It’s getting to be time to get excited for the playoffs. Here are my perspectives as we await the start of the playoffs on Friday.
I’m not a big fan of this long delay between the regular season the the playoffs. Five days? Do they really need five days? It’s an awfully long time to wait for the games to begin.
That being said, with how banged up the Yankees are, the added days off have to help players like Edwin Encarnacion and Gary Sanchez (to say nothing about Gio Urshela and James Paxton) get better. The Yankees can’t “next man up” as much in the playoffs because of the way the roster is built. The guys on the roster are the players they are going to battle with.
When playoff time comes, many statistics are irrelevant. Anything can (and often does) happen in a short series. We often think that the heroes will be the big name players, but, it seems, just as often it is the “lesser” players that make the big contributions.
I enjoy the playoffs when each series is over and the Yankees end-up victorious. I don’t enjoy the stress that comes with each pitch, each at bat, each inning. I mean, I really do like it, I guess, but I’d rather watch stress-free baseball. I hope the Yankees score early and often in each game.
I also don’t like games that go on late into the night. Like so many, I give 100% of my energies into my job. I need to be well rested to be my best. Trying to stay up late and be my best at work is difficult. I can do it, of course, but I hate feeling tired all of the time. I hope some of the weeknight games are during the day.
The Yankees might have to decide between Luke Voit and Mike Ford. Wow, that’s a tough call. Voit has been a solid player, but he hasn’t been the same since he came back from the hernia problem. Also, with Mike Ford being a left-handed batter, it might serve the Yankees well to have a lefty bat on the bench. Then again, I would start Edwin Encarnacion as the DH so it’s probably a moot point. If they don’t start, who would they even pinch-hit for?
Here are the September stats for Voit vs Ford:
Voit – 20 games, 86 plate appearances – .194/.326/.347 – 2 homers, 8 rbi’s
Ford – 15 games, 39 plate appearances – .353/.436/.706 – 3 homers, 10 rbi’s
The question is, are the September stats for real?
One thing I dislike about the way MLB broadcasts the post season is that they take away the local announcers and, instead, subject everyone to a national broadcast team that may, or may not know much about the teams they are covering. Do I love all of the YES announcers? No. Would I rather hear them than almost every national broadcaster? Yes. Absolutely. One of the best aspects of baseball is that it is constant, daily, and regular. It becomes a part of one’s life from late winter until fall. The announcers that broadcast a team’s games (love them or not) are part of the relationship that a fan builds with the team. Taking away the announcers at the climax of the season is a policy that leaves a lot to be desired. This isn’t a statement to say that “YES announcer X is better than TBS or Fox Announcer Z.” It is a statement that says that the local fans, of every team, deserves to have their hometown broadcasters announce the post season games.
If the network are intent in taking the broadcasting rights away from the local television stations (and they are, of course), then one simple compromise, to at least give the fans some sense that some of the announcing team has lived through the season with them, would be to have one announcer from each team in the TV booth for these games. That would actually be a great touch – hearing the Yankees announcers and the Twins announcers side-by-side calling these games. It is absolutely preferable to the national broadcasters, many of whom, I hate to say it, just aren’t all that compelling to listen to.
My local radio broadcast is always about 15 to 30 seconds ahead of the television feed, but I am sure I’ll prefer listening to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman than the television announcers. I end up doing that every post season. I just wish there was a way to sync the two so that John Sterling’s calls actually align to what I am seeing on TV.
Friday seems so far away. As I have written, I am frightened of the Twins. They’re good. They just are. That being said, it’s been a great and fun season. I hope it doesn’t end until a World Series is clinched by the Yankees… it has been a lot of fun watching this year.
Thank you to all of our readers for taking this journey with us. We appreciate all of the support. Let’s enjoy this march to the World Series together!
Let’s Go Yankees!
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