Day 2 of the MLB Playoffs.
In the history of Major League Baseball having Wild Cards be a series instead of a single game, only 4 of those 20 series have led to a game 3. The other 16 have been sweeps. Coming into today, I was fully expecting at least 2 of the teams that won Game 1, to also win Game 2 and close out their respective series. Let’s run down what happened in Game 2 of each Wild Card Series!
Tigers vs Guardians
Tanner Bibee, a very passionate and fiery pitcher for the Guardians, took the mound, while the Tigers sent out Casey Mize. Bibee looked good in his playoff starts last season, and I fully anticipated him to continue that line of success today. He finished after 4.2 innings, with 1 earned run and 6 strikeouts. The Guardians bullpen was lights out as they shut down the Tigers offense allowing no runs and added 5 strikeouts of their own. Casey Mize only got through 3 innings in his playoff debut, allowing an earned run on a homer by George Valera in the first inning. After that he settled down. He walked his first batter in the 4th inning and was taken out. This was my first coaching decision that made me scratch my head. I think that Casey Mize was on a very, very short leash in this game. Tyler Holton and Kyle Finnegan both came in and really shut things down. After that though, Troy Melton came in and gave up 4 earned runs in only a third of an inning. If you allow Mize to finish that inning, you may not need to go to Melton that soon, or at all.
I was also amazed that Chase Delauter was starting in Center Field for the Guardians as he made his major league debut. Delauter hadn’t seen live pitching in a while, and hadn’t had game reps either in a while. He dropped a fly ball in the first inning and I thought it was going to be a disaster. Luckily, he settled in, but that was a gutsy move by Stephen Vogt, manager of the Guardians.
I’m not sure how many times I’ll say this during the playoffs, but when you have runners on first and second with no outs… you have to bunt. The Tigers had this situation in the first inning of the game and the three hitters proceeded to strikeout. If you bunt the player over, it takes pressure off of the next hitter. The mentality becomes “Just put the ball in play,” instead of “I have to make something happen.” The Tigers could have taken an early lead if they dropped a bunt down with Kerry Carpenter. My only other managerial decision that confused me in this game was taking out Riley Greene for Jahmai Jones. I don’t care if the Guardians bring in the best left handed pitcher in the world, I want Riley Green up in a situation where there’s one out and runners on first and third. I’m sorry, but Jones is not the same as Greene. Greene had been seeing the ball well (a line out to center as well as a double earlier in the game) and the game would have gone in control of the Tigers had Greene hit a sac fly. Instead, Jones struck out and so did Wenceel Perez.
I truly believe that Vogt was out-managed today in this game by AJ Hinch and that’s a main reason that the Guardians won.
Cubs vs Padres
The Padres brought out Dylan Cease (who was drafted by the Cubs) and he had a good start, but not in his standards. He got through 3.2 innings of 3 hit ball with 5 strikeouts, however, in the last inning of work he gave up a double before an intentional walk was given to Carson Kelly, and the Padres turned to Adrian Morejon to get out of the jam. I personally think Cease could have worked out of that jam, but the decision to bring in Morejon was justified. Morejon was lights out in Game 1 and it rolled right into Game 2. His 2.1 innings of no hit ball allowed him to earn the win in this one. The Cubs could get nothing going on offense, and for a reason that is not clear to me, the Cubs started Andrew Kittredge, yes the reliever. In his one inning of work, he gave up 2 hits and a sacrifice fly to center. The Cubs were at a deficit before they could even take a turn on offense. This isn’t the first time manager Craig Counsell has used an “opener” in the playoffs, but that game also ended in a loss for Counsell’s Brew Crew. See more insight on that performance!
I didn’t really question any other decisions that the managers made in this game. The Padres just outclassed the Cubs in this one. If the Cubs want to go anywhere in the playoffs, Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ, and Pete Crow-Armstrong have to find their bats. Through the first two games, the three combined to go 1/21 with a single and 12 strikeouts. Those stats don’t win playoff games.
Red Sox vs Yankees
The Red Sox started Brayan Bello who notoriously looks great against the Yankees. Bello only made it through 2.1 innings and gave up a two-run homer to Ben Rice (who didn’t start in game 1…) and got into trouble in the 3rd inning. Bello maybe could have stayed in, but I actually think manager Alex Cora made the right move. I can see Bello playing the Yankees in a lot more playoff games in his career, why ruin his mentality against them with one blown up start. The Red Sox relievers did a great job though, only giving up 2 runs, and one was because Garrett Whitlock was left in too long, one of the Red Sox coaches’ mistakes in this game. The Yankees started Carlos Rodon and he was dynamite. 6 innings of 4 hit, 3 run baseball while striking out 6. His third inning was tough, and then the rest of the game he gave up a homer on a bad pitch. Not much more you could ask for from Rodon, who in his previous playoff starts had not been very good. This was an improvement.
One play that the coaches could have had more control over was when Masataka Yoshida made an errant throw to first and the ball skipped away, Nick Eaton should have gone home. He however, did not, and the Red Sox didn’t score. This was a run that would have put the Red Sox ahead, but instead, the game remained tied until the bottom of the 8th when Garrett Whitlock stayed in too long and walked Jazz Chisholm (who also didn’t start Game 1) and then proceeded to go first-to-home on a single down the right field line.
It was a well coached game, but the mistakes that the Red Sox made were evident. I also think having the talented Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm helped this team tremendously, including 3 of their 4 runs came because of those two guys.
Dodgers vs Reds
This game was close for a lot longer than I thought it would be. However, before I get there… How in the world did Terry Francona not start Andrew Abbott in game 1 or 2 of this series? Abbott was an All-Star and had the best stats on the team! I’m sorry, but I’m extremely upset for Reds fans because they deserved to see what their ace could do against the Dodgers. With that being said… this game was close until it wasn’t. An error by Teoscar Hernandez gave the Reds an early 2-0 lead and they held it until Zack Littell gave up two runs and gave up the lead to the Dodgers, 3-2. The Reds then brought in Nick Lodolo (a starting pitcher) and then after an inning and 2 thirds, they took him out. That’s when the Dodgers started a rally in the 6th and moved their lead to 7-2.
My next issue was with bringing Nick Lodolo out of the game after 1.2 innings. He wasn’t facing anyone for a second time yet, he is a starter at heart, he has the ability to go deeper into games, but again… why wasn’t Andrew Abbott in this game? This was a clear bad management call.
The only other issue I had was a nitpick thing with Yoshinobu Yamamoto going out there for the 7th inning when the Dodgers were clearly in control of the game. This truly had no outcome on the game, but when I’m thinking about longevity and ability to pitch in the next series or even further in the playoffs, I’d prefer to get my guys more rest. Again, it’s a nitpick. I thought Manager Dave Roberts was amazing this series and his decision making was sound, especially not letting things spin out of control when Emmett Sheehan got the jitters and gave up 2 runs.
Final Thoughts: We’re getting to see history here with the first time ever having three Wild Card series in one year go to game 3. I’m excited, I’m nervous, and most of all, I am ready to watch baseball all day again. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… October is the best baseball and this year has not disappointed so far. There are going to be coaching decisions in game 3 of each series that are going to affect the outcome of the game. I’ll be here to cover it all for you.
