MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

**theu715** · 01-17-2022, 09:36 AM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

While day one of the opening weekend brought some great pitching matchups, day two had big expectations and did not disappoint. The Toronto Blue Jays matched up with the Houston Astros with all eyes on Justin Verlander coming a year layoff. Verlander was dominant throughout striking out an incredible 19 in 7 innings! It was a record setting pace, but Dusty Baker didn't want to risk leaving his work horse out there past 7 innings in his first game back. When asked about the decision after the game Baker said, "we're in this for the long haul. Every game matters, but if we make it to the post season without Justin, that hurts our chances. I felt good about our pen and they didn't disappoint." The bullpen picked up where Verlander left off and closed out the game for a 4-0 win after Kyle Tucker blasted a grand slam off Jordan Romano in the 9th.

While the final score may have looked a little worse than the game was, it was definitely a pitchers duel to that point. Defending Cy Young winner Robbie Ray matched Verlander with 7 innings and 16 K's. To say these two starters were dominant would be an understatement. I asked Romano if going out for the extra inning hurt him in the 9th and he said it definitely didn't. "I was feeling good and pounding the zone. They got a few guys on and I made one mistake to Tucker and he made me pay. This is the major leagues and you can't do that. I'll be better next time." The Jays will definitely look to bounce back the next time out and it's unlikely we'll see that potent offense held in check for too long.

Here's hoping that day 3 sees an uptick in action around the league and if it does, we'll be there to cover the action.

**theu715** · 01-18-2022, 08:43 AM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

The season is slowly rolling in and day 3 brought us more great action between the rival Dodgers and Giants. San Fran sent their ace Kevin Gausman out and the Dodgers sent Walker Buehler to the hill. Both starters came out sharp in the first inning, but in the second Evan Longoria blasted one to LF to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers threatened in the third after Belinger hit a double into the gap. Gausman didn't seem to like something he heard from the dugout after that and nailed Trea Turner with the next pitch. The move backfired though when Beli and Turner pulled off a double steal. Gausman got a pop to first and looked like he was going to get out of it unscathed, but Longoria's gold glove caliber defense made an error that allowed both runners to score and give LA a 2-1 lead.

Things were quiet until the 6th though when Mookie Betts fired up the crowd by smashing a hanging slider into the outfield seats in left. The next inning it looked like LA was going to pull away though as Belinger came through again with a screaming line drive that the CF couldn't make a play on and went all the way to the wall for a 2 run inside the park HR.

With things looking bleak in the top of the 8th, down 5-1, Wilmer Flores hit a HR to cut the lead to 3 off Jake McGee, but that's as close as it would get. LA sent Trienen out for the 9th and got a quiet 1-2-3 and that was your ball game. Dodgers win 5-2. We'll see you all tomorrow in the No Strike League.

**theu715** · 01-19-2022, 01:26 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

Detroit vs LA
It was a busy day in the No Strike League as we saw a plethora of games going on. There was some early action between the Tigers and the Dodgers that saw some good pitching at the start. The game was scoreless until the 5th inning when Jaimer Candellaro hit a single up the middle to drive in the first run of the day. The Tigers were threatening to open it up more but the the Dodgers went to their pen and shut down a bases loaded moment for Detroit.

The Dodgers didn't wait long to answer back and in the bottom of the inning Mookie Betts stayed in MVP form driving in the tying run. LA kept the pressure on and scored one more in the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Both pens held strong until Jonathan Schoop blasted a solo shot in the 8th inning bringing it to 2-2. Detroit felt like this was there moment in the game as LA's pen began to fold and strung together multiple base hits to build a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately LA couldn't answer back in the 9th going down 1-2-3.

After the game I caught up with the manager of the Tigers and asked him how it felt to lead his team to victory after the recent birth of his first child. "It's been a bit of a whirlwind man. All I remember was a lot of screaming and breathing, next thing I know there's this baby there and I haven't slept much since. It was good to be back out here with the boys, but my wife, she's the real hero here." Well, we're glad to have you back as well. Tell the wife congrats for us.

Toronto vs Chicago
In an afternoon affair the Blue Jays and White Sox mixed things up. Both teams looking to pick up a win. Both starters kept it close into the 7th inning when Teoscar Hernandez hit a 2 run blast to put Jays on the board. With his club grasping to make something happen, Cesar Hernandez went deep and tried to fire up the White Sox, cutting the lead to 2-1.

