Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make your post-Thanksgiving Monday a bit more bearable:

• The awards hardware was handed out less than two weeks ago, but Cliff Corcoran of Sports Illustrated is already listing his favorites for 2013.
• Meanwhile, SweetSpot’s David Schoenfield is throwing out his ideas for off-season blockbuster trades.
• Over at Fangraphs, David Laurila interviews Blue Jays pitching coach Bruce Walton:

David Laurila: How do pitchers get big-league hitters out?

Bruce Walton: I think it’s a combination of things. The first thing you really have to learn is where down is — where down in the strike zone actually is. Pounding down and pitching at the knees is your best friend. If you stay down with all of your pitches, it’s much easier to get guys out.

DL: Can working up in the zone be effective?

BW: I don’t know if the high strike is where you want to pitch. I think above the strike zone is where you want to pitch when you’re up. Since I’ve been in the big leagues, the high strike is around the belt, and belt-high is a dangerous place.

DL: Is the strike zone too small?

BW: No, it’s not too small. When you’re talking about a small strike zone, it’s more about whether you can manipulate the strike zone by being more efficient, as far as more quality pitches on the edges. The strike zone is the strike zone. It’s neither too small, nor too big.

• Beyond the Boxscore’s Alex Kienholz provides details on how NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Wade Miley went from almost total obscurity to success as a big-league pitcher.
• The Marlins refuse to grant no-trade clauses to free agents. Mark Berardino of the Sun Sentinel reports that Mark Buehrle says he relied on verbal assurances before signing with Miami last off-season. Not suprisingly, the club denies that such an assurance was given.
• Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench still opposes the Cooperstown candidacy of former Big Red Machine teammate Pete Rose, according to Keith Groller of the Morning Call.
• Sorry, Ernie Banks: Let’s not play two. The Hardball Times’ Shane Tourtellotte explains why in a column entitled “The Double-Header Hangover Effect.”
• The Associated Press reports on how players and their agents are responding to potential changes in the income-tax rate.

• The Mariners waved good-bye to Chone Figgins after the infielder’s three very forgettable seasons in the Pacific Northwest. Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing offers his take on the “almost purely symbolic” move.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make your Monday a bit more bearable:

• Congrats to last week’s big winners: Mike Trout and Bryce Harper for Rookie of the Year, Bob Melvin and Davey Johnson for Manager of the Year, David Price and R. A. Dickey for Cy Young, and Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey for Most Valuable Player.
• Based on his tone in this radio interview, ESPN’s Keith Law sounds rather less than pleased with the AL MVP results.
• Earlier, Nate Silver — yup, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver — had also weighed in on the Cabrera-versus-Trout competition.
• In contrast to the sabermetrician masses, Bill Chuck of Baseball Analytics defends the Cabrera selection.
• Not content with resting after its big trade with the Marlins, the Blue Jays soon after signed Melky Cabrera to a two-year, $16 million contract. Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs offers his take:

The Blue Jays aren’t paying Cabrera to repeat his 2012, and they aren’t even paying Cabrera to repeat his 2011. According to our numbers, the last two years Cabrera has been worth 8.8 WAR over 268 games. If the Blue Jays were paying Cabrera to be that sort of player, they might’ve guaranteed $16 million over one year or $32 million over two years. They’ve opted for half that, and Cabrera has accepted.

Do you know what an outfielder needs to be to be worth $16 million over two years as a free-agent acquisition? Something in the general neighborhood of league-average. Even slightly worse than that, or league-average and injury-prone. Cabrera was that sort of player in 2009 with the Yankees, when he posted a 94 wRC+. He was just kind of average at everything. If Cabrera could be that guy for two years, the Blue Jays wouldn’t have made a bad investment, and if Cabrera could be better than that guy for two years, the Blue Jays would have made a solid investment.

• On the flip side, YonYonson of Athletics Nation trots out the least valuable players of 2012. Dickey’s value may never be higher, but Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated explains why trading the knuckleballer would not be a very good idea. 
• Marlins fans may have little to cheer in 2013, but perhaps Juan Pierre’s return to Miami (pending a physical) will help them remember the good times from the 2003 championship season. Meanwhile, Crashburn Alley is happy that the Phillies, who may be focusing their attention on center field, are letting the 35-year old left fielder walk.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

A belated word of congratulations to National League Cy Young Award winner R. A. Dickey, whose inspiring personal narrative and sanguine approach to his craft make him possibly the most likable professional athlete working today. Dickey’s story is now well-chronicled; childhood abuse and hardship gave way to a stellar college career at Tennessee before the discovery of a physical abnormality — he lacks the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm — almost derailed a pro career and cost him a hefty signing bonus. Years of rattling around at the fringes of the bigs led him to a career-salvaging personal reinvention as a knuckleballer and his unlikely mastery of the most mercurial pitch in the hurler’s arsenal.

