News Headlines

Mark Knudson’s Three Strikes Blog: Starting pitchers still RULE; SEC scheduling format is seriously screwed up, and Nolan vs. The Field

@Mark Knudson41

Strike One: “Bullpening” in Major League Baseball is a thing now, and it’s not going away. In fact, it’s going to expand. Using an “Opener” out of the bullpen – a guy managers hope to get six outs from – rather than a starting pitcher he wants six innings out of, is actually something the Colorado Rockies should consider for next season, instead of sending out a sub standard fourth and fifth starter each week.

That being said, starting pitchers still RULE. Witness the upcoming 2019 World Series.

I can’t recall a Series with better pitching match-ups upcoming since my childhood in the late 1960’s. No question some of the all-time greats have taken the mound in the Fall Classic since then, but have we ever had a rotation of match-ups like this coming out of both dugouts?

Bullpening could help the Rockies like it helped Tampa Bay and the Yankees in 2019. But make no mistake: Standout starting pitching is what wins in the post season. It’s why the Yankees and the LA Dodgers aren’t here and the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros are.

Regardless of who you’re pulling for, you get to watch Max Scherzer v Garrett Cole, followed by Stephen Strasburg v Justin Verlander and (former teammates) Patrick Corbin v Zack Grienke. (And what are the Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers thinking right about now?)

Annibal Sanchez came within two outs of throwing a no-hitter in the National League Championship Series, and he might not even get a start in this series.

All seven of the starting pitchers named here would be the Opening Day “Ace” starter for the Rockies and a lot of other MLB teams.

That’s how incredibly good these pitching match-ups are.

And for those who don’t like pitchers duels, and would rather see home run after home run, keep in mind that good starting pitching creates better played baseball games across the board. You will see crisper play; some great defense AND timely hitting. And when the big hits do come, they’ll be more meaningful. Baseball is simply a better game when the starting pitching is strong. So sit back and enjoy what promises to be one of the most well-pitched and well-played World Series of your lifetime.

Strike Two: We may or may not get Alabama v Georgia IV in this year’s Southeastern Conference title game on December 7th in Atlanta. What we don’t ever seem to get is Alabama v Georgia in the regular season. Like, ever.

These two college football behemoths have played in the past two SEC title games, plus once in the College Football Play-off over the past three seasons. It won’t be an upset if they meet again in the post season this year.

Yet these two conference rivals, who compete for a spot in the CFP annually, haven’t played a conference regular season game since 2015, and that’s the only regular season meeting between the schools in the past 11 years. More than a decade? And they’re in the same league you say?

Alabama is not listed among Georgia’s three top rivalry games – Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech are. Strange but true: Georgia v Auburn – which is in the SEC West with Alabama – is “the deep south’s oldest rivalry” having been played 123 times.

How is this fair to every other conference member, AND other teams competing for a spot in the four team field? If they played in the regular season, the losing team would be at a (very fair) disadvantage when it comes to even making the conference title game, much less the final four. It’s a disadvantage Florida, for instance, has to deal with playing Georgia every season. Ohio State has to play Michigan and Penn State every season, plus Wisconsin every three or four years. This year, the Buckeyes have to defeat all three of them just to get to the Big Ten title game.

This weekend, the Bulldogs play that annual conference showdown game with Florida, and in three weeks, the top-ranked Crimson Tide faces #2 LSU in a division battle if they beat the Tigers, they will cruise into another title game. Those match ups are something to look forward to for sure, but those games happen every year games for SEC division rivals. While ‘Bama and UGA are in the same conference, they aren’t in the same division, so they don’t play every year. The weird part is that there ARE cross division games that are played every year, like Alabama v Tennessee. But shouldn’t Alabama and Georgia play at least once every four years, not once in 11 seasons?

The 14-team SEC scheduling format is seriously screwed up.

According to Wikipedia, “The SEC’s scheduling format allows each team one permanent cross-divisional opponent and one rotating cross-divisional opponent every year. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs only see each other in the regular season every several years.”

Say there’s no room for anther cross-division game? Worth noting that on November 23rd, Alabama hosts…Western Carolina.

If the SEC scheduling is this convoluted now, what will it look like when the league becomes a 16-team “Super Conference?” Same with the other to-be-formed Super Conferences?

