You’ve gotta admit, Buck Showalter’s asking the umpires to rub Joe Musgrove’s ears was the perfect way for the Mets to go out. It was the combination of dysfunction, desperation and unintentional comedy that has defined this organization pretty much since its inception 60 years ago.
At first, requesting a sticky-stuff check made sense. Musgrove had allowed just one base runner through the first five innings, his spin rate was up from his seasonal average and his ears appEARed shiny on the broadcast. The check for illegal substances was fruitless, though, and soon it became clEAR that this was nothing more than a last ditch effort to fluster the Padres‘ righthander in New York’s eventual 6–0 loss.
Frank Franklin II/AP
Before we continue, here’s a brief refresher on sticky stuff. Pitchers use illegal substances to increase the spin rate of their pitches. The more pitches spin, the more they move, which in turn makes them more difficult to hit.
Last night, Musgrove’s pitches were spinning faster than they do on average, but there was nothing nefarious going on. There is a correlation between velocity and spin rate on fastballs, and checking the ratio between velocity and spin rate is a good indicator of whether sticky stuff could be causing a spin surge.
His four-seam fastball rpm per mph ratio was 28.4 last night, higher than his average ratio (27.6) this season but not the highest (28.5). Eno Sarris, who has written a lot about the impact of sticky stuff on spin for The Athletic, pointed out last night on Twitter that he looks for a ratio difference between 1.5 and 2 rpm per mph. Musgrove’s ratio was up 0.8, well within the acceptable range of variance.
Going beyond the numerical data, we know Musgrove didn’t coat his ear with sticky stuff, because he wasn’t touching his ear before pitching to apply anything to the baseball. And first base umpire Alfonso Márquez literally rubbed Musgrove’s ear in what was the most unintentionally sensual scene featuring an umpire and a pitcher since Dan Bellino tried and failed to court Madison Bumgarner with longing stares and gentle caresses. Márquez found no contraband, because there was no contraband to be found.
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1. THE OPENER
Frank Franklin II/AP
“An hour after their 101-win season ended with a 6–0 loss to the Padres in a decisive Game 3 of the National League wild-card series, the Mets played pool. They sipped on Corona and Bud Heavy as they signed jerseys for one another.”
That’s quite the revealing lede to Stephanie Apstein’s revealing column about the end of the Mets’ promising season.
Inside the Mets’ Clubhouse After the End of Another Fruitless Season by Stephanie Apstein
They seemed more resigned to the fact that their year had ended rather than devastated. They knew they were not good enough.
2. ICYMI
Need to get caught up on what’s happened so far in the postseason? We’ve got you covered!
The Biggest Pitching Trends and Oddities of the MLB Postseason by Tom Verducci
The new playoff format will have a profound effect on how teams use their pitchers.
Cardinals’ Seemingly Storybook Season Gets an Unhappy Ending by Emma Baccellieri
Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina did their part in Game 2 against the Phillies, but St. Louis’s MVP candidates faltered when it mattered most.
A Near Perfect Day of Baseball Games by Matt Martell
The four wild-card games Saturday delivered just the right combination of tension and action—the formula for any good baseball game—by showcasing the variety of genres only our game can provide.
A Series of Unfortunate Decision Costs Cardinals by Matt Martell
Oliver Marmol made several managerial miscues that set up and exacerbated their collapse.
The Ninth Inning From Hell by Emma Baccellieri
The Cardinals were two outs from a Game 1 win over the Phillies when everything fell apart.
And some breaking news from this morning …
Braves, Spencer Strider Agree on New Contract Through 2028 by Madison Williams
3. WORTH NOTING from Stephanie Apstein
Frank Franklin II/AP
Before they won Game 3 of the NL wild-card series to advance to the NLDS, the Padres talked about what such a result would mean. It would mean they extended their season. It would mean they still had a chance at a World Series title. It would mean they could try to shock the juggernaut Dodgers. It would also mean they could play at least one postseason game in front of fans in San Diego for the first time since 2006. (The Padres made it to the division series in ’20 but played in empty stadiums amid the pandemic.) The players and coaches feel intensely the desire of their fans to watch October baseball.
“There's a lot on the line here, and there are a lot of reasons to be motivated and inspired,” said manager Bob Melvin. “One of them is bringing this thing back to San Diego and giving them a postseason experience, which they deserve.”
4. W2W4 from Nick Selbe
Wait, are you telling me that there’s … no baseball tonight? How can that be legal, nay, permissible by the immutable laws of nature? Especially after a whirlwind wild-card weekend that more than lived up to the billing. Perhaps it’s best for all of us to take a day and try to catch our collective breaths.
As we wait for the division series to begin on Tuesday, it will be interesting to watch how managers set their rosters and pitching rotations for the upcoming best-of-five matchups. The Padres, in particular, will have some added constraints after being the sole wild-card winner to play three games over the weekend, which makes an already daunting matchup with the Dodgers that much more difficult. They say the waiting is the hardest part, but if the payoff is baseball played with the quality that we just saw, then it will have been more than worth it.
5. THE CLOSER from Emma Baccellieri
In an edition of this newsletter last November, I declared Trent Grisham the most statistically representative hitter of 2021, dead-on average in every way. He actually took a step back from that this year: He finished the regular season with an 83 OPS+ after hitting just .184. But the postseason is always its own ballgame, and so far, Grisham has embraced that more than anyone else in the playoffs this year. After homering in each of the Padres’ first two games against the Mets, he went 2-for-2 with a walk on Sunday, as well as contributing this incredible catch. Performances like this are always among my favorite parts of the playoffs: Maybe Grisham isn’t quite this year’s Randy Arozarena just yet, but he’s certainly on his way.