The first of his ilk to win baseball’s most prestigious pitching award, Dickey is an anomaly among his knuckling peers, throwing a fast version of the pitch that limits his walks. His control of the pitch is unprecedented: He ranked third in the National League in both K/BB and BB/9IP, staggering numbers for a guy relying on what is typically a capricious device.

Literate and engaging, Dickey titled his highly readable account of his remarkable journey “Wherever I Wind Up.” Against all logic and all odds, he’s wound up at the pinnacle of his profession. Well done.

— Rob Doster is senior editor for Athlon Sports.

A bevy of writers have blasted the Marlins, and owner Jeffrey Loria in particular, for yesterday’s fire sale, which sent the franchise’s remaining contracts of consequence north of the border to the Jays.

However, not everyone is thoroughly disgusted. Two contrarian voices have been found.

Although Dustin Parkes of The Score likes the deal from Toronto’s perspective and is no fan of Loria, he thinks this was the right move for Miami:

While the motivation of a franchise that made such an enormous free agent splash twelve months ago — ahead of the opening of a brand new baseball stadium — only to find itself now in the midst of a massive fire sale should be questioned, especially considering that said brand new baseball stadium was paid with public money, and the organization is about to benefit from increased revenue sharing through new television deals, the trade was quite likely the right move for the long-term health of the franchise.

In a way, this is almost unfortunate. It’s impossible to write about the Jeffrey Loria-owned Miami Marlins without using the term cynical. Despite the underhanded treatment of the fan base in teasing expectations and the ever increasing equity of a Major League Baseball team, all reasons to despise the runners of this franchise, this deal is not without merit. It saves the team money that otherwise would’ve been sunk on an at best .500 baseball club, while improving the system with the addition of a good young pitching prospect in Justin Nicolino, a defense first future shortstop in Adeiny Hechavarria and a dependable, if not anything else, shortstop for-the-now at a reasonable rate in Yunel Escobar, who was born in Cuba and should provide for at least a bit of good will to be projected toward the many Cuban fans in Miami.

Another Canada native, Grantland’s Jonah Keri, is even more supportive of the transaction:

Thing is, the Marlins weren’t going to win with the players they had, at least not for the foreseeable future. Last offseason, they signed Reyes, Buehrle, and Heath Bell while narrowly whiffing on Albert Pujols, breaking the bank in an attempt to build an exciting, winning team as they moved into a new ballpark. After all that, they won 69 games, finishing second to last in the National League in runs scored while allowing more runs than all but four other NL clubs. Free agents tend to produce their best results early in long-term deals, while they’re still at or near their prime, then fall off in later years. The Marlins got productive Year 1 performances from Reyes and Buehrle, bundled them with a talented but hugely injury-prone pitcher in Johnson plus a couple of fungible veterans, and cashed them in for some intriguing prospects, plus the GDP of a Pacific island nation in salary relief. . . .

Of course, now that the Marlins have dispensed with the pretense of fielding a competitive major league team for next year, we’re supposed to believe that Loria’s reckoning is coming. If fans have no faith in what you’re trying to do, they’ll surely stay away in droves. For all the snark over a lack of fan base, the Marlins did draw 2.2 million to their new park this year. If attendance drops something like 30 or 40 percent, that could cost the team about $30 million in 2013. That sounds terrible. Until you remember that the Marlins spent $118 million in payroll this past season. They’ll probably spend less than half of that next year. Do the math. They’re going to come out way ahead.

More here and here.

Baseball Prospectus has a really good read on mental health, focusing on Zack Greinke and Josh Hamilton.

After taking note of government estimates that more than one quarter of American adults “have a diagnosable mental illness during the course of a calendar year,” Russell Carleton profiles the two most coveted MLB free agents of this off-season.