Cavan Biggio got Toronto going again though lacing a ball off the top of the wall that just missed getting out of the park and legged out a triple. Bo Bichette would drive him in to help build back up the Toronto lead. Chicago kept fighting and used Gavin Sheets to pinch hit again. Earlier in the year he had a clutch HR against Tampa Bay with 2 strikes in the bottom of the 9th and in this spot, he smoked a ball into the OF for a triple. Toronto would hold it together though with their closer picking up a save over 2 innings.

The Jays were fired up and left a clearly dejected White Sox team struggling to figure out how to pick things up from here.

Tampa Bay vs Houston
Finally, in the night cap we had pitching duel between rising young stars Shane McClanahan and Luis Garcia. Each starter found himself in a tight spot in the second inning but both men showed poise beyond their years to get out of the jams. McClanahan pitched 7 innings allowing a few hits and striking out 10. Garcia gave up a few hits as well, but got out of multiple spots where he had runners in scoring position. His night was cut short in the 5th though when he had some hamstring soreness. Dusty Baker felt like it was better to proceed with caution and go to the pen here.

The move seemed to pay off as Jimi Garcia pitched 3+ innings in relief giving up no runs. Both teams were dead locked at 0-0 going into extra innings. The Rays couldn't get anyone home in the top of the 10th and shut down Houston too. In the 11th inning, Tampa Bay missed a golden opportunity to score a run after a leadoff double couldn't wasn't deep enough into a gap to get Ji Man Choi home from second. This would come back to bite them as Houston sat down the next three batters and then walked it off with 2 outs in the bottom of the inning off a Jose Altuve bloop single to center improving to 3-0 on the season.

I caught up with Dusty after the game and he had this to say, "it looked like it wasn't going to be our night with Luis coming out early. I think he'll be ok, but man o man did Jimi pick us up or what?! We needed that from him and I know he's earned a day or two off. I'm proud of our guys for showing some heart out there. We've got a special team. I've coached a lot of teams and I'm just saying, there's something special about this group." We will see Dusty, only time will tell.

**theu715** · 01-20-2022, 10:53 AM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

Games in the No Strike League continue to roll along and yesterday saw three games go down. Philadelphia was busy playing a split team double header. Their first game of the day brought a first to the No Strike League and hopefully the last time we see it.

Houston fell behind 1-0 early on and the Phillies pitching started strong. In the fourth inning Philly started to string together some good at bats and wound up with the bases loaded. This is where things got weird though. The Phils got a big hit that drove in 3 more runs to put them up 4-0. After that, the Astros just walked off the field. The fans, announcers and even the Philadelphia players were in disbelief trying to figure out what was going on. I asked Dusty Baker what happened as the team was trying to get out of the stadium and all he could say was that he had no comment. Shortly after there Ken Rosenthal tweeted out that a source told him that as many as 15 Astros players had come down with COVID and the league told them to get off the field immediately. Word is that fans will be given a full refund. Here's to hoping we don't see moments like this again.

From there the Phillies took to the field again against the White Sox. Chicago has started off to a rough 0-3 start and were looking to get their first win of the year and they had a tough task as Ranger Suarez was dealing over 8 innings allowing 5 hits 2 runs and 10 Ks. He gave up a rbi double to Adam Engel in deep RF in the 3rd inning. Next inning Bryce hit a 2 RBI Hr in the RF stands giving Philly the lead 2-1. Freddy Galvis hit a solo shot to go back to back and it looked like they may pull away. Both teams continued to pitch well though and Chicago kept fighting like the warriors they are. Adam Engel used his speed to lay down a bunt and sneak in a runner from third, but that's all they could get in the inning. Hector Neris shut the door in the 9th and the Phillies are now sitting atop the standings at 3-0. The White Sox fall to 0-4 and many are wondering if Tony LaRusso's health will hold up to that type of start.

