In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
The World Series
On Saturday, the Chicago Cubs won the NL pennant by beating the Dodgers 5-0 in game six of the NLCS. The World Series is officially set as the Cubs will take on the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs were the most hyped team during the offseason and they more than lived up to it. I am guilty of thinking they’d go the way of previous “super teams” and disappoint. They obviously did not. You have to respect when a team exceeds their lofty expectations. You can be jealous but still respect them. Which is exactly how I feel right now.
The Cleveland Indians won 94 games in the regular season and easily won the AL Central title but because of injuries, I doubt many had them getting this far. However, as we all know, you can’t predict October. The Indians really deserve a ton of respect for how they got to the World Series. They overcame the injuries and of course beat the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the process. It’s been a fantastic playoff run and we will see how it ends for the team from Cleveland.
Coaching Changes
The Pittsburgh Pirates made some offseason moves as they fired third base coach Rick Sofield and reassigned first base coach Nick Leyva. These moves are a bit surprising as, following the end of the regular season, the Pirates tweeted there’d be no changes to the coaching staff. Not sure what changed from then and now but there will be new coaches manning the first and third base boxes in 2017.
Rick Sofield wasn’t the most popular coach among Pirates’ fans as many felt he never made the best base-running decisions. Sofield was also in charge of outfield defense, which is an area of weakness for the Pirates this past season.
Nick Leyva’s new job will be Senior Advisor of Baseball Ops. Not sure exactly what that job will entail but it sounds pretty important to me.
Baseball Talk on the Web
MLB Playoffs 2016: Cubs vs. Indians World Series projections, odds, probabilities
MLB hasn’t perfected replay review, and it’s hurting game’s pace of play
MLB: Deadline Deals Helping Shape the 2016 Postseason
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