October 9:
The NL got going first:
The Phillies must have thought they were onto something when they scored 2 runs in the 1st off NL Cy Young-elect Mike Soroka but Atlanta hit them hard over the next 2 innings to go on to romp. And a Michel Baez-Jack Flaherty duel got broken open with a 2-run Josh Stowers HR in the 6th and then the Cards feasted on the Padres bullpen to blow it open.
October 10:
Well that was about as pathetic a game as they could play, and once again this team proves it's virtually incapable of winning Game 1 of a postseason series. Since I started this save in 2020, they've lost nine of ten Games 1 (including the 2021 Wild Card Game) with the lone exception being the 2023 World Series over the Padres. And tonight they took it to an art form. Matt Manning continued his disturbing trend of wildness (and not unrelated, poor starts) by walking 2 and hitting a man in the first inning to allow 2 runs and just kept it up from there, ending with a bizarre 4 5 6 6 6 6 line. The stuff is still good, but he's turned into Bobby Witt Sr. these days. The Rays may have to win the next 3 if he's going to pitch like this in a potential Game 5. Of course Manning could have gone 7 5 1 1 0 12 and they still would have lost as the offense could only manage 3 hits tonight against Luis Castillo, who sported a 5.35 ERA for the season. He's a bit of a better pitcher than that but tonight was ridiculous. Nick Gonzales, who tripled in the 8th with 2 out, was their first (and only) baserunner to get past first base. Dustin May had 3 scoreless innings in relief, but if I'm mentioning his name things have gone horribly wrong. Liam Hendriks had a scoreless 8th and Mitchell Verburg gave up 2 more runs in the 9th but none of that mattered. Tyler Glasnow will need to pitch more like his 2024 postseason self (4-0 with a 2.19 ERA) rather than his 2019-2023 postseason self (2-7 with an ERA around 5) in Game 2 if the Rays are going to pull this out. Yes they came back from 0-2 down in the 2023 ALDS but that doesn't happen very often.
The other DS games today:
Minnesota jumped out to an early lead like Cleveland did and never looked back to go up 1-0 on the Angels, the Phillies were staring an 0-2 start trailing 4-1 in the 4th but got a big 3-run HR from Brendan Rodgers (whom they stole from Colorado) to come back and even the series, while former Ray WS winner Noah Syndergaard outdueled one of the guys the Rays beat in that 2023 WS, MacKenzie Gore, 2-1 to go up 2-0 there.
October 11:
So what the hell was that? Tropicana Field turned into Coors Field as the Rays outslugged Cleveland 11-9 to tie their ALDS at 1. Tyler Glasnow was horrid, putting them in holes of 4-0, 7-4 and 9-7 before I finally gave him the overdue hook. After Matt Manning's terrible outing with 6 walks, it was an omen that Glasnow walked the leadoff man to start the game and although he got out of the 1st unscathed, he did the same thing in the 2nd and didn't and former Ray Jake Bauers took him deep for a 3-run shot. But the Rays answered right back with 4 of their own, only for Glasnow to give up another 3 with another ex-Ray, Christian Arroyo, delivering the big hit. And they fought back again to tie it at 7, and again Glasnow gave it back on a Tyreque Reed homer. Another double and it was finally enough for me (it should have been in the 3rd) and although Liam Hendriks allowed an RBI double to score the 9th run, the bullpen was lights-out from there. Hendriks, Aaron Ashby, Nick Anderson, Jose Alvarado (who got the win) and Jasseel De La Cruz (the save) pitched the final 5 innings allowing only 1 hit, 1 walk and whiffed 10. With the Rays tying it at 9 in the bottom of the 5th they held the fort until Keston Hiura came through big with a 2-run double to provide the winning runs in the bottom of the 8th (don't know why the game story above refers to it as a "strikeout"). The hit was Hiura's 4th of the game, his 3rd double, and gave him 3 RBI for the day. The team hit 8 doubles, a triple and a homer (a solo shot from Austin Meadows early) as they atoned for their very weak performance in Game 1. Alec Bohm had a pair of RBI doubles and a triple, Hunter Bishop had an RBI double, and Vidal Brujan drove in 2 and stole two bases. But somehow they won a game where Glasnow had a 4 9 9 9 3 4 line. Shane McClanahan will try and not give up 6 or 9 runs in Game 3.
In the other ALDS:
The Angels struck back behind a dominant outing from their ace Garrett Williams (6 5 0 0 2 8) so that series is even as well.
October 12:
The Braves take a 2-1 lead in their NLDS over the Phillies behind a 7 2 1 1 1 5 outing from Ross Stripling, whom they kind of picked up off the scrapheap. Jose Ramirez's 2-run single in the 8th broke open a close game. And the Cardinals are in the NLCS thanks to a sweep of the Padres with Mike Clevenger the Game 3 hero with 6 solid innings backed by Paul Goldschmidt's 3-run HR in the 1st.