Joey's Soapbox: My 2018 Completely Unbiased LCS Picks

Will the Dodgers' season be dead after their Weekend at Bernie's?  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

What's going on, everyone?  This is Joey Beartran, and we've reached the last hurdle for four teams in their quest to reach the World Series.  As always, the Washington Nationals are not one of the teams participating in the League Championship Series, but we knew that since late September when they were eliminated from postseason contention.  Or perhaps we just knew that because they're the Washington Nationals.

While most of the baseball world waits to see which team will overpay Bryce Harper to underachieve for them, fans of the Brewers, Dodgers, Red Sox and Astros will be focusing on their current squads in the hopes that their favorite players will be soon be dousing each other in champagne while wearing futuristic sting-proof goggles.

For Milwaukee, they're hoping to become the second team to win pennants in both leagues, as the Brew Crew advanced to their only World Series in 1982 as a member of the American League, losing the Fall Classic in seven games to Keith Hernandez and his Cardinals cohorts.  Who was the first team, you ask?  That would be Houston, who represented the Senior Circuit in the 2005 World Series and the Junior Circuit last year.  The Astros are also trying to become the first team since the Bronx Bummers nearly two decades ago to successfully defend their championship.

In Beantown, Red Sox fans who know baseball history are confident that their 108-win team will move on to the World Series, especially since no team with 108 regular season victories has ever failed to take home the crown.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers are trying to win back-to-back pennants for the first time in 40 years.

So who will be raising pennants in their home stadiums on Opening Day 2019?  And which teams will be watching footage of the 2017 and 2018 Yankees to learn the proper way to clean out their lockers at the end of a postseason series defeat?

You can either stay up to watch the four-hour games and then be late for school or work the following morning or you can read on to find out who will win the NLCS and ALCS.  Because, as you know, my predictions are more dependable than Giancarlo Stanton in a clutch situation and they're always completely unbiased.  (Especially now that the Yankees are no longer around.)


National League Championship Series


Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers

The Dodgers are playing in their third consecutive NLCS.  The Brewers are playing in their third League Championship Series.  Period.  There's no question that Los Angeles is the more experienced of the two teams.  But will that matter against a team that's won 11 straight games dating back to the regular season?

Los Angeles is the classic all-or-nothing team, as they scored 13 of their 19 runs in the NLDS via the long ball and struck out 35 times in 119 at-bats.  Basically, if you keep them in the park, they'll beat themselves, as evidenced by their .153 batting average in the Division Series when they didn't hit a home run (17 non-homer hits in 111 at-bats).

If you think that .153 average seems pretty low, then the Rockies say, "Hold my Coors Light."

Milwaukee's pitchers limited Colorado hitters to a .146 batting average in their three-game sweep over the Rockies.  Colorado, who hit 210 home runs during the regular season, failed to go deep in any of the three Division Series games against the Brewers.  In fact, the closest they came to hitting a dinger was probably when one of the Rockies' players hit a foul ball into the stands that fell inches away from their mascot.

Dinger has until April to rest up, thanks to Milwaukee's pitching staff.  (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

The Brewers hit well (28 hits in the three games vs. Colorado), they're patient (16 walks in the NLDS) and their pitching has been dominant since late August, allowing an average of 2.56 runs per game over their last 32 games.  The Dodgers just hit home runs.  And the red hot Brewers' staff should prevent them from doing that in this series.

Prediction: Brewers in 6.


American League Championship Series

Houston Astros vs. Boston Red Sox

Houston set a franchise record by winning 103 games in 2018.  They also allowed just 534 runs during the regular season, which were the fewest runs allowed by the team in a non-strike shortened season.  Yet despite being arguably better than the team that won it all last year, the Astros will not have home-field advantage over the Red Sox because Boston won five more games during the regular season.  And you know what?

The Astros have the Red Sox right where they want them.

The defending World Series champions had an eye-popping 57-24 record on the road in 2018.  So packing their bags to play in another team's park is probably bad news for the home team, not the Astros.

Also, Boston's bullpen has had difficulty getting the ball to closer Craig Kimbrel, as no reliever who made at least 40 appearances for the Red Sox had an ERA under 3.18.  This is a problem on a team that did not have any starter pitch 200 innings, something the Astros wouldn't know a thing about, as three of their starters (Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Gerrit Cole) topped the 200-inning mark.

