MLB Roundup 10/20: Brewers force a Game 7

Brewers force Game 7 in NLCS

The NLCS has taken on a new level of importance for the Red Sox now that we know Boston will be hosting the winner of this series on Tuesday for Game 1 of the World Series. The Dodgers entered Friday’s Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead and had a chance to eliminate the Brewers with a win in Milwaukee. Right off the bat, it looked like they were going to do just that. With old friend Wade Miley on the bump, David Freese hit a leadoff home run and it looked like a familiar show. Except, well, that’s not what happened. Los Angeles got just the one run in the first, and then the Brewers got to Hyun-Jin Ryu. Milwaukee got three singles, two doubles and a walk in the bottom half of the first in a four-run rally, and then another RBI double in the second and right off the bat they were up 5-1. With the Brewers vaunted bullpen, home field and the relatively big lead, things seemed safe. The feeling was correct, as L.A. got just one of those runs back through the rest of the night, and Milwaukee added two more runs late just for good measure. The Brewers went home with a relatively easy 7-2 victory, and we’ll be playing a Game 7 on Saturday. Walker Buehler is expected to take on Jhoulys Chacín with first pitch at 8:09 PM ET.

You can get the Brewers perspective on their win here, with the Dodgers perspective on the loss here.

MLB Announces Reliever of the Year Finalists

Though we’re still worried about actual baseball games, the sad reality is that we’re less than two weeks away from the end of the season and turning to offseason things. Part of that is award season, and MLB announced some finalists. Specifically, they dropped a trio of finalists for both league’s Reliever of the Year awards, now named after Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. The American League saw Craig Kimbrel mentioned, and with this being announced prior to Game 5 it was some....not great timing. Still, even if I wouldn’t have had him in my top three he still had a very good season. Blake Treinen and Edwin Diaz were the other finalists, and it will likely be a close battle between the two of them. I’d vote for Diaz, for whatever that may be worth.

Over in the National League, the finalists were frankly absurd. Josh Hader did get a nod, and he’s going to be the overwhelming favorite. As he should be, because his season was just freakishly good. In a way, it doesn’t really matter the other finalists. That said, they put Kenley Jansen and Wade Davis in the final trio. These are two huge names, and they saved a bunch of games, but there were a lot of better relievers this year. Ultimately, like I said, it won’t matter because Hader is going to run away with this vote.