Known faces, unfamiliar places as World Series pursuit begins
Mookie Betts, meet Devin Williams and his devastating changeup. Aaron Judge, take a closer look at a much improved Shane Bieber. Fernando Tatis Jr., say hello to Jack Flaherty.
Welcome to the first round of the playoffs, a class with an unusual amount of homework — and little room for error.
After the pandemicshortened regular season was limited to regional play, seven of the eight wildcard series involve teams that haven’t played any meaningful games against each other since last year. The one exception is Blake Snell and Tampa Bay taking on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Toronto in an allAL East matchup.
“It’s like the old days, man, when you played a team you’ve never played before. It’s exactly what it is,” said Sandy Alomar Jr., the acting manager for the Indians. “It’s very strange.”
That means a lot of video and scouting work before the AL playoffs begin Tuesday and the NL postseason starts Wednesday. And the advance reports might be a tick or two off after scouts were shut out of ballparks this year because of COVID19 protocols.
White Sox ace Lucas Giolito got tips from teammate Dallas Keuchel on the feel of the mound in Oakland. Giolito has only two career starts against the A’s — both in Chicago.
“Both sides, our offense and their offense, they’re going to be facing pitchers that they haven’t seen this year,” Giolito said Monday. “I think that’ll make it a little bit interesting.”
Factor in the format — it’s a bestofthree series in the first round, compared to bestoffive in the division series and bestofseven in the final two rounds — and the wildcard round might be a more apt description than Major League Baseball had intended.
“Any mistake can be a total mess for either team,” Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz said. “Every pitch will be critical.”
For the Twins, this will be quite the contrast from a year ago, when their 101win, 307homer season won them the AL Central and sent them to New York for the division series.
The first playoff experience for most of the team came in daunting fashion at raucous Yankee Stadium, and the Twins were swept in three games by a total score of 237. That stretched the franchise’s 16yearold postseason losing streak to 16 games, the MLB record that’s also tied with the Chicago Blackhawks (197579) for the longest such skid in major North American professional sports.
Betts and the Dodgers rolled to baseball’s best record at 4317, three games better than the Rays. But they get to walk the same thin line in the opening round of their eighth consecutive playoff appearance.
While Los Angeles brings a deep lineup and pitching staff into its matchup with Milwaukee, the Brewers can call on Williams at big moments.
The 26yearold Williams, one of the favorites for NL Rookie of the Year, allowed one earned run and struck out 53 in 27 innings. Milwaukee also has Josh Hader in its bullpen, perhaps the only area where it has an edge over Los Angeles.
“We’ve just got to go out there and play good quality baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Yes, the pitching has carried us in my opinion, with the defense, and now we got to go out there and execute.”
The Yankees and Indians haven’t played against each other since last August, and their powerful lineups face quite the challenge in Game 1 of their wildcard series.
Bieber, the ace of the Indians and the favorite for the AL Cy Young Award, versus Gerrit Cole, the $324 million righthander for the Yankees. Bieber is making his third career start against New York, and Cole is facing for Cleveland for the sixth time, including a win for Houston in Game 2 of the 2018 ALDS.
“The object, if you’re taking the ball early, is to set the tone both for the pitching staff and the team,” Cole said. “I’ve been practicing that this year, and I’ll just keep trying to get better at it.”
The Yankees will bench slumping catcher Gary Sanchez in favor of Kyle Higashioka in the opener.
San Diego will make its first playoff appearance since 2006. Up next for the Padres is St. Louis, which lost to Washington in the NLCS last year.
The series opener could put Tatis in the same game with Flaherty for only the second time. The 21yearold Tatis singled and struck out in two atbats against Flaherty during the Padres’ 53 victory at St. Louis on April 5, 2019.
St. Louis and Miami got into the playoffs despite dealing with a coronavirus outbreak. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt sounded almost giddy while looking ahead to the postseason after navigating a compressed schedule down the stretch.
“We can face anything,” Shildt said with a chuckle, “and now, like, days off, one game a day guaranteed, I mean let’s do this. We’re on board with what this schedule looks like big time. We’re ready.”