Yankees & Royals to Face Off in Post-Season for First Time Since 1980

The Division Series in both the AL and NL begins tomorrow.

Last night, the New York Mets bested the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card matchup on a 3-run HR by Pete Alonso.

The other wild card series were sweeps with the San Diego Padres ousting the Atlanta Braves, the Detroit Tigers upsetting the Houston Astros while the Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles.

The Mets and Padres will face the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, respectively while the Tigers and Royals will face the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees in the ALDS, respectively.

It is the latter matchup between the Yankees and Royals which fascinates me the most as it marks the first time the two teams have faced each other in the post-season since 1980.

Yes, the ALDS is a best of five series. But when the Yankees and Royals faced each other in the ALCS it was also a best of five series. Plus ca change.

Between 1976 and 1980, the Yankees and Royals faced off in the ALCS four times. The Yankees won each of the first three contests from 1976-1978 - the most famous being 1976 when Chris Chambliss hit the walk off homerun against Mark Littell with Chambliss being mobbed by thousands of Yankees fans. There was also the brawl between George Brett and Graig Nettles during the 1977 ALCS. Incredibly, neither man was ejected from the game. After both teams failed to make the post-season in 1979, they would meet again in 1980. This time the Royals would sweep the Yankees winning their first AL pennant.

The two teams had an intense rivalry into the early 1980's reaching its peak with the infamous George Brett pine tar game in 1983.

During this period the Yankees had the likes of Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry and Goose Gossage led by Billy Martin and later Bob Lemon while the Royals had the likes of George Brett, Frank White, Hal McRae, Dennis Leonard and Paul Splittorff led by Whitey Herzog and later by Jim Frey and Dick Howser. 

Today, the Yankees are led by Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodon and rookie Luis Gil with longtime manager Aaron Boone while the Royals are led by Bobby Witt, Jr., Salvador Perez (the one holdover from the Royals 2015 World Series championship team), Vinnie Pasquantino, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha led by Matt Quatraro.

It remains to be seen if the Yankees and Royals will have the sort of rivalry which they had in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it is good to see the two teams face each other in the post-season again.

Democrats Need to Stop Floating Conspiracy Theories That Netanyahu is Influencing The Election

On Wednesday, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence the outcome of next month's U.S. elections. Murphy told CNN's Erin Burnett:

Listen, I certainly worry that Prime Minister Netanyahu is watching the American election as he makes decisions about his military campaigns in the north and in Gaza.

I hope this is not true, but it is certainly a possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the American election as a means potentially to try to influence the result. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions as some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions as connected to the American election.

Today, President Biden said he "didn't know" if Netanyahu was trying to influence the outcome of the election but didn't do much to discourage such talk. 

This is simply unhelpful.

First and foremost, last I checked it was Hamas who has taken hostages. The public pressure should be put on them, not upon Israel. Whatever concerns President Biden, Senator Murphy or any other member of the U.S. government have with Israel should be kept in private. Casting blame on Israel gives Hamas no incentive to release the hostages.

Second, Murphy himself is making a political calculation when he pushes Netanyahu to produce a ceasefire because it operates on the assumption that this would help the Biden Administration and by extension Kamala Harris. But even if such an agreement were to come to pass before the election that it would influence voters in supporting Harris. The Camp David Accords didn't do much for Jimmy Carter's political fortunes while the Oslo Accords didn't stop the Republican Revolution of 1994. Most Americans aren't basing their voting decisions on the Middle East. And among those that do, I doubt a ceasefire agreement would assuage the uncommitted vote. 

Third, in suggesting Netanyahu is trying to influence the outcome of the election it gives legitimacy to anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish control and undue Jewish influence in American politics. Anti-Semitic incidents in this country reached an all-time high last year and show no signs of slowing. Publicly musing about Jews influencing the outcome of the election undermines the efforts of the Biden Administration to counter anti-Semitism.

I have a bad feeling that Democrats, including Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, might push this narrative. They would be wise not to do so.

