Outside The Confines: Snakes alive!
The first two games of the World Series have been completed and the signs are pointing to a classic battle in the Fall Classic. And speaking of signs . . . Plus other news from the Word Series and MLB.
Good morning. We’ve got a tied World Series and a really classic Game 1. Game 3 goes tonight. Are the Snakes still alive? Or will the Rangers continue to be the Road Warriors?
- To get you ready for tonight’s game, Will Leitch has three storylines for the game.
- Mike Petriello looks at how Arizona Game 3 starter, rookie Brandon Pfaadt, went from a 5.72 ERA in the regular season to postseason hero. He’s made adjustments.
- Thomas Harrington and Theo DeRosa detail the timeline of the journey of Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia from twice being designated for assignment to postseason hero.
- Zach Crizer breaks down that terrific Game 1 and explains how stunning the Rangers comeback was, thanks to Garcia and Corey Seager.
- A roundtable discussion of what we’ve learned so far in the first two games of the Fall Classic.
- For another take, Dayn Perry has four things we’ve learned so far.
- Arizona’s Ketel Marte has now hit in a record 18-straight postseason games. But if you’ve seen a game this October, you knew that already.
- Paul Casella has more on Marte’s streak.
- Diamondbacks outfielder Tommy Pham passed up a chance to have a five-hit game in Game 2 so that teammate Jace Peterson could get an at-bat in the Series.
- Jason Wolf talks to Pham about how he reacted to a benching in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Pham said it didn’t make a difference, but he’s been hitting like gangbusters since then.
- Zach Crizer breaks down how the Diamondbacks built their current roster with some gutty “challenge” trades.
- Ken Rosenthal has Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly’s story of perseverance in his long road to being the hero of Game 2. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Speaking of that journey:
- Emma Baccellieri notes that the Diamondbacks have been happy to bunt their way through the World Series.
- Arizona third baseman Evan Longoria laid down only his second bunt ever and his first since 2014 in Game 2. Tyler Kepner notes the similarity between Longoria in the 2023 World Series and Mike Schmidt in the 1980 World Series. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Hannah Keyser writes about what both the Rangers and the Diamondbacks learned from losing 100 games in 2021.
- Kennedi Landry looks at the Rangers catching trio and argues that they’ve played a huge role getting the team to the World Series.
- Ken Rosenthal notes that Corey Seager stepped up in the big moment in Game 1 and tied the game with a home run in the ninth. Rosenthal breaks down that at-bat and the man who hit the home run. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Mike Lupica has an appreciation of Rangers manager Bruce Bochy.
- Thomas Harrington looks at the rookies who made a huge impact in the playoffs.
- Here’s one for all you Immaculate Grid players. Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru lists every team’s former players who are playing in this World Series. The Cubs only have one, but the even the Diamondbacks have one—Max Scherzer is playing for the Rangers. No former Rangers on the Arizona roster, so they’re shut out in this one.
- Jay Busbee explains why you, as a baseball fan, should not give a hoot about World Series television ratings.
- Ben Lindbergh has a fascinating piece on pitching tactics. We’re all familiar with the “third-time-through-the-order” penalty on starting pitchers and how they lose effectiveness with more looks. But he writes that there is emerging evidence that hitters seeing the same reliever multiple times in a playoff series has a similar effect on pitching results.
- Commissioner Rob Manfred defended the “unpredictability” of the current postseason setup. Union head Tony Clark isn’t as enamored with it.
- Manfred also announced that there will be a vote by the owners on the Athletics move to Las Vegas in November. He did say that a referendum about the stadium in Nevada would be “an adverse development” to the move, should it pass. Of course, the A’s still don’t have a place to play from 2025 to 2027 until a proposed ballpark in Las Vegas would be ready. And Manfred doesn’t have an answer for that.
- Bradford Doolittle lists all the amazing moments in baseball history that retiring manager Dusty Baker was there for, one way or another.
- Bob Nightengale writes that the Phillies’ Bryce Harper is living up to his massive contract, both on-the-field and in the clubhouse.
- Since Halloween is tomorrow, a costume of a couple going as Randy Johnson and a bird went viral on social media.
- Anthony Castrovince has the touching love story between Nicole Hazen and her husband, D-Backs general manager Mike Hazen, that continues on after her death from cancer last year at the age of 45.
- And finally, Sam Blum finally tracked down the man behind the “Snakes Alive” sign that went viral (The Athletic sub. req.) and has become a rallying cry for the Diamondbacks. The man explains he wasn’t trying to do anything but encourage the team not to give up and its minimalist design was just a matter of not wanting it to be big (so as to not block the view of others) and his limited computer skills.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Let’s play some baseball.