The night cap brought us a late game as the Tampa Bay Rays hosted their first home game of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays. Both offenses have been struggling to put runs on the board this year and this game was no exception. Alex Manoah had a no hitter going into the 6th and was pulled by Charlie Montoya and the no hitter became no more by a opposite field double against the shift for Ji Man Choi, but as always the Rays could do nothing with it. On the other side of ball Robinson Chirinos was back on the mound for the first time in a year and a half as he came off Tommy John surgery. Chirinos was dominant, taking a perfect game into the 8th inning before allowing a seeing eye single past third baseball Joey Wendle. He'd get out of the inning striking out his 20th batter and both pens sent the game into extras. A baserunning blunder killed the 10th for Toronto and a passed ball for catcher Danny Jensen allowed Brett Philips to move up to third base and the Rays would walk it off on a sac fly to right center in that same at bat. Tampa Bay moves on to 2-1, but every game they've played has gone to extra innings. It'll be a rough season if the offense can't get going.

That'll do it for yesterdays action and we're looking forward to more games today.

**theu715** · 01-21-2022, 11:00 AM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

It was a relatively quiet day in the No Strike league as we saw only two games take place over the coarse of the day. The first game of the day saw the Tigers battle it out with the White Sox. It was a quiet start early on with both pitchers getting some easy outs.

In the 4th inning the White Sox hit a towering fly ball that looked like it was going to get out. Instead of giving them an early lead the ball was robbed at the wall. They didn't let the play get them down and hit a ground rule double on the next hitter. Detroits pitching would clamp down though and strand the runner at second. The bottom of 4th Jonathan Schoop was sitting fastball and got one about a foot above strike zone and crushed a 440 foot bomb to left field to put the Tigers up.

Detroit kept the pressure up in the 5th with a double and single by Derek Hill to make it 2-0. Chicago appeared to have some momentum, but ran themselves out of the inning with a strike em out throw em out double play. Schoop would add on with his second HR of the game and Chicago would run into another strike em out throw em out double play.

Spencer Turnball would allow a leadoff single in the 9th to get the pen warming, but that would be it. Turnball gets the complete game shutout and the Tigers win 3-0.

Later in the day the White Sox took the field again against the Giants. I caught up with La Russo before the game. He was clearly worn out and unsure of what to do to get the team going. "These guys are adults. If they can't get ready for a big league game, I can always ship em back to the minors. Ask Yermin how fun that was last year." Interesting response and one that clearly fired them up. It was a high scoring back and forth game, but ultimately Chicago picked up their first win on a walk off HR by Yasmani Grandal.

Looking forward to more action today and heading into the weekend.

**theu715** · 01-26-2022, 03:54 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

Over the past few days the No Strike League has been experiencing some blackout restrictions in some local markets causing a lack of reporting. We've done some digging in the mean time and pulled out some pretty interesting stats from around the league, but before we get into that, here is a recap of the action from yesterday.

In one of the more bizarre occurrences we've seen in years, the Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers played a day/night double header, but players were forced to hope on private jets to travel quickly from one park to the next. I spoke with Kevin Cash prior to the games and he pointed out something his team was doing to prepare for this. "We've sent a few of our key relievers and the starter of game 2, Tyler Glasnow up to Detroit yesterday. We figured with the high powered offense Detroit can employee, we're going to need some fresh arms, but also not tax those guys with all the travel." Well, it should be interesting to see how that played out.

In game 1 the Tigers strung together 3 hits to drive in the first run of the game against Shane Baz by a Eric Hass RBI single. The rookie starter would settle in from there pitching 6.2 innings allowing only the one run. Not to be outdone was Casey Mize for Detroit. The Tigers' rookie starter would pitch into the 8th inning allowing only two hits, but a lead off double by Choi, who would be pinch run for by Margot would come around to score the next AB on a double from Arozzarena. Tampa Bay would would get one more that inning on a ugly Cruz single that was knocked down by Goodrum deep enough off the infield for Arozzarena to score from second. The Rays would got out of a jam in the 8th and then Pete Fairbanks came on in the 9th for a quick 1-2-3. Tampa Bay took a tight game 1, 2-1.

Both teams hoped on their jets to head back to Detroit and it looked like Glasnow was ready. He came out throwing nothing but fastballs in the first and looked like he was going to get a quick inning until Johnathan Schoop hit a line drive shot into the left field pen. Glasnow would keep things quiet until Schoop came up again smashing a curve ball just below the zone over the left centerfield wall. Kiermaier gave it a courtesy attempt, but I don't think he got that close. As usual, the Rays' bats were pretty quiet until the 6th inning. When Cruz and KK got on with infield singles. Zunino was sacrifice them over and Joey Wendle would drive them both in to tie the game up at 2 a piece. Tampa Bay would add 2 more the next inning on a triple by Arrozarena and a single from Cruz.

