, when he doesn't. And then he gets into October, and as we were just talking about, all of that's gone. They've gotten this far. They're using a starting lineup right now that they did not use the entire regular season.

Kyle Schwarber hitting leadoff, Kike Hernandez hitting second. That's a completely new thing. Everything about the way he does the pitching staff, completely new. So he does have a different year and he did the same thing in 18. I mean, in 18, he had a very different pitching staff, right? He had a legit four-man rotation, but on those times, it was on their bullpen days, those guys were available out of the pen. And he would, I mean, the, the extent to which he would never even consider something like that in the regular season. Like he,

he runs as far away from that as possible. So I think he has, it's, it's kind of two different cores. It's the super steady. We're going to do this. Don't worry about anything for six months. And then he gets talked over and it's let's go.

And he has a good way to, of he can pull Eduardo Rodriguez in the second inning of game one, take him out, and then tell him, like, you just didn't have fastball command today. It's not a problem. You're going to start game four, and you're going to get your fastball command back, and you're going to be great again. Like, he can make those huge moves that should get in a guy's head, right, that should say, I don't have confidence in you in this spot.

And he does it in such a way where the next time he really needs them, that player does have the confidence that he does trust me in this spot and I can do it in this spot. He does a good job with that. It seems like a key skill for a manager in today's game where things are so unconventional, at least just compared to the era that some of the veteran players might have come up in.

This team clearly had different internal expectations compared to what we all had on the outside. I think for me, the ceiling was third place in the AL East, above 500. A good team, one that would probably struggle to out hit its pitching over a full season. So I've been wrong about them, and I feel like I like them even a little more than most people did. How much do you think they were kind of laying low as an organization? Like you said it with Cora, especially like clearly he's been talking about October all season long. Do you think they knew all along they were going to have a legitimate shot to be playing for a pennant this year? Yeah, I think they knew they had a legitimate shot.

I don't think at any point they claimed that they should be or would be favorites. But I think their whole thing was like, look, yeah, I mean, we'll need a couple of guys to work out, but there's no reason that we can't be good. The other thing is without making a big splash in the offseason, right? They didn't make, even when they got a, you know, when they finally got their kind of middle of the rotation starter, it was Garrett Richards when they could have had like Corey Kluber right not that that necessarily would have been a better signing but that's a name like that's a bigger thing um Kike Hernandez Hunter Renfro there was no big move and that I think masks the fact that their roster is so drastically changed I mean it I don't I think it was on their opening day roster this year, only 11 guys

who spent most of last season with the team because so many guys were hurt last year. They had guys who came up in the second, Tanner Howe, Bobby Dahlbeck, some of these guys who came up in the second half last year when the team was playing pretty well, actually. And those guys stayed. But of guys who were there for the duration of a terrible 2020 there were only about 11 12 guys who were back in any sort of meaningful role this year so that's a a big amount of roster turnover that it's almost like we all missed like you just don't notice that they've made that many moves and gotten that much deeper and that much better because we didn't have that one move to to latch on to and maybe we're all still reeling a little bit from this being the team that

traded Mookie Betts, right? It just didn't feel like a team that was getting better. It still felt like a team that's in not a full rebuild, but a little bit of one. So that sort of did, that snuck under the radar a little bit that they had gotten kind of sneaky better, partially because they didn't have the big move and partially because some of

those moves were not a sure thing. I mean, Garrett Richards, not a sure thing. Adam Adovino, not a sure thing. are partially because they didn't have the big move and partially because some of those moves were not a sure thing. I mean, Garrett Richards, not a sure thing. Adam Adovino, not a sure thing. Hunter Renfro and Kike Hernandez getting a chance to play every day, not a sure thing. But they believed those things could work. And largely, all of that proved true, not in like a superstar sense, but certainly in a impactful, get a team into the ALCS sense,

it all worked out. So Chad, I feel like maybe some people that wouldn't normally root for the Red Sox are going to maybe root for the Red Sox now to beat the Astros. So how, let me ask you this, we've seen them win the wildcard game.'ve seen them go through tampa bay how do they advance past houston what has to go right for them to win this series do you think i mean a lot of it's their offense right they they they showed it and really that's how it started with them in the division series it was that game two when sale gives up the grand slam in the first inning and they're down five two think it was. And then they wind up scoring like 14 runs in that game. You forget that this offense can be really good. You know, and, you know, the Kyle Schwarber pickup at the trade deadline was weird

because, I mean, they have J.D. Martinez. They had Alex Verdugo in left. The last thing they needed was a left fielder, D.H. And they found ways to use him. I mean, they're not playing – they play him at first base, mostly against righties, and he'll mix in there at left and left field a lot against left-handers. You know, they find ways to – that offense has gotten better.