On Greinke:

Greinke will have a bad outing at some point (because all pitchers do). He might even have a rough couple of weeks along the way. And no matter where he plays, there will probably be a sportswriter who calls him on it or fans who boo. I want you to memorize this sentence: social anxiety disorder (SAD) is not about being overly sensitive to what other people say about you. Social anxiety is about the irrational fear that you will do or say something horribly embarrassing in front of others. We’re talking about something that is internal in its origin. It’s not about needing to have thicker skin when people are critical. In fact, people can develop SAD even if no one’s been particularly harsh with them. It’s also not about the size of the audience. For someone with social anxiety, it can just be the thought of someone else being there.

It’s possible that what triggered Greinke’s SAD was related to his pitching. It’s also possible that it had nothing to do with baseball. Remember that while we often o see these men only in their roles as baseball players, they also have lives to live. To my knowledge, Mr. Greinke has chosen to keep the details of his struggle against anxiety and depression private (and that’s his right), so before you write him off as damaged goods on the mound, consider that you’re dealing with variables about which you know not.

On Hamilton:

Let’s clear one thing up: if you’re going to give Josh Hamilton crap about the decisions that led to his problems with drugs and alcohol, then give him equal credit for the fact that he sought out treatment and has gone to great lengths to maintain his sobriety. Hamilton reportedly travels with no cash in his wallet, as he fears that this will trigger him to use again. He has an accountability partner with whom he travels. Yes, it’s a little odd, but for a moment, appreciate the story of a man who has to work that hard for his sobriety and wants to stay away from alcohol and drugs that bad.

In response to Carelton’s piece, Brien Jackson of It’s About the Money Stupid takes the Yankees to task for seemingly buying into the misconceptions surrounding Greinke’s ills:

I know I’ve said this before, but the notion that Greinke wouldn’t be able to handle a large market has always been based on an erroneous and baseless belief of what social anxiety is, and how it develops/affects someone who suffers with it. The fact that it assumes a sort of cold rationality in the process of mental illness alone should be your first clue that it’s total nonsense, but nonetheless it’s been trotted out every time Greinke’s name is mentioned in any sort of conjunction with the Yankees, and “team sources” have repeatedly mentioned it specifically when speaking with reporters.

More here and here.

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make your Monday a bit more bearable:

• The Dodgers won the rights to exclusively negotiate with Korean ace southpaw Ryu Hyun-Jin. According to Dayn Perry of CBSSports.com, the Dodgers put up a nearly $26 million posting fee to gain 30 days of bargaining rights for the 25-year-old.
• The oldest member of the Hall of Fame, 95-year old Lee MacPhail, has died. He may be best known for his role as general manager of the Yankees in 1967–73 and as president of the American League in 1974–83.
• The Rockies named former big-league shortstop Walt Weiss, who coached high-school ball earlier this year, as the team’s new manager.
• Via Federal Baseball’s Patrick Reddington: Skipper Davey Johnson will return to the Nationals dugout for one more season.

• Clubhouse Confidential’s Brian Kenny reviews the smartest decisions made by clubs over the past twelve months.
• In the video above, Kenny applauds Billy Beane’s signing of Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes. It was one of several bold moves that resulted in Beane being named the Sporting News’ Major League Baseball Executive of the Year.
• Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated explains how qualifying offers are changing the way we look at free agency.
• Using the win-probability-added metric, Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs describes “the worst bunts of 2012.”

• “Flushing Bay” indeed: Although Jason Bay still had one year left on his four-year contract, the Mets and the left fielder agreed to part ways. Bay hit a meager .165/.237/.299 in 215 plate apparances last season.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

This morning’s Reveille has been rained out. It will return next Monday.

Baseball-themed commemorative coins will be issued by the U.S. Treasury for one year beginning on January 1, 2014, The Numismatist magazine reports in its September issue. President Obama signed the National Commemorative Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act (PL 112–152) into law on August 3.

The legislation authorizes the Treasury to produce three denominations in honor of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and stipulates the maximum number of coins — half dollars (750,000), one-dollar silver coins (400,000), and five-dollar gold coins (50,000).

The designs of the gold and silver pieces will include a concave obverse, to suggest the spherical shape of a baseball, and a convex reverse.

The legislation was sponsored by Representative Richard Hanna (R., N.Y.), whose district includes Cooperstown. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

— William Van Ornum is professor of psychology at Marist College and director of research at American Mental Health Foundation.

I would like to make a modest proposal to Congress: no Federal tax dollars to clean up the riots in the Bay Area. You break it, you bought it. And the 49 other states shouldn’t pay for it:

Unless, of course, you’re Paul Krugman. Then you look at this destruction as a necessary first step for more federal stimulus spending.

