Indians-Red Sox Series

[Bronx Yankees]

The Board has been a little light on baseball discussions, so let me just throw a few thoughts out there on the Indians-Red Sox series.

First, this was the biggest surprise of the play-offs to me so far. Did not see a sweep by Indians coming at all. When you consider the recent injuries to Carrasco and Salazar, and essentially not having Brantley all season, you have to give a lot of credit to the Indians. I really thought the series would go the other way.

Second, hats off to David Ortiz. What an impressive career (and you know it is tough for a Yankees fan to say that). I always thought that if ever a DH deserved to be elected to the Hall of Fame, it was Edgar Martinez. Now, there is even a stronger candidate. I'd have to think first ballot, don't you? Does Ortiz's eventual election make it easier or harder for Martinez to get in, I wonder? I'm sure there has to be at least a few comparable examples, but this has to go down as one of the best final seasons of a career in baseball history, and the finest that I can recall this morning. As a Yankees fan, I'm sure glad we don't have to face Ortiz again! Man, he used to kill the Yankees!

Third, it was awesome seeing how Francona used his bullpen in this series, particularly Andrew Miller. Is this a sign of things to come? For many years, saber folks and baseball fans in general have resisted the mentality that you have to save your best closer for the 9th inning. Still, you look at virtually all teams, and you see the best reliever (at least in the eyes of the manager) as the closer and the second-best reliever as the set-up guy who usually comes into the game in the 8th inning. Many times, however, games are lost in the 5th, 6th and/or 7th innings. Was certainly effective to see Miller used earlier in games, and to pitch for two innings, while the Indians' second-best reliever, Cody Allen, worked the end of the game. Of course, you need at least two strong closers to pull this off, one of which has to be willing and capable to go more than one inning on occasion and enter the game at different times. Still, this is a copycat league, and so I wonder if we will see more of this next season. From a fantasy perspective, it might make things even harder to predict who will be a team's closer.

Mike