When the Astros aren't outpitching you, they're bludgeoning you with their bats, as they outscored their opponents by an incredible 263 runs.  No other team was within 34 runs of Houston's run differential.

Boston's 108 wins were impressive, but they fattened their victory total by dominating the bottom feeders of their division (31-7 record against Toronto and Baltimore) and their interleague opponents (16-4 vs. their N.L. victims).  For all you kids out there, that's a 47-11 record against the Blue Jays, Orioles and the Mets' good buddies in the N.L. East, which leaves them with a 61-43 record versus all other teams.  That's a .587 winning percentage against those other squads.  Not bad, but not dominant, either.

Houston was equally good against everyone, especially when they went up against a left-handed starting pitcher.  The Astros were 37-23 versus southpaw starters, winning more games against lefties than any other team in the American League.  On a related note, Boston's top two starters throw baseballs with their left hand.

So do you remember that factoid I mentioned earlier about all 108-win teams going on to win the World Series that year?  Do you also recall that saying, "All good things must come to an end"?  I think the latter applies here.  And I'm not just saying that because I want the 1986 Mets to remain the last 108-win team to win a title.

Prediction: Astros in 7.

Only one 108-win had the teamwork to make the dream work.  Sorry, Alex Cora.  (Jim Davis/Boston Globe)

On The Road With Joey & Iggy: Weekend At Bernie's

Hello again, everyone!  We're Joey and Iggy Beartran and this is the road trip recap you've been waiting for!

Earlier today, we posted a recap of the Chicago part of our road trip, in which we visited U.S. Cellular Field (home of the Chicago White Sox) and Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs).  But the Mets were not involved in either game.  Instead, they were playing in Milwaukee, which according to the GPS system that got us lost and sent us to a seedy area of Milwaukee (where no Cheesehead would dare enter), was only 82 miles north of our hotel room in Rosemont, IL.  (Note to selves:  We might need a new GPS.  Just sayin'.)

After a winless week at Citi Field, the Mets tried to get back on the winning track at Miller Park.  Jonathon Niese was on the hill for the Mets, although the scoreboard crew in Milwaukee wanted us to think otherwise.

Spell Check, people!  It's Jonathon, not Jonathan!

The Mets scored two runs in the first and second innings, taking an early 4-0 lead over the Brewers.  The four runs scored by the Mets before we had gotten our first whiff of the bratwurst were completely unexpected, especially considering that the Mets had gone over a month since the last time they had scored four runs in a home game.  The road seemed to agree with them on Friday.

We almost missed the early outburst, as we were enjoying our dinner for the evening.  A Food Network cart had found its way into the ballpark, serving up buffalo chicken mac and cheese and a bacon sloppy joe sandwich with Fritos corn chips.  We only had two words for that.  Yes, please.

A cupful of buffalo chicken mac and cheese goes beautifully with a bacon sloppy joe sandwich.

After emptying Miller Park of all its napkins (the sandwich was a little messy but dang, was it exquisite), we returned to our seats for a few innings.  We got to see two things we hadn't seen in a while - a home run by Lucas Duda and an RBI by Josh Thole (on an extra-base hit, no less).

Once the Mets had a comfortable five-run lead, we decided to hit the Brewers Team Store, where you could buy the T-shirt of any Brewers player on the team.  No, seriously.  Any player.  They're all on the racks and on the walls, as seen in the photo below.

Yes, that's Bob Uecker's No. 9 T-shirt at the top right of the photo.  As always, he's got the furthest seat in the house.

Before we could start mumbling and grumbling about how the Mets took a million years to get a Jonathon (not Jonathan) Niese T-shirt in the Mets Team Store, we noticed a subsection of the Brewers Team Store called The Meat Locker, which is dedicated to the competitors in the daily Sausage Race.  In case you aren't familiar with the speedy sausages, they're in the photos below.

The top photo features the meaty racers and the bottom photo features our travel companion and sometimes correspondent, Ballapeño, with a stuffed version of his favorite sausage, Chorizo, whom he spotted in The Meat Locker.

