After losing out on their respective division tiebreakers the Colorado Rockies head to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs. The winner of tonight's National League Wild Card game will head to Milwaukee to play the Brewers...tomorrow. No Days Off... s/o Wale.
One of these teams will go from tied for the division lead, to home for the season in less than 48 hours. See ya, thanks for playing. Sucks to suck,,, I suppose, even though all four of these teams have the juice to make a deep run. The current format is what is it (I have many great ideas to fix it) but one of the many things I dislike about the one-game wild card is how we are robbed out on a potential series. So many of these games have been really intriguing match-ups that we only got for a few hours. Royals-A's, Any of the Pirate series, last year's Rockies-D'backs. I would love to see what would happen between these clubs in a 5 or 7 game series. Sure it's a game 7 environment but I'd love a chance to see the first 6. I am so torn here because I love a bunch of players on both of these rosters. I don't need to list them just follow me on twitter (@rhodydoz). How can you not love the story of Matt Holliday going back to Colorado? There's guys I wanna see win it all on both teams. It sucks that the winner is going to play the Brewers because it will only leave one of the three teams I want to see win the NL left. They're knocking each other out left and right. Braves are alright but would be my 4th choice and I'm all set with the Dodgers *peace sign emoji* What is great about this one-gamer is that both teams have their horses on the mound. If you're gonna have a one-gamer to determine who makes the real playoffs these are the guys you want to see. The Aces. (that's also the name of a great girl-band). Jon Lester is the heart of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff and a big game pitcher. Don't let a 9-7 playoff record fool you. Cliche alert...I don't think there's a pitcher Cubs fans or players want on the mound more than Lester here. (I still can't believe they let Jake walk) The 34 year old lefty went 18-6 this season with a 3.32 era, 1.31 whip, 149 K's. One of my most missed former Red Sox is pitching great late in the year like he usually does. 4-1 in 5 September starts only allowing 5 earned runs in 29.2 innings. After struggling in the 2015 postseason Lester has dealt for the Cubs in October.
The Rockies are a team that have historically been known for their bats going all the way back to the Big Cat Gallaraga and Larry Walker days. The Rockies always mash. Playing 81 games at Coors Field may inflate offensive numbers, but it also makes things harder for pitchers. Pitching at Coors Field makes Kyle Freeland's 2018 even more impressive.
I know nerds don't think stats like ERA matter but you rarely see Rockie starters with sub 4 era's, forget sub 3's.
I love this pitching match-up as a fan and cannot wait for the game. I hope we see them go deep. I'm not a huge fan of the bullpenning method of the last few years. I'm kinda speaking from a casual standpoint without looking at the advanced numbers but I feel like the Cubs offense has been struggling a lot this season. The only way they score seems to be solo homers. I'm almost positive they had a stretch this year where they only scored for like 5 games via the solo shot. But the Cub line up is full of studs. The addition of Daniel Murphy is huge. Probably the best offensive infield of all of baseball. I am a huge Anthony Rizzo guy. Colorado's splits have favored history as they hit only .225 as a team on the road opposed to .287 at home. Idc. With guys like Nolan Arenado, and Chuck Nasty I love the Rockies offense in any location. 
The big question to is will the Colorado Rockies make the next step or become the new Pittsburgh Pirates of the late 2010's? The Rockies are a really fun exciting team, but for sure are in their "window" as a smaller market (even though I feel like Denver isn't a small market) payroll team they are gonna have some tough decisions to make coming up. I really want to see this core get a chance to play more than one game in October. In case you forgot the Rockies lost to the D-backs last year in a wild-wild card game that included a triple by a reliever. My gut says they somehow win this game. Team of destiny for sure. I think the Cubs are kind of having a little mini-collapse here. I still can't believe the Brewers ended up catching up and eventually surpassing them. Would be pretty Cubs to lose two straight win and advance playoff games.
Freeland is having a great year for the Rox he lead the team in WAR if you care about that shit. This is his "hello America" moment. Btw he is from Colorado so you're gonna hear that story-line 2 twice an inning as long as he's in the game. He goes have a pretty sweet rockie mountain tat. 
I love Jonny Lester. I hope he pitches 8 shut out and then the Rockies win, although I would not be mad to see the Cubs win. I'm not picking both teams I'm just in that happy either way scenario. If I was betting I'd take the Rockies one because they're underdogs so yay more money and two I legitimately think they are going to win.
My official prediction is: Rockies: 6 Cubs: 4 
I think it's low scoring early and then in that classic wild holy shit this is a one gamer fashion the late innings feature over-managing and runs a plenty. The Rockies need this more. Speaking of games where I am happy with either outcome the American League Wild Card Game is not one of those games. 
As a Red Sox fan I am highly invested in this game as the winner comes to Boston Friday night. Both scare me in different ways, but I still think they can be beat.
The A's came out of fucking nowhere. Who outside of the Bay Area was giving them a chance this year? Honestly who inside the Bay Area was either? This was a last place team by most experts yet here they are in October with 97 wins. More wins than any A's team since the famous 2002 Moneyball team. The are lead by a powerful offense despite playing in a huge ballpark. My favorite story of the 2018 Oakland A's is how it's the 4th straight year Khris Davis has hit .247.
The class of 2019 will graduate high school only seeing Khris Davis hit .247.
Now let's talk about those 100 win 2nd place (to the Boston Red Sox) New York Yankees.
They take on the New York Yankees who are sort of the early 2000's Patriots dynasty of the Wild Card Game, as they are hosting the contest for the 3rd time in 4 years. To quote the late Gil Santos "THREE OUT OF FOUR, Yes it's a dynasty!" Please do not forget the last time the Yankees won the AL East Gangham Style was just getting popular. I love to take jabs at the Yanks but obviously they're a great club. 100 wins and that's with missing Judge for like two months. If it wasn't for literally an all-time great (regular season) Red Sox team the Yankees would for sure be already in the ALDS but tough tiddies for them. Maybe you shouldn't get swept in the biggest series of the year? I love how much Yankee fans have ripped Boone. Idk if he's good or not but Jeez talk about a tough crowd? 100 wins and they want him gone. As for the game itself we're going to see the A's bullpen for the start as they plan on using Liam Hendriks as the opener. For the 2nd straight year Luis Severino will start for the bombers. If he gets two outs he'll do better than he did last year. After starting the season at a torrid, Cy Young Pace Severino has fallen back to earth, although he's turned it back on as of late. **edit** That being said Sevy is 5-6 with a 5.57 ERA since the all star break. Aces usually pitch better than that. This is a game where my heart says A's and my head says Yankees. Playing at home is huge for the Yanks. If they can get out to an early lead as long as the fans show up it should be a wild atmosphere. I just hope we get a good game. Wouldn't hate seeing a classic 17 inning affair tbh. Let Zach Britton finally get a chance to pitch. It seems to be that everybody is just assuming the 100 win Yankees will waltz there way by the A's but I'd be willing to bet the A's don't mind that; they've been underdogs all year. Of course I'm picking the A's. Fuck the Yankees. I low key love the A's and I'd much rather see them upset the Red Sox instead of the Yankees which for sure would ruin the rest of my 2018 and possibly the entire remainder of the decade. A's: 4 Yankees: 3
p.s. part of my charm is how I don't know how to use punctuation. Still not sure if it's wild-card or wild card. I like to switch it up to keep everybody's head on a swivel. It is October after all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2024
|
RSS Feed