Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Game 1 winners go for sweep in Wild Card Series:
The Tigers, Cubs, Red Sox, and Dodgers took home victories in Game 1 of their respective Wild Card series yesterday, and each of those clubs will be going for the sweep today. Casey Mize will kick things off at 1:08pm local time today for Detroit, while the Guardians will counter with Tanner Bibee with their season on the line. Two hours later (2:08pm local time), the Padres will hang the hopes of their season on Dylan Cease. The Cubs will counter with an opener in the form of right-hander Andrew Kittredge. Kittredge threw a scoreless inning for Chicago in Game 1 of the series yesterday and is likely to turn things over to lefty Shota Imanaga for the bulk of the game. Turning back to the AL, the Yankees will have to overcome Red Sox starter Brayan Bello with southpaw Carlos Rodon on the mound if they’re going to live to see Game 3, and the Reds’ last stand against the Dodgers will come with Zack Littell on the mound against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
2. Frustration in the Bronx:
Infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. was not in the lineup for yesterday’s first game of the Wild Card series against the Red Sox, and The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner relays that Chisholm made no secret of his displeasure about riding the pine following the game. Chisholm conducted his post-game interview with his back turned to reporters and said he had “not much” conversation with Aaron Boone about not playing. A 30-30 player worth more than four wins in 130 games this year according to either version of WAR, Chisholm is one of the league’s most talented second basemen. While his status as a left-handed hitter may not have made him the ideal choice to start against lefty Garrett Crochet, his .248/.322/.411 against southpaws is hardly a liability — though it does trail the production of both Amed Rosario (.302/.328/.491) and Jose Caballero (.250/.361/.452) versus left-handers.
3. Toboni to be introduced:
The Nationals are introducing newly minted president of baseball operations Paul Toboni at a press conference that kicked off about 15 minutes ago. Owners Mark Lerner, Ed Cohen, and Robert Tannenbaum are all on hand alongside Toboni. The decision to fire Mike Rizzo and hire Toboni, who had spent years working his way up the ladder in the Red Sox organization prior to being brought in to lead baseball operations in the nation’s capital, is the first change of leadership the Nationals have experienced since Rizzo’s hire all the way back in 2009. With a young team that lost 96 games this year despite steps forward from young players like James Wood and CJ Abrams, Nationals ownership and their new baseball operations leader will be providing further insight into the team’s direction and what lies ahead.
When will the next offseason outlook article be published?
After the WS since injuries now can effect them.
I was surprised that they did one for the Athletics already. With that precedent I assumed more outlooks (for non playoff teams) would be forthcoming
Tomorrow after the Yankees are eliminated today
Don’t you have better things to do, like mow they lawn, finish your mac n cheese plate, or finish moving from your parents’ basement?
? What
How do you go from bases loaded with no outs to ending the game with bases loaded and not scoring even 1 run? I heard the announcers talking about the problem was the bullpen but I feel that was incorrect. The bullpen gave up a few runs but ultimately, when your offense can’t score more than 1 run, it doesn’t matter how many runs the bullpen gives up.
Because the Yankees live and die by the long ball. They have shown an inability to hit or make productive outs in situations such as that. They have also shown that they pummel bad teams and bad pitching. This is the playoffs…you’re getting everyone’s best
Should of had a pinch runner in for Goldy, maybe have movement from 2nd to 3rd to put pressure on the defense to make a good throw.
Peraza could of pinch ran and remain in the game.
rond-2 they were going to do that but then they remembered that Peraza plays for the Angels now.
York – Their bullpen, and the way Boone manages it, has been a well documented failure.
Fried pitched his butt off last night, all he needed was 8 outs from the bullpen. You can’t expect more than one run against Crochet and Chapman, those are two of the best pitchers in the game.
Great pitching always beats great hitting. I’m just glad Boone will continue to manage the Yankees ;O)
@Fever Pitch Guy
I guess great hitting beat great pitching in LA last night.
Hey I couldn’t believe the Cubs actually played Playoff baseball and bunted, Moved the runner over and got him in for the insurance run in the 8th inning. It was almost orgasmic. Probably would have been a few years ago TBH. I didn’t think they had it in them. Counsell playing for 1 run actually improves their odds of winning I would say. Anyway I like the odds better up 1-0. Go Cubs! Compared to the Dodgers pen the Yankees were top notch. Didn’t recognize any of the names they threw out there.
Starting Caballero/Rosario over Chisholm because the former two have slash lines a bit better against lefties is an interesting decision. Most lefties they faced are not Crochet or anywhere near his talent level. I suspect Jazz will be in the lineup today.
“interesting decision” is much more polite than my response. Stupid decision is also more polite than what I’m really thinking.
And when he got to hit against a lefty, he hit a weak fly ball to Abreau with the bases loaded and one out.
After setting on the bench the whole game.
Jazz Chisholm is a cancer
Why do you say that? His teammates love him.
Probably because they are always seen talking behind his back.
That appears to be a you problem.
@YBC – I heard a lot of good things about Jazz this year but as a Phils fans did not see him much. As a Marlin, I would hear him more often postgame and he admittedly came across as immature quite often.
Seeing the interview clips last night, I saw much of the same. Not saying that he is a bad dude at all, but what I saw last night was a spoiled child. They are in the playoffs for heavens sake so keep it in house and deal with your concerns privately.
Carver he might not handle things like this so well but in this case I’m 100% on his side. He’s not a platoon player, he’s a regular. He also lives for the big moment. It’s inexcusable that he was riding pine in the playoffs.
