The Opener: ALCS, NLCS, A’s

As the playoffs continue, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. ALCS heads to Cleveland:

The Guardians are headed back home to Cleveland today having dropped the first two games of the ALCS to the Yankees in the Bronx. As they look to stop the bleeding in front of their home crowd, the club will turn to lefty Matthew Boyd (2.72 ERA in 8 starts). The veteran southpaw has not yet appeared in the ALCS but drew two starts during the ALDS against Detroit. Those two starts went quite well, as Boyd struck out ten Tigers in 6 2/3 scoreless frames. Now, Boyd figures to square off against Yankees youngster Clarke Schmidt (2.85 ERA in 16 starts) this evening. Schmidt’s lone ALDS start saw him surrender two runs in 4 2/3 innings of work with four strikeouts. Today’s game is scheduled to begin at 5:08pm local time.

2. Mets facing deficit in NLCS:

The Mets suffered an ugly 8-0 loss at the hands of the Dodgers last night as the L.A. pitching staff stymied their offense, allowing just four hits. While Luis Severino managed to handle the Dodgers’ offense decently in 4 2/3 innings of work that saw only two unearned runs cross the plate, the L.A. bats came to life late in the game against the bullpen and torched Mets relievers Reed Garrett and Tylor Megill for six runs.

As the Mets try to avoid dropping back-to-back games, they’ll turn to veteran southpaw Jose Quintana (3.75 ERA in 31 starts). Quintana has been excellent for the Mets so far this postseason, pitching 11 scoreless frames and striking out 11 across two starts split between the NLDS and the NL Wild Card series. His opponent tonight will be Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.00 ERA in 16 starts), who arrived in the majors to much fanfare earlier this year. Yamamoto’s first taste of postseason action in the big leagues has been a mixed bag so far, as he was rocked for five runs over three innings by the Padres in his first postseason start but settled in to post five scoreless frames in a decisive Game 5 against San Diego later in the series. Tonight’s game is slated to start at 8:08pm local time in Queens.

3. A’s ballpark agreements in Las Vegas moving forward:

The A’s no longer hail from Oakland after playing their last game at the Coliseum last month, and with the Oakland chapter of the club’s history now officially closed, things are moving along toward the construction of the club’s planned ballpark in Las Vegas. As detailed by Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority is scheduled to meet today with a review of updated agreements regarding development and leasing of the stadium as well as relocation stipulations between the city and the A’s among the items on the agenda.

The agreements lay out a framework for a number of subjects, including how many out-of-market home games the Athletics are allowed to play each year and what situations could allow the A’s to relocate out of Las Vegas in the future should they so desire. Per Akers, those agreements will then be put to a vote on December 5, with approval of each of the agreements standing as a necessary step in order for the A’s to unlock public funding for their new stadium. In addition to getting approval on these agreements, the Athletics will also need to present a plan for financing their own portion of the stadium expenses before that aforementioned public funding becomes available.