Glasnow would stay strong on the hill pitching 7.2 with 10 K's, allowing just the 2 runs from Schoop. Andrew Kittredge would come on to get the last 4 outs, getting a big K vs Schoop with a runner on base in the 8th. It wasn't a smooth 9th though as Kit allowed a solo HR to Hass before getting the last 2 outs and give the Rays a 4-2 win.

With those HR vs Tampa Bay one would think Schoop is probably leading the league in HR, but after taking a closer look, all that did was bring him within range of the early MVP candidate and league leader in HR, Bryce Harper.

Here are your top 3 in some key offensive categories around the league.
HR: Harper (7), Schoop (5), multiple players (3)
RBI: Harper (11), Cruz (8), Schoop/Bryant (7)
AVG:Harper (.500), Schoop (.478), Anderson (.400)
So far Harper is looking like the early candidate for the MVP and possibly even a run at the Triple Crown.

Here are some of the top starting pitching numbers around the league as well.
K's: Cease (24), Chirinos (20), multiple starters (19)
ERA: Glasnow and Lynn (1.00 w/2 games pitched), multiple starters (0 w/1 gm)

Relievers
Saves: Kittredge and Leone (2), multiple (1)
K's: Kopech and Crochet (10), multiple (7)
From a pitching standpoint it'll be interesting to see how the season plays out with most teams making their way through their rotation for a second time now.

We've had a fun season so far, so stay tuned to see how things shake out from here.

**theu715** · 01-29-2022, 09:35 AM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

Baseball in the winter? Who would've ever expected it? That's what we have here in the No Strike League. For the owners who kept their teams playing, they're seeing record attendance and merchandise sales. TV numbers are up in those markets as well, so I think everyone would say it's been worth it to this point.

Early in the season we saw the Astros jump out to a hot start, while the White Sox and Giants struggled to pick up any type of consistency. Pitching has been dominant in most games, but we've seen some slugfests scattered in. As of late, the Giants have been one of the hottest teams in the league, getting over .500 and into contention for a playoff spot. They'd look to stay hot as they faced off in three games against the top two teams in the league, the Phillies and Rays.

One of the biggest storylines heading into this game was whether or not Gausman could quiet the hot bat of Bryce Harper. Harper has been destroying pitchers to this point. The Phillies jumped out to an early lead in the second against Gausman, but he would settle in from there. San Fran would get on the board and take the lead 2-1. They'd add another one in the 6th to make it 3-1. Wheeler pitched a CG, but gave up all 3 ER. Gausman went 7.2 striking out 11 and walking 3 as he tip toed his way through the lineup. The strategy seemed to work against Harper who went 0-2 drawing 2 walks. The game ended in the 9th with Tyler Rogers on the hill when they got Jean Segura in a rundown for the final out. The Giants picked up another win and would head into their game against Tampa Bay red hot.

Tampa Bay and San Francisco would play a double header where runs were definitely hard to come by. In game one rookie Shane McClanahan would match up with Anthony deScalfani. Both pitchers were dominant in a windy affair in San Francisco. Somehow Brandon Belt took a slider away to the deepest part of the park to put the Giants up 1-0. Tampa Bay would finally get things going with a lead off bunt single by Kiermaier. KK advanced to second on a past ball. Two sac flies would tie it up for Tampa. The Giants loaded the bases on a couple singles and a sac bunt that the Rays tried to turn 2 on and got nothing. With 2 strikes they'd do another sac bunt to take a 2-1 lead and followed that with another sac bunt attempt that turned into the final out of the inning. Tampa Bay brought the go ahead run to the plate in the 9th after Brett Philips got on, but Joey Wendle flew out to end the game. San Fran stays hot heading to game 2.

Game 2 was no different from game 1 and Yonny Chirinos and Logan Webb were dealing. Tampa Bay continued to make good contact, but the ball hasn't been carrying for them in a while now. Chirinos was the one shining brightest in this game. He went 8.1 striking out 15. The game saw a power outage in the 7th, but it didn't affect either pitcher. Webb dealt into the 9th as well and the game would head into extras with nothing happening until the 15th inning when Joey Wendle hit a walk off HR giving the Rays a 1-0 win.

