Rozner: Baseball schools collide in NLCS

As if launch angle wasn't a hot enough topic around the game of baseball, it will be even more of a conversation this winter and during spring training as we parse the words of Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon and ponder the approach of a third Cubs hitting coach in three years.

It was quite the issue on the FS1 postgame show after the 13-inning marathon Tuesday night that ended at 1:25 a.m. Wednesday, so you probably didn't hang around to hear more about the Dodgers' 2-1 victory, if you even stayed up for the conclusion.

But for those of us who did, we were treated to a discussion among Alex Rodriguez (696 home runs), David Ortiz (541) and Frank Thomas (521), who wondered why there was no use of the bunt in that game.

The bunt? That's a dangerous road to travel these days.

In this climate, you're not allowed to have an opinion if it differs from the groupthink. You will be shouted down and called a fool or - by the laziest screamers - a dinosaur.

There is only one solution to a problem. It's black and white and you must fall in line or be excoriated by those who possess the unambiguous answer to an inexhaustible question.

So it was fascinating to hear three pretty accomplished players - all three in the top 20 all-time in home runs - discuss what occurred that night.

"This is one of the greatest bullpens I've ever seen," Thomas said of Milwaukee. "So many swing-and-miss guys. The Dodgers had 17 strikeouts (Tuesday), 14 (Monday).

"I'm sorry, but you have to dial it down a little bit and try to use the whole ballpark to get some offense going. As a hitter, if you're struggling, go the opposite way. It'll clean up your pull swing."

"We used to talk about it all the time as players," Rodriguez said. "Slap the ball the other way with runners in scoring position."

"When you go the other way," said Ortiz, "you are trying to stay through the ball longer and get your rhythm back."

"Baseball," Rodriguez insisted, "is a game of confidence and rhythm and feel."

Well, there's no metric for that, so that's not going to work for many experts.

Look, the metrics have advanced the game and are essential to furthering our understanding of baseball. To ignore them is absurd, but to pretend there is nothing else in baseball except a spreadsheet is equally obtuse.

And all three men, prodigious bombers, could not believe what they were watching for 5 hours, 15 minutes.

"It's so frustrating," Rodriguez said. "Bunt the guy to third when you have a man on second and nobody out.

"I know sabermetrics are running this. Well, when you have a guy on third and less than two outs, the chances of scoring are 67 percent. It's simple math. Get the guy over to third with a bunt."

"We understand analytics. We get it. It works," Thomas said. "But it's basic strategy when you get to the postseason. Sometimes you have to make the easy play. We've been doing it in baseball for over 100 years."

Careful now, big fella. Just because you were a Hall of Fame player, it doesn't mean you'll be permitted a viewpoint.

"If you want the ring, sometimes you have to do the little things," Thomas said. "In a series with great pitching like this, someone's gonna have to put down a bunt or use a hit-and-run to move the runner to get him in scoring position."

Rodriguez was particularly appalled that Milwaukee shortstop Orlando Arcia, who had 1 bunt in 366 plate appearances in 2018, did not move a runner after a leadoff double in the top of the seventh of a 1-1 game.

Arcia popped to left for the first out and the Brewers failed to score.

"The argument against it is he hasn't bunted during the season," Rodriguez said. "That's a front office issue.

"If a guy hits 3 home runs in the regular season and doesn't know how to bunt, that's an enormous problem. That ego, that philosophy, could cost a team a world championship.

"When I was a young shortstop (in Seattle), (Lou) Piniella would meet me at the top step of the dugout and say, 'Alex, bunt him over. If he misses (with the pitch), look for the hit-and-run 1-0.' "

And Rodriguez was obviously capable of hitting a home run.

"The game has changed a lot," Ortiz said. "Most of these players, when they are about to sign in pro ball, the scouts and everyone else just want them to start launching balls and forget practicing bunting.

"Coming up through the minors, that's something we had to practice. That will save a game. This game took that long because nobody tried to bunt."

"With these great bullpens," Thomas said, "you have to try some hit-and-run. Line drives travel. But right now it's all launch angle.

"Moving runners, this is what you have to do against these bullpens. You're not going to score a lot of runs. There's too much velocity. You're not catching up to these arms."

The Dodgers came back Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles with a 5-3 victory on 4 RBI singles the opposite way or up the middle, plus an RBI groundout.

"I love it," Rodriguez said. "We were begging, Big Hurt. Walt Hriniak was your mentor. He loved the head down, go the other way. I saw a lot of head down today.

"They keep that up, the Dodgers will go to the World Series."

"I call it smart ball," Thomas said. "Gotta get back through the middle. Shorten that swing against guys throwing 95 and above. Good things happen when you put the ball in play."

Guys who love home runs - guys who loved hitting home runs - merely telling you what they see.

If you're a metrics zealot, this will drive you insane, and if you're strictly old school, you probably enjoyed the conversation and hate the state of today's game.

My belief is there's room in the middle for both, and some independent thinking is necessary to fully comprehend a complicated game.

And in today's world, the middle is a lonely place to be.