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LOS ANGELES – Erik Kratz's road to the National League series has lasted 17 seasons in professional baseball. During that time, he played for seven major league teams and wore the uniform of nearly 20 minor league affiliates. At age 38, he is the oldest player since 1905 to make his playoff debut.
Jhoulys Chacín's career has led him to go through seven different organizations since he arrived in the United States from Venezuela and almost all of them dropped him for nothing in return. He and Kratz wandered through the desert like vagrants, never looking for an eight-digit contract, but simply as an opportunity to stay in an industry that was constantly trying to evict them.
These winding lanes converged here, in Monday's third game, where they were the battery that brought the Milwaukee Brewers to two victories of the franchise's first pennant since 1982. With Kratz behind the plate, Chacín did not have a chance. awarded only three hits on 5 1/3. a 4-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers: an unlikely duo that seems to suit the Brewers' magical race until October.
"It turns out that we have been combined," said Kratz. "It's a cool prospect. Right now, you do not really think. But in November and December, when it's snowing and football is running, that's what you're thinking about. "
A deep and powerful enclosure has brought the Brewers to this stage and its director, Craig Counsell, relies on his replacements as does the sun that rises in the east every morning. Counsell spent this season erasing more or less the very concept of starting rotation.
But in Chacín, the Brewers discovered an unexpected rock after acquiring it in December. He made 35 starts, the most in baseball, and posted an average of 3.50 out of 192 2/3, which allowed Milwaukee's overworked military to rest every five days. Without Chacin, the Brewers' unorthodox strategy would certainly have failed.
"When things go wrong, he stops them every five days," said Travis Shaw, field player for the Brewers. "He did it all year."
Kratz opened in 2018 with the RailRiders Scranton / Wilkes-Barre, the Triple-A subsidiary of the New York Yankees, with whom he signed a minor league contract in December. Needed depth to replace the wounded Stephen Vogt, the Brewers traded for Kratz and immediately assigned him to their roster.
This time, after so much reluctance and conversations with the officials to inform him of his release, Kratz held it. He set new career highs with 219 appearances on the plate and 48 hits, before settling as Milwaukee's main receiver in October. He produced a record of 6 against 15 (.400) with two doubles and two points produced in these playoffs. One of the two baggers scored Monday in the seventh inning, preparing for Orlando Arcia's two-run homerun, which held up well against the win.
Orlando Arcia celebrates the win as he crosses the marble at home after a two-point home run at right field.
Photo:
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
As much as he enjoyed his performance at the plate, his favorite moment on Monday night was a race earlier. As Counsell emerged from the first goal's canoe to pull out Chacín, the pitcher and catcher stood together on the mound and shared a moment, smiling and laughing while waiting for their captain. Kratz would not share the details of their conversation, but no explanation was needed to understand the point.
"We are all together on the mound, with his X years spent from one team to the next," Kratz said. "In one way or another, I came from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to be together on this mound. I have so many stories like this one that are exciting because they are so intimately related. "
Chacín and Kratz are exactly alike. In 21 regular-season games with Kratz catching him, Chacín scored a total of 3.23, against 4.39 in 12 games against Manny Piña.
Their connection continued in the playoffs. Chacín played five white games in the second game of the series against the Colorado Rockies, before launching another gem Monday, disconcerting for the most successful training of the NL. He went over his cursor on 47 of his 86 throws, varying his speed and hammering the bottom of the hitting area, which generated a lot of balls on the ground. In the second run, the Dodgers placed the runners in second and third place with a draw, but Chacín escaped the block.
Until this year, neither Kratz nor Chacín had ever appeared in the playoffs. They made the most of it.
"I've been ready for this for almost 10 years," said Chacín. "Thank God, I had a chance."
Write to Jared Diamond at [email protected]
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