Here's how things are looking around the league after the most recent games.
Rays 6-2
Phillies 6-2
Astros 3-1
Giants 6-5
Tigers 3-3
Dodgers 1-2
Blue Jays 1-5
White Sox 1-7

**theu715** · 02-01-2022, 05:03 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

We're creeping closer and closer to the midway point of the season and things around the league are really starting to shape out. Teams were bunched up at the top, but after the last few days of games, there's beginning to be a bit of separation.

After a scorching hot start, the Phillies picked up a rare loss against the Giants and would look to bounce back against the Blue Jays. Toronto opened up the scoring in the first on a solo shot from Bo Bichette, but the Phillies would answer quickly, throwing up back to back crooked number innings and building a 4-1 lead. The Blue Jays never quit fighting though and added another run in the 6th to make it 4-2. The bottom of the 8th is when things got real interesting though when Toronto picked up 3 more runs on a Bichette double and Semien single to go up 5-4. The bench was fired up and the few fans that the city of Toronto is allowing to go to games because of covid still were electric. You could actually see people throwing things from their windows in the hotel located beyond the outfield walls. Cimber would come in and slam the door on the Phils sending them into their first losing streak of the season.

With the recent losses by the Phillies, it opened the door for the Rays grab ahold of first place in the league after a two game split vs the Giants, they would welcome in Detroit. The Rays were looking to do something to the Tigers that hasn't been done in over a decade and sweep the defending champs in the regular season. I caught up with Kevin Cash prior to the game to get his thoughts. "Are you kidding me? What do you want me to say? Those guys suck. We're going to send them back to Detroit with their tails tucked between their legs. Gimme a break. That's a great ball club over there. I see a lot of the same things I see from our guys. They've got some great young talent. With a few solid vets in their lineup. Their starting rotation is one of the toughest groups of young arms in the league. They've 3 or 4 guys in their pen who are beginning to establish names for themselves as shut down relievers. If we beat them again, I'm saying nothing. I'm not giving them bulletin board material for a possible postseason matchup." Wow, thanks Kevin.

The Rays and Tigers game 3 did not disappoint. Both starters came out strong, but a 2 out 2 strike HR by Jordan Luplow would give the Rays a 3 run lead in the 4th inning. Shane Baz pitched well again, going 8 innings and allowing only a solo HR to rookie sensation Akil Badoo. Talk about electric young talent. Badoo has really made a name for himself this year and is looking to jump into the upper echelon of talent like Acuna and Soto. Only time will tell if he can keep things up. Unfortunately for Detroit, that's all they'd get as Nick Anderson would come on to slam the door shut in the 9th and give the Rays the 3-1 victory. The Rays are hot folks and there's no telling where things go from here for this ball club.

There was one other game on the books, as the Giants and Tigers squared off. Unfortunately, due to blackout restrictions and an apparent strike from the beat writers. We have no box score to report. Simply that the Tigers were able to pick up a win against the Giants. That quick bounce back from San Fran has taken a bit of a slide, so we'll see if they can get hot again quickly.

The last note of the day is that Dusty Baker and the Astros have reportedly come out from hibernation. Dusty took week plus nap after chowing down on an all you can eat buffet at the local Goldan Coral. Clearly still getting over the meat sweats, Dusty said his boys are ready to get back on the field this Wednesday.

**theu715** · 02-09-2022, 03:54 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

It's been another wonderful regular season in the No Strike League. While many of the original MLB teams decided to stay in their lockout, the teams who stepped up to the plate, really knocked it out of the ballpark ... puns intended.

As we head into the post season we've got some great matchups in store and one thing is for sure, whoever walks away with the World Series trophy will have earned the right to call themselves a champion. There are some heavy story lines heading into the championship series round of the playoffs, so let's jump in.

Quite possibly the series that will have everyone's attention will be between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Detroit Tigers. Tampa Bay did the unthinkable this year sweeping the Tigers over a three game series. Rookie starter Shane Baz pitched incredible over his three outings and I caught up with Kevin Cash to see if what his plans were on using their deep rotation. "Listen, I'm here to tell you this rotation is stacked. Top to bottom it's one of the best, if not, the best rotation of any time left. When you can send out a fifth starter like the Wizard of Baz, you've got something special. Glas will definitely get the ball for game one and we'll go from there to see how we like the matchups. That's about all I'll say on that." Not anything out to surprising, but Cash is definitely holding the cards close to the vest for game 2 on.

