The NL got started first:
October 15:
The Padres jumped all over Walker Buehler for 5 runs in the first 3 innings, and took a 6-0 before having to hang on to an 8-6 win to take a surprising 1-0 lead. Surprisingly might be too strong a word considering how well Michel Baez has pitched this season and throughout the playoffs, he went 6 strong innings, only allowing 2 runs to actually increase his postseason ERA to 1.23. His bullpen, though, nearly let him down. Jurickson Profar was 4-4 with a couple of RBIs to lead San Diego.
ALCS preview:
The Rays have had their issues with left-handed pitching even if their season record against them is pretty good, and some of those problems have been with the lefties the Angels are throwing at them as seen in a September series in Anaheim. Right now these are the projected pitching matchups:
Game 1, in St. Pete: Tyler Glasnow vs Patrick Sandoval
Game 2, in St. Pete: Max Fried vs Edwar Colina
Game 3, in Anaheim: Noah Syndergaard vs Garrett Williams
Game 4, in Anaheim: Chris Paddack or Daniel Lynch vs Yohander Mendez
Games 5-7 would be the same matchups as Games 1-3 presumably
Paddack remains in "uncertain return" status with his back spasms although I could throw him out there if I wanted to. Hopefully by the time Game 4 rolls around he'll be over them.
October 16:
Game 1: Another postseason start, another game in which Tyler Glasnow puts the Rays into an early hole. You could say it doesn't matter since the Rays were shut out tonight after scoring 25 in their final 2 games against Seattle, but the psychological effect of having to play from behind constantly isn't an optimal thing for a team. Anthony Rendon took him deep for a 2-run shot in the 1st and former Ray farmhand Nick Solak had a solo blast in the 2nd and that was all LA needed. Glasnow settled down and ended up with a pretty good 7 4 3 3 2 8 line but the early runs against remain a problem. Ty Buttrey pitched a scoreless 8th against his old team but Aaron Ashby, who has pitched well of late, was tagged by the lefties he was brought in to face, including a 2-run homer from Billy McKinney. Of course, the offense couldn't get anything going. They had 8 hits and 3 walks but they were spaced apart for the most part. They nearly scored in the 7th when Vidal Brujan doubled and Brandon Marsh attempted to score, but he was thrown out at the plate by Solak. And then in the 8th they loaded the bases against Angels closer Eric Marinez down 3-0 but Yusniel Diaz grounded out to end that threat. They also couldn't take advantage of the fact that Angels starter Patrick Sandoval had to leave after 4 with shoulder inflammation (he's done for the postseason) as they struggled against all 4 LA pitchers. The only solace they can take is that this is a 7-game series and losing Game 1 isn't as dire as it was in the 5-game LDS.
NLCS Game 2:
It was a good night all around for the LA teams as the Dodgers pounded the Padres to even their series at 1. Cody Bellinger had 2 HR and 4 RBI while Brusdar Graterol struck out 10 Padres in 5 scoreless innings to get the win. Interestingly, the AI Dodger manager had Clayton Kershaw pitch the final three innings for the save so it will be interesting to see what's going on with that rotation.
October 17:
Game 2: Bohms away as Alec Bohm (twice), Seth Beer and Vidal Brujan all homered to pace the Rays to a 9-1 drubbing of the Angels to even the ALCS at one game apiece. Bohm's first HR put the Rays in the lead to stay in the 2nd inning after Keibert Ruiz was hit by a pitch, making it 2-1, and Beer followed with his own blast to make it 3-1. And 3-1 is where it stayed in a semi-tense game until the 6th inning. After getting men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out it looked like the Rays would squander the opportunity to expand the lead when Beer hit a shallow fly ball and Nick Schnell struck out before Brandon Marsh walked to load the bases. But the Angels brought on Melvin Adon to relieve Edward Colina, and Brujan continued his postseason power surge with his 4th playoff HR after hitting 13 all season to make it 7-1. Bohm then added another 2-run shot off Adon in the 7th to truly blow it open. Meanwhile, Max Fried also continued his postseason excellence by going 8 7 1 1 1 7 and keeping the Angels off-balance all night. It didn't look great for him at the outset when Kyren Paris doubled, stole third and scored on a Luis Renfigo single before he could retire a batter but that turned out to be all LA would get. Jasseel De La Cruz gave up a single and a double in the 9th, but struck out the side around that to escape unscathed as we head to Anaheim all square.
