The drama is at a fever pitch as the National League and American League Divisional Series come to a close. The only team to not allow their series to go to a deciding fifth game was the Cubs. Since they’ve been waiting since Wrigley Field opened to clinch a series at home, we’ll let that one slide. Nevertheless, the American League will see its two Championship Series participants decided today while the Mets and Dodgers travel back to Los Angeles ready to battle for the right to face the Cubbies tomorrow. Since the inception of the second wild card team, the NL and AL Division Series have provided the most compelling baseball of the playoffs. This year is proving no different.
The Royals are the defending American League champions and were the best team in the American League. They are being taken to the limit though by the team that would have the most neutral support in the sport, if not for those lovable losers in the Windy City. Houston versus Kansas City has been a series of clutch oneupsmanship with the winning runs coming in the sixth inning or later in each of the last three games. The series has also been a personal national showcase for Houston shortstop Carlos Correa. The 2012 #1 overall pick has hit .412 this series with a double and two home runs. Shamefully, his two home runs were for naught as they came in Game 4 when the ‘Stros bullpen fell on its face giving up seven runs in the final two innings. MVP candidate Lorenzo Cain doesn’t have as gaudy of numbers as Correa, but he’s been just as important to Kansas City’s efforts to forcing this Game 5 at Kauffman Stadium this evening (8:07 PM ET/Fox Sports 1). He sparked the rally in Game 4 with an RBI single and has played his usual magnificent defense in center field.
Who will be the player to step up this afternoon as Collin McHugh takes on Johnny Cueto? If you had to look at past history, the stats favor either Carlos Gomez or Colby Rasmus for Houston who hold identical .333 averages lifetime against the dreadlocked dynamo. Both Gomez and Rasmus have each gone yard off of the Royals’ ace, with Rasmus’ coming in Game 2. For Kansas City, they are hoping Kendrys Morales can repeat his two homer performance from Game 1 against McHugh, with different results at the end of course.
While the Royals and Astros have been trading victories in one NLDS, the other has been a battle of runs, literally and figuratively, between the Rangers and Blue Jays. No home team has won yet in the series as Texas took the first two games north of the border before the Jays have twice staved off elimination in Arlington. Game 5 this afternoon (4:07 PM ET/Fox Sports 1) pits Texas’ Cole Hamels against Toronto’s Marcus Stroman. Outside of the first three innings in Game 4, no team’s high powered offense has really put on a show in the series. That makes Hamels and Stroman’s job that much easier, and important, heading into tonight’s proceedings.
Both men pitched well in their Game 2 showdown, where the Rangers would eventually prevail in 14 innings. Stroman has showed little rust following a lost season to ACL rehab, but he’ll have a short leash with the cliche “all hands on deck” approach being employed by manager John Gibbons. The only pitchers that won’t be available would be R.A. Dickey and David Price (both who pitched yesterday) and lefty Aaron Loup who is dealing with a personal matter. Adding Brett Cecil’s injury to the equation and the Jays are all right handed coming out of the pen tonight. We’ll see if that comes into play at any point.
For Texas, this is the moment Texas dreamed of when they traded for Cole Hamels at the trading deadline. Their lack of a frontline pitcher doomed them in past postseasons and his acquisition was supposed to rectify that issue. His ability to go deep in games in October is huge, as he’s gone at least six innings in every postseason start outside of his 2009 playoff run. Defensive lapses almost got to him in Game 2, as he allowed two unearned runs, and that can’t happen again with a Blue Jays lineup finally running on all cylinders again. If Josh Donaldson and company can get to Hamels early, his ability to save the pen will be nullified.
The finale of the first round (or second if you want to be a technical stickler) will be the Mets versus the Dodgers on Thursday evening. The two standout pitchers from the series thus far, New York’s Jacob deGrom (7 IP, 0 ER, 13 K/1 BB in Game 1) and Los Angeles’ Zack Greinke (7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K/0 BB in Game 2) will square off (Thursday/8:07 PM ET/TBS).
Jacob deGrom showed no fear in outdueling Clayton Kershaw to begin the series. His fastball was electric and his secondary pitches were mixed in majestically by the second year hurler. His task actually may get harder in the penultimate game against Greinke. One would be dumb to think that taking on another Cy Young candidate will faze deGrom though. He’s already bested Greinke once this year (albeit at home) and the big games seem to bring out the best in him.
On the other side, Greinke would all but solidify his Cy Young award victory by bringing the Dodgers to the NLCS. Though it has no effect on voting per se, besting both Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom in the matter of a week can’t be fully erased from a voter’s mind. However, I’m sure that Greinke wants a victory no matter how it comes as he chases a title that has eluded the city for over 25 years.
If the NLCS can only live up to half as much of the theatrics the NLDS has provided, we should all be in for a spectacular October. Be sure to keep it here as the rounds go on and enjoy the games!