Three Up, Three Down: The MLB hot/cold report

Boston rolls over Houston and into the World Series

Remember when I led off this column last week by lavishing all sorts of praise upon the Houston Astros and claiming that they were peaking at the right time? Well, you can make fun of me for speaking way too soon because baseball has once again made me look silly. This time, it came in the form of the Boston Red Sox losing Game 1 of the ALCS and then winning four straight to eviscerate the Astros and make it back to the World Series for the first time since 2013.

It really shouldn't be a shock that a team that won 108 games and rolled over its competition during the regular season did the same thing in the playoffs. But it's shocking that the Red Sox did it against two 100-win teams. Baseball's postseason is the toughest playoff tournament to make in North American sports, so there are absolutely no cupcakes at this point. With that being said, Boston's path to the World Series was anything but a cakewalk. Yet, the Sox did their best to make it look like one.

Now Boston will get to wait and see if the Dodgers or the Brewers will be coming to Fenway Park for Game 1 of the World Series. Either one of those teams will likely be heading into the Fall Classic as a huge underdog. The Red Sox have been firing on all cylinders all season, and they've continued to do so into October. The city of Boston may be looking at yet another parade in its near future.

Mookie Betts gets into and subsequently ends a controversy

Aside from some clutch knocks from ALCS MVP Jackie Bradley Jr., some timely hitting from Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez and the pitching efforts of David Price, the biggest moments of this series came from Mookie Betts and his adventures with the outfield wall. The Astros lost Game 4 by just two runs, and they had two runs taken off the board following what appeared to be a home run from Jose Altuve. The ball bounced off Betts' glove but he also had to deal with some fans, and that was enough for umpire Joe West to call interference.

Naturally, with those two runs being the difference, you can understand why Astros fans were hooting and howling after this ruling and once the game ended as well. To his credit, Betts told the press after the game that he was "100 percent positive" that he would have caught it if not for interference.

Since baseball is such a wacky sport, Betts would end up getting a shot at making the catch in Game 5 when a fly ball went his way and was seemingly heading for the seats. This time, Astros fans got out of the way, and Betts proceeded to make a spectacular catch at the wall. In my opinion, that ends the controversy: Betts probably would have caught the one in Game 4 since he proceeded to catch it in the redo. Don't you just love it when things come together like that?

The Dodgers are on the cusp of returning to the World Series

Meanwhile in the National League, things aren't quite settled just yet. Still, the Dodgers are in a commanding position after taking two out of three at Dodger Stadium to return to Milwaukee with a 3-2 lead. They're only one game away from returning to the World Series as NL champions, and those three games at Dodger Stadium were truly eventful.

Game 4 in particular was a special one, as it took 13 innings before Cody Bellinger brought home Manny Machado with a walk-off single to send Chavez Ravine into delirium and put the Dodgers on the cusp of getting back into the Fall Classic. It also helps that Clayton Kershaw has continued to fight the narrative of being a poor postseason pitcher by pulling out yet another powerful performance in his efforts to help bring a World Series title to Los Angeles.

But the postseason is far from over. Even though the Dodgers have won in Milwaukee, it was in an extremely hard-fought contest. So maybe the Brewers could see Christian Yelich come to life in this series and potentially take the final two games to get into the World Series. We could also see the Dodgers take care of business and set up a date with Boston. It's all in the air at this point, and that's what makes playoff baseball fantastic.

Three Down

The Astros may have engaged in some light cheating

The Astros have bowed out of the 2018 season, and they did so with not only the Red Sox beating up on them on the field but with the rest of the AL's contenders beating up on them off the field. What started as a report that an Astros employee was removed from Fenway Park after he may have been doing some slight espionage on Houston's behalf eventually snowballed into MLB investigating the Astros after Cleveland and Oakland claimed that Houston had been doing this to them as well.

When I say that MLB "investigated" the ordeal, I mean that the league did its best to swipe it under the rug and quickly get over it. MLB didn't want this to take away from the fact that the defending World Series champion Houston Astros were busy playing for the chance to directly defend the trophy, so it quickly opened and shut the case.

With that being said, there's still a chance that the Astros may receive some sort of punishment. The Red Sox got a minor punishment, a slap on the wrist, for a similar infraction a while back. So if the Astros do indeed get away with this, you have to imagine that the rest of baseball is going to be livid. If you're dumb enough to get caught cheating, you should take your punishment, and it's clear that some sort of action needs to be taken here.

Craig Counsell trolls the world with his Game 5 "starter"

The Brewers and their manager, Craig Counsell, have been doing their best to upset conventional wisdom and strategy when it comes to pitching in the playoffs. Milwaukee's bullpen has done a fantastic job this October, so you have to imagine that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts figured that he was going to get a break when the Brewers decided to go with a normal ol' starter in the form of Wade Miley.

However, Roberts fell into Counsell's trap when he mostly filled his lineup with right-handed hitters to counter Miley. But Counsell proceeded to counter by pulling Miley after one batter and then inserting his actual intended "initial outgettter," Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff then threw 5.1 innings for the Brewers, and at first it seemed like the troll trap would pay off for Counsell.

However, the Dodgers pushed three runs past Woodruff and eventually won the game 5-2. You have to give credit to Counsell and the Brewers for fully leaning into this strategy. But, hey, if you're going to do it then it would be nice if you picked up the win as well. It was a shocking move and one that could have reverberations across Major League Baseball when it comes to pitching strategy. But for now, the "Fake Starter" trick hasn't resulted in a victory just yet.

What did Manny Machado get himself into?

One of the many reasons why the NLCS has been so eventful and entertaining is due to the fact that Machado has decided to become the villain that this series needed and deserved. At first, Machado caught some heat from baseball writers due to his "lack of hustle," which he responded to by stating that hustling when it comes to routine grounders "isn't his cup of tea." I'm just going to admit it: That was brilliant on his part.

However, Machado ended up going full heel during Game 4. Once again fate intervened, and Machado found himself in the center of controversy during what should have been a routine run to first base. He was thrown out, but on his way to first, he dragged his left leg and attempted to trip up Jesus Aguílar. The benches cleared, and after the game Yelich had nothing but nasty things to say about a guy who he figured was a nasty player.

So just like that, Machado has probably ensured that he will be treated like late-1990s Mr. McMahon by Brewers fans once the series returns to Milwaukee. He also has some people claiming that this may cost him some money in free agency. But teams that may indeed pass on Machado for his actions during this series are dumb. Machado may have decided to become a villain in the playoffs, but I'm sure that every team would love to have this villain in their uniform.