October 18:
NLCS Game 3:
Mackenzie Gore was brilliant for the Padres (7 6 1 1 2 7) as they took a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers. Fernando Tatis Jr's 2-run HR in the first inning was all San Diego needed and they broke open a close game late. Tatis' HR came off surprise starter Taylor Rogers, who had been the Dodgers' setup man all season and was the other AI shoe to drop after Kershaw was used in relief in Game 2. Rogers pitched pretty well (5.1 5 2 2 1 4) so that experiment was a success but Gore was better.
October 19:
Game 3: For the first time this postseason (not counting the end of the LDS of course) the Rays have a series lead after a much-closer-than-it-appears-from-the-score 7-2 win over the Angels. Noah Syndergaard got the start and he seems to be getting a little better each time out, today going 7 7 2 2 2 5. But he finished with the game tied at 2 going to the top of the 8th, and the Rays were having trouble with lefty Garrett Williams as they did in a regular season meeting a month earlier. Williams went 7 5 2 2 1 6 and fortunately for the Rays the "2" were solo HRs from Alec Bohm (picking up where he left off in Game 2) in the 2nd and Rylan Bannon in the 3rd. They were glad to see him leave when LA brought in closer Eric Marinez and Wander roped a one-out single to center off him. Then Marinez threw wildly to first trying to pick off Wander, sending him to 2nd base and he moved to 3rd on an Austin Meadows groundout. But with two out, Rafael Devers came up with a clutch single to right to score Franco and give the Rays a 3-2 lead. Nick Anderson came on for the bottom of the 8th and although he gave up a leadoff single to Anthony Rendon, he got Anthony Rizzo to roll into a 6-4-3 DP and struck out Nick Solak. Then the Rays went to work in the top of the 9th. After a leadoff walk to Yusniel Diaz, Seth Beer pinch-hit for Bannon and drilled one into the RCF seats and after Vidal Brujan walked, Wander took Adam Morgan into the LCF pavilion and it was 7-2 and game over. Shane McClanahan threw a perfect 9th to close it out as Will Smith sat back down in the bullpen after the 9th inning explosion. It looks like Chris Paddack will finally be ready to make his postseason debut in Game 4 so he'll likely get the start with Daniel Lynch ready to fill in.
NLCS Game 4:
The defending champs' backs are to the wall after a second straight 5-1 loss at Petco Park and they're going to need to win Game 5 if they want to go back to Dodger Stadium. Cal Quantrill shackled the Dodgers with a 7 5 1 1 2 7 outing, only allowing a HR to Josh Bell (where was that last year, Josh?). Luis Campusano had 3 RBI on a 2nd inning bases-clearing double to pace the Padres who will go for the Game 5 kill with 20-game winner (and 3-game winner already in the postseason) Michel Baez.
