Oct 07

Divisional Series AL Games Two, NL Games One, 2016

Beginning at 10:00AM PT, there are four Division Series games on tap this Friday. First is Game Two of the Blue Jays-Rangers series, then at 1:30PM PT it’s Game Two of the Red Sox-Indians series. Next at 2:30PM PT is Game One of the Dodgers-Nationals NLDS, and then to close the day out Game One of the Giants-Cubs NLDS begins at 6:00PM PT.

Toronto at Texas, TV: TBS, SportsNet

The Jays start LHP J.A. Happ (20-4, 3.18 ERA), who ended the season with a rush, putting up a 2.35 ERA over his last five starts. He’ll face RHP Yu Darvish (7-5, 3.41 ERA), who’s 3-2 with a 2.45 ERA in seven starts against Toronto. Darvish finished strongly too, allowing one run and five hits with 21 strikeouts in 13 innings in wins over the A’s and Rays to end his regular season.

Boston at Cleveland, TV: TBS

The Red Sox send LHP David Price (17-9, 3.99 ERA) to the hill to face RHP Corey Kluber (18-9, 3.14 ERA). Price has been an ace everywhere he’s pitched, but in the postseason he’s been unable to replicate his regular season performances. He’s 2-7 with a 5.12 ERA in 14 career postseason appearances, with both of those wins coming in relief. Kluber skipped his last scheduled start with a tight quadriceps and has had ten days of rest.

San Francisco at Chicago, TV: FS1

The Giants ask RHP Johnny Cueto (18-5, 2.79 ERA) to pick up where Bumgarner left off in the Wild Card game, which might not be unthinkable: Cueto’s last start in the postseason was a complete game 1-0 shutout of the Mets in the 2015 World Series. He closed the season with a 4-0 record and 1.78 ERA in five starts in September. His opponent will be LHP Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44 ERA), who’s had plenty of postseason experience himself, going 6-6 with a 2.85 ERA in 16 games, 14 of which were starts. He finished the season with a flourish, going 9-1 with a 1.46 ERA in his last 12 starts.

Los Angeles at Washington, TV: FS1. Announcer Kenny Albert with Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci serving as analysts and Jon Paul Morosi contributing reports. Radio: ESPN. Dave O’Brien does play-by-play and Jim Bowden is the analyst.

The Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw (12-4, 1.69 ERA) to the mound to make his tenth postseason start. He’s had bad luck in previous playoff appearances, going just 2-6 with an ERA of 4.59 in his career. He spent two months on the disabled list this year but came back to go 1-2 with a 1.29 ERA in the five starts he made in September and October. He’ll face RHP Max Scherzer (20-7, 2.96 ERA), who’s gone 4-3 with a 3.73 ERA in twelve postseason appearances, all with Detroit. The Nationals have some serious injury worries which may have an impact on this series: C Wilson Ramos is out for the year, P Stephen Strasbourg won’t pitch until the next round if Washington gets that far, 2B Daniel Murphy has made one game appearance since September 20 and RF Bryce Harper has both a jammed left thumb and a sore neck.

Lineup:

Aug 28

Game 130, 2016

Cubs at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-C, TBS

Lefty Jon Lester (14-4, 2.81 ERA) goes for the Cubs and RHP Brock Stewart (0-2, 11.25 ERA) takes the hill for the Dodgers. Lester’s been pitching even better than his record looks: he’s 5-0 with a 2.28 ERA since the All-Star break. In Stewart’s first two career starts in the big leagues he’s given up 14 earned runs and five dingers.

Lineup:

Jun 01

Game 54, 2016

Dodgers at Cubs, 5:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN, ESPN (out-of-market only)

The Dodgers send righty Mike Bolsinger (1-1, 4.50 ERA) out to face the Cubs’ lefty Jon Lester (5-3, 2.48 ERA). Lester is 1-2 with a 5.19 ERA in three career starts against the Dodgers, and Bolsinger has had even fewer appearances against the Cubs.

Lineup:

Aug 29

Game 128, 2015

Cubs at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

The Dodgers’ Mat Latos has a career 7-3 record against the Cubbies with a 2.76 ERA. He might want to face them all the time, as his record this season is not so shiny: 4-9 with a 4.81 ERA. He’ll face Jon Lester, who’s not having his greatest season either: 8-9, 3.44 ERA. Latos hasn’t pitched since August 13 due to off-days, so he’s had lots of rest. Lester nearly got a shutout in his last outing; he went 8 1/3 innings, then gave up a run and came out. This is his first road start since July 18.

Lineup when available.

Scoreboard watchers: Cardinals at Giants

Jun 25

Game 74, 2015

Dodgers at Cubs, 11:20AM PT, TV: SPNLA

Every Red Sox and Cubs fan knows who Jon Lester is, while only Dodgers fans know who Carlos Frias is. Yet they have identical 4-5 W-L records this season. Lester’s not had a win in his last six starts, although he’s pitched well. Frias has lost three of his last four starts.

Expect changes to the Dodgers lineup, since it’s a day game and a travel day and Lester’s a lefty. Puig has an open callus on his left hand and is day-to-day.

Lineup:

Today’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Cubs:
Hernandez CF
Rollins SS
Turner 1B
Van Slyke RF
Kendrick 2B
Guerrero LF
Callaspo 3B
Ellis C
Frias P

Dec 07

Winter meetings begin Monday

Grantland’s got speculations!

Question 1. Will the Dodgers move Kemp? Grantland and the Magic 8 ball say “Can’t predict now.”

Questions 2 through 5. Who cares? The only guess about the Dodgers here is whether they’ll try hard to get one of the available starters: Lester, Hamels, Scherzer or Shields.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “Stand by…for news!”

Sep 30

AL Wild Card Game, 2014

Athletics vs. Royals, 8:07PM ET, TV: TBS

The As acquired Jon Lester to pitch big games like this one. The Royals did the same with James Shields.

The As were suddenly terrible after the trading deadline in July, and they were 10-16 in September. The Royals weren’t burning up the league either, but they did manage a winning record in the last month, going 15-12.

Bleacher Report has a comprehensive look at the matchups in this game (and the Pirates-Giants game tomorrow).

Oct 28

World Series Game Five

“On paper, this projects as a low-scoring game. The Cards are batting just .235 as a team this series. The Red Sox are even worse at .189.”

Boston at St. Louis, 1:30PM HST, 4:30PM Pacific, 7:30PM Eastern on Fox.

The Sox’ pitcher is Jon Lester; the Cardinals’ pitcher is Adam Wainwright.

In two World Series starts, Lester has yet to allow a run, including pitching 7 2/3 shutout innings against the Cards in Game 1.

[snip]

Wainwright . . . struggled in the opener, allowing five runs (three earned) in five innings.

Oct 23

World Series Game One

St. Louis at Boston, 1:30pm HST, 4:30pm PST, 7:30pm EST on Fox.

David Pinto has a good analysis of the two teams, as does Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.

One more thing to think about: this World Series is the last hurrah for Tim McCarver of Fox; he’s announced his retirement at the end of the season.