That inning is on Dave Roberts imo. Morrow was way overused. You could tell from the first pitch he had nothing

Agreed, home run trajectories are unheard of, sky ball and goes out. Go 'Stros!

Yep. Terrible. People will be asking all postseason why he was used there.

Not really. Lowest runs per game in MLB:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

They should suspend Gurriel 5 games for that awful haircut lol

Closing the roof dramatically changes the equation though. It's not that it would favor one team over the other, but it's going to cause more HRs.

The bigger factor is the ball though. Sports Illustrated showed that they changed the ball for the World Series.

I thought they changed the ball for the 2017 season. Tighter wound...

I agree with Jar155 the strike zone is all over the place tonight. But I have to say it’s been called that way for both teams tonight. That ump has called several pitches strikes that were clearly balls. It’s been horrible....but at least it’s been the same for both teams as far as I can tell.

And so should Puig....for that awful blue hair last night and licking his wood (bat). Notice he doesn’t have it tonight by the way.

But we love ball players for being characters so I say let them keep it interesting and entertaining.

It changed again for the World Series. A reporter showed two balls side by side. It was an obvious difference just looking at it.

So the Astros vs the Whitesox was the longest WS game in history at 5hrs and 41 min with extra innings

This game has a chance to be the longest WS game without extra innings. The record is 4hrs 19 min and we are well over 4hrs 10 min. in game 5.

It feels like bringing in Morrow was a series-losing call. Beating Verlander and Keuchel back to back feels like an almost insurmountable task.

Unbelievable, tied again!

This is crazy...has to be one of the best Word Series ever

Just when you thought the Dodgers had it the Stro’s came back.....then when you thought the Stro’s had it the Dodgers came back.....doesn’t get any better than this!!!

This is exhausting. I don't think I like this juiced ball nonsense.

That game was insane. Fans of either team had to be on edge.

Ball 4 was a terrible call. That was a strike all night before that moment. But of course.

Wow!!! Unbelievable game.

Crazy fun series

This slicker ball for the World Series reeks of something screwy. Both teams got to this point under circumstances that were changed all of a sudden. Why? Why change a variable on these teams at this point? Does it actually impact the teams equally? Changing the ball from one season to another is one thing, but for a single series? Seems wrong.

World Series ball on the right, regular season ball on the left.

Story on the different balls: https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/29/world-series-baseballs-leather-justin-verlander-yu-darvish-ken-giles-kenley-jansen

image-picsay (resized).jpg

10 innings.......5 hours 17 minutes

It's taken away the biggest advantage the Dodgers have, their bullpen. Turned the series into a total crap shoot after the 5th inning or so. Control pitchers are being penalized heavily.

Ball looks the same to me. Let you know for sure tomorrow night.

I really think it's time for a standardized electronic strike zone. I thought Diaz was pretty bad on Saturday night, but Miller was horrible last night. They have replay review so that they "get the calls right", but the balls and strikes are whatever today's guy feels like calling them. I thought the Dodgers got the worst of the calls last night.

Hey-ooooooo!

Both teams use the same ball. I dont see how it helps one team or the other. Dodger pen is wore out.

pretty simple that a slicker ball is going to impact control pitches more.

Changing the ball at all is just stupid. It would be like saying that a different football wont impact a pass team differently then a run team.

I also am over the bad umps. This year has brought it to a head that they are old, inaccurate, and inconsistent. Time to let technology assist. At minimum, UMPs should be scored and paid based on accuracy/consistency. The technology is good enough to score them all.

Great game. Great series 2 years in row!

As for the ball debate. A few pitchers said the ball changed just after the allstar break last season (2016)
Hmmm, record number of home runs for the second half last year? Shatter the record for home runs in a season this year? Pitchers are absolutely dominant currently and to equal it out, you make the ball a little more active. It's basically strikeout or hr baseball now. After a great playoffs last season, mlb wanted to keep momentum going and keep the casual fan interested. Last time they had a jump in ratings was late 90s with the whole chicks dig the long ball thing.

I understand what you are saying and you are right that the ball should not have been changed at all. That being said both teams have to throw the same ball. Wouldn't it mean that the Astros "non-control" pitchers would have a harder time throwing strikes? Those are all excuses in my opinion. The Dodger pen has been overused and they are paying for it. Just my opinion though. I am not a fan of either team and it really doesnt matter to me who wins.

Um, the biggest advantage that the Dodgers had coming in was their superior bullpen. Take away their control and that's gone. The team was built around getting to their bullpen and closing the game out. Houston was built around home runs. Not sure how you'd be confused that this doesn't more heavily penalize a team that relies on control pitching.

It would be like in football having a run heavy team and a pass heavy team meeting in he Super Bowl, only for the NFL to enlarge the football. The passing team would have a harder time throwing, and their superior pass offense would be negated and equalized.

Wouldn't the running team also be disadvantaged also as the runner couldn't protect the bigger ball being punched loose or stripped and wouldn't it effect the hand off exchange as well

It wouldn't take away the running team's superior run blocking or personnel. And carrying the ball with a slight increase wouldn't be impacted nearly as much as the grip on a throw.