October 20:
Game 4: Chris Paddack got the start, and he did Chris Paddack things: striking out people and giving up HRs. Unfortunately he gave up one longball too many, and the Rays dropped a 4-3 decision to the Angels leaving the series tied at 2 and assuring us of a Game 6 in St. Pete. Anthony Rizzo took him deep in the 2nd, and after an Austin Meadows shot off Yohander Mendez (more on him in a minute) tied the game at 1 in the 4th, three singles off Paddack in the bottom of the inning with the RBI coming from Billy McKinney gave LA a 2-1 lead. And then in the 5th, yours truly probably left him in too long as his pitch count was getting into the low 90s as Luis Renfigo went deep to make it 3-1 and Anthony Rendon followed suit. Paddack ended 4.2 7 4 4 1 6. Daniel Lynch came on and whiffed 4 in 2 shutout innings of relief, Ty Buttrey got a key out, and Jose Alvarado had a perfect 2K 8th to keep the Rays in the game. But the offense as always struggled against an Angels lefty, with Mendez going 6.2 3 1 1 2 6. Jose Quijada, another lefty, came on in the 8th and the Rays did managed to get 2 runs off him when Brandon Marsh singled and Vidal Brujan walked and then moved up to 2nd and 3rd on Quijada's balk. Wander and Meadows hit sac flies to score them both, but that ended the rally and despite a 2-out walk to Yusniel Diaz in the 9th, they couldn't get anything else across on a night the offense only managed 4 hits.
NLCS Game 5:
And whether it's the Rays or the Angels that make the World Series, they're going to face a well-rested San Diego Padres team after their shocking 5-game disposal of the Dodgers. Michel Baez wasn't as dominating as his earlier postseason starts (6.2 6 3 3 3 7) but good enough to get the win in a 4-3 decision over LA, dashing hopes of a Freeway Series. Walker Buehler was pounded for 9 hits and 4 runs in 3.2 innings as the Padres built an early lead, and although the Dodgers crept to within a run on a Dansby Swanson (filling in for Corey Seager, who suffered a serious hip injury in Game 4) HR, Ryan Weathers shut them down over the final 2 innings with 3 Ks to send the Padres to their first World Series since 1998.
October 21:
Game 5: After managing only 4 hits in Game 4, the Rays exploded for 23 in Game 5 to go with 15 runs in a 15-4 blowout of the Angels to pull within one win of reaching the second World Series in club history. Unsurprisingly the offensive outburst came against a righty and not a lefty as Jacob Barnes opened for Abdiel Mendoza and they lit up the pair for 10 runs and 14 hits by the 4th inning. Wander set the tone as the 2nd batter of the game with his 4th postseason HR and then in the 2nd the turnstiles started. Keibert singled, Alec Bohm doubled him to 3rd, Ruiz scored on Seth Beer's groundout, Nick Schnell doubled scoring Bohm, Brandon Marsh singled, Vidal Brujan singled in Schnell, Wander singled to re-load the bases and Meadows singled in Marsh. Bohm hit his 4th HR of the series to the rocks in LF leading off the 3rd, and then they added 5 more in the 4th as they went doubles-happy with Wander, Devers, Keibert and Bohm all hitting two-baggers in the rally. Brujan continued his ridiculous postseason power binge with another HR (#5) in the 7th off Andrew Heaney, and Austin Meadows had a 2-run blast in the 9th to run up the score. Receiving the benefit of all this run support was Tyler Glasnow, who both did not put the Rays into a hole for a change and managed to get his first career postseason win. He went 5.2 2 3 3 2 8 with the 2 hits and 3 runs coming on a pair of Mike Trout longballs. There was a brief scare when the trainer came out and Glasnow was forced to leave in the 6th but it's a 2-day back spasms injury so he'll be available for the World Series should the Rays make it, and possibly even a Game 7 relief stint if things got that desperate. Scott Barlow mopped up with 1 2/3 scoreless, and Andy Ashby went the final 1 2/3, allowing a run. Max Fried will try for his 3rd win in 3 postseason starts to put the Rays in the Fall Classic against San Diego in two days' time at the Trop.
Notes: The top 6 batters in the order all had at least 3 hits, with Brujan going 4-6 with a HR and 3 RBI, and Meadows and Bohm each 3-6 with a HR and 3 RBI. Somehow Seth Beer was 0-5 but he did have a walk and an RBI groundout. Brujan is now 391-5-16 in the postseason, bringing back memories of BJ Upton's run in the 2008 playoffs.