Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. ALCS Game 2:
After a solo homer by George Springer in the first inning, Bryce Miller and the Mariners’ bullpen managed to shut down a Blue Jays offense that throttled the Yankees in the division series to take Game 1 of the ALCS 3-1. Seattle will look to build on that lead later today with right-hander Logan Gilbert (3.44 ERA) on the mound, while the Blue Jays will turn to rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage (3.21 ERA) as they look to tie up the series before it heads to Seattle for Game 3. Yesavage is coming off a dominant performance against New York where he struck out 11 in 5 1/3 hitless innings, but Gilbert had a strong showing in the ALDS himself. He struck out seven Tigers across six innings of one-run ball in his lone start in the series before pitching two scoreless innings of relief in Seattle’s marathon Game 5 win over Detroit. The teams are set to face off at 5:03pm local time this evening in Toronto.
2. NLCS Game 1:
Just over three hours later, at 7:08pm local time in Milwaukee, the Brewers and Dodgers will kick off Game 1 of the NLCS. Left-hander Blake Snell (2.35 ERA) is slated to take the mound for L.A. He’s already come up with wins for the Dodgers against both the Reds and Phillies this October, combining for 13 innings of two-run ball with 18 strikeouts. Milwaukee, meanwhile, has not announced a starter but plans to go with an opener for the start of the game, with either Quinn Priester (3.32 ERA) or Jose Quintana (3.96 ERA) to follow as a bulk arm. Quintana was the far more effective of the two in the NLDS, as he threw three scoreless frames against Chicago while Priester surrendered four runs and recorded just two outs in his lone appearance.
3. Lukes day-to-day:
Turning back to the ALCS, Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes exited yesterday’s game after fouling a ball off of his knee. He was eventually diagnosed as a right knee contusion after x-rays came back negative. It’s a good sign for his availability at some point later in the series, but manager John Schneider told reporters yesterday that it wouldn’t be known if Lukes was available for today’s game. Lukes will be evaluated by the Jays’ medical staff when he arrives at the park today. If he’s unavailable, Davis Schneider or Myles Straw would likely step into the starting lineup in his place.
Quality baseball being played while the Yankees play golf. As it should be.
Ouch, but LOL!
My foursome in high school was two Yankees fans and two Red Sox fans. Good times. Lots of arguments about Fisk and Munson, et al.
Agree with Rapid….funny, but painful
All my AL East friends were certain that the Jays would feast on Mariners’ pitching. I told them, “I don’t think so, this isn’t the Yankee staff!!”. Good pitching always trumps good hitting in the playoffs. I’m not a big Mariner fan, but I really hope the M’s make it to their first WS. Arozarena HAS to get going; I feel like he is the key to the M’s offense. They need him to get on, steal a base and set the table for Raleigh and Polanco.
Based on most measurements, the Yankees have just as quality of run prevention as the mariners. The “this isn’t the Yankees staff” makes zero sense.
You mean beside the fact that THIS ISN’T THE YANKEE STAFF????
Scoreboard, baby!!!!
You’re acting like a clown. Dusty is correct. Here it is by the numbers:
Yankees IP:1439.2 RUNS ALLOWED:685
Mariners IP:1462.2 RUNS ALLOWED:694
Maybe you want to say RUNS ALLOWED includes defense and that’s the difference but you would still be wrong. The Yankees allowed 625 earned runs while the Mariners allowed 629.
They’re pretty similar. You have nothing but empty rhetoric.
See if it changes when you compare bullpens. Yankee BP vs. M’s is very different. 10-3 win. M’s embarrassing the Toronto bats.
And ;you two can’t see what’s right in front of you, in the playoffs. Trying to draw conclusions about a pitching staff over the course of a year ignores what is going on in the last two weeks. The Yankees won 11 of 12 to finish the season, BUT IT WAS ALL AGAINST BAD TEAMS..
A season’s stats include run prevention against a lot of bad teams. The playoffs are about playing good teams. Season-long stats aren’t always valid.
Oh yeah. scoreboard, baby! Toronto is done. They lost the games their two best pitchers started. Now, the screw turns even more in the M’s favor. Castillo, Kirby, maybe even Woo. All righties. And the best Seattle relievers are well-rested again. Seattle crowd is going to be rabid, like game 5 of the ALDS. Cooked like a Canadian Thanksgiving Turkey is what the Jays are..
You’re giving the Mariners staff a little too much credit.