Think if this was going the other direction. What if they were using a baseball with improved grip in the World Series. Rather than losing over a half inch of movement on his slider, Darvish could throw with an extra inch of movement. Jansen's cutter was unhittable going into the World Series, how would it be if that was even harder to hit? The bullpens would be getting outs more quickly and pitchers would be more fresh, on top of having better control. We would be talking about how "these great offenses have been reigned in with such high level pitching." Everybody would want to know what happened to Altuve's bat rather than wondering why Jansen all of a sudden is mediocre.

You can change the ball between seasons, that's fine. But when teams spend all year building around a scenario, it's ridiculous to change it right at the championship round. It's practically criminal.

Seems like a pretty even & exciting series so far. I mean until game 5 they were tied up, so where's the advantage?
Like someone else pointed out, both teams using same ball.

Is this really a hard concept, or am I going crazy?

ONE TEAM'S ADVANTAGE WAS HITTING. THE OTHER TEAM'S ADVANTAGE WAS PITCHING. GO LOOK AT EVERY PREVIEW ARTICLE WRITTEN. IT WAS "THE DODGERS' ARMS VS. THE ASTROS' SLUGGERS." THEY ARE USING A BALL THAT IS HITTER-FRIENDLY. THAT PLAYS TO ONE TEAM'S STRENGTH AND AWAY FROM ANOTHER TEAM'S STRENGTH.

Holy smokes.

Sounds like Dodgers need to aquire some sluggers!!

You can do that in the offseason, you can't do that between the NLCS and the WS. That's why changing the ball between seasons is somewhat acceptable (though they should make an announcement), but changing it during the playoffs is inexcusable. It reeks of tampering.

Whatever. It's all a coin flip right now since neither bullpen has any sort of control. The Dodgers just as easily can shell the Astros' bullpen tonight and then we get another coin flip scenario for game 7.

You haven't thought this all the way through. The Astro pitchers threw curve and breaking balls too.

Wow, really?

The Astros' strength was not their bullpen, so what does it matter if they're a little worse? They weren't built around their bullpen anyway. The Dodgers were constructed in a manner that was 100% about getting 5 innings deep with a lead and then letting their bullpen take over while they put up runs on the other team's inferior bullpen. Well what good does that do them now if no matter who has the ball, they're going to struggle for either team? They leveled the pitching advantage, and the Astros already had superior hitters coming in. They took pitching out of the game and turned it into a slugfest. It's really, really, really sketchy to change a variable midway through a season and even worse to do it right at the finish line. Teams can't change who they are at this point.

Did anybody even read the article SI put out? You guys really think that Kenly Jansen went from unhittable to terrible? Darvish had the worst outing of his career and measurements showed that his pitches had dramatically less movement on their breaks. Kershaw is having the lowest swing and miss rate of his entire career on his breaking balls. The pitches aren't breaking, they're staying flat. This affects the Dodgers far more than the Astros.

By the way, curveballs aren't as affected as sliders and cutters because you grip the seams. It's probably why Rich Hill was surprisingly able to hang with Verlander in game 2. But that's a different point.

The Cubs probably would have won, to be honest. Their hitters would be better suited to this environment. If this ball carries forward to next season...watch out.

While the game last night was fantastic to watch, I felt bad for the lady who caught the Puig Home Run Ball and some jack ass next to her takes the ball from her and tosses it back into the field.

If the jackass who threw it back had caught it himself, then that is his choice to make.

But throwing someone else's caught ball is just a jackass move.

He must have been their friend or relative, because security was not called to the section. I know I would have caused some drama over that if it were me or anyone else in my group who lost a World Series Home Run to a jack ass like that.

If I am ever lucky enough to catch a home run ball at a world series, regardless of which team hit the home run, I'm not handing that ball to anyone else to view or touch until after the game, in my own car.

All in all, this World Series is super entertaining. And while I root for the Astros, I think both teams have played fantastic baseball.

Marcus

I totally agree that they should not have changed the ball between series. I cannot however take away the fact that guys in the dodger pen like Morrow have been way overused in this post season and that has to play a part in their downfall as well. I’m not blaming it on the ball that’s all.

Last night they kept lobbing in beach balls. Beach balls get hit hard. It happens.

But here's the real question: Is he a jack ass?

Putting Morrow in felt like a series-losing decision. I just wonder if he felt like he had no other choice. Can't put in a breaking ball thrower, so he hoped Morrow could throw enough heat to get enough outs. Obviously it was an extremely bad calculation.

It just looks like him and Jansen (arguably two of the best relievers in the game this year ((scratch that... Jansen is the best... hands down)) are just worn out. I could be wrong. They are going to need them both tomorrow probably.

Jansen might be worn out now, but his issue up to now was that he couldn't throw his cutter how he wanted.

Was listening to game on the radio sounded like they held someone up on third late in the game and if they would have waved him home he would have scored easily as the throw in from the outfield was well up the line so another bad calculation there also i guess