Yuli Gurriel and Zack Greinke
Like the Cardinals and Dodgers, the Houston Astros are two-deep in MLB old-timer leadership.
Gurriel, of course, doesn’t feel like the 37-year-old he is because he did not emerge from stardom in the Cuban League until he was 32. Since then he’s averaged .290, topping out at 31 home runs in 2019.
Greinke is another and far more familiar persona. A rookie with Kansas City in 2004, he won the Cy Young Award in 2009, made a half dozen All Star Game appearances, and has rolled up 213 victories in 18 seasons.
The one thing he hasn’t done is enjoy post-season success. He’s 4-6 with a 4.22 ERA in 19 postseason starts, and his only two World Series starts – for the Astros in 2019 – both resulted in no-decisions. In that year’s Game 7, Greinke left the mound leading 2-1 in the seventh inning only to see his successor, Will Harris, give up a game-turning two-run home run to Howie Kendrick.
There is, then, absolutely nothing this old-timer would like better than to get one more shot at a Game 7 start, and this time to change the outcome. A complete game performance with Gurriel driving the winning run across would be very much to Greinke’s liking, and would also very much fit into the old-timer fabric of 2021.