The Decision
It can be debated for years, was Kevin Cash right to pull Snell. The traditional baseball fan will tell you to keep Snell in the game. The analytical fan will tell you that Cash made the right decision. Blake Snell might have pitched the game of his life and his team still lost. Snell only allowed two hits the entire night, he struck out 9 batters and didn’t surrender any runs. Yet Cash saw that the Dodgers lineup was about to see Snell for the third time, a part of the order that Snell handled for 6 strikeouts, and the decision had to be made.
Blake Snell is a tricky pitcher to make a judgment on and the arguments become difficult when you consider Snell as a starter. Blake Snell never pitches deep into games. The last time Snell pitched 6 innings was July 21st, 2019, and the last time Snell pitched 7 innings in a game was April 2nd of that same year. Blake Snell throws every pitch like it is his last and you can tell Snell is the starter based on the duration of the innings. Snell surgically works the lineup and he doesn’t allow longevity in his starts. Kevin Cash has won by his bullpen all year and it was clear he was going to lose with it.
The Decision flipped the game with only two at-bats
Blake Snell was pulled after surrendering his second hit of the night, a slapper to center field. You could tell the Dodgers were excited as Mookie Betts took Nick Anderson’s high heat down the third baseline for a double. 2 runners in scoring position spells doom when Corey Seager is at-bat. It does feel odd to know that Seager didn’t need to swing for the fences to be effective. A pitch in the dirt brought in the tying run as it was the rare pitch that Mike Zunino couldn’t block. This was followed by a hot grounder that brought in the speeding Betts from third.
The Dodgers were a team that lived and died by the homer. Yet, in the situation that only required contact from Seager, he got exactly that. The Dodgers made the right adjustments to win this series, it appears the Rays pulled the wrong strings to cost them. The game flipped in a matter of pitches. The Rays went from cruising through a Snell gem to on the ropes having to battle a Dodgers bullpen that was unhittable this postseason.
The hope of the Rays rested on Randy Arozarena
Unless you like pitching, this game was rather boring. We had action in 3 total frames and the game saw the record for the most strikeouts in a 9 inning game. Those that bet the Over on the 8.5 total had to accept defeat by the 4th inning or even earlier. The action from the Rays side came from their primary source of production, Randy Arozarena.
Randy Arozarena smacked his 10th homer in this postseason and for all intents and purposes, he should be the MVP of the World Series. The 1st inning was when Randy once again proved that his homers aren’t by accident or merit of bad pitching. Tony Gonsolin aimed for the outside corner of the plate and hit his mark. Unfortunately, Arozarena has shown throughout the postseason that he can power outside pitches to the opposite field. With that pitch, he broke the postseason record in only the first inning.
The undeniable truth of this game is that the hope of any comeback was hinged on Arozarena hitting another homer. In the 8th inning with the Rays still trailing by only 1 run, it became clear that it was going to be Arozarena’s final at-bat in the game. The great play in center field was the dagger. The Dodgers still had the work the final 5 outs to officially clinch the World Series. At the same time, the game was essentially over.
A bittersweet ending to a bittersweet season
Betts homered and Urias closed out the game. For the first time since 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series Champions. This victory comes with the immediate fallout that reminds us of all the troubles that brought us to this point. Justin Turner tested positive for Covid-19, forcing him out of the game. It leaves the next few days in uncertainty as the Dodgers fans are ready to go crazy.
This season has been rough. It was a tough season to start and it was a marathon to the finish. Just as we crossed the finish line, we stumbled like Randy Arozarena running home in Game 4. In a year with too many hardships with the fatal pandemic, we just had to be reminded that the fight is not over, even in the height of victory.
There is gratitude for the MLB for giving us a season. Even though it started later than it needed to and looked like it wouldn’t finish at times. Even though the league made the decision to only play 60 games when we could have watched a full season (both owners and players are at fault for that). This season will be one that we can look back at as one that powered us through the worst pandemic of our lives. It gave us a memorable summer even though there wasn’t much to look forward to. We don’t know the future but we know that our hope is congruent with baseball. At the end of the day, we witnessed a good series and quality baseball.