So I think it starts there. I mean, that's their strength is they can hit. And then the wild card is just, yeah, I mean, Alex is going to have to figure out how to get this pitching staff through it um because he has if he can keep games from getting out of hand he's got an offense that can do something but uh the trick is going to be getting enough out of the pitching staff so that the offense can has has a time and has a chance to to get to work yeah i think the the lingering question for me with this team as I've gotten a closer look at them in the postseason

is what do they do in short relief? What do they do for the last nine outs of the game? I know Garrett Whitlock's been fantastic all season. Matt Barnes kind of fell apart in the second half. That might even be an understatement, but if they're able to get through six and they're tied or they're protecting a lead, what

is their ideal bridge to close out a game at this point with this core of short relievers? Yeah. I mean, they like Hansel Robles. He's been another kind of sneaky, good pickup for them. They got him at the deadline and he's really helped. As you said, Whitlock is kind of the, I guess he's the closer now if they even have one of those, it might just be kind of, he's their highest leverage reliever. Josh Taylor has been excellent. I mean, he's really good against lefties. You have Adovino, who obviously can match up really well against right-handers.

So there's something in there. There's also Tanner Houck, a rookie who, I mean, you could still make a case for starting him. He's the guy who kind of can do anything. I mean, it wouldn't be shocking to see him start one of these games. It wouldn't be shocking to see him come in for one huge inning in the seventh or eighth. And it wouldn't be shocking to see him come in in the third inning and have to go four innings of long relief. He's kind of an X factor for them in the bullpen because he can do all that. But you're right. There is no set plan. And when the Red Sox were really good in the first half, they had that. I mean, their bullpen was sneaky good

early in the year. I mean, Barnes in the ninth inning, they had Ad. I mean, their bullpen was sneaky good early in the year. I mean, Barnes in the ninth inning, they had Adovino, they had Salamora. Salamora's not even going to be on the roster probably. Same with Darwinson Hernandez. He wasn't on the DS roster. And those guys, when the bullpen was really good, those guys were vital pieces. They had five or six go-to relievers, and now they just don't have that. So I don't know that there is a a plan i just kind of again he he he figures out his windows right and who can match up well in

what spots and you know we talk a lot about teams that script it right do you script your bullpen usage script i don't know that they script it i just think he has 10 scripts in front of him and then depending on the way things go he picks the one that works right i mean he certainly that game one of the uh or maybe even a better example is game two of the division series the script was not chris sale for one inning but the script maybe had tanner hauck as if something goes wrong here you can bring him in so i think he has a lot of different ways that he can go and that they feel pretty decent about all of them.

It's just a matter of which one he chooses. Yeah, there's also the question of which Chris Sale shows up. He hasn't quite been himself since coming back from Tommy John surgery. Few pitchers come back and are immediately themselves. Our last look at him was brutal in game two, but you've seen him down the stretch this season do you think it's reasonable if they could at least get four or five quality inning outings from sale maybe twice in the series because i think that's going to be a key for them

to pull it off as well as getting at least a good version of sale for about 10 total innings over the course of the series against houston i think that, yeah, I mean, his fastball and slider have been okay. He just, he hasn't really had a change up and he's been a lot, you know, he's been inconsistent. And Chris Sale has been really good for a long time and did it with three pitches that he could throw anytime he wanted to. So I would imagine it is a little bit jarring when one of those isn't there, you know, and now you're kind of having to figure out a different way to do it. But yeah, I mean, is it reasonable? Sure. There were, there were times

this season since he's come back that you would think five innings, he could do that easily. The other thing I would say is whatever concerns you have about whether sale can get through five, I think those concerns are also there for Nick Pavetta. I think they're also there for Eduardo Rodriguez. I think they're also there for Tanner. I mean, really, aside from of all the, any option they have to start or whatever you want to call it, go whoever they would ask for five innings, there's reason to question whether that person could do it.

