The Braves stay alive; the Rockies do not.
The post-season often brings new heroes to our attention. The Braves got a grand slam from their lead-off hitter, Ronald Acuna Jr, a 20-year-old kid who appears to be an upcoming superstar. He had a .918 OPS in 2018, his rookie year. He led the team in homers despite limited playing time, and also tossed 16 stolen bases into the mix. The Dodgers battled back from Acuna’s blow to achieve a 5-5 tie, but the Braves’ veteran star, Freddie Freeman, put the game away with a homer of his own. The Braves managed to produce six runs with only four hits at exactly the right times.
The Rockies gave Cleveland and the Cubs a battle for the least post-season offense. They were shut out again Sunday, having gone home with only two runs in three games. Moreover, they were shut out in Coors Field, where they led the majors in home OPS during the regular season, at .852. They actually have one of the weakest offenses on baseball, with a road OPS of .665 (the MLB low is .654), but Coors normally covers a multitude of sins. Unfortunately for the Rocks, those sins were right out in the open on Sunday.
The Brewers’ post-season ERA is 0.64! Sunday’s game illustrates how much baseball has changed in recent years. The Brewers used six pitchers. The starter did not go five innings, which he must do in order be awarded a win, so the win went to some middle reliever you never heard of, a 23-year-old rookie named Corbin Burnes, who is undefeated for life! (7-0 in the regular season, 1-0 in the playoffs). The Brewers had two other relievers who were 6-1 and 8-1 in the regular season. That’s 21-2 from three guys who combined for fewer than 200 innings pitched.
Starters are not what they used to be. The Brewers managed their three brilliant post-season pitching performances without a single starter lasting more than five innings.