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make the first day of the off-season a bit more bearable:

• Al Yellon of SB Nation explains why the Tigers have been overwhelmed.
• Great minds think alike, according to this Tweet from the morning after Pablo Sandoval’s gigante performance.
• Speaking of Game 1, David Golebiewski of Baseball Analytics explores what went awry for Justin Verlander. Among them:

He also caught too much of the plate. Verlander threw 29 of his 98 pitches (29.6%) to the horizontal middle of the strike zone, well north of his 19.9% average during the regular season.

• As for Game 2, Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan analyzes Madison Baumgarner’s good-but-not-great performance.
• The Fielding Bible Awards are out! Here are this year’s winners:

FIRST BASE—MARK TEIXEIRA, NEW YORK YANKEES (95 POINTS)

Mark Teixeira finally broke through to win his first Fielding Bible Award. He supplanted Albert Pujols, who won the award in five of the previous six seasons. In his first year in the American League, Pujols fell to third place with 72 points with Adrian Gonzalez in second place with 84 points.

SECOND BASE—DARWIN BARNEY, CHICAGO CUBS (96 POINTS)

Darwin Barney led all second basemen in Defensive Runs Saved with 28. Closest to him were Robinson Cano and Alexi Casilla with 15. Barney secured 96 points, only 4 points short of a unanimous win. The 2011 Fielding Bible Award winner, Dustin Pedroia, was runner up in 2012 with 82 points.

THIRD BASE—ADRIAN BELTRE, TEXAS RANGERS (90 POINTS)

Adrian Beltre had some competition from a couple of new kids on the block with the defensive emergence of Mike Moustakas and Brett Lawrie at third base. Beltre edged Moustakas and Lawrie by four and seven points, respectively. Beltre has been tremendous defensively his entire career and is now the proud owner of four Fielding Bible Awards at third base.

SHORTSTOP—BRENDAN RYAN, SEATTLE MARINERS (99 POINTS)

Brendan Ryan fell one point shy of the maximum score. He has been a defensive standout for several seasons now, and with injuries limiting three-time winner Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan was finally rewarded for his excellent play. Ryan led all shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved by a significant margin with 27. His closest competitor was Atlanta rookie Andrelton Simmons with 19.

LEFT FIELD—ALEX GORDON, KANSAS CITY ROYALS (100 POINTS)

Alex Gordon was a unanimous winner finishing first on the ballot of all 10 Fielding Bible Award panelists, earning him a perfect score of 100 points. He has been tremendous defensively since the first day he walked out to left field after playing third base earlier in his career, but he did get some help this year due to injuries to other key players. Brett Gardner and Carl Crawford won five of the six previous awards in left field, but neither was consistently on the field in 2012.

CENTER FIELD—MIKE TROUT, LOS ANGELES ANGELS (96 POINTS)

In the only race that featured two candidates that received 90 or more points, Mike Trout earned what could easily be the first of many Fielding Bible Awards in his standout rookie season. Falling just short with 90 points was Michael Bourn, who won the award in 2010.

RIGHT FIELD—JASON HEYWARD, ATLANTA BRAVES (96 POINTS)

The youth movement continued in right field with first-time winner Jason Heyward. Heyward secured 96 points to top Josh Reddick, who had 84. Reddick actually saved more runs defensively for his team than did Heyward, 22 runs saved to 20, but Heyward’s excellent range and his third straight season of great defensive play earned him a well-deserved award.

CATCHER—YADIER MOLINA, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (100 POINTS)

Less surprising than Yadier Molina’s perfect score of 100 points was his loss a year ago. For whatever reason, Molina had a down year in 2011. He bounced back strong in 2012 throwing out baserunners at a 46 percent rate after his poor showing—by his own standards, anyway—of 25 percent in 2011. He had 16 Defensive Runs Saved overall, to lead all catchers. Last year’s winner, Matt Wieters, came in second with 81 points.

PITCHER—MARK BUEHRLE, MIAMI MARLINS (100 POINTS)

For Mark Buehrle, it was a new league but the same story. He was our third unanimous winner of 2012 en route to his fourth-consecutive Fielding Bible Award. Jake Westbrook had 75 points and was the closest player to him. Buehrle was solid in all aspects of his defensive play, and, as always, especially so in holding runners. He allowed only five stolen bases in eight attempts and picked off two other baserunners.

• Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times offers thoughts on Ryan, defensive metrics, and the voting process.
• Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle became the first woman to take charge of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

• Congratulations to Sergio Romo, World Series MVP Kung Fu Panda, and the rest of the San Francisco Giants on the franchise’s seventh world championship!

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

Does anyone know how my World Series MVP pick did last night?

Oh, that’s right: Pablo Sandoval hit three home runs in his first three Fall Classic plate appearances, the first two against the previously unhittable Justin Verlander, helping the Giants to cruise to an 8–3 victory.

Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk considers Big Panda’s 4-for-4 night the most impressive offensive performance in a postseason game.

This evening’s game features a mound match-up between Doug Fister and Madison Baumgarner.

As we prepare to take in game one of the World Series tonight in AT&T Park, Grant Brisbee of SB Nation offers a retrospective on the Tigers and Giants franchises and why, despite 112 seasons of co-existence, this is their maiden face-off in the Fall Classic.

Take a moment too to review the easy-to-read, easy-to-digest summary of the likely starters for much of the series that Sports Illustrated’s Cliff Corcoran and Jay Jaffe prepared.

Their colleague, Joe Sheehan, suspects that this series might encourage big-league skippers to better utilize their bullpens. (Alas, I remain doubtful that logic will prevail anytime soon.)

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Ken Davidoff of the New York Post and his annual “list of the 10 most interesting people in the World Series.”

If your eyes could use a break, listen to the most recent ESPN.com Baseball Today podcast, with Eric Karabell and Keith Law.

And don’t forget about ESPN.com’s Paul Lukas, who provides a handy guide for uniform watching over the next several days.

P.S. On Opening Day, I picked Detroit to win the whole enchilada, so naturally I will now pick the Tigers Giants to triumph in six games, with the Big Panda taking MVP honors.

One year and done.

I wonder if Cuba or Venezuela have managerial openings?

All hail the Giants, champions of the National League, after a 9–0 whitewash of the Cardinals!

In coming back from a 3–1 NLCS deficit, San Francisco outscored St. Louis 20–1 in the final three games, and will now host the Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday evening.

Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong, and Matt Cain combined to allow a single run in 20 1/3 innings in Games 5 through 7.

Marco Scutaro, who arrived in the Bay Area shortly before the July 31 trade deadline, was named MVP. He had collected 14 hits over the seven games, tying a LCS record.

Good morning.

Here are several postseason go-to links to make your Monday a bit more bearable:

• Seemingly moments after Prince Fielder squeezed the pop-up that sent the Tigers to the World Series, the Wall Street Journal’s Brian Costa posed five questions concerning the Yankees’ offseason plans:

2. How much more can they expect from the Core Three?

Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera will both be back in 2013. And Andy Pettitte will strongly consider playing another year. What the Yankees must ask themselves is: Can they count on full, healthy and reasonably productive seasons from each of them? And if not, do they need more insurance at their positions? Jeter will turn 39, will be coming off ankle surgery and isn’t a sure thing for Opening Day. Rivera will be 43 and coming off a knee injury that cost him most of 2012. Pettitte will turn 41 and, though he pitched well this year, was able to make only 12 starts.

• James Gentile of Beyond the Boxscore asks, “How does the Tigers’ pitching compare to other dominant staffs in post-season history?”
• Via Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin: After seven seasons with the Rays, senior vice president Gerry Hunsicker has agreed to join the Dodgers as a senior adviser in baseball operations.
• After one season as Toronto’s skipper, John Farell is returning to New England. The Blue Jays and Red Sox agreed on a deal enabling Farrell, who was Boston’s pitching coach from 2007 through 2010, to fill Fenway Park’s managerial vacancy. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe explains how the deal went down.
• Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says that Jason Giambi, who was a backup for the Rockies this season, is a legitimate managerial candiate for the Colorado franchise.
• Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe explains how the Cardinals did just fine without departed superstar Albert Pujols on the diamond.
• Over at Baseball Prospectus, Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper discusses his introduction to sabermetrics and how calling a game has changed as a result:

As someone who has been working at a ballpark every day for the past 11 years, trust me when I tell you times have changed. Just five years ago, I would have had a difficult time finding anyone at the park, let alone a manager or coach, who would have known what FIP or “replacement level player” even meant. Being a stathead wasn’t viewed altogether favorably in most clubhouses into which I ventured, forcing me to bite my tongue when someone would claim that hitting with runners in scoring position is a repeatable skill.

