2017 NLDS: Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals

Put sensors in the base and the players’ shoes. Eliminate human judgement everywhere possible.

I find it hilarious that the same people who scream for robot umps whenever a strike is called on a pitch one-half inch off the plate (i.e. Cameron and his minions at Fangraphs) are now saying that we need to make a judgement call when a guy is tagged with his foot one-half inch off a base.

my favorite thing about the nationals losing is how it makes the political writers i follow on twitter very sad

Sliding into a base and maintaining perfect contact isn’t some kind of skill players get selected for

noah syndergaard didn't get selected for his pickoff move, but it still matters. players aren't selected for their bunting skills, but every once in a while it comes into play.

sliding correctly *is* a skill, and some players do it better than others. (for some reason i recall that anthony rizzo does it well.) if you can't get to the base and stay on it, then maybe you shouldn't be running/straying too far from it.

i mean if you want to change the rule to encourage running because running is fun, or because you're tired of seeing stars fuck up their hands sliding head-first, that *might* be reasonable. meanwhile, the base is there and you should remain in contact with it

otm

i don't know why nats fans are complaining about this instead of the play not being called dead when baez hit weiters on the backswing during the downfall of scherzer inning

i'd complain about it too -- i'd just blame lobaton instead of the umps/rule

With advancement, I believe we get a chance to pick up a player. Wondering if it's our opportunity to offload Schwarbs, have a pitcher complain about a sore arm and get an honest to goodness decent starter for the LA series. We'll need it. I was at Monday's game and it was a nail-biter. Just found out this AM that my buddy got us in the door for Wednesday - hoping there's reason to celebrate that day, or at least live another post-season game.

i was wondering why happ got so little playing time this series

cubs starters were generally pretty good this series. it's still the bullpen that makes me scared.

Nats fans at least have a lineup/defense w/out Jayson Werth to look fwd to

I was at the game last night and Werth’s error was just. Wow. But he hit p well!

when werth struck out in the ninth i could see him thinking 'was that my last major league at bat'

small sample size

JW's OPS+ the last 3 seasons: 85, 97, 84

xp

Yeah I felt kind of bad for him there. He came so close to a game tying HR earlier in the at bat too.

Can confirm the #Cubs are still on the plane in Albuquerque and have been on the ground for 3+ hours.

— Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) October 13, 2017

it felt like werth, weiters, and to a lesser extent turner really killed the nats

This one by Werth was not a small sample size.

Signed thru 2017, Earliest Free Agent: 2018
Career to date (may be incomplete) $136,416,428

i still think the best decision Jayson Werth ever made was to not shave, that gamer beard got him an extra 40 million i bet.

in light of all the controversies of the game, the backswing interference that wasn't called, the debate over the slide into first and the vertical tag zone, i vote that we play game 5 again.

- jayson werth

Millie: I can’t seem to find a reliable interpretation of what should have been called in the 5th. Do you have one?

Jeff Sullivan: I 60-70% believe that, by the letter of the law, Baez should’ve been out on a dead ball. But I 99% believe I would’ve found that annoying because Wieters was in no way inhibited by the contact

I also 100% believe the uncaught-third-strike rule is stupid in the first place

So I’m fairly sure the wrong decision was made regarding a stupid rule that occurred during a stupid rule

But I 99% believe I would’ve found that annoying because Wieters was in no way inhibited by the contact

this was my first impression as well, but there's a video near the bottom of this - https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-nationals-protest-case/ - that makes it seem much more substantial

the video, unembeddable, and with a bizarre URL, is here: https://gfycat.com/DelayedDeepCreature

Getting an out involves catching a ball. This is as basic as baseball gets. The uncaught third strike rule makes perfect sense.

lol ppl in my office are getting FIRED UP arguing about the slide/replay/lobaton thing

did they kick the desk but miss by two inches?

i feel like a batter should get to run on a passed ball third strike, but not a wild pitch third strike. (why reward someone for swinging at a terrible pitch?) there's obviously no way to do it that way, so whatever, this is fine

Yeah, technically there's a loophole in the current rule that batters could exploit. But if it were that simple then it would happen all the time, and it doesn't. So the rule is fine the way it is.

running on PB strikeouts is exciting therefore good

I wish I would have seen this one, it looks like it was a totally insane game.