re: *** 2023 Braves - World Series or Bust ***

There is no excuse for having Vaughn Grissom making the last out while your All-Star SS is sitting on his arse in the dugout because you pinch run for him and he wasn't hurt. Also, pinch-hitting for Michael Harris was as dumb as anything else in that situation. Would've been nice to have d'Arnaud in the 9th if you were gonna pinch run for Arcia which was unforgivably stupid.

Also, enough with the fricking analytics. Rosario is the clutchest motherfricker on the team and you have him riding the pine almost the entire series? His clutch bat is why the Braves signed him to a longer deal. Pillar gets 100 at-bats all year but all the at-bats in the playoffs?? fricking stupid.

Too many sliders from Strider, et al. All of Philly's hits came on off-speed pitches, except the 2nd Homer Castellanos hit in Game 4. The Phillies, the only team in this series with an actual manager, game planned and sat on the breaking stuff. The Braves, in an attempt to work Philly's pitching staff I guess, hit from behind all night because they wouldn't be aggressive on the 1st pitch. How many 1st pitch strikes did Braves hitters take this series? 50? 60?

Bringing in Iglesias in the 8th to get a rookie out. What a fricking dumb decision this was. Let's say the Braves had taken the lead in the 9th. Now you've got Iglesias on the bench, on a cool night when he could've been staying warm in the bullpen. Why would you want your closer cold off the bench in the event of a long inning? Especially when Minter could have dispatched the Phillies' rookie CF who hasn't hit his weight this season/post season. Just another fricking ridiculously dumb decision that unfortunately didn't matter, but could have really bitten them.

The schedule sucks. Balls. Hard.
Baseball has really gone out of its way to create parity. I don't mind parity if it happens organically. The top 3 teams with the best records losing in their 1st playoff series after a layoff isn't organic. It is MLB handicapping the best teams so that they can create parity. Also, none of the wildcard series were competitive which means there are too many fricking playoff teams. I didn't mind the play-in game for the wildcard teams back when only 5 teams per league made the playoffs. It was fine. But to ask a team that has won all year to take a week off and then play again is fricking criminal.