Tigers at Orioles, 9:00AM PT, TV: TBS
Down one game to none, Detroit sends the second of their three former Cy Young winners, Justin Verlander, out to stop the Orioles and their third-year big leaguer Wei-Yin Chen. Chen was 16-6 with a 3.54 ERA in the regular season, while Verlander had an uncharacteristically bad year, going 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA.
If Detroit loses, they’re in serious trouble. They’d be down 0-2 in a five-game series, and only five times in 44 tries has a team in that position turned the series around and won.
Royals at Angels, 6:30PM PT, TV: TBS
The Royals, fresh off two extra-inning wins, ask rookie Yordano Ventura (14-10, 3.20 ERA) to keep their streak going. The Angels, in an 0-1 hole, ask star rookie Matt Shoemaker (16-4, 2.94 ERA) to plug the dike and send the series to Kansas City tied at one game apiece.
The same caveat applies to the Angels as to the Tigers: if they go down two games to none their chances of winning the five-game series are pretty bad.
Wow. The Orioles are a “never-say-die” type of team, it seems. Four runs in the eighth to beat the Tigers. Detroit’s bullpen has not shown up well.
NPUT
Looks like Guerrero might be a good hitter but they can’t seem to find a satisfactory fielding position for him. Trading him will cost us money. How about first base? Anyone can play that. Agon isn’t going to last forever and Van Slyke is waiting in the wings but we have to put him somewhere… Before we got Agon I was advocating Hanley for first base.
Two playoff games in “Los Angeles” at the same time?!
I hope both home teams win!