- The overwhelming majority of our participants chose to set it and forget it. Nine of the ten went with the early game of Philadelphia and Atlanta. Seven of those went to Braves players.
- Our lone outlier was Colin who selected his first Astros player of the season in Jose Altuve. In typical Astros fashion, Altuve left Mr. Hecht disappointed as he was the only top of the order 'Stro to blank in their comeback win over the Mariners.
- Joining him in the blank hole was the two men behind him in the standings, Nate and Ryan. The duo blanked with Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna and Orlando Arcia respectively as they were held hitless against Philadelphia.
- Al also took a hit to his playoff rally aspirations as the usually reliable Michael Harris II, who hadn't blanked at all in 2022, took a zero in Atlanta's Game 1 defeat.
- Philadelphia's two representatives both scored for their supporters. JT Realmuto earned Matt a single with his final selection of the season. The Phillies catcher is now the fourth player from his club to be picked out this season. Jean Segura is three selections from reaching a similar finish line after getting Scott three total bases via a single and a double in the win.
- Dansby Swanson made Ed sit through a golden sombrero to finally get a single as part of Atlanta's ninth inning rally that ultimately fell short.
- Strategy is paramount this time of year and nowhere was it more evident than with our top two players. Pavli and Buddy were responsible for our only double selection of the day in Atlanta All-Star William Contreras. Neither gave any ground to one another but gained some on third and fourth place with a fifth inning double.
- But the top scorer of the day was Atlanta's other All-Star catcher Travis d'Arnaud. Lenny got six total bases on the strength of a double and a home run which drove in half of his club's six runs.
- Optimally, four of our players could have went with the hero of Houston, Yordan Alvarez. His walkoff three-run shot off of Robbie Ray put him on seven total bases for the game and into the record books as the only player in playoff history to hit a walkoff home run while down multiple runs.
Image Credits: Player Photos (Baseball Reference)