The Major League Baseball Wild Card Series has started.
The Major League Baseball Wild Card Series has started. 4 games began the first slate on Tuesday, September 30th. I’ll be taking a look at the most confusing, beneficial, and game-determining coaching decisions of each game, for the entire series. Let’s start with the first game.
Tigers vs Guardians
Tarik Skubal is the best pitcher in the MLB. I said it at the beginning of the year, and I’ve continued to say it, Skubal is the best. He showed that today. Skubal allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits over 7.2 innings. He racked in an astonishing 14 strikeouts. Gavin Williams also put together an impressive start, going 6 innings of 5 hit ball and striking out 8. He didn’t allow an earned run, but took the loss. My first coaching issue in this game came with the management of Gavin Williams. I respect pitching deep into games, however, Williams was working through the lineup for the third time, and was facing Riley Greene to leadoff the inning. Greene has been one of, if not the best, overall hitter on the Tigers this season. Personally, I’d rather give my relievers a clean inning to start with and to be able to work with a tie game, low pressure. Williams gave up a double, and an error later, Williams was out and in line for the loss after a sac bunt. My issue… Williams needed to be taken out prior to the 7th inning starting.
Two instances of this issue happened in this game; not bunting with runners on first and second and no outs. When will managers learn that this is a key to success? Top of the third, Gleyber Torres has to bunt with no outs and runners on first and second. Instead, he grounds into a double play. AJ Hinch knows better, these are the types of decisions that lose playoff games. Bottom of the 4th, Guardians have runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs… I need Johnathan Rodriguez to lay down the bunt. Instead he strikes out, then Kyle Manzardo strikes out, and you have one out to play with. Luckily they scored one run (on an infield single by Gabriel Arias), but they could have had multiple! Like I said before, these are the games that small ball wins. If you don’t play them right, you can set yourself up for demise. Coach Stephen Vogt learned that here.
Cubs vs Padres
What a fantastic play off game. Matthew Boyd cried at media day talking about his grandfather who loved the Cubs got the start, Nick Pivetta had an amazing year and was starting for the Padres, and the wind was blowing in at Wrigley. A true pitcher’s dream! Boyd was shaky and made it through 4.1 innings of 4 hit, one earned run, and 2 strikeout ball, while Pivetta went 5 innings allowing 2 earned runs (both solo home runs into the wind), and 9 strikeouts.
I really only have a few issues and one I’ve talked about already, but when you have runners on first and second… BUNT. Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner were on first and second, Ian Happ comes to the plate and can bunt them over in an attempt for insurance runs, but instead grounds into a double play. This hurt the momentum in the stadium.
I was also surprised when Matthew Boyd was pulled after 4.1 innings and allowed a single in that inning. He was at 58 pitches and the Cubs bullpen had been suspect this season, but luckily for them the bullpen shut the Padres down.
The biggest issue I had in this game was when manager Mike Schildt decided to intentionally walk Michael Busch to face Nico Hoerner instead. Hoerner had the second highest batting average with RISP this season, so the reasoning behind selecting to face Hoerner made no sense. After a wild pitch, Hoerner hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Cubs an insurance run.
Yankees vs Red Sox
The Red Sox and Yankees game was a battle of dominant pitching. Max Fried and Garrett Crochet both pitched extremely well. Fried pitched 6.1 innings of shutout baseball with 6 strikeouts, while Crochet allowed 1 earned run through 7.2 innings and racked up 11 strikeouts. This game was amazing by the starting pitchers. My first issue with the coaching was when Manager Aaron Boone took Max Fried out of the game in the middle of an inning. I’m never a fan of taking out starters in the middle of innings. If a guy can battle, let him battle. Fried was in control of the game and I thought pulling him wasn’t right in that situation.
The largest issue I have here is the changing of the lineup from Aaron Boone. Jazz Chisholm wasn’t in the lineup after having a .733 OPS against lefties and having a 30/30 season. This didn’t make sense that he wasn’t in the lineup, regardless of a lefty starting on the mound. Ben Rice also was left off of the starting lineup despite having a .752 against lefties this year. Both Chisholm and Rice should have been in the lineup in my opinion.
My other issue in this game came in the first inning when Cody Bellinger came up with no outs and runners on first and second, and didn’t lay down the bunt. You’re facing a great starting pitcher and you have the ability to set your team up for early success. If I’m the manager, I’m calling a bunt, regardless if it’s the third hitter in the lineup.
I don’t have any other issues with the coaching in this game, in fact I thought it was really well managed by both teams. Disappointing bullpen performance for the Yankees, but the coaching staff didn’t do anything wrong there.
The only other thing I’d like to mention is the amazing base running by Nick Sogard. He claimed two extra bases in this game, one on a sacrifice fly and the other on a double he legged out. That led to him scoring the winning run! This type of mentality is something that’s taught and is implemented across a team. That’s Coach Alex Cora and his staff promoting that “dirtbag” mentality.
Dodgers vs Reds
This was the final game of the day and it looked to be a blowout from the beginning. Shohei Ohtani rocked a homer in the first off of Hunter Greene, who got off to a rough start, and Greene didn’t really find his footing in this game. He went 3 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. His counterpart for the Dodgers, Blake Snell was dealing. He looked like his Cy Young days. Snell threw 7 innings, giving up 2 earned runs in his final inning of work and managed 9 strikeouts. The Reds didn’t really stand a chance against Snell. I only had a few issues with the coaching decisions in this game, starting with why Blake Snell was allowed to pitch into the 7th inning. Snell had battled injuries for most of the season, he’s only started 10 games, this postseason start making 11. He had only eclipsed 7 innings once. The Dodgers have enough quality arms to allow Snell to continue to rest up for his next start.
My other issue in this game came from the Reds side. I understood Hunter Greene needed to be taken out after the 3rd inning. The Reds inserted Scott Barlow (a tremendous reliever) but has no starting experience and had only eclipsed 2 innings pitched a few times this season. The Reds had former starters in Brent Suter and Graham Ashcraft who could have given more innings and saved some pivotal bullpen arms for later in the series.
Besides those two issues, this game was pretty well managed. Terry Francona and Dave Roberts have a lot of playoff experience and will be Hall of Fame managers. I’m not surprised at the high level of game management in this game.
Final Thoughts: Teams look hesitant to make mistakes early on in all of the series. Hunter Greene made a few mistakes early on in his postseason debut. The commentators even talked about his “jitters”. Jitters and the outcomes early on, affect how the entire series will go. Coaches have to make decisions on the fly if outcomes aren’t what they planned out. Coaches have to adjust to different strategies by hitters.
In the Cubs vs Padres game, the Padres hitters were aggressive against Matthew Boyd, but are typically a very patient team. I’m excited to see if the coaching decisions continue to be well made or if some coaches can handle the pressure better than others. As much of a player vs player game baseball is, the coaches vs coaches competition is equally as evident. Come back again tomorrow to hear about all of the juicy coaching decisions that make day 2 of the Wild Card, another massive success.
Dang I love writing!