And there's reason to think they absolutely could. So that's, he kind of, in that sense, now he falls into kind of the same uh the same tunnel as those other guys it's just that he happens to be chris sale so the best case scenario is uh is something relatively epic yeah i'm glad you brought that up dvr because my question was going to be like can they actually win without him and it seems like you mentioned some x factors he it's going to be tough for the red sox to win a seven game series potentially without chris sale doing something for them right it was oh yeah for sure it's one thing to win i mean they only they had to play four games

in the division series right and they got one inning out of sale there that's already sort of a minor miracle considering the way they they all talk about it still that going into the year they just knew they're going to get Chris Sale back at some point in the second half and how that's motivation for them, right? That's like part of that, why are they better than we gave them credit for? They believed that was going to happen.

And for a while, that was true. So yeah, to win a series where you only got one inning out of Sale is remarkable, but it's different in a seven game set, right? I mean, having to win four out of seven is a lot harder, and you're going to have to find more innings somewhere. So, yeah, I think that Sale is an important part of this, and also maybe part of the reason that you go ahead and start him in game two

is that you're going to need him. I mean, I just don't think they're going to get through this without something meaningful from Sale. So maybe just go for it, right? I mean, you need a lot of things to go right anyway. Game two, here we go. Let's see how it works. Yeah, I mean, I would want him to start game two

because if he pitches well, you get him again in the series and possibly get another turn like that. Comment here from Mitch on the stream. Part of me wants nothing to do with a Boston Dodgers World Series, but I do want to see Mookie absolutely go off in that potential series yeah there'd be some stories to write in a matchup like that one and then we got uh steven jazul pulling for the astros i love a good heel not that the socks aren't one astros are just a mega heel i guess that's one way to quantify it yeah it's interesting oh sorry i was gonna say that you were talking about alex earlier

and one of the things with him is um i think you look at the reaction of guys like Kevin Cash, other people in the game. The way Alex has been embraced coming back is different, right? Like there was, there's an animosity toward the Astros that even though Alex has, I mean, in some ways was sort of blamed for the whole thing, right? But there's something about the way he's handled it and taken ownership of it that I, I mean, there are certain people who are never going to forgive him for it. I mean, we see it now. I wrote an Alex Cora story two

days ago, and there were some responses that were not in favor. But, so that's going to happen, but I do think that in terms of like, if there are two, if you're like both sides are kind of the bad guy in this series, there does seem to be something sort of within the game that is still kind

of angry with the Astros and somehow Cora, I think through the way he's handled it and the way he's taken responsibility for it, that reaction has been different toward him there does seem to be some internal forgiveness toward him whereas there's still a little bit of uh teams kind of want to yeah to the astros i was just thinking that last night i'm glad you brought that up i'm like does that guy get booed on the road do people yell at alex cora cheater yeah some they do doesn't seem as bad no, no. I don't think it's bad.

And I mean, are they going to do it in Houston? That's true. It's going to be quite something if he starts getting food there. He might get a standing ovation before game one during introductions. I mean, you never know. But before we let you go, Chad, what's your prediction for the series? Who wins and how many games does it take? I mean, I still think the smarter money is to go with Houston.

Houston was just so much better than the Red Sox when they played this season. Look, the Red Sox are different now. The Astros and Red Sox played one another seven times in 12 days at the beginning beginning of June. So I mean, it was a long time ago, right. And it's one sort of window in time. But it was, it was pretty lopsided. And so I still think you have to think the smarter money is on them for some of the issues we've talked about, but the way Cora manages in October, I mean, he's been as a bench coach and a manager, he's been in eight playoff series and he's won them all.

So, you know, is that a magic touch that he can kind of keep going? I don't know, but there's something to it. He manages very differently in October and it works. So this, but this is going to be a significant challenge for him for sure. Yeah, it's going to be a great series, I think. A battle of two heels, I think is the way I'm going to describe a significant challenge for him for sure yeah it's going to be a great series i think a battle of two heels i think it's the way i'm going to describe it going forward we got a shout

out here before we let you go from james for your work at low hud back in the day on yankees b yeah you've been on both sides of that rivalry so uh i have yeah people were like when i moved here they're like oh man it must be so different like it would have been different if i went to like milwaukee not that i'm from i'm from missouri i'm not bad mouthing the midwest but just like They're like, oh man, it must be so different. It would have been different if I went to Milwaukee. I'm from Missouri. I'm not bad mouthing the Midwest, but that would have been the big change. I mean, New York Red Sox, they're sort of operating in the same sphere. Absolutely.

