Autumn Dreamin

Huge bases loaded 2 out double by Sprinkle to put the Barons up 5-0

Barons on the board first with 2 runs, top 3

(He took 99mph from Skubal to the head)

Arizona walks off LA to stay alive-ish. League leading 10th blown save for Tanner Scott.

Maybe, but I'm not saying they have bad rosters or bad farms long term necessarily, just bad vibes in the moment. A repeat Cy for Skubal and having a pair of top 10 prospects isn't going to placate Tigers fans if they end up missing the playoffs after they were supposed to have the division locked up months ago. Offense has cooled off, the non-Skubal starters are struggling, they are 1-10 in their last 11 with 4 of those losses being to the team they let catch them. It's precisely because they have the best roster in the division that having the same post-ASB record as the Sox has such terrible vibes lol. For us it's a bit of improvement, for them it's a disaster that has them hanging on to a WC by half a game. As for the Twins...their fans have been despondent since the deadline, and haven't seen enough from the remaining roster to change that. Worst record in MLB since the ASB, worst manager in the division, locker room unrest including Ryan allegedly wanting out. Their best players on both sides of the ball are all 30+ with no sale or big spending on the horizon, while Lee, Lewis, and their trade returns have struggled. Their two players 25 or younger worth 1.0+ fWAR is the lowest total in the division. Heck, they can't even fully enjoy their win today because Keaschall got hurt; Lopez also ended his season early getting hurt on a diving play in his last start. Better record, sure. But arguably worse vibes.

Losing 3-2 to the Yankees on the road doesn't really mean too much ultimately. But winning 2-1 against the Yankees on the road, with a W for your rookie all star pitcher, big leverage innings vs. future/former MVPs from your rookie fireballer Taylor and young saves leader Leasure, called by your rookie catcher Teel, who scored on a go ahead 2R bomb from your rookie power hitting shortstop Montgomery, who turned a pair of key DPs with his rookie MIF partner Meidroth...probably would have felt like something kinda meaningful? So it's the gap between those two outcomes that's annoying, less about the fact that they lost and more about the fact that they could've/should've won but didn't. Especially when it comes at the hands of a totally unforced wild pitch (a routine walk preserves the lead for another batter at least) and less than full effort from your vet defensive CF sub. I'd be less annoyed if the Yanks just out-talented them and tied the game with a Jazz HR and then Judge walked it off in extras or whatever. But it's frustrating to play 8.5 innings well enough to make the Yanks have to earn it, and then just...not actually make them earn it.

All these young pitchers keeping their cool just for a vet to get the yips on the potential last pitch of the game is really annoying.

Sox vibes are downright middle of the pack in the division right now compared to the decimated Twins and collapsing Tigers...

Barons get one back, 6-2.

4 perfect innings for McDougal to bring his total playoff line to 7IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 11K. 6 in a row retired, a single to left, 15 in a row retired across his 2 starts. His 40 man spot awaits. Lead is down to 5-2 as Schweitzer allows a pair in his first inning.

There he is

8K ties a career high for Smith

Such an annoying team

The slowest fastball Smith has thrown tonight (95.8mph) is still harder than his season average (95.6). Sitting 97 and topping at 100. He's a starter until proven otherwise, but it makes you wonder what he could pull off in relief.

Smith has thrown like 10 of the fastest pitches of his career tonight, and that has been worth witnessing for me.

Early 3-0 lead through 1 for the Barons off of 3 singles, an error, and a WP. 3u/3d for McDougal.

If I remember correctly, a year or two ago the minors updated to a system that uses a rolling average of the batters height/stance over the past 50 ABs to draw the zone rather than height alone. So if two guys have the same measured height but one has a consistently lower stance, the zone adjusts for that: "Hawk-Eye is now taking a snapshot of the hitter’s body position at the moment the baseball is midway across the plate (the same location used when evaluating umpire performance) and is then utilizing a rolling average of those snapshots across the hitter’s 50 most recent plate appearances to determine the hitter’s zone. The zone is not dictated or impacted by a batter’s stance prior to the pitch being delivered, so hitters can’t artificially shrink their zone with a wider stance that compresses the gap between their knees and belt, nor are players who use a more upright stance punished with a larger zone for doing so."

Alek Manoah just got DFA'd, working his way back from TJ. Still a couple arb years left. Worth a flyer instead of (or in addition to?) the Perez option?

EQ after going 8/8 on challenges:

Juggling Jacob Young can play a few years for the Bananas after he's done with MLB lol

Detroit loses, but Cleveland finally does too.

Shouldn't be relying on bases loaded walks to score runs, but I'm still annoyed that Quero wasn't rewarded for working one.

Despite frequent calls for his head, he's been nails for a while now.

Ump casually robbing a run, alrighty then