Month: October 2022

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians will play Game 5 of the ALDS tonight in the Bronx. The winner of tonight’s game will take it on the arches to Minute Maid Park to face the well-rested Houston Astros in the ALCS. If it wasn’t for some poor decisions made in Game 3 by the Yankee skipper, New York would already have this thing locked up, but that’s not the case. Tonight will probably be a bullpen game for each club, with Jameson Taillon expected to get the nod for the first leg for New York and Aaron Civale for Cleveland. Taillon was 14-5 in the regular season with a 3.91 ERA. Civale was 5-6 in the regular season with a 4.92 ERA and was 0-2 this year against the Yankees with a bloated ERA of 10.00. Cleveland is just 3-7 in their last 10 against New York and a dismal 1-6 in their last 7 road playoff games. The Bombers should get to Civale for an early lead and you know The Stadium will be electric.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The San Diego Padres are on the brink of doing what no one expected, knocking off their archrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to advance to the NLCS, but it’s in the cards. The Padres will send hometown boy, Joe Musgrove, to the hill and has he has been almost unhittable. Over his last 3 starts, Musgrove is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA (and that is not a typo) and a 0.78 WHIP. In Musgrove’s last turn against the very talented New York Mets, he was spectacular, throwing 7 scoreless innings, resulting in a 6-0 Padres win and advancing them to the NLDS. Los Angeles will counter with lefty Tyler Anderson. Over his last 3 starts, Anderson is 0-2 with a 2.12 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP. San Diego has the momentum. They are 12-4 in their last 16 in Game 4 of a series and will have over 42,000 fans supporting them. Consider the Friars.
TONIGHT’S PICK: SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Philadelphia Phillies were able to get a split in Atlanta with the Braves and now the venue switches to the Phillies’ turf, Citizens Bank Park, for Game 3. It’s been a long 11 years since Philadelphia hosted a playoff game so you know they will be pumped for this one as well as their dedicated fans. Today’s expected starter for Philadelphia is Aaron Nola. Nola has been dealing. Over his last 3, he is 2-1 with an ERA of just 1.86, a WHIP hardly visible at 0.62, and was spectacular in his last turn against St. Louis where he pitched 6-2/3 of no hit ball, resulting in a 2-0 Phillies win. Atlanta has yet to announce a starter but more than likely it will be Spencer Strider, who is 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA, but he has been dealing with an oblique injury which could been an issue. Philadelphia’s bats were silent in Game 2 but you can’t keep the likes of Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper quiet for very long. The Phillies are 14-5 in their last 19 home games and I like them in this situation.
TODAY’S PICK: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

The Seattle Mariners cannot go down 0-2 to the Houston Astros in the ALDS or they are in major trouble and they know it. So today they will give the nod to the flamethrower Luis Castillo and he has been delivering. Over his last three starts, Castillo is 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. On the flip side, Houston is expected to send lefty Framber Valdez to the bump. Over his last three turns, Valdez is 1-1 with an elevated ERA of 5.74 and a 1.72 WHIP. That is not good because Seattle is 5-0 in their last 5 against a left-handed starter. Can the Mariners pull the upset today? Yes, they can. Coming into the ALDS they had won 5 straight and should have won Game 1 on Tuesday.
TODAY’S PICK: SEATTLE MARINERS

The Los Angeles Dodgers dominance over the San Diego Padres continued last night when they knocked off the Friars 5-3 in Game 1 of the NLDS. Tonight they will meet again at Chavez Ravine for Game 2 and San Diego is expected to send ex-Dodger Yu Darvish to the hill. Darvish is having a great year, with a record of 17-8 (including the post season) with an ERA of 3.03 and a 0.95 WHIP. Southpaw Clayton Kershaw is expected to get the nod for the Dodgers and he has been even better. The future Hall of Famer will be making his post-season debut tonight. He is 12-3 with an ERA of only 2.28 and a 0.94 WHIP. Kershaw has owned the Padres over his career. He is 23-9 against San Diego with an ERA of just 2.03 and this year he was 1-0 against them with a 0.75 ERA. With last night’s win, LA is 15-5 this year against San Diego and is worth considering.
TONIGHT’S PICK: LOS ANGELES DODGERS

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians will kick off their ALDS tonight in the Bronx. The Yankees have the Guardians’ number, going 5-1 over the last 6 meetings and outscoring them 38-14 over that span. Tonight’s expected starters are Gerrit Cole for New York and Cal Quantrill for Cleveland. Quantrill comes in at 15-5 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Cole has similar numbers, at 13-8, with a 3.50 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, and he is 2-0 this year against the Guardians with a nasty ERA of only 1.42. The Bombers are always tough at The Stadium and the bleacher creatures will be in rare form.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES