Michael Wacha held L.A. to two hits over 7 innings, leading the Cards into the World Series with his second win of the NLCS and third in this postseason (totals 21 IP, one run, 8 hits, 4 walks, 21 strikeouts). St. Louis pitchers allowed just three baserunners, matching the fewest in a series clincher. (The Mets’ Bobby Jones one-hit the Giants in the his third win in the 2000 NLDS.) They faced 29 batters, one off the clincher record set by Atlanta in the 1996 NLCS, game 7.

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On September 1st, Houston’s rookie starter Brett Oberholtzer shut out the Mariners 2-0 as the Astros became the last team to record a complete game in the 2013 season. This is the first time in 3 years that every team has recorded a complete game.

While it’s certainly not news that complete games have been on a seemingly never-ending decline, I thought it would be interesting to take a statistical look at some of the resulting impacts on the game.

More on the complete game and the ever-changing dynamics of pitching after the jump.

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With one blip, pitching has dominated both LCS series. How much so?

The 15 total runs scored in games 1-4 of the NLCS? New low water mark.

13 total runs in games 1-3 of the ALCS? Never had less, and equaled only in Oakland’s 1970s dynasty years.

More after the jump.

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A few quick notes, as I try to hold it together….

Until this year, the Tigers had participated in just one postseason game that ended 1-0: the clinching game of the 1984 ALCS. They have three in eight games this year, losing ALDS game 2, and in this ALCS, winning game 1 (Boston’s first 1-0 loss) and losing game 3 (Boston’s third win).

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Following Carlos Beltran’s heroics Friday night–which continued his history of tremendous postseason results (save one forgettable at bat in the 2006 NLCS)–I witnessed the following discussion on Twitter between two high-profile writers regarding his Hall of Fame chances:

.@JeffPassan Beltran is better, as a Hall candidate, than every BBWAA HoF outfielder in the last 20 years save Rickey.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) October 12, 2013

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A famous pitcher established a new mark for an individual major league pitching record during the 1986 season. That pitcher extended his record during the 1987 season but finished the year sharing the record with another well known hurler. The second pitcher added to his total during the 1988 season to set a new mark for this record.

Question: What is the record and who are the pitchers who set new marks for it in 1986 and 1988?

Hint #1 – both pitchers are HOFers

Hint #2 – another well known pitcher may set a new mark for this record in the 2014 season

Congratulations to ReliefMan! He correctly identified that, from 1986 to 1988, first Steve Carlton and later Nolan Ryan held the record for the longest streak of consecutive starts without a complete game. Carlton set the record of 56 starts without a CG on Sep 23, 1986, later extending it to 59 games before notching his next CG in 1987. Ryan equaled Carlton’s total on Oct 4, 1987 and extended his streak to 66 games before his next CG in 1988. Today, Ryan’s mark is good for a tie with Jeremy Hellickson for 187th place, while Carlton has slid all the way to 260th spot, tied with Felix Doubront.

The current record-holder is Kirk Reuter who finished his career in 2005 riding a streak of 193 starts since his last CG in 1999. The active leader is Max Scherzer who has never pitched a complete game in 165 career starts. He is thus poised to pass Reuter with a full slate of starts in 2014. Unless, of course, Scherzer finally goes the distance in one of them.

The Dodgers look to turn around their fortunes at home. But history is not on their side.

Since the LCS switched to a best of 7 format in 1985, this is the 13th time a team has come home down 2-0 in the series. Two of those twelve previous series were in 1985 and both teams (the Cardinals and Royals) that were down 0-2 that year came back to win their series. But that comeback has happened only one other time since then; when the Red Sox stunned the Yankees in 2004 with a comeback from a 3-0 deficit.

More on game 3 after the jump.

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In the last 40 post-seasons (since 1973), these players have accomplished a feat that no other player can boast of. What is it?

Congratulations to John Autin! He correctly identified that these are the only players since 1973 to hit a World Series home run off a pitcher who won that season’s Cy Young Award.

The following might be stating the obvious, but I had to do something with my pregame nervous energy….

Recent days have sparked much talk about the success of young starting pitchers in this postseason. Indeed, several young starters have made impressive showings. But for every Michael Wacha, there’s a Matt Moore or a Julio Teheran — young starters with strong regular seasons, who bombed in their postseason starts. For every Sonny Gray gem of 8 shutout innings, there’s a Sonny Gray “meh” of 3 runs in 5 innings.

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The Cardinals’ 1-0 win in game 2 of the NLCS was the eighth postseason win by a team getting no more than 2 hits.
The prior seven:

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