Reds to Name Francona New Manager Exactly One Year After Retirement from Guardians

A year ago today, Terry Francona announced his retirement from managing when he stepped away from the Cleveland Guardians after 11 seasons amid a myriad of health problems.

Francona's retirement lasted exactly one year as the Cincinnati Reds will name him their new skipper succeeding David Bell who was fired during the last week of the 2024 MLB season.

This will be the fourth MLB club Tito has managed. Aside from the Guardians, Francona has also managed the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox. Tito guided the Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years back in 2004 and replicated that success in 2007 remaining with the club through 2011. Francona took over the reins in Cleveland in 2013 and led the team to an AL pennant in 2016 losing the World Series in seven games to the Chicago Cubs.

Currently, Francona is 13th on MLB's all-time wins list by managers with 1950. All MLB managers with 2,000 or more wins are in Cooperstown save for Dusty Baker and current Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. They will surely have their plaque in the Hall of Fame and so will Tito. But now Francona will focus on getting the Reds their first World Series title since 1990. Francona is not a stranger to the Reds having played for them in 1987 when the late Pete Rose was managing the team.

I do hope that Francona's health problems are behind him or are at least manageable enough that he can take on the rigors involved with the job. Francona is a baseball lifer and probably doesn't know what he would do without the game. I'm sure he's been restless and chomping at the bit to get back into a big-league uniform. I just hope it doesn't end up killing him. Then again, I'm sure he'd rather go out on a baseball field than anywhere else.

JD Vance in 2022: Trump Won The 2020 Election

During the VP debate 48 hours ago, when Tim Walz asked JD Vance if Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Vance refused to answer saying, "I'm focused on the future."

Well, as it turns out, Vance did answer that question back in 2022 when he was running for the Senate in Ohio. Comedian Jason Selvig of The Good Liars confronted Vance and asked if Trump won the 2020 election. Vance said, "Yes." Selvig then asked, "He did win?" "Yup", Vance replied.

Two nights ago, in the words of Walz, Vance gave "a damning non-answer."

Two years ago, Vance gave a damning answer.

And now we definitively know where he publicly stands on the question.

Of course, Vance doesn't believe Trump won the 2020 election. But Vance wants a political future in the Republican Party. So he says Trump won.

At the same time, Vance knows that most Americans don't believe Trump won but also cannot say Trump lost in front of millions of people lest he anger Trump. So hence his non-answer Tuesday night.

Either way, Vance cannot say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

To say that Donald Trump won the 2020 election is like saying the sun rises in the west, the Earth is flat, water isn't wet, and that the Cincinnati Reds have won 10 consecutive World Series. 

If Vance cannot tell the truth about the most basic facts, then how can we believe he would tell the truth about anything?

After all, this is the man who said he would "create stories" about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Should Trump lose the 2024 election then we can be sure that Vance will say that he and Trump won. And he will know that is not true.

The voters cannot reward this behavior by electing Trump and Vance. If we do, then we give them license to lie to us in perpetuity and we will only have ourselves to blame.

Ozzie Virgil, Sr. Was a Baseball Pioneer

 

Former MLB player and coach Ozzie Virgil, Sr. passed away on September 29th at the age of 92. 

Virgil's passing would be overshadowed by that of Pete Rose the following day. Yet Virgil was a baseball pioneer becoming the first Dominican born player in MLB history when he took the field for the New York Giants in 1956. Two years later, Virgil would make history again as the first player of color to wear a Detroit Tigers uniform although he would lament not being accepted by Detroit's African-American community. The Tigers were the second last in MLB to integrate. Only the Boston Red Sox held out until Pumpsie Green joined the team in 1959. 

Virgil would play parts of 9 seasons primarily as a utility player in MLB also wearing a Kansas City A's, Baltimore Orioles and a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform before returning to the Giants who by this time were in San Francisco. Finishing his playing career in 1969, Virgil played in 324 games collecting 174 hits for a lifetime batting average of. 231 with 14 HR and 73 RBI. 

My first memory of Virgil was as the third base coach for the Montreal Expos in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Virgil was manager Dick Williams' right hand man and would follow him to San Diego where he was part of the Padres' 1984 NL pennant winning team before moving onto the Seattle Mariners. 