Well, thanks so much for the time today, Chad. We really appreciate you and we'll catch up with you again soon. My pleasure. Talk to you later. Thanks, Chad. We really appreciate you. We'll catch up with you again soon. My pleasure. Talk to you later. Thanks, Chad. It's Chad Jennings, one of the Red Sox beat writers here at The Athletic, at ChadJennings22 on Twitter. Be sure to check out his pieces. Go to theathletic.com slash rates and

barrels. Get 50% off a subscription if you don't already have one. All right, Britt, you have the difficult task now of being my therapist on the show because the Brewers season ended yesterday. Why did we talk about the Red Sox to begin the show? Well, because Chad's great and because I didn't want to talk about the Brewers. Those were the two reasons in no particular order,

but we got to talk about it. I'm finally ready to accept this reality that the Brewers had what I would describe as a championship caliber pitching staff, but they didn't have the rest of the requisite parts to go along with it to deliver a World Series to Milwaukee. What went wrong in Game 4 from your perspective? Because I'm still very emotional about the entire situation. This is good, though, because the first step, DVR, is admitting you have a problem, admitting the team has a problem, right? That's the first step in getting past this pain. They couldn't hit. And in game four, they finally did score some runs. But to me, whether they won four or not, Atlanta outplayed them.

Atlanta outplayed them in one through three. Even yesterday, Freddie Freeman from covering the NLl east that's a tailor-made freddie freeman hit like he's obnoxious if you're not an atlanta braves fan because he rises to the moment i thought milwaukee had a few chances to kind of blow the game open there they were unable to do it they had a bunch of guys they couldn't cash in so yes it looks like they finally scored some runs offensively but this lineup was always kind of doomed, right? Even the first three games of the series, they put themselves in this really tough position.

I think they were what, 0 for 22 or something crazy like that with runners in scoring positions. So getting a few hits, yes, they were bound to. But for me, this series was already decided. It was decided in the first three games. They had such an uphill battle to have to deal with. As you said, they were just an incomplete team.

Nobody needed them to be the Astros lineup or the Red Sox lineup, right? You just wanted a league average lineup and they probably could have been okay, but they were not a league average lineup. I think the way this series actually played out,

everything was close. Everything was on the margins. There were opportunities on both sides that weren't cashed in. I think if the script were flipped, if it were the Brewers in four, we'd even before the series started, just that Atlanta's big three pitching wise could be good enough to keep the Brewers offense quiet. And then once you get to the bullpens, anything can happen. Obviously Atlanta's offense has plenty of balance, even without Acuna. I think more credit should be given to them for what they've been able to do. I think teams that lose a player like that rarely do anything to try and get out of that tailspin and still make the playoffs. And here they are. And how well Atlanta matches up against the Giants and the Dodgers,

that's still a bit of a question. They would match up pretty similar to how the Brewers do, but maybe with a little bit more offensive punch, a little more power right now. I mean, the way the season ended for the Brewers, as Steven DeZule reminds me, punch a little more power right now i mean the way the season ended for the brewers as uh steven reminds me it was a yellich striking out looking situation they had their best hitter at the plate with the tying run on base they had a as much as you can ask for a scenario where you're down one

but have a chance for one swing to put you back on top they had everything fall in an order where they could do it. And it just didn't happen. And among the many questions people are going to ask about this Brewers team is, what was wrong with Jelic throughout this year? This was not the same guy we saw back in 18 and 19. We just don't know. Unless he's going to start talking about it

and tell us that there was an injury or something going on that we didn't know about, it's going to be one of the great mysteries of the winter. But it goes beyond Yelich too. This is a year in which Keston Hira would have been a key offensive contributor in our minds. If we would have said, hey, the Brewers are playing in October, who's going to be a big part of the core? Well, Keston

Hira obviously had a bounce back season. No, he didn't. He was not a contributor at all. I think that was a huge story for them over the course of the year. They missed having another guy like that. What they do this offseason, just keep building offensive pieces in around the core because the pitchers are coming back. This is a core pitchers they're going to have together for a while, fortunately for them. So I think the thing about the Brewers that gives me a little bit of optimism, I'm curious if you agree with this, Britt.

