The most impressive thing about the Rays is Kevin Cash basically pulling every string he has with that pitching rotation, and it working like a charm almost every time. To have an inning where you use 3 pitchers to get 3 outs, and you end up with 3 K's is absolutely incredible. There are so many opportunities to end up with a kink in that chain, but each and every one of those pitchers pulls the rope, and picks up where the last guy left off. I gained a TON of respect for that team and organization after this. Now I just hope that they can somehow get out of that shithole stadium, and actually get into a big boy ballpark.
Sets up our batting for the rest of the way. Our bats are gonna be a lot more keen after going through that pitching staff.
I thought the joint presser with Alejandro and Cole was pretty cool showing nothing but respect for that pitching staff. Don't know if many saw it: https://www.mlb.com/video/bregman-cole-on-facing-yankees?t=alds-a
Not familiar with 538's methodology, but I like the way Fangraphs uses two player projection systems for quality of performance with manual adjustments for how editors think teams will deploy their roster in postseason. Basically, Fangraphs assumes Cole and Verlander are going to pitch a larger percentage of the innings than they did in the regular season as Astros no longer need a 5-man rotation. Teams like Rays will get more reliever innings. This causes Fangraphs model to really like the Astros in relation to models that don't take into account how different teams are likely to act in the playoffs. Even with Fangraphs trying to manually estimate pitcher usage, I think they regress numbers more towards average usage than they should. Starter teams (Astros, Nats) will use TOR starters more than they suggest. Reliever teams will use relievers more than the Fangraphs model suggests. In other words, Fangraphs may be underselling Astros strength, but also is likely underselling Yankees strength in opposite fashion.
I was being sarcastic. Keep hearing about how great the Yankees bullpen is. Yankees bullpen may have an advantage in Game 4 or if a starter gets knocked out incredibly early. Astros should have the bullpen edge any game that our starter goes 6 innings.
The rays staff really attacked Alvarez . That was his first taste of post-season pitching. Exciting to see how he reacts High fastballs were a bit of kryptonite to us , I wonder if the Yankees staff has similar guys , or if we can adjust ? By the 5th game , relievers stuff was getting a bit flatter . Let’s hope the Yankees rest hurt more than it helped