The outcome of game 1 had everything to do with the Jays offense.
Throughout the season, there have been 2 versions. They opened the season bumbling and stumbling around with little cohesiveness, the Dr. Jekyll Jays, if you will.
Then the middle of the season hit and the Jays transformed into Mr Hyde, a nearly unstoppable offense that could obliterate any pitcher on any team through patience, grinding at bats, and contact.
Around the all star break, they turned back into Dr. Jekyll, going back to bumbling around and trying to scratch out wins where they could, holding onto the division title by the literal narrowest of margins.
In their first round of the playoffs, they once again transformed back into Mr. Hyde and blew the doors clean off the Yankees.
In this first game of their second round, they once again were Dr. Jekyll. After the first inning, they stopped grinding out at bats and there were a lot of 1 or 2 pitch at bats. Any pitcher can beat them when they just swing away blindly at anything.
If they don’t get back to their offensive system in a hurry, this will be a short series.
You can’t grind Mariners pitchers when they are on. Bryce Miller was ON and if you’re lucky you have one pitch per at-bat to get your A-swing off. Otherwise it looks like what happened yesterday. Winning one at Rogers Centre was so huge. This series will likely not go back to Toronto.
If I gave any GM in the game the opportunity to have Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, or Bryce Miller on the roster for the same contract length and size, almost every GM in the game would choose Fried, and the ones who didn’t would take Rodon.
No one, not even Jerry Dipoto, would pick Miller.
The Jays made Rodon and Fried look silly, because they stuck to their hitting philosophy. When they don’t stick to their hitting philosophy, anyone can shut them down.
…and yes, as I write this, the Jays are losing 7-3 in game two so it’s pretty safe to say this series is all but over.
Everyone forgets that Bryce Miller had a top ten pitcher performance in 2024, ERA under three. This season he has had some injury issues, that’s why his stats look down. Yeah Fried and Rodon had bad outings in the ALDS. It happens. Gilbert was off today and it looks like pushing him for Game 2 was a bit aggressive. Mariners have had some crappy calls against them today as well, but it’s Canadian Thanksgiving and the Mariners are still ahead regardless, so I’ll let it go this time.
Millers performance last year was home park assisted. He had an ERA over 4 on the road. He’s not some sort of pitching phenom. He’s a back half rotation piece whose numbers look better because of his home park.
BTW, all of the Mariner’s best pitchers are right-handed, while Toronto features a fairly heavy RH hitting lineup. Advantage M’s. Especially true if Lukes is out for any length of time.
@sonorawind
Yankees mostly had RHP up against the Jays and they still got destroyed.
Old Cork: Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, the Yankees #1 and #2 starters who got their asses handed to them by the Blue Jays, are left handed. Schlittler, a righty, did a lot better. Do your homework Old Fork.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
When I watched them on TV they were throwing right. I’ve never seen a Lefty throw.
I hope you set that up with your first comment Yogi.
I’m still waiting for a Seattle Mariners versus Seattle Pilots fan-brawl to break out in anticipation of a truly historic event…
I think I’m betting on a younger M’s fans over Pilots unless they’re like Clint Eastwood from Gran Torino.
Seattle pilot fans are little long in the tooth now. But always could use walkers.
Used car salesman Bud Selig stole our team. I’ve been holding a grudge since 1970. Hate the Brewers.
Your irony for the day, courtesy of the Pilots, is that the condition to awarding the expansion franchise to Seattle, which became the Mariners, an Eastern league team needed to be added.
That team: the Toronto Blue Jays.
Every year they say the AL West is the worst division in baseball, but if the Mariners make it to the WS that’ll be 6 out of the last 9 seasons that the West represents the AL in the Fall Classic.
Respectfully, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that in a while. Hasn’t that usually been the quip about the AL Central?
Yeah, it’s really just been the A’s and the Angels that have been the drag. The rest of the division has been at least competitive for a while. No one has wanted to face the Astros for a while. I think Seattle may finally have enough offense to make the WS. But they gotta quit swinging for the fences when only a base hit scores a run. IMO, Arozarena and Crawford are particularly guilty. Be more like Polanco, with RISP.
No one says the AL West is the worst in baseball, no one.
That title has belonged to the AL Central for a decade plus at this point.
Based on the title, I was hoping this article was going to provide on update on more than one player named Luke as opposed to a singular Lukes
“Meanwhile” has to START the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.