October 19:
The Tigers got the better of the Rays in the season series, 4-3, and they served notice they'd continue to be a problem for them in Game 1 of the ALCS. Walker Buehler didn't quite have it today, and aside from a couple of homers, neither did the offense against Casey Mize. Buehler was knocked around for 4 hits and 2 runs in the 1st, and then suffered the same fate in the 5th, ending with a 6.2 10 4 4 1 8 line in one of those starts of his where he was too hittable. Will Smith and Sandy Gaston kept Detroit at 4 the rest of the way. Austin Martin and Gavin Sheets led the way with 3 hits apiece as Detroit had 13 on the night. Wander Franco hit his first HR of the postseason in the 4th to get the Rays within 2-1, and Brandon Marsh got the two runs Buehler gave up in the 5th right back in the bottom of the frame with a 2-run shot of his own, but they could only manage 6 hits on the game. Wander's 2-out double off Kyle Crick in the 8th was the closest they came to scoring the rest of the game and they'll need Tyler Glasnow (and the offense) to come through in Game 2. Counting wild card games, the Rays have lost 7 of the 8 Games 1 of series I've managed since 2020 so this is nothing new I suppose.
October 20:
Tyler Glasnow to the rescue as the Rays beat Detroit 6-1 to even up the ALCS at a game apiece. The righthander, who has had his issues in postseasons past, turned in his second excellent start of this year's playoffs going 9 6 1 1 0 10 on 116 pitches in his first postseason complete game. He did fall behind 1-0 in the 3rd when the pesky Austin Martin singled in a run but that was all he would yield. Meanwhile the offense got going after last night's sluggish performance as Alec Bohm and Spencer Torkelson had RBI singles in the 4th to give the Rays the lead to stay, and Austin Meadows had one of his own in the 5th to make it 3-1. They broke it open with 3 more in the 8th as Bohm came through again with an RBI single and Brandon Marsh singled in two more. They had 14 hits for the night and 13 were singles as Rafael Devers' leadoff double in the 8th was the lone exception. It's on to Comerica Park for Game 3 where we should have an electric matchup of young aces with Matt Manning squaring off against his old team and Kumar Rocker.
NLCS Game 1:
MLB doesn't have an MVP award for the entire playoffs like the NHL does with the Conn Smythe Award, but if they did the frontrunner would be Brusdar Graterol, who went 7 2 1 1 1 8 in his third dominant performance of the playoffs and is now 3-0, 0.38 in those three starts. Jack Flaherty was pretty good for St. Louis too (6.2 8 2 1 1 6) but Cody Bellinger's HR broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th and the Dodgers grabbed Game 1 away from home.
October 21:
Like the ALCS, the NLCS is now tied at 1 after a battle of pitchers who were both in the Rays' World Series-winning rotation last season. Noah Syndergaard got the best of Max Fried in a 3-1 win as Thor went 6.2 7 1 1 1 7 to pace St. Louis's winning effort. Paul Dejong had an RBI double off Fried in the 2nd and Joey Gallo (another ex-Ray) and Ian Happ had RBI singles in the 5th.