1 key storyline for every Wild Card Game 2
Will Leitch
@williamfleitchThe best part of the MLB playoffs is how much one day can change everything. Yesterday, we were talking about how the Rays had been rolling the final week of the season, how well the Brewers were set up for October, and how the Twins seemingly were never going to end their 18-game postseason losing streak. Now, there are four teams who are nine innings away from elimination. Already.
Wednesday will have the same schedule as Tuesday, with the same teams playing at the same times. But the context is entirely different. We are, just on our second day, in win-or-go-home territory. We’ve already reached that level of intensity. And we’re just getting started.
Here’s a look at the major storylines for each of the four games on Wednesday.
Rangers at Rays
1-0 series lead for Texas
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Zach Eflin
3:08 p.m. ET, ABC
Storyline: Uh, did the Rays get that out of their system?
There was a time at the beginning of this season when, I swear, people were legitimately asking if the Rays were one of the best teams in recent memory. (For those who don’t recall, the Rays won their first 13 games of the season and 20 of their first 23.) Their blistering start was slowed by injuries, regression and the rolling blitzkrieg that were the Baltimore Orioles, but they still won 99 games and sure looked, despite all their personnel losses throughout the year, like a team no one wanted to face in October.
And then they came out on Tuesday and played one of their worst games of the season. “We didn’t hit, pitch or defend,” manager Kevin Cash said after their gnarly 4-0 loss to the Rangers, a game in which the Rays made four errors and, all told, barely showed up at all. That’s the last thing you want to see in a postseason game, and it’s definitely the last thing you want to see in your first postseason game -- particularly when one more loss will end your season. They’ll turn to Zach Eflin to try to save their season Wednesday, but honestly, if they don’t play any better than that, peak Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera could show up and it wouldn’t make any difference. The Rays need to wake up.
Blue Jays at Twins
1-0 series lead for Minnesota
José Berríos vs. Sonny Gray
4:38 p.m. ET, ESPN
Storyline: Now that the Twins’ streak is over … when do we talk about this Blue Jays drought?
First off, we all know that none of the current Twins had anything to do with the team’s 18-game postseason losing streak and therefore attaching it to them isn’t exactly fair. But you don’t think they knew about it? That they didn’t feel the stress of it, their fans’ stress of it, every season? I mean, did you see Target Field -- in the stands and on the field -- once they got that last out of their 3-1 win? That, friends, was release. It’s impossible not to be happy for the Twins, and most of all their fans. So, now that we’ve done that … when do we start worrying about the Blue Jays’ fans?
This was supposed to be the next great era of Blue Jays baseball, a team loaded with young talent (Vlad Jr.! Bo Bichette! Alejandro Kirk!) and supplemented with front-line free-agent talent like Kevin Gausman and George Springer. This is supposed to be the Blue Jays' time! And now here they are, one game from losing their fourth consecutive postseason series and (if you happen to count this sort of stuff) their seventh consecutive postseason game. And they’re facing one of the best pitchers in baseball, in front of a crowd that, after celebrating something that hadn’t happened in nearly 20 years, is going to be losing its mind. The Twins released two decades of pressure on Tuesday. They also may have transferred all of it to the Jays.
D-backs at Brewers
1-0 series lead for Arizona
Zac Gallen vs. Freddy Peralta
7:08 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Storyline: Did the Brewers fire all their bullets in Game 1?
The Brewers had a very simple game plan to win not just this series, but any series they face this postseason: Lean on good starting pitching (even with Brandon Woodruff out), scrape together enough runs to get yourself a lead, and then let one of the best bullpens in baseball close it out. Not only did that not work in Game 1 against the D-backs, the way Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell had to expend so many of his resources during the 6-3 loss may have made it more difficult for them to work the rest of this series.
Because Corbin Burnes only threw four innings -- it all cascaded down on him after taking a 3-0 lead into the third -- it required Counsell to push all his bullpen buttons. Abner Uribe? 15 pitches. Elvis Peguero? 13 pitches. Joel Payamps? 18 pitches. Devin Williams? Oh, boy, 31 pitches. Meanwhile, while the Brewers’ bullpen was keeping it close, the lineup scored … zero more runs. All in all, the Brewers used seven pitchers, including pushing their best pitcher, Williams, to a pitch total he only surpassed once all season, and that was back in April. And the Brewers didn’t even get a win out of it. Oh, and now they get Zac Gallen, Arizona’s ace. Freddy Peralta, the Brewers’ Game 2 starter, only threw three innings in his last start, more than a week-and-a-half ago. Suffice it to say: They’re going to need more from him Wednesday.
Marlins at Phillies
1-0 series lead for Philadelphia
Braxton Garrett vs. Aaron Nola
8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN
Storylines: Can the Marlins keep it close enough to make it a one-run game?
The raucous Philadelphia fans, who sure looked like they have some unfinished business after last season, were the main character all night, with the Phillies clearly feeding off their crowd, establishing firm control early and never really letting go. By the time Bryce Harper was sliding into home in the eighth inning to give his team a 4-1 lead, you couldn’t help but forget a little that the Marlins were there.
The Marlins, a team that finished with a negative run differential this year, are in the playoffs at all largely because of their ability to win close games, posting an incredible 33-13 record in one-run games. But as dominant as Zack Wheeler was in Game 1, and as the Phillies on the whole were, you wonder if they’ll even be fortunate enough to find themselves in one at this point. Braxton Garrett is an underrated starting pitcher now charged with keeping the Marlins’ season alive. He has to outduel Aaron Nola -- and, really, the whole city of Philadelphia -- to do so.