Baseball lost a legend this week with the passing of all-time hits leader Pete Rose; Vinnie Pasquantino (thumb) will return for the AL Wild Card series; and Francisco Lindor played the hero with a two-run dinger to get the Mets into the playoffs.

The Braves Squeak in

While Charlie Hustle’s passing casts a pall over the baseball world on Tuesday, the fact that the playoffs get underway definitely helps ease some of that pain.

Need a refresher of who made it into the big dance and what their chances are? Here you go.

Atlanta barely squeaked in, blowing a big lead to the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader before securing their postseason spot with a shutout in the nightcap.

The Braves’ win was cemented with a two-run single by Marcell Ozuna (see below), who we probably owe an apology to. Early in the 2023 season, we suggested it was time for the Braves to ditch him.

But he wound up staying healthy enough last year to reach a career-best 40 homers. And this year — despite his worst strikeout rate in a decade — he was arguably even better, posting the second highest OPS of his career. Now, Atlanta fans love him.

Oops. Sorry, Marcell. Now go do some mashing and get the Braves past the Wild Card round, okay? Thanks bunches.

Trea Turner Trending in the Right Direction

Despite missing 40 games thanks to a bad hamstring woe, Philly shortstop Trea Turner had a pretty solid season. Yes, he was inconsistent with poor showings in May and August, but he turned things around down the stretch, hitting well in September with better extra-base pop and more speed.

All told, the injury restricted Turner to his fewest a-bats in a non-Covid season since 2017, so that limited his counting cat numbers. And while his extra-base power regressed, he didn’t forget how to hit altogether, posting a very fine .295 BA.

Turner continues to have a tough time against the curve, posting a wOBA of just .290, but that was actually a substantial improvement over his work against the pitch last year (.271).

If you’re a believer that the Phils have a shot to win it all, Turner could be a good bet to win the World Series MVP (he’s currently +3300 as per FanDuel). Note that over his career he’s had a tough time in the playoffs, but that’s a trend he’s gone a long way towards reversing over the last two seasons.

Remembering Mike Matthews

Just for fun, let’s go back in time and look at the fairly brief career of pitcher Mike Matthews. He was a second round pick (40th overall) by Cleveland in 1992, so was clearly a coveted high school prospect.

He had a stellar pro debut, compiling a 1.01 ERA over 10 starts at Rookie Ball before being bumped up to High-A. Unfortunately, Matthews missed all of 1993 and then spent several years slowly climbing the ranks, getting moved to Boston in 1999 and then St. Louis less than a year later.

It was with the Cards that he would spent the majority of his big league career, exclusively as a reliever except for 10 starts he made in 2001, which was by far his finest season as he enjoyed strong hit rates.

Towards the end of 2003, Matthews was dealt to Milwaukee and then was claimed off waivers by San Diego the following spring. He enjoyed a fairly strong season with the Padres, appearing in more games than ever and finishing 20 of them while posting a decent ERA of 4.45.

San Diego let him walk and he wound up in Cincy, but things did not go well (6.30 ERA) and elbow surgery ended his season prematurely. That pretty much did Matthews’ career in, as after signing with the Mets in 2005, he only got into six games and was rancid (10.80 ERA).

All told, over parts of six seasons, he went 14-10 and earned one save while posting a meh ERA of 4.54. He was far from the dominant type, fanning just 175 over 243 2/3 IP (6.5/9), and beyond the injury, command was clearly a factor in his demise (4.5 BB/9).

RotoRob Tune of the Day

The original lineup of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers consisted of (besides Petty, of course): Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair. In 1982, the band released a single featuring “Refugee,” (from 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes) and the B-side was “Insider,” a duet with Stevie Nicks that was culled from the 1981 album Hard Promises.