Meg Rowley

i am fangraph

We're officially in the weather amnesia part of the calendar in Arizona where I, a person who spent the summer having one long, low-grade panic attack about the future of water in this state, wonder how we could possible consider living anywhere else.

In 12 pitches over five minutes and 57 seconds, the Brewers took the World Series from competitive to basically over. My story on the most important half-inning in Brewers history.

idk, probably need another three, four runs to make sure Aaron Ashby doesn't pitch tonight

Chandler Simpson Can Fly (into the outfield wall to make an epic catch)

Michael has done some excellent work while on the road this October, and as he notes, his tour around the postseason is only possible because of our Members. If you're able, I hope you'll consider becoming one. It's the best way to support the site, and it comes with a ton of great benefits:

Go read this @baumann.bsky.social story that really cuts at the heart of why the Brewers and Rays are here, at why they’re The Brewers and The Rays and other teams aren’t. It’s not a secret data weapon It’s a lot of secret human weapons. blogs.fangraphs.com/the-brewers-...

Might be time to go home and be a family man

on the one hand, it's annoying that Sam Darnold threw another pick, but on the other hand, we got to watch Harrison Butker miss a field goal, so...

Some off-day grist for you: The Rays and Brewers can compete on the cheap because they're incredibly good at taking mediocre big leaguers and making them good. I spoke to some of the beneficiaries to get a sense of what it's like to get developed by the World Series combatants.

The MVP of Game 1 of the World Series was FanSided insider Robert Murray, who at first pitch produced a two-pound bag of sausages from his backpack to share with our row of the press box. But the Brewers had some good players too. My recap from business as usual in Milwaukee

when they set off the victory fireworks prematurely, Milwaukee has no choice but to Wicker Man Bernie Brewer to mark the occasion instead, very sad

Cooper Pratt, eh?

Earleir this week I wrote about Aaron Ashby, who’s been one of this postseason's breakout stars. Here’s a look at how his repertoire creates some tough angles for hitters and how his performance recalls the bullpen firemen of yesteryear.

believe it was Jane Austen who said run mad as often as you choose, but do not TOOTBLAN

It took John Smoltz zero pitching changes to bring up the Inevitable Reliever Blowup Theory. You knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen. So I wrote about it, literally today.

UPDATE: Miz's fastball shape, which was off in the first two rounds and caused all manner of foul balls, looks like it's back to normal through two innings

There's (some diminishing quantity of time) before Game 1 of the World Series. So while you can read my story on Jacob Misiorowski from now until David stops paying for web hosting, it will only be relevant for another hour and 40 minutes or so

This one was a labor of love. I spent a frankly silly number of hours trying to prove or disprove the theory that a string of one-inning relievers exposes your team to the volatility of one of them 'not having it'.

We pioneered a new form of media that we're calling a "World Series preview." Still working out the kinks, but the concept is that we'll talk about the teams that are about to play, so you'll know what to watch for. @cyrthogg.bsky.social and Adam Berry are our Guinea pig guests for this trial run.

new @fangraphs.com: Postseason starters are averaging fewer innings per turn than any season since 2021, just like in the regular season. The reasons for this are myriad, but the bottom line — regardless of our aesthetic preference for starters going deep — is that it's working

In more straightforward professional news: I can't make a case for anyone other than Jacob Misiorowski as the best pitcher in baseball this year but he's been underwhelming in the playoffs. I looked at what's gone wrong and whether the top of the Rays order can take advantage

"Small ball" is reductive. The Brewers and Rays go about their business very differently, even though they both like to run

The Brewers and Rays are similar, but also importantly different. @benclemens.bsky.social previews the World Series.

Man, @davyandrewsdavy.bsky.social is on an all-time heater

ALCS banter and the delightful return of one Adrian Chiles

I’m not so sure about these new generations of pokemon

Folks, they’re calling it the FanGraphs World Series, heck yeah.

air beef! air beef!

Steven Kwan just flashed the thumbs down foir his leadoff single. His exit velocity was 82.7 mph. The Guardians are 1-for-1 on the metric @davyandrewsdavy.bsky.social is calling Hard-Hit Rate Hit Rate:

Look, I am pro-eggnog, this is not an anti-nog take, but having grocery shopped today, do we really need to nog in October?

This, from @davyandrewsdavy.bsky.social, is delightful

every win proves Mina's point here a little more, really sucks

more like parker mess ick

FanGraphs is looking delightfully spooooky today

Two smaller things I appreciate here: 1. Unless I’m mistaken, there are zero cuts or edits in this? It’s the whole conversation, start to finish. 2. The addition of “or not pray at all” every single time, which a lot of candidates tend to omit.

Reminder! FanGraphs offers a 50% student discount and free accounts for educators and their students if FanGraphs is part of class material. You can easily apply here: plus.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-ed...

My piece from tonight is finally up: The Brewers had no shortage of heroes in this series but I was blown away by William Contreras' performance on both ends of the ball. I wrote about the man who bridged the gap from Yelich to Chourio, as his time in Milwaukee is (perhaps) nearing an end

When I reported this story on Bob Uecker's legacy with the Brewers, everyone I talked to told me something to the effect of: "Ueck wanted to see the Brewers win the World Series more than anything." They're now just 4 wins away:

This Is Why Kevin Cash Pulled Blake Snell blogs.fangraphs.com/this-is-why-...

Breaking Down Jake Bauers’ 11-Pitch Masterclass blogs.fangraphs.com/breaking-dow...

the siren song calls once again

new @fangraphs.com: a bad-hop error on Tuesday took some of the shine off José Ramírez's recent postseason heroics. While his offense has been trending better, the underlying numbers suggest he's not fully past the effects of the fractured hamate & surgery he underwent this summer.