It's been back-and-forth for the Senior Circuit's championship round, with the Brewers taking last night's contest to even things up. Tonight, we get Zack Greinke on the bump for the Brew Crew, against Jaime Garcia, whose team was owned by the largest American-owned brewer in the country until they weren't, and I mean that in the sense that Anheuser-Busch no longer owns the Cardinals, and that they are no longer an American-owned entity. To avoid any confusion, you should just be drinking Dogfish, anyway. You know, for America.
Greinke had something of a rough first season he sorted out by year's end, missing time with a rib injury and then pitching far worse than his peripherals suggested he should. That all evened out, as those things tend to do over time, though his ERA still doesn't match his stellar 2.98 FIP. Greinke's good, folks, and tonight is a chance to be reminded of that on national television.
Speaking of FIP, one of the lovely things about it is that you don't always see pitchers move towards it all at once. Garcia posted an ERA of 2.70 last season with an FIP of 3.41 -- this year, he has a 3.50 ERA, with a 3.23 FIP. Much closer!
I have no personal stake in this game, so let's pick who we are rooting for entirely based on which state makes better beer. I expect this to be a good, clean fight in the comments, and one with good taste.