A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

Cleveland Guardians – Brand New Playoff History

Say what you will about the Cleveland Guardians name-change, but one positive is that it pushes the reset button in terms of playoff history.  I was re-watching some Indians postseason moments prior to this post and not gonna lie, it felt a little weird hearing Bob Costas call them the Indians.  But it also gave me a renewed sense of spirit, because let’s be honest – the Indians were not on a roll when it came to recent playoff success.  Three times since reaching the World Series in 2016 the Indians had made the postseason.  Three times they were dropped in the first round.  The Cleveland Indians had lost four playoff series in a row, including eight straight games.  Dating back to Game 5 of the 2016 World Series, the Indians had a 2-11 record in the postseason.  But now, none of that matters.  Because these are the Cleveland Guardians, and the Guards have never made it to the playoffs.  They can re-write their own history starting next Friday.   

It seems likely the Guardians will face Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round (best two-out-of-three), which is the best-case scenario.  Seattle has had the Guards number all year (1-5 record) and Toronto could hit them out of the ballpark.  Tampa Bay is built very similarly to Cleveland.  They don’t hit a ton of homeruns, but they have very good pitching and will take extra bases.  You have to play solid baseball to beat Tampa Bay, which Cleveland is more than capable of doing. 

Cleveland has a 4-2 record against Tampa Bay this year, winning each three-game series.  Three of those games were decided by one run and the largest margin of victory was just three runs.  Expect close games in this series.

I have been clamoring for the Guardians to bring Bo Naylor up for months now, and he was finally added to the 40-man roster with a week left to go in the regular season.  Bo Naylor is a hard-hitting catcher who blasted 21 homeruns and stole 20 bases in the minor leagues this year (evenly split between AA and AAA).  He will undoubtedly be the Guardians starting catcher next year and should have been up in the majors before last week.  Better late than never.  When Naylor was brought up, it meant Bryan Shaw was let go.  So, let us pour one out for Mr. Shaw, who will likely never pitch again for the Cleveland Guardians.  An easy target by critics, but a dependable reliever who often pitched well in high-leverage situations.  Anyone who has made 700+ career appearances can’t possibly be a horrible pitcher all of the time.  And Shaw – while never an elite reliever – was very dependable and always available.  

I bought a scorebook to document the Guardians playoff run and am looking forward to teaching Jack how to score a game.  I’m not entirely sure when I picked up this skill, but from 1995-2001 I scored every playoff and opening day game.  One memorable night occurred in October of 1997 during Game One of the ALDS between the Indians and the New York Yankees. 

Having to wake up for school the next day I was not allowed to stay up and watch the entire game, but as the Indians had raced out to a 6-2 lead after four innings, I felt comfortable with the game situation and asked my dad to finish keeping score.  Oh, to be young and naive again.  When I woke up the next morning, my groggy eyes stared at the final score in disbelief.  8-6 Yankees.

“Dad, what happened?”

“Look at the bottom of the 6th.”

My dad had penciled in three consecutive home runs for the Bronx Bombers which gave them the lead they would never relinquish.  Needless to say, I never let my dad finish scoring another game again.

Browns Lose … To Themselves

The Cleveland Browns lost to the Atlanta Falcons 23-20, but the reality is they simply lost to themselves.  They lost with a pass-happy play-caller and a defenseless defense.  If the Browns are going to be successful either this year or in future seasons, they can’t afford to lose to teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Jets.  They’ve managed to accomplish both within the first month of the season.  

I’m not the type of fan who will scream and yell for Nick Chubb to play the entire game, but he’s spent too much of potential game-winning drives on the bench in the last couple of years.  I understand that in certain pass-catching situations the Browns would rather have Kareem Hunt, but to have your best offensive weapon on the sideline in the final minutes of the game doesn’t make much sense to me. Twice the Browns had the ball inside the Falcons five-yard line and they walked away with a total of 3 points.  Speaking of things that don’t make much sense, the decision to throw it on 4th and 3 from the 4-yard line was mind boggling.  While I do understand the importance of touchdowns, I also think the game should dictate decisions like that.  Playing against Patrick Mahomes and figure you need a lot of points to win the game?   Yeah, go for it.  But playing Marcus Mariotta and the Atlanta Falcons?  Take the early points.  Better yet, maybe utilize the best QB sneaker in the game on those short-yardage situations.  What do I know?

I hate sounding like a Monday Morning Quarterback, but those decisions should have been obvious.  I thought the Browns had a coach in place who understood what he was working with, but the more I watch Kevin Stefanski call plays, the more I think the team would be better served with Alex Van Pelt behind the wheel.

With Deshaun Watson suspended for seven more games, the Browns will need three more wins to at the very least still have something to play for when their star QB returns.  And if you look at their schedule (LAC, NE, @ BAL, CIN, @ MIA, @ BUF, TB) there are zero easy wins available.  Those were all used up in the first four weeks.  The Browns will have to split their home games (2-2) and hope for one road win to be 5-6 when Watson comes back, and the schedule lightens up.

Odds and Ends

Getting Notre Dame bye weeks often lead to some free time at the homestead.  With my wife having a spa day, it meant bro-time this past Saturday.  What did Jack want to do?  Watch me build an 800-piece Lego set.  Details to come in next week’s football picks.

Best college football game of the week?  There wasn’t one.  It was great seeing Kansas continue to roll and having Oklahoma lose is never not fun, but otherwise it was a rather mundane Saturday.  

Finished Nathan For You this weekend and it was absolutely spectacular.  Nathan can be a bit weird and the viewer is never sure if his shtick is real or just a shtick, but I loved the absurdity of it all and felt the series finale was completely captivating.  Up next in my ever-expanding TV lineup: finish What We Do In The Shadows and then check out Resurrection Dogs.  

Until next time, peace be the journey.