The Not-So-Wild Wild-Card Round Is Underway

Plus a eulogy for the D-Backs, a reminder that baseball isn’t built for comebacks, and the sound of silence.

Well, that was an odd first day of baseball playoffs. The road teams—the so-called “underdogs”—won three of four. There was a grand total of two home runs hit in the four games… both by the San Diego Padres. Starting pitchers (who are supposed to be nearly extinct) dominated pretty much across the board. Michael King—MICHAEL KING!—did something no starting pitcher has ever done in the postseason. And we’ll find out today if we’ll get any Game 3s in the wild-card round. We didn’t last year.

Also, a little more Pete Rose, a lament for the Arizona Diamondbacks and a reminder that baseball isn’t built for comebacks.

Speaking of reminders: This week, you can get 28.6% off a monthly subscription to JoeBlogs… meaning that the price will be $5, rather than the usual $7.

And, per Brilliant Reader request, you can subscribe annually for 29.06% off—meaning that this week you can subscribe for the next year for the price of $42.56. I think we all know what that number means.

Let’s get to the action…

Tigers 3, Astros 1

Meet Tarik Skubal! Hardcore baseball fans are well aware of Skubal’s dominance this year—he won the pitching Triple Crown and will win the AL Cy Young Award unanimously—but I would imagine that on Tuesday, more than a few casual baseball fans saw him pitch for the first time.

Here’s what that saw: a 6-foot-3, 240-pound terminator who throws 100-mph fastballs and Bugs Bunny changeups. A Houston Astros lineup filled with some of the most accomplished hitters of our time—Altuve! Tucker! Alvarez! Bregman!—were mostly helpless against him for six innings.

This being 2024 playoff baseball, Skubal was pulled after those six innings—he had thrown 88 pitches, or, as Nolan Ryan used to call it, “just enough pitches to get loose”—and then the law firm of Vest, Holton, Foley & Brieske finished off the game with a little drama, but, you know, not too much drama. We’ll talk about that in a bit.

For now, let’s talk a bit about Skubal.