This division is a bit of a mess because the Pirates are still a couple years away. They're really young. They're probably not competing until at least 2023. The Cardinals are the Cardinals. They will, of course, be there battling. The Reds don't seem like they're inclined to go out and spend a lot of money, so they're probably going to be pretty similar to where they are right now. Maybe they add a player or two, but are they going to be a powerhouse probably not and that really just leaves you with the cubs in their rebuild and saying okay they're at least a year away from pushing chips in too so the brewers might have the benefit of an easier path in the nl central again in 2022 than a lot of other teams like such as the padres right the padre situation

in the west became a lot worse very quickly with the Giants turnaround. I don't know if I see a third team quickly popping up in the Central for next season. Yeah, I think maybe the closest would be the Cardinals because I think the Cardinals have a lot of stuff they can build off of from that crazy run in September. Bring them back Molina, last year of

Wainwright as well. I think maybe it's a two-team kind of thing, but you're probably right when you look at that division i think one thing that's not maybe set enough as we talked about the ellich injury lorenzo cane had like a ton of tape all up his neck and his shoulders and you know he crashed into the outfield like the wall like that was a serious thing you wonder how much pain he was in he's another guy who didn't really you know none of them really offensively had a great series but you're right in that the the brewers are set up that if they

just get a few bats they'd be fine again nobody was saying they needed to be the houston astros of the red sox but they needed a few guys hitting they needed a few more uh big bats in that lineup the the braves and we talked about this before the series, you and Eno had the Brewers. And I think it's an easy thing to sit here and say, like, the team with the better pitching is going to win. And that's the case as long as that team also has is a little more well-rounded. Like you knew the Braves weren't going to put up 12 runs off of the Brewers pitching. But you also knew that the Braves, there were going to be a few mistakes and the Braves have good enough batters that they weren't going to miss. They put a lot of balls in play and you saw it, right? They were able to edge out and eke

out these wins, even though the Brewers pitching staff is better. So to me, they were a bad match up for the Brewers that first round because of that. And I know people are going to say, whoever wins the Dodgers Giants is just going to steamroll the Braves. I don't necessarily agree. I think there's something to playing with momentum. There's something to constantly playing in that underdog role, which the Braves are in. And I think they're a little bit of a better team that we kind of wrote off

because they had a real bad start to the season because they languished in the NL East, which everyone kind of wrote off as a terrible division. Well, they've had to play and they've been hot now since like July. And I think nobody really realizes or cares outside of Atlanta. But watch them because I think this is going to be a really good NLCS, no matter who wins Giants-Dodgers against the Braves.

They're not just going to collapse and fold. They're a very good team. So I think it's important to note that too. It's not just like the Brewers collapsed or the Brewers choked. Atlanta had a really good series as they needed to, to win those close games. You had to play really well to beat the Brewers collapsed or the Brewers choked. Atlanta had a really good series, as they needed to, to win those close games. You had to play really well to beat the Brewers. We watched how tightly contested really every single game in this series was.

You never felt comfortable. Did you ever feel comfortable watching those games? You never did, no matter who you were rooting for. You know, it wasn't like Houston who put up 10 runs on Chicago. You know, it wasn't a lopsided series at all. And I hope that doesn't get lost in this is that the Brewers were good enough. They were just, they just felt a little shy.

They were like literally two, maybe, maybe even one hitter short of being that team, in my opinion. Right. That's just the way a series works. You can be a great team for 162 games and you can be kind of an average team for the next four. And that's enough to bounce you from the playoffs. McCabe chiming in the chat sorry dvr hope you haven't been taking hazel out when hunter strickland came in no i've watched that and threw the requisite

puke emojis into slack with eno and brit when it happened but um yeah she she needed she did time outside a little later in the game and i think I was better off being outside listening to a yuke on the radio at the end of that game as well. Mitch has a question. How much, if any, concern do you have about Freddy Peralta and even Brandon Woodruff to some extent fading at the end of the year? I think with Peralta, it was the shoulder issue that popped up on him late in the year. He pitched well in Game 3. Yeah, Game 3. He pitched really well in the year. He pitched well in game three. Yeah, game three. He pitched really well in that spot. I'm

not really worried about him physically just because he made it back and looked good enough where the full offseason of rest and getting strength back, I think he'll be the guy he was this year. I mean, the new pitch mix for him changed everything. So I think they do still have a big three intact going into next season.

