A’s have options to start AL Wild Card Game
SEATTLE — The question everyone will be pondering about the A’s from now until Wednesday’s AL wild-card game, manager Bob Melvin included, is who takes the mound as the starter?
It’s a situation that is truly unique to any other team that has come before them when approaching the all-important game. Will it be Mike Fiers or Edwin Jackson? Could they be bold enough to actually become the first team to utilize reliever Liam Hendriks as the “opener” and bullpen a playoff game?
It won’t be an easy decision, and it certainly won’t be quick. A’s GM David Forst plans to hold meetings with Melvin and pitching coach Scott Emerson starting Thursday, when the team has an off day before the start of a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels, and go over the different scenarios.
“I don’t know right now how we’ll address it,” Forst said in an interview with MLB Network Radio. “In September we’ve gone with more bullpen games than just traditional starters. It will depend on their lineup, if we’re definitely playing at Yankee Stadium and how some guys have performed there, there’s a lot of factors. We probably will take as much time as we can over the next week to make those decisions.”
The chance of hosting the wild-card game is not completely dead, but it is on life support. After Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday, their magic number to clinch the top wild-card spot remained at two entering Wednesday’s A’s game against the Mariners.
There really are just three options here for the A’s. Brett Anderson has
been way too inconsistent to even be considered an option, and Trevor Cahill has struggled mightily in his last few starts.
Let’s weigh the pros and cons of each potential options the A’s have.
Edwin Jackson — Pro: Jackson has been very consistent since the day he arrived to the A’s clubhouse June 25. The A’s are 13-3 in his 16 starts, and the right-hander has allowed three earned runs or less in 13 of those outings.
In terms of experience, nobody even comes close to Jackson’s 16 years in the majors. He’s been through it all, winning a World Series in 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He lost the only start he made in that series against the Rangers, but pitched decent with three runs allowed over 5 1/3 innings. With the type of offense the A’s possess, they’d take that pitching line against the Yankees in a heartbeat.
Con: The career numbers for Jackson at Yankee Stadium are not pretty. He’s 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in four games at the new Yankee Stadium, two of those outings as a reliever. Jackson has revived his career this season, but history is not on his side when pitching in New York.
Mike Fiers — Pro: Just like Jackson, Fiers has been consistent since his arrival via trade last month. The A’s have been victorious in eight of his nine starts, and Fiers has allowed three earned runs or less in eight of those nine.
Con: Fiers is experienced with eight big league seasons, but there aren’t a whole lot of postseasons under his belt. He’s pitched in one playoff game, an inning of relief with the Houston Astros against the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 ALDS.
Fiers’ 38.4 percentage of hard-hit balls, ninth-highest in baseball among qualified starters, is also concerning. In a hitter’s paradise with a short right field porch like Yankee Stadium, Fiers’ propensity to surrender fly balls could become disastrous.
Liam Hendriks (bullpenning) — Pro: Hendriks has done his job in each of his seven tries as the “opener” for the A’s. He’s turned in a clean first inning in all seven before handing it off to the long man, which has been Daniel Mengden for the most part. It’s unclear who would follow Hendriks in a playoff game, but one thing is known, Melvin can feel as confident about Hendriks as he could with any other starter about keeping the Yankees off the board in the first.
Con: It hasn’t always necessarily been due to the method, but the A’s have not fared well in “opener” games. They’ve gone 3-4 when trying it, sometimes with the back-end of the bullpen blowing it late, other times having a rare off-night from the offense.
The feeling amongst some within the organization was that Jackson would be the one called upon to start. Given his experience and knack for getting himself out of jams, like he did by getting out of the fourth inning unscathed in Wednesday’s game against the Mariners after loading the bases with just one out, that is probably the best option for the A’s.
You’d really be asking for four solid innings out of Jackson, followed by some combination of Yusmeiro Petit, Ryan Buchter, Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney, Jeurys Familia, and Blake Treinen.