I also remember Virgil's son Ozzie, Jr. who was a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays and played in the 1983 World Series with the NL champion Phillies alongside the late Pete Rose. 

In Ozzie, Sr.'s later years, he worked for the New York Mets in the Dominican Summer League. In September 2018, when he was 86, the Mets made Virgil an honorary coach for one game in honor of his service to the team and to baseball. 

Baseball might have once been the American national pastime. But the game is far more revered in the Dominican Republic. If one sees baseball on TV in a business establishment which is not a bar there's a very good chance that establishment is Dominican owned. Ozzie Virgil, Sr. is the lynchpin of that passion and reverence.

Last year, the Negro League Baseball Museum held a traveling exhibit called "Breaking Barriers - From Jackie to Pumpsie: 1947-1959" and, in Ozzie Virgil, Sr.'s memory, I have highlighted the picture I took of exhibit. R.I.P.

My Thoughts on the Vance-Walz VP Debate

 

I just finished watching the lone VP debate between Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz.

Here is what I wrote about Governor Walz last night:

Even if Walz comes across as less of a policy expert than Vance, he will come across as a warm, decent human being who cares about the well-being of people. This would hopefully go a long way with the independent voters who will likely decide this election. 

From where I sit not only did Walz come across as a warm, decent human being who cares about the well-being of people, but more than held his own with Vance on policy questions in his capacity as Governor of Minnesota. He also made a point of engaging Vance on points of agreement but mainly addressed his commentary to the millions of people watching at home. Walz exceeded expectations and I think makes him the winner of this debate. No doubt Pete Buttigieg prepared him well, but Walz demonstrated he has plenty of knowledge.

This isn't to say that Vance didn't stay on message about blaming the country ills on migrants both legal and illegal and Kamala Harris for inflicting those ills. No doubt this was music to Donald Trump's ears. But I think Vance's words sounded sour too many voters who haven't yet made up their minds. Vance's claims that Trump saved Obamacare when he did everything to kill it, and that Trump would do everything to regain the trust of voters on reproductive freedom when it was Trump who violated that trust and brags about doing so.

The fact that Vance couldn't answer Walz as to who won the 2020 election and tried to claim Facebook censorship was a greater threat to democracy than the violence of January 6th tells us he is bound to Trump, not to us. Walz adroitly pointed out the fact the former VP Mike Pence's decision to certify the results of the 2020 election was the reason he was not on stage with him tonight asking, "Do we honor democracy or Donald Trump?"

The 2024 presidential election is exactly five weeks from today. Tonight's debate might be a mere footnote by then depending on a litany of things such a wider war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran, the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and dockworkers strike not to mention any number of calamitous events which could arise in the interim. 

But as with the debate between Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Trump three weeks ago, it was a good night for the Democratic candidate. We will know so should Republicans again complain about CBS debate moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan as when they complained about ABC debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis last month.

There were a number of Democrats who were worried that Tim Walz wouldn't be able to rise to the occasion this evening. I believe he has put those fears to rest.

Thoughts on Former President Carter Turning 100

Today marks former President Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday. 

Carter becomes the first U.S. President to live that long.

It is remarkable that he has come this far given what he has gone through over the past decade. 

Carter was diagnosed with liver and brain cancer in 2015 and survived it.

Carter sustained injuries from several falls in his home in 2019 and survived it.

Carter has been in hospice care since February 2023 and has survived it up to and including the death of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter in November 2023 to whom he was married for 77 years. 

However, frail Carter's body has become, his spirit and his will are still strong.

He is determined to live long enough to cast an absentee ballot for Kamala Harris.

Given the fact that former President Trump, rather than congratulate Carter on his birthday, speaks of him as “the happiest man because Carter is considered a brilliant president by comparison" to President Biden.

A small statement from a small man with small hands.

While I have my share of disagreements with the 39th President, I admire Jimmy Carter for his strong constitution which is far more than what I can say about Trump.

I can only hope Carter lives long enough not only to vote for Kamala Harris, but to see her inaugurated.