With Woodruff, he's a top 10 starting pitcher for me, maybe even a top five guy. I have no concerns about him. So I really think it comes down to how much they can find pieces to fit in around this core that can help them offensively. I think the problem they have is a common problem where there's a lot of swing and miss in that lineup. And if they can find one or two more bats, guys that strike out less than 20% of the time that they can play every single day, they'll be a lot more consistent putting runs on the board and a little bit less home run dependent, a little bit less three true outcomes. And that would be their biggest, their best path forward going to next season. I don't think it even ended up mattering a ton in the end. Obviously, Strickland

having to pitch in that game was brutal, and it was something I was afraid was going to happen. There weren't that many spots where you said, hey, Devin Williams would have been great here. Yesterday would have been one because you could have had Williams available for the ninth if the ninth had mattered. I think matching up Hayter against Freeman

in the eighth actually made a lot of sense. That was the right call. Yes, it was. It was a great adjustment. They were pointing this out on the broadcast of the postgame show. Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off against Josh Hayter two years ago, and it was on a first-pitch fastball. He was looking slider instead because he expected Hayter to make an adjustment, and it was a bad slider.

But credit Freeman for looking for it and taking it out because that's the kind of adjustment a great hitter is going to make. Yeah. I was going to say that too. It's your best against your best. You lose because Freeman hits that ball off a hater. You lose because Yellich strikes out. It's almost like, well, don't cry because it's over, DVR. Smile because it happened. Like, they had a nice year, but it just wasn't their year. It's true. That old woodblock quote is just like a tagline for my entire life as a sports fan.

It's so unreal. But the other play that keeps sticking out in my head is it was in the Aaron Ashby sequence. He got a ground ball that he needed and it was a it was like a tailor-made angle for a double play but it was hit too softly for a double play and it would have ended the inning and it would have stopped a rally and it was just one of those things where it's like really like you got weak contact you got the batted ball type you want you got the batted ball hit at the guy you wanted it hit to but it was hit so softly that you only got one out, a run scored, and the inning continued.

That, to me, was the little thing, the little extra punch in the ribs that, when I see that particular replay, that's the thing that actually bothers me the most from that game, because nine times out of ten, a batted ball like that is hit a little harder, they turn two, and everything is different from that point on.

Yeah, but that's just playoff baseball, right? These tiny, seemingly insignificant things end up being a big deal, right? So, I mean, go talk to the Rays about the ball that hit out of the stadium at Fenway Park. Did that change? Would the Rays still be playing right now? It's just really tough to go about it that way, I think. And what's interesting to me, what's kind of weird is one, there's no baseball today, but two, we have,

we finally have a game five, which we all kind of predicted was going to happen, right? I would have been kind of upset if we didn't watch five games of Giants Dodgers, because that's, we're really going to see here who the true winner is in this. Now, do they have pitching matchups? I think it's Wood again, right? So the matchups I saw at last glance,

and this makes sense to me, is you're going to go Rios against Webb. Oh, Rios-Webb, that's right, that's right. So it's a game... It's one and two rematch, running it back this time. And I think the interesting thing is you've got Kevin Gossman on full rest too. So if you need him, let's say web is good. Not great.

Maybe the Dodgers get to him after five pitch count gets a little higher. You could go to Gossman before you go to Camilo Doval. They should have Tyler Rogers available. Jake McGee will be available because of the off day. So the Giants have everybody they reasonably want to have available to pitch in this game. The thing that we'll probably dig into in even more detail tomorrow

is how much are we really going to see Scherzer in this one with Arias starting? If Arias goes 5 or 6, is Scherzer the guy that actually comes in ahead of the A bullpen, as we call it? I think that's the decision that Dave Roberts and the Dodgers are going to have to make. And they get an extra day to think

about it and to sleep on it and kind of come up with a plan for just how much Scherzer they maybe want to use in support of Arias. I think Max Scherzer is going to say he's available. And he's pitched, and he's pitched out of the bullpenpen and he's done it as recently as 19 so you know it's a it's a it's another elimination game for them and what was nice i think from the if you're a dodgers fan is that that game yesterday just never seemed like it was going to go san francisco's way right like even when san francisco even when they it was two to nothing and um i forget who made that fantastic grab in the outfield. It just seemed like it was Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers, and the Giants never got anything going offensively.