When I checked in with the Tigers, their message was short and to the point. "We're pissed! We're multiple time defending champs for a reason. That's your story ..." Well, that escalated quickly. If history is any indication of things to come, the long ball will play a major factor in this series. Detroit was able to go deep multiple times in the series, but Tampa held them to solo shots. On the flip side, when Tampa hit the ball out of the park they were able to do so with runners on base. Can the Rays quiet the power bat of Jonathan Schoop? Will Detroit shut down the Rays streaky offense? I for one know I'll be tuned and with the popcorn ready for this series.

On to the next matchup and it'll see another hotly contested series between the Phillies and the Giants. The two teams split their season series 1 a piece. While game one was a slugfest that the Phils won 9-8, game 2 was much more of a pitching matchup. The Giants were able to win the second game 3-1, scrapping some runs off of the always tough Aaron Nola. Bryce Harper was hot, homering both games as he was most of the season.

The biggest storyline heading in to this matchup will be found in the superstars. Can Harper, Wheeler, Nola, and Realmuto carry the Phillies the Phillies to a quick start in the first two games or will the Giants veteran presence of Posey, Longoria, Gausman and Bryant find a way to carry their second half magic into the post season. I caught up with the Giants manager to get his thoughts on the series. "The boys were really scuffling out of the gate. They never got down on themselves after the slow start. They kept fighting and never took their eyes off the prize. Now we're in the post season and our goal is to win it all. I know they've got a tough rotation and lineup out in Philadelphia, but this team in San Francisco isn't one to sneeze at either. I'll tell you straight up, we're not rolling over for nobody." On the other side of the coin Bryce Harper was all but punching their teams ticket to the World Series. "The front office went out and made the moves they needed to make to set us up for big things this year. I did what I needed to do. Our team did what we needed to do, and we didn't set out to make the post season this year. We set out with one goal in mind. World Series or bust." There you have folks, this one should be fun to watch as well.

With the storylines set and teams putting the final touches together on their post season rosters, I know you're all as excited as we are to get this post season underway. Stay tuned for all your post season coverage and we'll see you back soon!

**theu715** · 02-16-2022, 04:17 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

It's time for your No Strike League Playoff update. While the regular season brought us some incredible matchups, the start of the playoffs have been even more exciting!

We'll start things off today in San Francisco, where the Giants welcomed the Phillies into town for games one and two of a best of five series. There were some intriguing matchups in this series, but those matchups were blown away quickly when the Giants pummeled the Phils 7-0 behind a stellar performance by ace Kevin Gausman. We caught up with Buster Posey after the game to get his reaction on Gausman's night. "Man, Kevin came out hot. He and I were just N-Sync tonight. He trusted me and I don't remember him shaking me off once. The bats were hot and we said Bye, Bye, Bye early to their starter." Well Buster, don't be so subtle next time with your references.

While game one may not have gone their way, Philadelphia came back out strong in game two. Their pitching struggled early again and their starter, for the second game in a row didn't make it out of the second inning. Hoskins and Harper both homered, but that wasn't enough as the Giants pulled away as Anthony deSclafani pitched 6 strong innings and their bullpen closed the door, giving the Giants a commanding 2-0 series lead. We wouldn't say we hear the fat lady clearing her throat because that wouldn't appropriate these days, but we definitely hear a person clearing their throat and getting ready to belt a tune. Game three will be here before we know it though and I don't think the Phillies are ready to call it quits. "This series isn't over. We're heading back to Philadelphia now and I've told the boys to meet me at the old Balboa statue. If Rocky could come back to beat Apollo, we know we can come back against these Giants." That's the spirit Bryce, never give up, never surrender!

If you thought things were interesting in San Fran, the temperature was even hotter over in Tampa. Wait, does that even make sense? Don't they play inside a dome where it's always 72 degrees? Whatever, you get the point. After coming off a series sweep of the Tigers in the regular season where all three games were close, the Rays were looking to take game one against the Tigers when they sent Tyler Glasnow to the hill. This looked like a bad matchup for the Rays as Detroit feasts on fastball pitchers, but Glasnow wasn't phased. He had a short message for Detroit before the game, "These balls are burning and ready to rip. I'm bringing the gas and if they can hit it, they can name it." Hm ... not sure what to think about that ...

