The good news is that the Cincinnati Reds scored more runs yesterday than 6 of the 7 other clubs who were in action in the Wild Card round.
The bad news, of course, is that the one team that scored more
than them was their opponent, and the Los Angeles Dodgers socked as many homers (5) as the Reds scored runs.
It could well be elimination day for up to four clubs on Wednesday, as each of the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Cleveland Guardians, and the Reds must win today to prolong their seasons.
Once again, the Guardians will host the Detroit Tigers to open the slate, with first pitch in Cleveland set for just after 1 PM ET. There’s no Tarik Skubal on the mound to face the Guardians today, either, as they’ll instead be up against Casey Mize. Tanner Bibee will get the start for the home club. You can view that one on ESPN.
Following them will be the Chicago Cubs hosting the Friars in Wrigley Field, with Andrew Kittredge making his first career postseason start in what will be a bullpen day for the Baby Bears. San Diego will counter with Dylan Cease, and first pitch on the north side is slated for just after 3:00 PM ET. That game will be carried on ABC.
The first game of the evening will feature the Boston Red Sox trying to eliminate the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, something all of New York would surely take well. Brayan Bello will go for Boston, while lefty Carlos Rodon will go for the Bronx Bombers. Rodon will throw the game’s first pitch shortly after 6:00 PM ET. This, too, will be carried on ESPN
The Reds will try to stave off the Dodgers in the nightcap once again, with Zack Littell still scheduled to start despite a) the Dodgers socking tons of homers in their homer-happy park, b) Littell being one of the most dinger-prone starters in the game this year, and b) All-Star Andrew Abbott being right there. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will toe the rubber for the Trolley Dodgers, with him throwing out the game’s initial offering at some point shortly after 9:00 PM ET. This one’s scheduled to be on ESPN, too, but given that Yankees/Red Sox will inevitably run long, odds are it will begin on ESPN2 for at least a handful of minutes before they shuffle coverage back over. My advice to you is to watch it via the ESPN app, so you can just click on the Reds/Dodgers stream and avoid having to change channels.
That’s a full slate of baseball for this fine first day of October. Hopefully, it ends up with a few more smiles around these parts than did yesterday.
