GAME 7: Why Baseball Isn't Fair (ft. Mariano Rivera & Aroldis Chapman) l Baseball Bits

um excuse me SP nation artists Italy's SB nation deserves to stay around this Sir John how was the air jump a rolled escape Minh and Mariano Rivera two special closing pitchers one is perhaps the hardest throwing hurler of all time while the other is quite simply the finest reliever in baseball history when you're a pitcher of this caliber you will undoubtedly be put into some high leverage situations and no situation is more jam-packed with pressure than the ninth inning of Game seven of the World Series where exhausting journeys that began in February and an either triumph or heartbreak in this video we will be examining Game seven of the 2001 World Series between the Yankees and Diamondbacks as well as Game seven of the 2016 World Series between the Indians and Cubs and while I can go ahead and spoil it for you by saying that Chapman will succeed in forcing extra innings while Rivera will experience the greatest failure of his Hall of Fame career that's not actually the point of this episode of baseball bits this is a study beyond the simple notions of success and failure it is to demonstrate how good pitching doesn't always lead to good outcomes and how bad pitching isn't always punished the year is 2000 won game 7 of the World Series bottom of the ninth the New York Yankees are trying to close out the Arizona Diamondbacks and secure their fourth consecutive title it seems likely that the evil empire would hold the upper hand throughout their quest to defeat an expansion team in just its fourth year of existence but they weren't always ahead in this best-of-seven showdown the Diamondbacks had surged to a two games to none lead on the backs of an incredible starting pitching tandem Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling but the Yankees came storming back grabbing the next three in front of their home fans this streak of success produced some of the most memorable moments of the series particularly those of the hapless byung-hyun Kim who twice the rendered 9th inning leads to the Bronx Bombers Arizona however would thrash the Yankees 15 to 2 in game six leading us to the penultimate clash winner-take-all the yankees grabbed their one-run lead in the eighth thanks to this solo home run by Alfonso on him and with Mariano Rivera pitching a strong bottom half of that inning the game was in the best hands possible for the Yankees going into the ninth perhaps the most impressive aspect of Rivera's 19 years of dominance was the sheer predictability of his repertoire he threw a cut fastball 90 to 95 percent of the time as great as it was against right-handed hitters the pitch absolutely eight lefties with Mark Grace at the plate Moe wants to do what he always does throw a cutter inside with a late break right on the hands so he does just that [Applause] a single up the middle grace gets under the ball but just muscles it over the infield we of course have no statcast at the time but I'm heavily guesstimating that the exit velocity of this single would be somewhere in the 70s based on this video comparison of a similarly hit ball with Mark Grace pinch ran for the next man up Damian Miller will attempt to bunt him over that seems like a Herculean task against a pitcher like Rivera it's very hard to bunt a pitch that is up and in on you and that is basically Rivera's mo the ball dribbles towards Rivera he feels it cleanly and E one hey this is a pitching video after all not a fielding one Rivera is a little off target and a then hobbled Jeter can't quite make the stretch it's the right pitch to force an ineffective bunt but the execution on defense just isn't there now I'm going to do something jarring so I hope you'll all stick with me we're going to put this game on pause and fast-forward 15 years Aroldis Chapman finds himself in a different position from Rivera true he like Rivera is coming back out to pitch the ninth inning after having already appeared in the eighth but things didn't go so smooth for him last time around [Applause] so Chapman isn't trying to close a game out he's merely trying to prevent disaster allowing a run here crushes the Cubs dreams of reversing their 108 year-long curse although we know how this story ends let's build up the tension a role this Chapman having already blown the lead is somehow returning to the mound to get the most important three outs of his life and he is absolutely exhausted having thrown 83 pitches in the last three games not to mention the toll of the entire season now a workhorse starting pitcher would scoff at that but workhorse starting pitchers don't throw 101 consistently well you know except for the good news is however that I'm a fully qualified lifeguard no I haven't been trained in the signs of actual drowning but I do know when a pitcher is holding on for dear life in Chapman's case the three warning signs would be pitches way out of the strike zone leaning on his off-speed stuff and not throwing triple-digits if he's doing those and he's definitely out of gas and needs to be thrown the life preserver let's see how he pitches to Carlos Santana hmm first pitch is a slider his main secondary pitch yes I know that's an oxymoron he only threw it 15% of the time in 2016 so it catches Santana off-guard even though it's right down the middle pitch number 2 is a slider again and pitch number 300 a nother slider can we please try a fastball Oh get out of the pool everybody out of the pool okay okay let me collect myself after another fastball this time for a strike Ron to a full count let's see what his out pitches a hanging slider right down the middle on a 3-2 count to a really good hitter this pitch should have been crushed I'm dead serious Santana's reaction after the contact is made says it all he could have been the hero but he just got under it one batter away but Chapman's not even fit to be in this game when we last left Mariano Rivera he'd gotten himself into quite a pickle a softly hit single and a miss connection with teammate Derek Jeter had left him with two runners on and 0 outs the good news is that's about to change as Jay Bell tests his luck with a bunt Rivera comes screaming off the mound and makes the force at third successful playwright something finally goes Rivera's way wrong because the hitter Jay Bell is here when Rivera fields the ball and he's here when the throw to third baseman Scott Brosius has made but Brosius doesn't gear up for any throw to first base the result is a huge missed opportunity Rivera believed it was a double play out the way and so did his manager Joe Torre the next batter is pinch-hitter Tony Womack who should be the biggest gimmie of the inning remember how I said Mariano dominated lefties due to the inside action of his cutter it's true he ran what are called