Karma and the 2018 Baseball Playoffs

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros are undoubtedly a fun team to watch. Their roster is filled with both tremendous talent and compelling personalities, with perhaps both culminating in young infielder Alex Bregman. Not only is he sitting on a 30 HR, 100 RBI campaign, but he has spearheaded a movement where he and his teammates will stare directly into the camera after an accomplishment on the field. But, as Matt Vasgersian pointed out on a recent edition of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, Bregman and the gang ripped off the camera stare from Cubs minor league catcher Taylor Davis, who has been a master of that stunt for over a year. Houston's appropriation of dugout hijinks - coupled, of course, with the most egregious ethically questionable transaction of the 2018 season - got me thinking about how the effects of karma might come into play in the 2018 playoff picture.

When I posed this question to a fellow baseball fan friend of mine, his response was something along the lines of, "Dude, karma has nothing to do with the playoffs - how many championships have the Yankees won?" While it's true that New York's AL team is arguably the most hated franchise in the sport, due to many of their recent wins coming as a result of throwing their financial weight around, but, as noted by SBNation's Grant Brisbee earlier this summer, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than a fat wallet. In any case, they haven't won the World Series in nearly a decade, so it's not like they're a perennially annoying juggernaut on the level of the Patriots. With all that in mind, and given that I've already said my piece about the Astros acquiring a still-suspended Roberto Osuna at the trade deadline, let's take a look at some of the 2018 playoff contenders who might have put themselves in the karmic "penalty box" heading into the stretch run.

Oakland Athletics: In a situation that could be described as "Roberto Osuna-lite," the A's picked up dominant late inning reliever Jeurys Familia from the Mets this summer, despite the fact that he has a domestic violence suspension on his resume. Unlike Osuna's, however, Familia's case was closed and the charges dropped before he even served his 15-game ban last year (which was just one fifth the length as Houston's new closer's). It's a tricky situation, because the difference in severity surely doesn't excuse Familia's conduct, but you also don't want to suggest that past offenders are incapable of remorse and rehabilitation.

Cleveland Indians: The Tribe made a controversial trade of their own this year, but not due to anything the acquired player did, but rather his health status. Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson's injury plagued season was not enough of a deterrent to prevent the Indians from trading for him at the August 31st waiver-trade deadline, and understandably so, given his upside when healthy. The problem is that Donaldson was clearly not yet in game shape at the time of the trade, a situation that is expressly prohibited by MLB rules. Sheryl Ring of Fangraphs did a great job summing up the validity of the transaction, and the league did issue a "buyer beware" caveat regarding any potential Donaldson trades, but that apparently wasn't enough to prevent other contending teams from bellyaching about the situation.

Chicago Cubs: This is more of an instance of karma already coming back to bite this team, but I feel like it's relevant to mention. On September 13th, in the top of the 10th inning of a game in which the Cubs had just taken a one-run lead, manager Joe Maddon sent arguably his best reliever Pedro Strop to the plate. He promptly grounded into an inning-ending double play, but what's worse, he injured his hamstring running to first base, and will now be out for multiple weeks. Is this Maddon's fault for not using a pinch hitter to try and extend the lead? Is it Strop's fault for not jogging to first base and preserving his body to pitch the next inning? Is it the league's fault for not implementing the universal DH? Without diving too deep into all the separate factors at play, it's not a stretch to describe this whole incident as karmicly significant.

Boston Red Sox: For the first month-plus of the season, Hanley Ramirez was a force at the plate, maintaining a .330 batting average, an .874 OPS, and a memorable walk-off win that was immortalized in the April 5th version of MLB's Fastcast. However, when a roster crunch arose towards the end of May, Ramirez found himself surprisingly cut from the team. True his numbers had taken a tumble (he ended his season with a .254 AVG and .708 OPS overall), but many would argue that HanRam's approaching $22 million vesting option was the main factor in the release of such an important clubhouse presence. Notably, Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently stated that his organization "couldn't touch" Roberto Osuna in trade talks, although to be fair, that might just be posturing after the fact.

Colorado Rockies: In a rare example of good karma, the Rockies brought back franchise icon Matt Holliday on a minor league deal, and he has rewarded the team with a 1.028 OPS and two home runs in an admittedly tiny sample size of 52 plate appearances. Putting aside Holliday's personal grudge against my favorite team, it's nice to see a familiar face getting a second chance and making good during a very important stretch run. Of course, Colorado was just "rewarded" for their positivity with the news that star shortstop Trevor Story is facing a potentially serious elbow injury. Fate is a fickle mistress...

Arizona Diamondbacks: This one is admittedly based more on personal preference than any widely accepted unwritten rule of baseball, and plus the D-Backs are fading fast from postseason contention anyway. There's nothing inherently wrong with removing Brad Boxberger from the closer's role, especially given that he's suffered through a 7.71 ERA since the beginning of August. But the announcement that they plan to utilize a closer by committee approach just doesn't sit well with me. You can show me all the statistics you want that using different relievers for particular ninth inning matchups is the most effective way to utilize a bullpen, but the traditional closer is the one old school strategy that I will hold onto kicking and screaming. But more importantly, it just never seems to work! With the possible exception of this year's...

Milwaukee Brewers: The Brew Crew has divided their save opportunities fairly evenly between Corey Knebel (18), Jeremy Jeffress (17), and Josh Hader (15), with a lot of success. However, when insensitive tweets from the latter of these three pitchers were uncovered during the All-Star Game, the whole vibe of the team was called into question. Obviously no one was hurt, and the game's rules weren't violated, but the situation did bring up some deep seated issues within white baseball.

Atlanta Braves: The Braves have their own lefty pitcher with a questionable social media history in sophomore starter Sean Newcomb. But the baseball issue I want to tackle here is the organization's decision to keep star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. in the minors for the start of the season, despite his MLB readiness, to artificially suppress his service time, i.e. his earning power. The community seems pretty split between whether this is just a quirk of the rules that must be accepted or a travesty that must be addressed (I obviously fall closer to the second camp). But it's interesting to note that the Braves have shown a willingness to fly in the face of this custom in the past in the handling of Jason Heyward in 2010. But then again, Acuna and Ozzie Albies look like they're having so much fun playing together that it's hard to find fault with the organization.

New York Yankees: OK, just a couple thoughts about the Yankees to finish things off. While baseball's lack of a salary cap means there is nothing technically wrong with a move such as trading away pending free agent Aroldis Chapman for a massive prospect haul (including starting second baseman and Rookie of the Year hopeful Gleyber Torres), then turning around and signing him to a big money deal the next offseason, it does rub a lot of fans the wrong way. Plus there's the whole "mystique" surrounding the Yankees organization, as evidenced by the fact that Giancarlo Stanton spurned the Giants and Cardinals - two organizations that pulled out all the stops in courting him - only to approve a trade to New York, because he only wanted to be a Yankee. While these examples of players being eager to play for the Yankees actually paint the club in a positive light overall, they're also the types of instances that cause unbridled frustration for 29/30ths of baseball fans.