Postseason baseball is in full swing with every team having played at least a game thus far. Each game has brought its own excitement like only October baseball can do! There have been dominant pitching, dominant hitting, and nail-biters that came down to the very last pitch. Personally, I am hoping to see a Los Angeles Dodgers-Detroit Tigers World Series strictly to watch Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer square off.
- Scherzer pitched last night and was as dominant as he was all season. You know you had an incredible season when Jim Leyland picks you to start game one over Justin Verlander! He struck out eleven Oakland hitters and only made one mistake when he gave up a 2-run home run to Yoenis Cespedes. His team gave him three runs in the first inning and that was all he needed to help the Tigers take Game one in Oakland. It does not get any easier for the A’s as they face Justin Verlander tonight.
- After playing in two elimination games in two different cities, the Tampa Bay Rays finally showed signs of exhaustion. The Rays took the lead first getting two solo home runs off Jon Lester, but then Lester dominated. One of the home runs should not have counted as the pitch prior should have been strike three, but Boston fans will let it go after their team had a commanding win in Game 1. In the second inning, outfielder Will Myers stopped running down a fly ball hit in the outfield that bounced off the warning track into the Boston bullpen for a ground-rule double. This led to many confused Rays’ players and some very happy Red Sox fans. The miscue led to a five run second inning for Boston and eventually a 12-2 victory. The Rays’ get ace David Price on the mound today who won the first Wild Card elimination game against the Texas Rangers for them. The Rays’ will hope to take away one win in Boston.
- The Pittsburgh Pirates did just that. After pitcher AJ Burnett got shelled in Game 1, Gerrit Cole had a great outing only giving up one run in Game 2. The Pirates return home tied 1-1 with St. Louis which was the best case scenario for them. Lance Lynn struggled for the Cardinals making many question manager Mike Matheny’s decision to start him over rookie Shelby Miller who had a great season. Lynn has struggled in the postseason in the past, but Matheny felt confident in him. Tomorrow the Pirates have Francisco Liriano on the mound who bumped the Cincinnati Reds out of the playoffs earlier this week. Liriano has had success against the Cardinals and the Cardinals will have to deal with the electric crowd at PNC Park.
- The Braves and Dodgers also split the first two in Atlanta behind a dominant Clayton Kershaw performance in game one and a dominant performance by Craig Kimbrel in game two. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly made a critical error late in the game when he chose to intentionally walk Reed Johnson to load the bases to get a force out at any base. The only problem was Jason Heyward hits behind Johnson and he made them pay. Heyward knocked in two runs to make the Braves lead 4-1. This proved to be the hit that changed the game as Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run home run shortly after to make the score 4-3. The Dodgers got a man on in the 9th inning, but when attempting to steal second Dee Gordon was called out on a very close play. Many argue if he was really out, but the umpires called him out which was a huge break for the Braves. Kimbrel took care of the rest and closed the book on a Braves win.