Glasnow wasn't playing around though. He went 8.2 innings striking out 10. Spencer Turnball came out for the Tigers with a sense of urgency as well. Nearly matching Glasnow going 7.1, but striking out 11. If you like offense, game one was not for you. Both teams were pitching like 1 run was going to win it and that pretty much what happened. It wasn't until the 16th inning when Colin McHugh gave up 2 solo HR Haase and Grossman, that anyone got on the board. That would be enough for Detroit and they'd shut the door in the bottom of the 16th to take game 1. The Tigers got out quick to get back to the hotel for some rest after this game so we didn't get a chance to get a comment from their skipper. We stopped Cash in his car as he was heading out and you could see the look of defeat in his eyes. "That one hurt. We should've gotten Glas that win." We'll come back tomorrow and see what we can do."

Game one brought us a marathon, game two was looking might it could get out of hand multiple times. The Rays sent rookie sensation Shane McClanahan to the mound to face off against fellow rookie Casey Mize. Shane tightroped out of a few spots giving his team a needed 5.1 allowing just a solo shot to Miguel Cabrera. JP Feyereisen would allow another run in the 7th giving the Tigers what felt like a commanding 2-0 lead behind an incredible game from Mize. Casey was pitching a perfect game into the 7th, but the 9th inning is where things really got interesting. Mize, with only 82 pitches under his belt would head out for the 9th inning. Brett Phillips got things going with a 2 strike single to leadoff the inning and advance to second on a passed ball. Mejia would come on to pinch hit, but would wind up striking out. Kevin Keirmaier, who's had a strong start to the post season would single to drive in Phillips. The next at bat Brandon Lowe would pick up his second hit of the game and a bad read by CF Victor Reyes, that allowed the ball to get by him would put KK on third and Lowe on second. Wander Franco looked like he had a seeing eye single that would walk it off, but Castro was able to get to the ball in the grass and get the out at 1b, but the damage was done as the KK scored to tie it up at 2.

With the winning run 90' away and Austin Meadows coming up, the Tigers would finally pull Mize for their young gun slinger Gregory Soto. The Rays would counter by bringing in veteran slugger Nelson Cruz. In a 1-1 count Soto tried to sneak a pitch up and in to Cruz, but the veteran slugger was able to keep his hands inside and drive the ball deep and inside the LF foul pole to give the Ray an unthinkable game 2 win, 4-2. While Cash was the defeated manager in game one, game two was the opposite story. "We thought we had them. I had total confidence and Casey to finish that game out. Even after he gave up the first run I still thought he could get the job done. Once they tied it up, I made the decision to go to Soto. He was great in game one, but he made a pitch that Cruz could get to. Hats off to Nelly. He's been doing this for a long time. He's a pro. I'll talk to the boys in the locker room and hopefully we'll take game three in Detroit."

Man 'o man. Not only have we had some great games, but we've got an incredible series on our hands. Unfortunately it's only a five game series for the fans, but I can tell you one thing. We can't wait for the game threes in both series. Here's to a great post season start and we're looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. Thanks for stopping by.

**theu715** · 02-22-2022, 04:48 PM

Re: MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I guess it depends on where you stand on this, we've fallen a bit behind on our updates. Here we are though, two games into the World Series, so let's see how we get here, what's happening, and what to expect.

HOW'D WE GET HERE
In a stunning turn of events, after falling behind 3-0 in their series to the Giants, the Phillies team owner decided to lock out the players and join the rest of the teams in the nearly league wide strike. Now, for the first time ever, we have a team who has advanced to the World Series in a "walk off forfeit". Who saw that one coming??? The Giants have definitely earned their trip to the World Series though, after posting an incredible turn around to their season. We haven't seen something like this since the Nationals did it and would go on to beat the A*stros in the World Series.

While the Giants and Phillies may have ended without much excitement, that was not the case for the Tigers and Rays series. In a bit of a prophetic note, the Tigers came out and did exactly what their manager said they would. They set the bitter walking off ending of game 2 behind them and headed to Detroit looking to reset the tone of the series as they jumped out to an early lead against Yonny Chirinos. The Tigers' bats were patient and ran up Chirinos' pitch count before knocking him out in the 6th inning, forcing the Rays to go to their pen much earlier than they'd like. This wouldn't be it for the Rays, as we've seen they don't give up easily and brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the 9th before Willy Peralta slammed the door on back to back comeback victory by striking out Austin Meadows. "This was a HUGE win for us. We really needed it after game 2 and it puts us in the driver seat with one more home game." said rookie catcher Eric Haase.

