The Yankees’ season has sputtered to a lamentable end, the Blue Jays beating them handily in four games as the clearly superior side of this ALDS pairing. Alas, another year ends in disappointment for
the team that employs the best hitter in the world. Hopefully that disappointment is felt all the way up in the highest seats of the front office and is enough to spur candid self-reflection as to how they can improve over the winter.
The baseball world won’t grind to a halt just because the Yankees are eliminated — indeed there were three other exciting division series showdowns which ensured that we will have at least three more games in this round.
American League Division Series
Game 4
Detroit Tigers 9, Seattle Mariners 3
(Series tied, 2-2)
Unlike the Yankees, the Tigers offense came roaring to life to keep their season alive and force a Game 5. On the pitching side, it started with three strong innings from Casey Mize followed by six shutdown frames from four Tigers relievers. On the other side of the field, every single reliever button that Mariners manager Dan Wilson pushed blew up in his face as Detroit took this one by a score of 9-3.
Seattle actually struck first, scoring three unanswered through the opening five frames. Josh Naylor reached on a one-out double in the second and scored the opening run on a Dominic Canzone single. Then in the fourth, Naylor and Eugenio Suárez smacked a pair of leadoff singles followed by a Mitch Garver walk to load the bases with no outs. Victor Robles grounded into a double play, but it was still enough to plate Naylor as their second run. An inning later, they again put the first two on via a pair of singles — this time Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh — Arozarena scoring on Raleigh’s knock after having stolen second.
From that point forward it was all Tigers. They nullified Seattle’s three-run lead by scoring three in the bottom of the fifth as Mariners starter Bryce Miller saw his sharpness evaporate. Spencer Torkelson led off with a single, followed by back-to-back one-out doubles from Dillon Dingler and Jahmai Jones to draw Detroit within one. Javier Báez singled Jones home to draw the scores level, and that was not the last mark the shortstop-turned-centerfielder-turned-shortstop would leave on this game.
The true eruption occurred in the sixth off reliever Eduard Bazardo. Riley Greene demolished a monster leadoff home run to give the Tigers their first lead. Torkelson followed with a double and scored on a Zach McKinstry single. Wenceel Pérez doubled McKinstry home and Báez expanded their newfound lead with a two-run no-doubter to left off a middle-middle hanging slider.
That brought us to the tack-on portion of the game, Gleyber Torres homering to lead off the seventh and Báez driving in his fourth run of the contest on a forceout in the eighth after McKinstry singled to lead off, stole second, and took third on a Pérez fly out.
This series heads back to Seattle where Tarik Skubal is expected to start on short rest as the Tigers pull no punches in an effort to make it to the ALCS where the Blue Jays are already waiting.
National League Division Series
Game 3
Chicago Cubs 4, Milwaukee Brewers 3
(Brewers lead, 2-1)
The Cubs had been thoroughly outplayed on both sides of the ball in the first two games of the series, but they scratched out a gritty victory to keep their season alive. They exploded for four runs in the first against deer-in-the-headlights rookie Quinn Priester, and the bullpen did just enough to preserve a 4-3 victory.
It actually looked like things would get out of hand before Chicago even had a chance to bat, the Brewers loading the bases with one out in the top of the first courtesy of a Christian Yelich leadoff double, Brice Turang walk, and William Contreras single. Sal Frelick opened the scoring with a sac fly, but Jameson Taillon got Caleb Durbin to fly out to strand a pair and limit the damage to one.
His offense responded in the bottom-half starting with a Michael Busch leadoff home run on a full count cutter right down Broadway. Nico Hoerner singled and Kyle Tucker and Ian Happ drew walks to load the bases for the struggling Pete Crow-Armstrong, who took the first step toward busting out of the funk with a two-run single before a wild pitch brought Happ home as the fourth run of the frame.
That would actually conclude the scoring for the Northsiders, and it was up to Taillon and a cadre of Cubs relievers to keep that lead intact. Taillon acquitted himself well, giving up just one more run in the fourth on three consecutive one-out singles by Frelick, Durbin, and Jake Bauers. Drew Pomeranz and Daniel Palencia combined to throw a perfect fifth and sixth, but Andrew Kittredge wouldn’t be so lucky serving up a leadoff home run to Bauers in the seventh to make it a particularly nervy final two innings for the Wrigley crowd.
That tension reached a fever pitch in the eighth, Milwaukee loading the bases on a Jackson Chourio leadoff double and walks by Contreras and Durbin. However, Brad Keller struck out Bauers on a meatball 97 mph heater to strand the bases loaded and send Wrigley into hysteria as the Cubs held on to foece at least another game.
National League Division Series
Game 3
Philadelphia Phillies 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 2
(Dodgers lead, 2-1)
The Dodgers narrowly beat the Phillies in the first two games of the series, aided by the Phillies’ biggest hitters going cold in high leverage spots. That narrative got put on hold tonight with the likes of Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper all breaking out. Of course, no Dodgers playoff series is complete without a Clayton Kershaw meltdown, the soon-to-be pensioner surrendering six runs in two innings as the Phillies won, 8-2, and live to fight another day.
Rob Thompson took a risk using Ranger Suárez after opener Aaron Nola rather than just let the former start following an impressive regular season, but the gambit paid off. It was particularly risky given how awful Nola was in an injury-ravaged season, but he made up for six months of disappointment with two brilliant scoreless innings allowing just one hit and striking out three. Suárez followed with five innings of one-run ball, the lone damage coming in the form of a Tommy Edman home run to lead off the third.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had been so good in the regular season and Wild Card round, but the Phillies proved he was mortal plating three in the fourth. Schwarber snapped out of his funk with a titanic leadoff home run, followed by back-to-back singles by Harper and Alec Bohm, the latter plating Harper with the help of a throwing error from Andy Pages in center. A Brandon Marsh sac fly brought Bohm home as this would be the final inning of work for Yamamoto.
Neither team would score for the next four innings until the eighth, when Kershaw — fresh off escaping a jam in the seventh — did what Kershaw does in the playoffs. Realmuto blasted a leadoff homer. Max Kepler drew a walk, Nick Castellanos reached on a fielding error by Max Muncy, and Bryson Stott sac bunted both into scoring position. A bloop single by Turner plated the pair, and Schwarber launched his second home run of the contest as the Phillies hung a five-spot on the southpaw veteran. Edman collected a garbage time RBI with a single in the ninth, but this game was effectively over by that point as the Phillies will look to send this series back to Citizen Bank Park.
