To be clear, I was rooting for the Jays and not the Dodgers although I am happy that my guy Clayton ended his HOF career with another World Series ring. I had hoped Don Mattingly would have finally won a ring, but I won’t lose any sleep over the outcome.

I’ll leave it to Jays fans and the experts to pick nits over what went wrong or where they can improve. However, I wasn’t keen on how Toronto manager, John Schneider didn’t have his best offensive players in the game in the final innings. And while I don’t make big picture predictions, I know Alejandro Kirk was going to ground into a double play, the moment someone reached first. The guy played wonderfully throughout the postseason but carries a piano on his back when he runs.

For seemingly the first time in years, a team, the Dodgers relied heavily on starting pitchers and not just in the last game. I’m sure Dave Roberts told his starting pitchers to be ready to go in Game 7 because they are getting paid boat loads of Do Re Mi and they responded in kind. However. they gave him quality innings in each of the rounds of the postseason. Even in two subpar starts against the Jays, Blake Snell pitched like an ace, exceeding 100 pitches in both games. Even as recently as 25 years ago, starting pitchers wouldn’t get pulled after surrendering a few runs in the first two innings. These days managers default to the bullpen and a bunch of guys with +4 ERAs-thinking things will improve, miraculously.

While one friend of mine might think it’s too soon to be worrying about free agency, the Cubs have to decide whether they will pick of Shota Imanaga’s option. I’m on the record as being off the Shota bandwagon as he was less than mediocre after the ASG, but I figure they won’t be able to easily replace his innings. Even when he was giving up homers left and right, he hung around and ate up innings.

Most teams don’t have the luxury of multiple guys in their rotation that can give the manager more than four quality innings per start, but both teams have shown that it’s a viable option moving forward. The idea of the opener and succession of relievers is horrible, unwatchable baseball.

Obviously, there were numerous players who distinguished themselves over the past few weeks, and some will reap the rewards. For the most part, I haven’t looked at anyone’s contract status so I don’t know who the Cubs should target.