Like the score was close for a while, but you just never felt like San Francisco is going to steal this one. Right? It just, you know, they kept kind of adding on methodically. And it seemed like watching that game, man, this should be 12 to nothing. So the Dodgers really didn't have to kind of sweat out that game, even though it was their second elimination game. And they were able to kind of rest. They didn't have to go at it like out by out, you know,

like that kind of stress. So you're going to have two after the soft day, fully stocked teams. And now we're really going to see, right? Like Giants best versus Dodgers best. Game five, San Francisco. Everyone's had rest. Everyone's ready to go. I really hope that game doesn't start at like nine 30 Eastern time.

Did they announce it? Because otherwise I'm going to have to nap or take a caffeine pill or something insane because it's just going to be such a good game. I don't know. I'm going to have to do something because these games are, yeah, that's a thing. These games are taking like four hours and I love baseball, but these games are taking four

hours. So if they're starting that game at 9.30 and you're on the East Coast like I am, you have got to prepare. You have got to plan. Yes, caffeine pills are real. What? I just drank coffee. I didn't know there was a faster way to take caffeine.

I'm okay. I'm not going to introduce myself to those because it'd be a problem. I'm seeing a 9.07 Eastern first pitch right now for that game, so better find those caffeine pills for tomorrow. Brewster Gratterall, by the way, threw four pitches at 102 or higher.

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that. What about the sinker? Is that like 103 or something? It's gross. He's one of those guys we've said this before when you watch him you keep waiting for the strikeout rate to tick up because there's so much velocity and there's so much filth but he hasn't locked it all just yet but wow i mean that was just an impressive performance from him i think the last thing for today that sort of caught my eye looking at the dodgers is that you've got a few guys who weren't playing well late in the year.

Mookie Betts was very banged up. Betts seems like he's healthy right now. Three hard hit balls in that win last night. Even Gavin Lux, who had an up and down disappointing year overall, he looked good yesterday. And Cody Bellinger had three hard hit balls too. So there's a lot to,

to really like about a few things that were previously going wrong for the Dodgers that are quietly starting to inch back in the right direction. You're right. And Kenley Jansen has been like, we've said like, wow, because there's been post seasons where you're like, did they go to him?

Did they not go to him? You kind of watch him and you're like, Oh God, I can only watch like, you know, it's tough to watch. So you're right. They're like trending upward. Whereas I watched the Dodgers last night and like, do they miss belt? It's kind of clear that they do. You know, is that going to end up hurting them? I don't want to overreact to one game, but they just like, didn't look that great offensively. And I was so excited. Like here comes Longoria. He's on the up and up. And he had some horrible at-bats yesterday.

So again, anything can happen in a one-game playoff. So I'm not going to say like, oh, the Giants are trending down just because they lost that game. But you're right. The Dodgers have gotten... The Dodgers were a good team. They're kind of playing to those capabilities now,

which they weren't always playing to those capabilities. I think that's fair to say for sure. Yeah, looking forward to a game five on Thursday and looking forward to breaking it down in even greater detail with you tomorrow. And, you know, we'll probably talk about a few other things with the the ALCS matchup as well. No show on Friday, but Eno is back on Thursday. It turns out we all have weird obligations on Friday that we didn't expect. We kind of thought we'd put the schedule together. Of course, we'll all be around, or at least any

two of us will be around every day. But yeah, a lot to get to as we get to Game 5. By the way, I mentioned it earlier, if you don't have a subscription to The Athletic, you can get one for 50% off for the first year at theathletic.com slash rates in barrels. We have more playoff coverage

on The Athletic that you might have time to read in a day, depending on how much actual work you have to get done. If you are retired and can read everything, I am jealous of you because a, you're retired and B you get to read all of it, but theathletic.com slash rates in barrels gets you that deal. King of waffles returns tomorrow on Twitter.

Brit is at Brit underscore Droli. I am at Derek Van Ryper. If you're watching us on YouTube, be sure to barrel up on that like button. That is going to wrap things up for this episode of Rates and Barrels. We are back with you on Thursday. Thanks for listening. ...

......... Thank you.