reverse splits meaning that he was actually better against lefties than righties which is unusual for a right-handed pitcher and then there's the lowly Tony Womack a good asset for his positional versatility and base dealing but a good hitter he is not sporting a 66 WR C+ on the season Rivera traps him in a 2 2 count catcher Jorge Posada positions his glove for the inside pitch and the unthinkable happens [Music] Tony Womack has done what seemingly no left-handed batter could do and that's turn on the inside pitch from mo Rivera and Britt bit down the line for a double the score is now 2 to 2 and with runners on second and third the Diamondbacks are in position to pull off the upset of a century forcing a blown safe from the greatest closing pitcher of all time someone who sported a preposterous 0.70 PRA in the postseason this is a classic factoid but for those who haven't heard it more men have walked on the face of the moon than score an earned run off Mariano Rivera in the playoffs oh and please don't forget that the winning run which sits squarely on third-base probably shouldn't even be there Scott Brosius you doomed this up oh hey look it's Jason Kipnis again anyways let's get back to the signs of drowning now one thing that stood out to me was that four of Chapman's six pitches to the previous hitter Carlos Santana which sliders we don't want to see that a power pitcher like Chapman needs faith in his fastball so what will he start with a hanging slider much like the last pitch to Santana this one is just asking for trouble we saw Mariano hit Jorge Posada spot on the Tony Womack double so look we're Cubs catcher Miguel Montero sets up initially Chapman is even close pitch number 2 a slider again location is in bad Kipnis just doesn't bite [Applause] a heart-stopping moment for Cubs fans I'm sure Kipnis jumps on another hanging slider and it's very close to being extra bases the at-bat stretches itself to 3 & 2 making it our second full count in the inning Kipnis fights off yet another slider to extend his chances so Montero and Chapman finally brainstormed to throw another fastball you know the picture that Aroldis Chapman normally throws 80% of the time Montero sets up low and outside Chapman throws it high and inside and Kipnis ends up swinging at ball 4 somehow there are two outs in the inning but with the young superstar Francisco Lindor it'll take more luck to get out of the inning unscathed Mariano Rivera is in big trouble with runners at second and third and just one out he currently doesn't have the ability to force the DoublePlay ball and it's just one successful sacrifice away from losing the World Series up next is current Brewers manager Craig Counsell and although this may seem like an intentional walk situation he will be pitched - out of fear of the man on deck we will get to in a moment if Rivera can somehow get Counsell out he will have the freedom to either intentionally walk the man on deck skipping him completely or pitch to him with the knowledge that the sacrifice has been taken away and when Rivera forces a foul tip he has put himself in position to do just that in baseball throwing a first pitch strike greatly changes the expected outcome of any given plate appearance in Rivera's career plate appearances that continued after a 100 count resulted in a 322 on-base percentage for the opposing hitter which is around with the league averages every year after his oh one count however that number plummets down to 219 I did Rivera's dominance against lefties and they're going to have to be some real shenanigans to get Craig Counsell on base the pitch runs inside on council but in the process of avoiding it he actually makes himself a bigger target if he doesn't move as the pitch comes in it won't hit him this is Craig Counsell as the ball is released this is where the ball is going and this is how his gearing up motion actually leads to the hit by pitch I wouldn't call it leaning into the pitch which is an offense that results in a ball not a free base but its shenanigans nonetheless and it brings up Luis Gonzalez you know where this is going but I'd like to take this time to do some quick facts about Luis Gonzalez and the segment I'm calling quick facts about Luis Gonzalez fact number one he hit 57 home runs in 2001 fact number two he finished third in NL MVP voting behind bonds and Sosa with 73 and 64 homeruns respectively fact number 3 like bonds and Sosa Luis Gonzalez has had his name thrown around with a lot of steroid rumors that doesn't make him guilty but well you know fact number 4 he's a left-handed batter what does Mariano Rivera want to do against left-handed batters he wants to break bats look here's a clip of him against Ryan Klesko in the 1999 World Series first pitch bat broken not a clean break but rendered unusable needs a new one pitch 2 completely shattered pitch 3 completely shattered strike 1 the odds tilton Rivera's favor the infield is in for a double play then comes the penultimate pitch listen to that sound ladies and gentlemen that is not the sound of a ball being barreled that is a ball cracking Luis Gonzales bet if the advance cansada new bat however the ax bat will not continue because while Mariano Rivera gets exactly what he wants so does Luis Gonzalez that's why they still play the games hey thank you all for watching this episode of baseball bits if you aren't caught up on the series you can check out the playlist from here otherwise if you want to keep up with what I do go ahead and throw me a sub or a Twitter Follow I'll see you all next episode [Music]

Channel: Foolish Baseball

Views: 828,451

Keywords: mariano rivera, aroldis chapman, world series 9th inning, 2001 world series game 7 9th inning, 2016 world series game 7 9th inning, 2001 world series game 7, luis gonzalez, world series blown save, mariano rivera postseason, mariano rivera 2001, GAME 7: Why Baseball Isn't Fair (ft. Mariano Rivera & Aroldis Chapman) l Baseball Bits, baseball bits, foolish baseball, mo rivera, mo rivera blown save, aroldis chapman cubs, 2016 ws game 7, 2001 ws game 7, game 7, sbnation rewinder

Id: s2nFc1Ps5xA

Length: 13min 30sec (810 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 11 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Professor_Wild]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penultimate

[u/ryanmcg86]

I had no memory of Brosius having an opportunity at a DP there. That change the whole inning. At best, the game is tied when Gonzalez hits the blooper, which at best, gets runners on 1st and 3rd with the game still tied and 2 out. What potentially happens after that? Who knows, but damn that's a brutal extra detail.

[u/boxing_packages]

Foolish Baseball is a fantastic follow on youtube. His most recent video on Andrelton Simmons is super fun, and all of his videos are bangers