Gloom and doom normally face those that can not salvage a spit in the first two games of the Championship Series. Both Toronto and the Cubs face daunting tasks in overcoming a two to nothing hole. The Jays scored early and often to escape the danger zone of a three nothing series start. Now the Cubs must do the same thing but face a much more difficult task. What dimension of the construction of Chicago’s offense makes them a much longer shot than the Jays in this going forward? Read about this right now at APEX Baseball Betting.
Value Beyond the Numbers
Toronto needs to have some of the elements that Kansas City dominates in to maximize their chances of evening the 2-1 series today. One of the players whose value clearly exceed his stats and metrics is Kevin Pillar. With a ton of heavy hitters in the lineup, the center fielder is not called upon to even hold his weight as an average CF at bat. This is obvious as he is 0.025 below the average OPS at his position. Even in the face of this, fans and viewers like were witness to the intrinsic value he brings to the game that he demonstrated in the Jays 11-8 win in Game Three. Crushed velvet is his handle and it represents both his fielding ability (fifth in MLB) and base running skills both in eliminating double play possibilities as well as base stealing. This is essential in the manufacturing of runs when the big bats go silent. Just on of the reasons why handicappers are not panicking and still taking Toronto to take the series.
Stat of the Day Dooms Cubs?
Best of seven series has seen 83 percent of those teams that took the first two games win the series. While we are optimistic on the future of the Jays, the Cubs have that flaw that has doomed Detroit and other teams. Besides being young, Chicago has become power dependent in the playoffs. Gads of home runs hit during the Cardinals series was great but now when they face the top tier in starting pitching, the swings have gone asunder. The four best starters overall as a staff can shut down anyone who rides the home run offense too hard. With Arrieta suddenly struggling, the curse could go on for quite a while longer in Chicago for Cubs’ fans.