There will be a big shift. What we’ll actually end up getting is a switch back to the days of the old Big Eight: You’ll play your seven division rivals and a couple of cross-division games and a couple of non-conference cupcakes tossed in. It will actually be like a throwback of sorts, to eight eight-team conferences. Is that a good thing?

Can’t be worse than the current SEC set up.

Strike Three: It’s sort of inevitable, given the hyperbole that surrounds baseball’s post season. National media types tossing around “best in the game” designations to guys who perform at a high level under the spotlight in the play-offs. In some cases, it’s high praise that’s well earned. Other times, it can be a little over the top. In the decisive Game Six loss to Houston in the American League Championship Series, announcer John Smoltz even threw out a “he’s as good as it gets” in reference to a play made by Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela. Really John?

This post season, one of those guys getting some well earned praise is Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon. Coming off an outstanding season where he hit .319, with 34 home runs and a league-leading 126 RBI, Rendon is now being touted by some (east coast types mostly) as being “the best all-around third baseman in the game.”

Child please.

Rendon had a great year, no doubt. He’s a worthy MVP candidate (the award will go to the Dodgers Cody Bellinger) and a key reason why the Nationals are in the World Series. But the best in the game? Hardly.

We are witnessing the “Golden Age” of MLB third basemen. There are no less than a dozen guys who are All-Star caliber players, more than any time in recent memory. Young players like American League MVP candidate Alex Bregman of Houston; Oakland’s Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers of Boston, Vlad Guerrero Jr. of Toronto, National League home run champ Eugenio Suarez of Cincinnati, Jose Ramirez of Cleveland, along with veterans like Evan Longoria of the Giants, Justin Turner of the Dodgers, former (recent) MVP Kris Bryant of the Cubs and Atlanta’s Josh Donaldson. The Padres Manny Machado split time between third base and shortstop this season, and remains one of the best in the game at both positions.

Still, there IS one guy who stands tall above the rest in the “all-around best” category. And we all know who that is.

After Smoltz made is silly statement regarding Urshela, his broadcaster partner Joe Buck quickly reminded him that the “Gold Standard” at third base remains one Nolan Arenado. As he should have.

Arenado is unquestionably THE class of a great class at the hot corner, especially when you include the term “all-around.” None of these guys match what Arenado does with the bat AND the glove.

Next month, Nolan will collect his seventh consecutive Gold Glove award. It’s a no-brainer. The guy makes defensive plays that most third baseman don’t even attempt, they simply marvel at. The plays he makes third base (and essentially the shortstop position when the Rockies shift) would have been unimaginable a generation ago. There is no defensive metric that can measure his value or contributions on defense.

Chapman – who came from the same high school as Nolan – is also a defensive wizard. He won the American League Gold Glove last season and will likely win several more. So is Machado (two GG’s) when he plays there. Longoria has three GG’s, although his range skills have diminished just at bit on defense.

Arenado has a ways to go to catch Brooks Robinson at 16 straight awards, but he’s on that trek. And for the record, both Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (who won nine straight Gold Gloves at third base and 10 overall) and Larry Bowa (who won a pair at shortstop before Ozzie Smith ran off 13 straight) say that at his current pace, Nolan will become the GOAT of third baseman.

Think about that for a second.

At the plate, Nolan continues to produce at a historic rate – although many in the national media still refuses to give Rockies players the credit they have earned for offensive production. (See LeMehieu, D.J.) This year Arenado hit .315, with another 41 home run season and 118 runs batted in. It will be a close race to see if he gets his fifth Silver Slugger Award as the top offensive player at the position.

Most of those heaping praise on Rendon (the favorite for the Silver Slugger) are doing so for his offensive numbers, which are actually very comparable to Arenado’s. Including Suarez who hit 49 dingers, the voting for the Silver Slugger should be close.

Bregman also hit 41 homers (he’ll get the nod in the AL) and Guerrero, Devers and Donaldson had big seasons at the plate. Again, this is the Golden Age at the position. There’s greatness everywhere you look.

Yet in this Golden Age of third baseman, there is, as Joe Buck mentioned, a Gold Standard for all around play at the position: Nolan Arenado.

Have a comment or counter argument? Fire back at me on Twitter @MarkKnudson41.

Related posts

Loveland Crash Leaves 19 Year Old Driver Dead

KFKA News

Trial Date Set For Driver In Deadly Crash

KFKA News

New Natural Area Opens In Greeley

KFKA News