Game 4 brought more of the same. The Tigers jumped out to another early lead and seeing flashbacks of their early games decided to use a starter out of their pen to try and close out the series. Unfortunately that plan backfired and the Rays were able to tie the game and take the lead in the 8th inning this time before shutting the door in the 9th to send the series back to Tampa for what would surely be a wild and raucous game 5. We caught up with Kevin Cash to get his thoughts on the game 5 starter. "Everybody is available. They're all ready. The only guy who may be limited is Yonny because they touched him up a bit and ran his count higher than I would've liked. Glas can go. McClanahan is good. All the pen is available. With that said, Baz gave us 16 innings allowing 2 ER in the regular season against these guys. I'd say I'm pretty confident sending him out to go deep as well."

Well, game 5 did not disappoint! The Tigers did what they've done all series and got on the board first to go up 1-0. From there it was a similar thing we've seen throughout the series. DOMINANT starting pitching. Shane Baz found himself in a couple jams, but would only give up the one run and end up pitching 9 innings for the Rays. Detroit's starter would give them a great outing and they would lean heavily on their other starters and some of their bullpen to try and piece together a game 5 win and head to their 6th straight World Series birth. In the bottom of the 9th inning, with 2 outs and 2 strikes, with their season on the line, Austin Meadows blasted a no doubt HR to tie the game at 1-1 and send it into extra innings. Dejavu began to set in from there as both teams had some quick innings, but were also able to work out of one jam. Then, in the 15th inning, when it looked like we were headed towards another marathon game, Francisco Mejia came up with a line drive hit into the right center gap that would score the winning run from second base and propel the Rays into their first World Series in league history! "It was an incredible series. I can't say enough how proud I am of this group of guys. They fought and fought and fought, never giving up. We're excited right now and I just want to get back in their with the guys." Well, said Kevin. Your team deserved it, but hats off to the Tigers on putting up one of the hardest fought battles and most entertaining series in league history. The pitching performance from both sides will go down in the history as some of the best we've seen.

WHATS HAPPENING NOW?
While we're still playing a bit of catch up, the World Series has already gotten underway and there are some things you should know. The Rays and Giants battled out to a 1-1 series split in the regular season with an even run differential between the two teams. Games one and two looked like they'd bring similar results, until the Rays were able to open the door with some monster offenses innings. Game one saw them struggle early before making a change to their offensive approach. Immediately they smashed multiple HR in the inning and went up 3-0 before another solo shot later in the game put them up 4-0. Great performance by Tyler Glasnow sealed things for them to go up 1-0.

Game 2 looked like it could be a role reversal as the Giants jumped all over rookie starter Shane McClanahan. The veteran right handed heavy lineup ran up his pitch count. Drew some walks and got timely hits, but with all that seemed to go right for them, they were only able to score 1 run. The second inning though is where things went south for San Fran as the Rays pummeled starter Alex Wood to a tune of 6 earned runs, forcing the Giants to go to their pen early. From there, Tampa Bay looked to force the Giants into some bad counts and weak outs, but San Fran didn't give up. They went on to hit 3 solo HR and cut the lead to 6-4 as Pete Fairbanks closed out the game for the Rays. We'll see if San Francisco can build on their momentum though heading into game 3.

WHAT TO EXPECT
We head back to the west coast for game 3 as the Giants look to even things up. They'll be sending their ace, Kevin Gausman to the hill to try and stifle this red hot Rays lineup. The Rays are familiar with Gausman from his days in Baltimore, so it'll be interesting to see how this move to save their ace for game 3 plays out. Tampa Bay will counter with Yonny Chirinos, who was dominant in his outing earlier in the year vs the Giants. Can the Rays bats stay hot? Will the already overworked Giants pen be able to catch a break? Will the west coast delay play a factor for the Rays? Can the Giants capitalize on home field and even this series up? Lots of questions to be answered and we'll look forward to seeing what happens as the World Series rolls on to game 3.

MLB The Show 21: No Strike League

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