Silly things broadcasters say

One of the nice parts about last night’s game was listening to different commentators. Listening to Buck and Pat for a season wears thin. The ones for last night’s game (sorry to say I didn’t pay attention to who they were, other than Jessica Mendoza, who I thought was very good) were a refreshing change.

But there was one comment made that caught my attention. In the top of the 13th, two outs, Trevor Story up, and he singles and the commentators talked about how it was a win for the Cubs, because Story didn’t homer.

Story had a very good season. a 5.6 bWAR and 37 home runs. That’s a home run every 17.7 PA. A home run 5.6% of his plate appearances. So, while a home run would have been very nice, I doubt you can count a single as a win for the Cubs. And it seems stupid to suggest it was. Now an out would have been a win because he would have ended the inning.

I’d like it if announcers were smarter. I get they have a lot of time to talk and there are going to be silly things said, but I don’t think it is too much to ask them to stop with the really dumb stuff.

Speaking of the single, it was only a single because the Cubs were guarding the lines, playing no double defense. They needed one out to get out of the inning and played a defense that less likely to get an extra base hit, but more likely to get a single, so I guess it worked the way they wanted.

Two more singles and Story scored, which made me wonder if they still thought Story’s single was a win for the Cubs.

Anyway, it was a heck of a game, just what you would want from a Wild Card game. Great pitching, close game, lots of weird moments (how often do you see catchers interference?), good defense, bad defense and a couple of replay challenge controversies.

If the rest of the playoffs are that much fun we are in for a good stretch of baseball.