05 October 2016

The Wild Card Kerfuffle Over A Closer

The controversy over Buck Showalter leaving his unhittable reliever in the bullpen with Baltimore's Wild Card elimination game against Toronto hanging in the balance reminds me of the dust-up in MLB's inaugural Wild Card game between Atlanta and St. Louis.

In that contest, a highly questionable infield fly call cost the Braves a bases-loaded rally in the eighth inning of a game they ultimately lost 6-3.

In that contest, the Braves didn't lose because of one infield fly rule, as was pointed out convincingly here. They lost because they made three infield gaffes and stranded a dozen runners.

Similarly, the Orioles' loss can't be laid at the feet of their skipper for mis-managing his pen. While it's hard to defend Showalter's determination to husband Zach Britton -- season ERA 0.54 -- for a save situation, that had less to do with their defeat than producing four base runners in 11 innings did.

The O's lived and died by the home run all year and Tuesday it served as their post-season hemlock. The Jays were the better team anyway and now we'll see what they can do in the playoffs.

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