But slowly, things have progressed. I think we have done a decent job of blending new stats into our broadcasts. I don’t know if we will ever completely go to slash-line stats—BA/OBP/SLG—in lieu of BA/HR/RBI for each hitter, but we are at least getting close to broaching the subject. I do believe we need to be careful to not overload fans at home. As a play-by-play guy, I am always cognizant of the narrative aspect of the game, and getting overly clinical with esoteric stats is a good way to lose your audience in that setting. The best way for us to push the conversation forward is to pick our spots and relate the new numbers to the game/topic at hand. If a team rates highly in Defensive Efficiency, I can merely say, “The numbers say when balls are put in play, this team converts them into outs better than most.” Or if a starting pitcher’s BABIP is killing his ERA, we can say, “His peripheral numbers might indicate some bad luck this season, and an adjustment may be in order.” These are ways to introduce people to better evaluation tools without turning the broadcast into an advanced math class.

• According to Mark Townsend of Big League Stew, Kasper’s partner for the past eight years, Bob Brenly, is heading to Phoenix to partner with ESPN’s Steve Berthiaume for Diamondbacks telecasts.
• A couple of trades between the A’s, Diamondbacks, and Marlins took place involving Heath Bell, Chris Davis, a minor league shortstop, and generous helpings of cash: CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder has the details.

• Thanks to Ryan Vogelsong’s seven strong innings against the Cardinals, the Giants have forced a seventh game, to be played this evening at AT&T Park.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

In the wake of the Cardinals’ latest victory and the Tigers’ sweep, we are close to witnessing a 2006 World Series rematch, one that St. Louis won in five games.

Several Cardinals still remain from that championship season: Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, Skip Schumacker, and Adam Wainwright.

On the Tigers, only Omar Infante and Justin Verlander are still on the roster, and the former spent time in Atlanta and Miami before coming home in July.

Interestingly, both teams emerged from the regular season with a mere 88 victories and .542 winning percentage, which would be a new low for combined winning percentage in a World Series matchup. The teams who have entered the Fall Classic with a worse regular-season record are few — the Cardinals in 2006 (83, .516), the Indians in 1997 (86, .534), the Twins in 1987 (85, .525), and the Mets in 1973 (82, .509). The 1918 participants, the Red Sox and Cubs, won only 75 and 84 games respectively but posted .595 and .651 percentages. (Boston played 126 games that year. The North Siders played 129.)

The Tigers finished seventh in the American League. They had a worse record than the two AL wild-card teams, the Orioles and Rangers, and finished behind the Rays and Angels as well, neither of whom made the postseason.

Over in the Senior Circuit, the Cardinals grabbed onto MLB’s new second wild card, finishing with the fifth-best record.

To be fair, Detroit had a .579 winning percentage in the second half. They took advantage of a White Sox collapse and post an 8–2 record to close out the season. General manager Dave Dombrowski solidified the middle infield and rotation after trading for Infante and Anibal Sanchez.

And while St. Louis did not finish on a hot streak, its 93 Pythagorean wins indicate that Mike Matheny’s club played better than their actual record.

Of course, much of this data will be rendered moot if the 94-win Giants wake up and stage a three-game comeback.

Yes, I recognize that the Yankees have not yet been eliminated from the playoffs but, considering the events of the past week — Jeter’s ankle fracture, Cano’s postseason record-breaking slump, the benchings of Granderson and Swisher, and all of the A-Rod drama — do any of you kind of wish the Orioles had won the deciding game of the ALDS last Friday?

In an e-mail, New York Post associate editorial page editor Robert George responded:

Yes and no. Had they lost on Friday, people would have attributed it to A-Rod having a bad postseason (maybe injury related), Robby Cano slumping after a great season; Yankee braintrust would probably have decided that keeping Swisher wasn’t worth it and then just retool for next year. I think it took this collapse for Cashman to realize this team needs a major overhaul. A-Rod’s got to go, Swisher too. MAYBE Granderson. The team is too old (surprisingly, the pitching is actually the least of their worries.) Anyway, I don’t think that realization would have sunk in if the team had just lost to the O’s — disappointing as that might have been.  

Um, come to think of it, I guess I shouldn’t have said “yes and no.” The answer is “No, it’s better all around that they’re not just losing here — but losing epically.”

What does everybody else think?

Meanwhile, Cardinals fans yesterday couldn’t have been very happy when Carlos Beltran, arguably the most prolific hitter in postseason history (.375/.486/.830), hurt his knee running out a ground ball in the first inning and had to exit Game 3 of the NLDS.

No worries, said replacement Matt Carpenter, who, with one on in the third, swung at an 88-mph slider from Matt Cain and deposited it into the stands beyond the right-field bullpen.

After the 3–1 victory over the visiting Giants, the super-sub described the feeling of being summoned off the bench to play right field:

I didn’t even realize that Carlos had hurt himself and, next thing you know, Mike came up to me and told me to grab my glove and I was going into right field. Really there was no thought process. It just happened so quickly. I was really in the game before I had time to think about it. It’s one of those things that you can’t expect but still be ready for. And I think I was.

Beltran hopes to be back in the lineup for this evening’s game, but no one doubts that Carpenter will be ready to play, just in case.

So asks Grantland’s Jonah Keri regarding the ninth inning of last night’s game at Comerica Park:

Justin Verlander shut down the Yankees for the first eight innings, before Eduardo Nunez parlayed a hard-fought at-bat into a solo home run to cut Detroit’s lead in half. Verlander then got Brett Gardner to ground out to the mound. After 132 pitches, Verlander’s night was done. With Jose Valverde no longer the Tigers’ closer, Jim Leyland turned to left-hander Phil Coke instead. There was some logic behind the move, with the next four batters due up going lefty-switch-lefty-lefty. But Coke’s entry into the game also created an opportunity for the Yankees. Right-handed batters hit .396/.446/.604 this season off Coke, for a 1.050 OPS; by way of comparison, major league leader Joey Votto posted a 1.041 OPS this year, Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera .999. Coke’s career splits aren’t nearly that dramatic, with righty hitters posting an .802 OPS against him, lefties .623. . . .

Mark Teixiera singled and Robinson Cano did the same (breaking an 0-for-29 megaslump), bringing Ibanez to the plate with two on and two outs. Ibanez did hit his game-winning homer in that ALDS Game 3 off a lefty, Brian Matusz. He’d also hit .197 with no homers in 65 plate appearances against southpaws this season, with an ugly .639 OPS from 2009 through 2011 facing lefties. You could argue that the Tigers would have countered with a right-hander like Joaquin Benoit or Octavio Dotel if Girardi subbed in A-Rod for Ibanez. But this ignores Benoit’s very even splits, and the Yankees being able to counter any conceivable move with Swisher the switch-hitter. Girardi leaving in Ibanez with the game on the line came down to pixie dust worship: Ibanez had been on fire, producing a series of huge hits for the Yankees over the past couple weeks. But he still might be the worst Yankee hitter on the roster against left-handers, and Coke offered a gigantic split ripe for exploiting. Never happened. Ibanez worked the count to 3-2, then Coke struck him out on a wicked slider to end the game.

There’s no guarantee that using A-Rod or Swisher at some point would have salvaged the game for the Yankees. But the bottom line is that the Bombers are now one game from being ousted from the playoffs. And for one night at least, their manager didn’t give them their best chance to win.

(Shockingly, the New York Post seems way more interested in A-Rod the playah instead of A-Rod the player.)

In a colum entitled “Joe Girardi plays the percentages . . . until he doesn’t,” Rob Neyer of SB Nation is even less charitable:

So Girardi had a choice: Raúl Ibañez and his massive platoon splits against a left-handed pitcher with big platoon splits, or switch-hitter Nick Swisher against a right-handed pitcher. Swisher, in his career, hasn’t been great against right-handed pitchers but he’s been good, with an 820 OPS.

Essentially, Joe Girardi gave up somewhere between 200 and 250 points of OPS when he chose Raúl Ibañez over Nick Swisher. Unless you believe that Swisher really can’t hit in October, and Ibañez is still covered with a layer of that magical pixie dust.

Which Joe Girardi apparently does. Or maybe he doesn’t.

It’s a funny thing, though. You can’t really say you’re making unorthodox moves because it’s time to play the percentages, and then turn around nine innings later and completely ignore the percentages.

I mean, you can do that. It’s just a lousy way to win baseball games.

As for Verlander’s performance, Jack Moore of Fangraphs notes how the Tigers ace adjusted his approach during the middle innings.

The short work was over; from here on Verlander honestly labored. It took 99 pitches to record his final 16 after just 33 for the first nine. Verlander lost control of the first-pitch strike, throwing just seven to 19 batters faced beyond the fourth.

“The approach was to get ahead and be agressive . . . kind of went out the window in the 4th,” Verlander said in his postgame press conference. . . .

After sticking to the fastball completely, Verlander engaged his secondary pitches as the Yankees took their second and third hacks against him. Verlander threw 47 pitches in the last six innings with either two strikes or in an 0-1 count — 12 curveballs, eight changeups and five sliders (or 25 total off-speed pitches) against 22 fastballs. When he owned the advantage, Verlander aggressively used his off-speed pitches to try and end at-bats.

On 33 other occasions, Verlander found himself behind in the count (excluding full). He threw five changeups and one slider.

Verlander’s mid-game alterations proved quite successful, and this morning the Yankees found themselves facing elimination.

Matt Holliday’s barreling into Marco Scutaro on a double play attempt in last night’s NLCS was child’s play compared with a couple of brutal postseason second-base takeouts from the 1970s.

Here’s Joe Morgan going way hard into Dick Green during the 1972 World Series:

And witness Hal McRae’s attempt to knock Wilie Randolph into left field during the 1978 ALCS (Fast forward to 0:26.):

As for Holliday, last night was no stand-alone incident. Here he wipes out Starlin Castro during a 2011 regular season game.

When a team like the Yankees finds itself down two games to none in the ALCS, about to face the reigning Cy Young Award winner in his home ballpark, and without your best postseason hitter, it is no shock that the fanbase is down in the dumps.

Fortunately, it is the players, not the fans, who will take the field at Comerica Park this evening.

Here are some interesting morsels to chew on this afternoon:

• Robinson Cano went 24-for-39 (.615) in his last nine regular season games. In the postseason, he is 2-for-32 (.063). Combine the two and he still has a .366 batting average over that span. Talk about regression toward the mean!
• Cano, Eric Chavez, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin, Alex Rodriguez, and Nick Swisher own a collective .118/.185/.188 slash line in the postseason.
• It is a good bet that Brett Gardner will start in left field tonight (5-for-11 lifetime, including playoffs, against Justin Verlander) and Ichiro will play right.
• Before assuming that Rodriguez’s struggles are choke-related, take note of his numbers in 28 September/October regular season games: .261/.341/.369. With apologies to the filthy peasant in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A-Rod is 37. He’s old.
• Phil Hughes starts tonight. In ten career games against the Tigers, eight of them starts, he has a 4.22 ERA and batters have posted a .700 OPS. Overall, Hughes has a 4.39 ERA and .733 OPS.
• For Yankee fans who remain unfamiliar with some of the players on Jimmy Leyland’s roster, you may wish to read John Sickels’ “How the Detroit Tigers Were Built.”
• The Tigers have not allowed a run to the Bronx Bombers in 20 of 21 innings this series.
• Detroit’s rotation has compiled an amazingly low 0.94 ERA and six quality starts in seven playoff games, but historically the Yankees have had a measure of success against the next two starting pitchers.
• Verlander might be the best pitcher in the bigs, but in 13 games against the Yankees, he has been human, posting a 3.74 ERA and opposing batters have put up a very respectable .774 OPS. In contrast, his total numbers are 3.40 ERA and .652 OPS.
• Max Scherzer has a career 3.88 ERA and .733 OPS against him. In four starts aginst the Yanks, he has a 3.42 ERA and .765 OPS.
• For his career, left-handed batters have posted a .679 OPS against beleaguered closer Jose Valverde. What Leyland was slow to pick up on in the series opener is that Valverde has been very hittable in 2012: .754 OPS. His strikeout rate against lefties, which had been 26.1 percent in 2010 and 21.8 percent last year, plunged to 12.6 percent this season. Moreover, his xFIP is hovering in the red zone: .575. It will be interesting to see how Leyland uses Valverde in the rest of the series.
• Detroit’s lineup, while having a more productive postseason than New York, is not exactly tearing the cover off of the baseball: 258/.299/.351.
• On a side note, the lack of hitting has been contagious. As Hardball Talk’s Matthew Pouliot notes:

Overall, AL hitters are batting .218 and slugging .310 this postseason. To put that in perspective, Justin Verlander limited major league hitters to a .217 average and a .306 slugging percentage this season. So, essentially, every AL pitcher this month is Justin Verlander.

• According to ESPN’s Park Factors page, Comerica Park, widely known as pitcher-friendly, actually finished the year in the middle of the pack on home runs allowed (17th of 30). Moreover, only eight other parks finished ahead of Comerica in scoring.