The Brushback

🧨 October Is a Manager’s Month
One decision can mean champagne or heartbreak.

October baseball is supposed to be about stars, right? Judge mashing, Ohtani dazzling, Schwarber wreaking havoc.

But the truth? The guys in those dugout chairs decide just as much. October is make-or-break for managers.

Last year, Dave Roberts proved it. He managed the Dodgers’ bullpen like a chessboard, not a dartboard. Facing elimination in the NLDS, he turned Game 4 into a bullpen game — Dodgers shut out the Padres. In Game 5, he pulled Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the perfect time. Another shutout. Every lever he pulled clicked.

That wasn’t luck. That was a manager surviving one pitch, one inning, one decision at a time.

But for every Roberts masterstroke, there’s a Cash catastrophe. Spin it back to the 2020, World Series, Game 6. Rays' pitcher Blake Snell is cruising — two hits, nine strikeouts, not even 75 pitches — and Rays manager Kevin Cash trots out with the hook. Why? Because the spreadsheet screamed third time through.

Next thing you know, the Dodgers are dogpiling and Tampa’s season is over. Cash didn’t just pull Snell; he pulled the plug. Analytics can’t measure heartbreak — and to this day, Rays fans still flinch at the words third time through.

And here we are again. For Yankees skipper Aaron Boone — who took plenty of heat in last year’s World Series for bringing in Nestor Cortes to face Freddie Freeman (walk-off grand slam, thanks for playing) — the spotlight only got hotter.

Last night, he pulled starter Max Fried, who was throwing a shutout. The bullpen lost it. Isn’t this fun, Aaron. Yep, reputations are built (and buried) this time of year.

That’s October. A manager looks like a genius or a clown — sometimes in the span of a single inning.

Stars fill the box scores. But managers write the obituaries.

John Boxley - High N Tight