Playoff Preview: Otto vs. Catz
2. The Ωtto-man Ξmpire (113-49)
7. OverCatZ (93-69)
matchup of former league winners seemingly going in opposite directions
Intake:
Tsuyoshi Wada. His August 19 start against the Giants (update: Tarpgate!) and the resulting Yahoo scoring kerfuffle will have a major effect on the entire first round. Instead of dueling two-day playoffs for the top seed as well as seeds 5-7, we have seven days of locked-in Otto v. Catz (Wada's owner by the way) action.
While Otto briefly surrendered sole possession of first place in the Global Division, his 22-12 record after August 1 was enough to come out on top and clinch what, at first blush on the morning of September 3, looked like a share of the #1 seed. The dog days of Catz's summer have not been as rosy. After trading 2014 breakoutters Corey Kluber and (hey, I bet no one has thought of the nickname “Flying Dutchman”) Jacob deGrom for the oh-so-delicious power potential of Javier Baez on July 25, he has slumped to a 19-22 finish, in the process falling from two games out of first place in the CCC to 21 back and 3rd place in the Clusterfuck.
So Hot Right Now:
It's a bit of a stretch (only 81.2 points over the past fortnight) but for Catz it's Trevor Plouffe. Boy, will Otto's face be red if the guy he drafted in March for his current opponent comes back to bite him in the ass. Also swinging a fairly warm bat is Jayson Werth. Colin McHugh and, like always, Craig Kimbrel keep the pitching kettle warm. But the BFD right now is Baltimore's Miguel Gonzalez. His 53-point CGSHO (a real one, not a 5-inning “Wada”) against the Reds has turned this series into a real donnybrook.
Team Otto was buoyed by a big Robbie Cano night in Arlington during a soft spot in the schedule on Day 2. And lately, the points leader of this balanced attack has been Evan Longoria--but they're all capable of going off for a big night (besides Avila of course). The linchpin to this series, and Otto's playoff run writ large, is Jordan Zimmermann (miss me yet, Birds?). He's been the hottest pitcher on the roster of late and goes twice in this series (along with second-hottest P Jered Weaver, saggy-butted Justin Verlander and Andrew Cashner, 2014 Mullet of the Year award winner and starter of 15 whole games!). Greg Holland is also good for about five saves a week.
Nothing to See Here, Move Along:
Did I mention the other side of the Javier Baez so-good-it-must-be-fattening power potential? Well, it's strikeouts. Mack trucks full. Like 22 (versus 2 BB) over the last two weeks. Behind the plate, Evan Gattis must sympathize with his opposite number as he's also been the weak link in his fantasy team's offensive chain upon his return from a herniated disk in his back. Aside from that, no one's really struggling. However, failure is just a start away for guys like Kendrick, de la Rosa and the artist formerly known as Dr. Fausto.
For Otto: does MANBEARPUIG resume being healthy, productive and so gosh-darn captivating? Will Alex Avila continue his yearlong round of charades where the answer is 'anchor' but his teammates have absolutely no idea what his pantomimes mean? Will Yangervis Solarte continue to see regular PT, and is that necessarily a good thing when you play for the Padres? I'm not all too worried abut Waino's recent struggles but Alfredo Simon has been an out-and-out catastrophe since the All-Star break: 1-7 with a 5.27 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and 37:20 K:BB in 54.2 IP. Also, Joe Nathan has gone full Fukushima in 2014. Joe Nathan! If he doesn't end costing Otto in a big way this month then there might be no stopping this team from a record fourth championship.
Best Guess:
Otto finds himself in an unexpected dogfight and requires liberal quantities of guile, luck, every other adjective from the Shape-Birds preview and a second Jordan Zimmermann start to pull out a come-from-behind win over the 7 seed. Both teams score big in a tight series while still falling short of the Defectors juiced ball era of the mid-aughts. If this were real life, I'd say Otto in 7.
