Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. ALCS moves to Game 4:
The Blue Jays were down 0-2 in the ALCS when they arrived in Seattle, but they didn’t let that stop them from delivering a 13-4 drubbing to the Mariners last night. They’ll look to preserve that momentum in an effort to tie up the series at 5:33pm local time this evening, when future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer (5.19 ERA) takes on Luis Castillo (3.54 ERA). Despite Scherzer’s status as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, it’s a pitching matchup that pretty clearly favors Seattle. Castillo not only had much stronger regular season numbers than the 41-year-old Scherzer, but he delivered in the ALDS with 4 2/3 scoreless innings in a Game 2 start against the Tigers before offering 1 1/3 innings of crucial relief in a marathon Game 5. Scherzer, meanwhile, was left off the ALDS roster entirely by the Blue Jays due to concerns over his matchup against Yankees hitters.
2. NLCS moves to Game 3:
Before the primetime game in the AL kicks off, the Dodgers and Brewers will be facing off in Los Angeles at 3:08pm local time. The Brewers will be looking to follow in Toronto’s footsteps and win their first away game of the series after dropping back-to-back home games. They’ll do so with an as-of-yet-unannounced starting pitcher, though Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that southpaw Jose Quintana (3.96 ERA) expects to pitch in today’s game in one role or another. He’ll face off against right-hander Tyler Glasnow (3.19 ERA). Both have enjoyed success so far this postseason, as Quintana threw three scoreless frames in bulk relief against the Cubs in Game 3 of the NLDS while Glasnow has ten strikeouts in 7 2/3 scoreless innings of work between a relief outing in the Wild Card Series against Cincinnati and a start in Game 4 of the NLDS against Philadelphia.
3. Movement on the waiver wire?
As the start of the offseason approaches, some of the clubs that are no longer in the hunt have begun to do 40-man roster maintenance to prepare for the coming winter. That’s led to a bit of activity on the waiver wire in recent days. The White Sox outrighted four players to the minor leagues earlier this week, and two waiver claims have occurred: Pittsburgh’s claim of Will Robertson, and Minnesota’s claim of Ryan Kreidler after he was designated for assignment to make room for Robertson on the Pirates’ roster. No corresponding move was necessary for Kreidler in Minnesota, but could any other clubs look to expose some of their borderline 40-man roster players to waivers in the coming days?
So where are the people who insisted Scherzer would pitch only in a mop-up relief situation?
It would be cool if he can pull out one more solid postseason performance, but I’m skeptical. Hopefully if he doesn’t have it tonight he gets a quick hook.
BP game worked against New York. Try it again. I like Scherzer, but tonight is a must win
He looked bad at the end of the season, but earlier in the year, he had a stretch where he looked almost like his old self again.
They were talking about this on the Jays broadcast last night. Max wanted to make no excuses for the end of the season and admitted he pitched poorly but the implication was that he was dealing with ‘something’.
The rest he’s gotten has no doubt helped and this is exactly the type of game he plays for: high stakes playoff games. I’m not saying he’s going 8 scoreless or anything silly like that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he reached back and found something for a decent 5 inning showing.
Much harder to do bullpen games in a seven game series
Okay a few teams have bullpened their way to a world series but everyone needs to recognize this bull jays bullpen has been absurdly bad to the point a 41 year old going 6 is probably their only chance. This isnt the 2015 royals BP or last year’s dodgers or even the astros. Teams that won with their bullpens had special bullpens and the jays closer is Jeff Hoffman, let’s not pretend it’s a strength it’s gonna cost them games and they are two losses away from elimination. Taking Yesevage out just for varland to let up another three run bomb on a fastball was just crazy, the Blue Jays manager has been brutal at decision making every time they get to the playoffs. Just has no feel.
I’m still waiting for Tom Seaver to start game 4 against the Mets.
Need to pull hard for the Brew Crew – just too good of a story, and the rest of baseball is rather bored with the Dodgers. And then use the remaining energy for the Mariners.
Speak for yourself, the Dodgers are fun to watch
The Dodgers are an over paid bunch of cocky ball players.
Baseball needs a salary cap.
I’ll root for whoever I please, thanks.
@nodan – You are such a sensitive little boy, taking my innocuous post as a personal matter.
” the rest of baseball is rather bored with the Dodgers”
This expert interviewed 70 million people.
LOL
The Brewers are COOKED
Is it me or has the broadcast for the Mariners/,Blue Jays games been, boring to listen to? I like John Smoltz and Joe Davis is alright, but this ALCS, Smoltz sounds so out of tune, like he doesn’t care. That’s just my take maybe it’s just me…
It isn’t just you. Smoltz is awful, even by the low standards of today’s sportscasters. So much meaningless and distracting analysis and commentary. Dodgers fans get Davis for a lot of games and he too tends to prattle on about nothing much, and loses the flow of the game. Put both of them in the booth together and it’s mute button time. I’d rather make up the play-by-play in my head than listen to those guys.
this season the Jays have torched Castillo
The waiver wire merry-go-round begins