After our pit stop in the team store, we finally made it back to our seats just in time for the ninth inning and another shaky effort by Ramon Ramirez.  With one out in the ninth, Ramirez walked shortstop Jean Segura and allowed an RBI triple to Tony Plush himself, Nyjer Morgan.  But faster than you can take out the Rolaids (which must be popular at Miller Park due to the artery-clogging ballpark fare), Ramirez retired the next two batters, preserving the victory for Jonathon (not Jonathan) Niese.

It was time to celebrate for the dozen or so Mets fans in attendance at Miller Park, so we whooped it up near the Mets dugout and fooled around on a lifesize replica of the Brewers' primary mascot, Bernie Brewer.  We then went back to the Brewers Team Store to let the Brewers bears have it as well.

The Mets went on to lose the next two games of the series to the Brewers, but at least we got to see their only victory of the weekend series at Miller Park.

We (including Ballapeño) totally enjoyed our Milwaukee experience, and we were very happy that the Brewers bears had no hard feelings because of our playful ribbing at their expense.  We had great seats, great food, great company (okay, so maybe there were a baker's dozen of Mets fans in attendance) and even got to see a rare Mets offensive outburst.  It was a perfect night if you were a Mets fan in Milwaukee.

Now about that Bob Uecker T-shirt in the team store, I wonder if it would fit this statue of him, located outside the ballpark.  He's got to get cold standing out there in the cold Milwaukee winters, don't you think?  (Thanks for reading our road trip recap!  See you on the road!)

Bob Uecker finally made it to the front row.

The K-Rod Deal: Who Could The Possible PTBNL Be?

PTBNL. No, it doesn't stand for Perhaps Tim Bogar Needs Listerine. It stands for Player To Be Named Later. There will be two PTBNL coming to New York from Milwaukee in exchange for former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.

So who could the two players to be named later be? Sandy Alderson gave no hints in his conference call with members of the media earlier today. Of course, we have some ideas at Studious Metsimus. Who knows? Some of them might actually be right...

Bernie Brewer

The fun-loving Brewers mascot would come to the Mets and set up shop by the Beers of the World stand. While kids are having their pictures taken with Mr. Met, their parents could get a high four from Bernie (since he only has four fingers) and indulge in an adult beverage or three.

Bernie's slide from Milwaukee, which he rides down after every home run hit by the Brewers, would not come with him to Citi Field, as the Mets don't hit home runs there, making the slide nothing but an expensive dust collector.




Bob Eucker

Upon arriving at Citi Field, he’d say "great seats, eh, buddy" like in the old Miller Lite commercials, only to be reminded that his seat has an obstructed view. Then during a pitch, he’d utter "just a bit outside", before being corrected that the pitch hit the batter, to which he’d say "well, with all these obstructions at Citi Field, how can anyone be expected to call a game properly?"




Robin Yount's statue

Since the Mets either haven't thought about it or can’t afford to pay for a statue of Tom Seaver to be erected outside Citi Field, they figured they'd just trade for one and hope that their fans don’t notice the difference.

Of course, if the fans dress up as empty seats during the second half of the season, they probably won't have to worry about it.





Rollie Fingers' mustache

The Mets haven’t had a player with a killer mustache since the '80s when Keith Hernandez’s ‘stache patrolled first base at Shea Stadium. With the team trading away their closer and Brian Wilson’s beard being all the rage among ninth inning specialists, the Mets would give the lip hair to Bobby Parnell to make his 100 MPH fastball look all the more intimidating.

On a related follicle note, the Mets did try to trade Francisco Rodriguez to San Francisco for Brian Wilson’s beard but pulled the trade off the table when the Giants asked for a package of K-Rod, Carlos Beltran and a Shake Shack burger. Was the addition of Beltran the dealbreaker? Not exactly.

The Mets claimed that the state of California already has the In-N-Out Burger chain while New York doesn’t, so they felt the Giants asking for Shake Shack would be an embarrassment of riches.



For now, we'll have to wait and see who the players to be named later will be in the Frankie Rodriguez trade to Milwaukee. Perhaps they'll get a mascot. Perhaps it'll be Mr. Belvedere's sidekick.

Regardless of who the players are, the Mets had to make this trade if they wanted to have any chance of signing Jose Reyes in 2012. With K-Rod's vesting option no longer a concern, the Mets will need plenty of funds to have a chance of keeping Reyes in 2012 and beyond. After all without Reyes, it would take more than Bernie Brewer to bring Mets fans back to Citi Field.