My friends, there is something magical going on in playoff baseball this year, and I don't mean the Chicago Cubs winning a thrilling 1-0 series opener over the San Francisco Giants on Javier Baez's eighth-inning home run. No, I refer to managers thinking along with ... well, with the stat nerds. As for the day of aces, it was a bit of a letdown as only Johnny Cueto and Jon Lester delivered us a great pitching matchup. What we learned ...
1. It's OK to use your closer for more than three outs.