@CarverAndrews Immature, yes. Cancer, no. Can’t turn your back on the press. Jazz is a emotional dude and I think he was more upset about the loss than coming off the bench.
Gonna assume that having Kittredge open for Shota (arguably the Cubs ace pitcher) has something to do with the decisions made during playoff baseball and the nuance of match-ups, but it does strike me as very odd.
Not that I’m against it. I can’t get enough of watching Kittredge pitch. The guy’s demeanor and body language during the pitch delivery is like what you’d expect from some dude just throwing the ball back and forth with friends in the backyard during a summer BBQ lol. He totally looks all casual. Every time I see him wind up, I’m thinking someone needs to remind him he’s actually throwing live ball to a batter.
Go, Cubs, Go!
They’re taking advantage of R v L batters, and in the playoffs any advantage helps right? kittredge matches up well against Tatis and Machado, after those guys the Padres dole out a bunch of L hitters that Shota can feast on.
Yeah but Shota is gonna have to face them the next time through the order and, possibly, one more time after that. If Shota is your guy (and he is the Cubs’ guy) then don’t hide him from the opposing team’s best players. And this way, you keep Kittredge available if you need him. And if Shota goes out there are blows the Padres away, there might not have been any need to put Kittredge out there to begin with.
And to be clear, I’m not saying it’s a bad decision. I am certain there are considerations beyond just lefty vs righty which I’m simply not aware of or have access to the data. And as I mentioned in my original comment, playoff baseball requires a different kind of coaching and decision making. And, besides, I can’t recall a time when Counsell used the reliever-as-starter approach for a game and it *didn’t* work out. So, I’m all on board with the decision. I trust Counsell as the Cubs coach. It just seems like an odd decision. But if odd decisions get the Cubs a win, then let us be the oddest team there ever was.
I’m all for it and understand it—just slightly surprised that it’s Kittredge instead of Civale or Soroka.
Both Tatis and Arraez saw Kitt yesterday. And–Kitt is a very nice piece in higher leverage scenarios later in the game. I guess the plan is to get Shota (if it is really him) into the fifth and start the Palencia, Theilbar, Keller, Pomeranz train, in some order, again.
Also could have been Colin Rea to open but I think it is important to keep him in the tank in case of an extended extra inning game, especially if you use the above names to get into that situation. I don’t think I would be as trusting of Rogers and Soroka in the 14th or 15th inning of an playoff game.
It’s all about Shota struggling down the stretch. Kittredge will get Tatis and Machado their first time through.
Eliminating that one time against Shota could be huge.
Crochet dominated the Yankees. Fried is paid like a number one. If Cole was healthy, he stays in the game. To all Mets fans. This is why you need an ace. They could have traded for Crochet or got a number one guy at the deadline. The Yankees are obviously a home run or nothing team. However they don’t start Jazz or Rice. That’s over 50 home runs on the bench. I don’t care about a left-handed pitcher or analysts say. This is the playoffs. Make a lineup with your best players.
Rice and jazz are a combined 1 for 14 against Crochet, this was not the impactful decision that yanks fans think it was.
No one was touching crochet last night, yanks got outpitched there’s nothing else to it
It was hilarious to see the reporters holding out microphones to Chisholm’s back. Speak through your spine! An obviously childish stunt from Chisholm, but what else do you expect? The guy has accumulated all of 12 bWAR in a six-year career and thinks he’s some kind of great player.
So Jazz went diva? Aaron F’in Boone pulled Max Fried while the starting Yankee pitcher was in a groove. Red Sox teed off on the Yankee bullpen. Another ballgame like that today and Boone may be the next skipper shown the door.
Also gotta love ESPN having audio issues in Yankee Stadium.
Not having Cook ready to face Masa (and then again to face Lowe) was a glaring mistake by Boone last night.
As far as Jazz and Rice not starting… Boston has been riding the L vs R match up thing all year long and for the most part, it’s worked. Romy and Refsnyder have feasted on LHP all season. I get the fact that you start your starters, but Boone chose to go w match-ups looking for any sort of advantage vs Crochet. Honestly, I don’t think it would’ve mattered. Crochet was dealing.
Fried was also dealing and probably got too early of a hook.
I’m going to do something I’ve never done before… I’m going to defend Boone. He played the numbers game last night. Cora did the same. The difference is it worked out for Cora.
I’ll also mention that while yes these are small sample sizes it should be noted that of the 4 games where Crochet started against the yankees during the regular season:
-Rosario was 3 for 6 with 2 RBIs
-Caballero was 1 for 6 with an RBI and a BB
-Chisholm was 0 for 7 with 4 Ks.
Again small sample size but you’re not going to get a big one during one season. Would it have changed anything if Chisholm started? That can be one of the millions of “coulda been” discussions in baseball. On paper, it’s easy to see why Boone made the choice he did.
Pulling Fried when he did… well I’ll just say this: If you can’t rely on your bullpen during the playoffs then you should be worried.
The bullpen has been an issue all season and it is so now.
The Bednar pitch that got roped for a double was a good pitch. Movement and low.
Boone once again gets out-managed, & his strategy backfires. Why take Fried out and replace with a righty (no decent lefty in bull pen, Thks Cashman) who doesn’t throw off speeds, which Boston wasn’t hitting? Stupid. Leaves out 2 very good “hot” batters, only to put 1 in later vs a lefty?
Boone has to go. How many more years of the same mess, 0 rings?
Na na na na. Na na na na. Hey hey hey Goodbye Yankees. Boone makes a bad decision again and the Yankees about to get swept out of the playoffs. Let the baseball world rejoice. Now if only the dodgers lost too