September 30:
The Braves stuck to their blueprint in Game 1 of the NLDS behind a strong start from Soroka, Riley's early 2-run HR, a solo shot from Freeman and then Inciarte put it away in the 8th.
Game 1 of the Mets-Dodgers series didn't follow anyone's blueprint though as the Mets chased potential Cy Young winner Walker Buehler in the 2nd inning and hit back-to-back-to-back HRs by old friend Tommy Pham, Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso off Buehler and reliever Dylan Bundy. Still, though, 8 was going to be needed to beat back the Dodgers and the Mets let LA chip away and away with 2 Mark Canha HRs and one from Joc Pederson, the latter two of which came off closer Edwin Diaz. Will Smith was up as the tying run with 2 out but Diaz struck him out. Great position for the Mets with Syndergaard and deGrom still to pitch, this would be an upset for the ages if they pulled it off.
October 1:
Well how about those Blue Jays? Or maybe that should be Boom Jays as they rocked Gerrit Cole for 4 HRs including Cavan Biggio's which led off the game. What the line score doesn't show is how much Nate Pearson struggled early, putting on numerous runners in the first few innings but the Yankees couldn't get them home. He ended up going 5 and striking out 8 but had to leave due to a high pitch count. It didn't matter though as the Jays kept bopping home runs and now the Yankees have to win 3 of 4.
Lucas Giolito had a rough start for the White Sox but they went up on a 3-run shot by Eloy Jimenez before Houston did its thing and kept hammering away to take the opener.
The Braves rolled behind an absolutely dominant performance from Robbie Ray, the guy Atlanta signed to take Max Fried's place in the rotation. Ray whiffed 13 in 7 1/3 shutout innings to set a team playoff record (at least that's what the PxP said) as the Braves are one game away from the NLCS. Good to see our old buddy Willy Adames go deep.
And the Mets had a great chance to go up 2-0 with Thor on the mound. While he held the Dodger bats in relative check (3 runs in 6 innings), his teammates could get nothing going against Brusdar Graterol and then the bullpen turned it into a rout. In fact after putting 8 on the board in the first two innings of Game 1, the Mets have now gone 16 innings without scoring.
October 2:
It was the day of the veteran pitcher as Corey Kluber and Zack Greinke turned in brilliant performances. Kluber's was the most important as the Yankees went 12 2/3 innings in this series before finally scoring on a Giancarlo Stanton HR. Kluber made that and another Stanton HR stand up as he pitched a complete game, 4-hit shutout, walking none and striking out 10 and saving the Yanks from a 2-0 hole. Greinke, meanwhile, outdueled Dylan Cease over the first 4 innings and the Astros got some traction against the White Sox pen to take a 2-0 series lead to Chicago.
October 3:
We'll get the Reds-Braves out of the way first, as you can see from above Sonny Gray was brilliant to keep the Reds alive. But how about that Dodgers-Mets game? It was a duel between Kershaw and deGrom and it lived up to all the billing. Both went 7 great innings as you can also see above but the Dodgers run came about when Kershaw singled off deGrom and came around to score on a Cody Bellinger RBI single. That tied the game and set the stage for Amed Rosario's dramatic game-winning pinch-hit HR off Kenley Jansen to put the Dodgers one game away from elimination despite being clearly the best team in MLB this year. The Dodgers were in a similar situation last year in the NLCS down 3-2 to Atlanta before coming back to win that series and the World Series so we're certainly not counting them out.
October 4:
If I had told you 5 days ago that the first series to end would be Dodgers-Mets, you'd probably buy that, figuring a Dodgers sweep. But the Mets had other ideas and have shocked the defending WS Champs by taking their NLDS 3 games to 1. Tonight's game was a nailbiter that started off weirdly for the Mets, who lost starter Rick Porcello to injury after the first inning. This effectively made it a bullpen game for them and their relievers most certainly came through, especially Trevor Gott who threw 4 perfect innings. Still the Dodgers led 2-1 behind an excellent game from Alex Wood, and Kenley Jansen came on for the eighth. With one out, Corey Seager booted an Andres Gimenez ground ball and Tommy Pham followed with a HR to put the Mets up, making Jansen the goat again. In the 9th, Edwin Diaz was unavailable so Trevor Megill had to come on for the save. He walked Cody Bellinger to lead off the inning, who eventually found himself on third before Megill whiffed Max Muncy to send the Mets to the NLCS in surprising fashion.
In the other games, there will no sweeps as the White Sox fought from 5-1 down to beat the Astros on a rare Nick Madrigal homer to stay alive, while the Reds and Braves got into a ridiculous slugfest that saw the Reds up 11-3 after two innings on their way to a 13-8 win to even their series and force a decisive Game 5 back in Atlanta. Shed Long had a grand slam among his 6 RBI as the Reds torched Folty and Touki Touissant in relief. And the Yankees got a gem from Luis Severino and HRs from Judge and Gary Sanchez (an inside-the-parker!) among others to roll past the Jays and go up 2-1 there.
October 5:
Well one series stays alive while the other ends in the AL as the Yankees, after falling behind 3-1 early, bludgeoned Blue Jay pitching for 5 HRs including a pair from Giancarlo Stanton (named series MVP) in an 8-4 win. Trevor Bauer wasn't sharp but as he has all season received a ton of run support as the Yankees advance to the ALCS. Who they'll play remains an open question as Dallas Keuchel rolled back the years to deliver 7 shutout innings over his old team to send the series back to Houston for a decisive Game 5. Yesterday's hero for the White Sox, Nick Madrigal, had the key hit again today with a 2-run single to break up a pitcher's duel in the 5th inning.
With the two New York teams advancing to their respective LCSs, could we have another Subway Series like 2000?
October 6:
For the second straight year the Braves make it to the NLCS after disposing of Cincinnati, but this year it was a bit tougher. A couple of ex-Rays got the Braves going when Willy Adames singled and Travis d'Arnaud followed with a 2-run homer. Mike Soroka was rolling along until the 7th when he allowed 3 runs to get the Reds within 4-3, but the Braves got those 3 right back in the bottom of the inning and took the win and the series. They'll now play the Mets this time instead of the Dodgers in an all-NL East matchup.
October 7:
Well this one wasn't in the script, as the White Sox overcame a 2-0 series deficit (and a 4-run deficit in the middle of Game 3) to upset the Astros 6-5 and head to the ALCS against the Yankees, depriving us of a matchup between the two most hated teams in baseball. Chicago got off to a great start with 2-run HRs from Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson, but Houston battled back to take the lead in the 6th. But Lance McCullers Jr ran out of gas in the 7th, and Forrest Whitley gave up a 2-run double to Yoan Moncada for the White Sox to take the lead back. And then they got 3 shutout innings from Jose Alvarez and Ian Hamilton to preserve the win. Suddenly the White Sox go from 83-79 and eking out the AL Central on the final day of the season to a best-of-7 with the Yankees for a trip to the World Series.