Elimination Time!

It’s elimination time! After some buffer room of losing a game or two here and there, it is now time for some teams to either win out or go home. Three teams face potential elimination already, while the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers play Game 3 later today. More on that game later, because it’s going to be a great matchup, and it’ll be on at 12:00 PM CT today. 

The Boston Red Sox are currently up two game to none over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Los Angeles Dodgers are up 2-1 over the Atlanta Braves, and the Pittsburgh Pirates too have a 2-1 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Dodgers fought all game last night. Rookie pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu had a rough start, giving up four runs in the first three innings, and it seemed like the Braves would just run over LA. But the offense kept storming back with bats from everybody, even Ryu, who added a sacrifice fly to help him out. The Braves had a 2-1 lead when Carl Crawford got all of a hanging curve from Julio Teheran and blasted a three-run homer into the right field bullpen. 

The Braves were not done yet. Some defensive miscues by Ryu allowed Atlanta to tie the game back up to four, but the Dodgers responded in the bottom half. Yasiel Puig, who collected three hits on the night, would lead off with a double, then Adrian Gonzalez and the rest followed with RBI hits. All of a sudden, it was a 7-4 ballgame, then with a Juan Uribe home run, it was suddenly 10-4. The lead would get larger by the end, and the Dodgers would go on to win 13-6. 

 

With Clayton Kershaw probably starting Game 5, if necessary, the Braves are now in a tight spot. They are scheduled to start the 36-year old veteran Freddy Garcia (who I did not realize was even still in the MLB, and I am quite shocked about that too), against right-hander Ricky Nolasco. Both were traded this year to their respective teams, and both have done an exceptional job. Garcia is 1-2 with a 1.65 ERA in six games and three starts for Atlanta, while Nolasco is 8-3 with a 3.52 ERA in 15 starts with the Dodgers. 

Both are respected veterans, but Garcia is the only one with postseason experience. In fact, Garcia has a world series ring with the White Sox in 2005. But he can be off in the postseason too. In his last start in the postseason, which was in 2011, he posted a 5.06 ERA. It’ll be interesting to see this one come out. I’ll take the Braves winning tonight, but it looks like the Dodgers will have the series. 

The Cardinals are facing elimination too. They came back with some clutch hitting in the 8^th inning and tied up the game, but their bullpen would blow it, and would give up two runs in the bottom half to go on losing 5-3. Joe Kelly went five and a third, giving up two earned runs while having a 5/4 K/BB ratio for the Cardinals, while Francisco Liriano went six strong, giving up two earned runs as well with a 5/2 K/BB ratio. 

Their game is coming up soon as well, as they play at 2:00 PM CT. It’ll be the Rookie sensation Michael Wacha, who almost pitched a perfect game in the regular season, against righty Charlie Morton. Wacha went 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA in his first nine starts of his career, and Charlie Morton went 7-4 with a 3.26 ERA this year, his best year in his six-year career. Neither of them have postseason experience. 

You know the Cardinals. They always have that miraculous comeback in games. I like the Cardinals winning this one, believing that Wacha will have a quality start. 

 

The Rays face elimination, as you might have seen from yesterday’s article. Boston has just been all over them. Tonight’s game will be Clay Buchholz against Alex Cobb. Cobb had a win against Cleveland in the wild card game, but now he’s going against a much stronger team. Plus, he has to battle with Buchholz, who went 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA this year. Both since coming off their injuries have been dominant. Cobb is 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA this year. 

There is still some wiggle room for both the A’s and the Tigers, as they are tied 1-1. The series now moves to Detroit though, moving from a pitching-dominated ballpark to a more neutral one. Expect the bats to fly a little more than their last game, which resulted in a 1-0 walk-off for the Athletics. It’ll be Anibal Sanchez for the Tigers against the A’s Jarrod Parker. Sanchez, who I like as a top candidate for Cy Young, went 14-8 with a 2.57 ERA this year, while Jarrod Parker went 12-8 with a 3.97 ERA.

Johnny Peralta is scheduled to play in tonight’s game. Peralta, who was suspended 50 games for ties with the PED Clinic in Miami, will add an offensive surge while losing some defensive plays at SS if he is replacing Jose Iglesias. He batted .303 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI’s this year. 

So who’s been getting it done for the winning teams? Who’s the one player that’s been making a difference?

Boston: Dustin Pedroia

David Ortiz hit two solo shots off David Price in Game 2, but it was Pedroia that got three RBI’s and made some great defensive plays in both games. He’s gone 3-for-8 in the postseason thus far, with a sacrifice fly as well. He added not one but two double plays to get out of jams in the 7^th and 8^th innings in Game 2, and both were stellar.

This double play in the 7^th (shown above) would probably only be made by Pedroia, the Cubs’ Darwin Barney, and the Reds’ Brandon Phillips, because it was Gold Glove quality.

Los Angeles: Hanley Ramirez

Ramirez almost came back to win the game for the Dodgers in Game 2, as he hit a two-run shot to cut the lead to one in the 8^th inning. In these three games, he’s batted .538 with four doubles, a triple, a home run, and six RBI’s. Remember that this is his first postseason appearance in his career too. His 1.040 OPS in the regular season trailed only Miguel Cabrera among players with 300 plate appearances in the season. 

Pirates: Pedro Alvarez

Russell Martin provided a strong outing both in yesterday’s game and in the wild card game, but Alvarez has been consistent in all four games played. His power has surely been showing, as he has added two home runs in the postseason to his 36 that he hit in the regular season, which was tied for most in the NL. 

He’s batting .400 in the series against the Cardinals with four RBI’s. Surprisingly, even with committing 27 errors at third base in the regular season, he has been pretty solid this series.

Since Oakland and Detroit are tied, I won’t give it to any one person, but if I had to for each team, I would pick Sonny Gray for the A’s (Game 2 pitcher), and Max Scherzer for the Tigers (Game 1 pitcher).

Elimination time is here. I think only one team will move on to the next round today, and that’s the Boston Red Sox. That means they’ll be the only sweep, and the Dodgers-Braves and Pirates-Cardinals series will go to Game 5. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd