This is it. This is the last day this year where there will be at least four MLB games happening on the same day. It’s Game 4 for the two ALDS matchups and Game 3 for the NL, and regardless of which of these
series continue on, the AL and NL will wrap up on different days. Enjoy it if you are able to enjoy baseball that does not involve the Orioles.
The games are staggered with start times every two hours, so you can probably watch continuously for something like nine hours if you have the interest. There are worse ways to spend a day. How satisfied one is at the end may depend on the results of the games.
Here is where things stand. Any one of the four series could end today. The Brewers and Dodgers are one win away from pulling off sweeps. Either the Mariners or the Blue Jays could wrap up their series on the road with a win today. Those last two teams, if they don’t wrap up today, would then have the home field advantage in a potential Game 5. My mild preferences for victory today are as follows: Blue Jays (to sweep the Yankees), Mariners (never won WS), Brewers (never won WS), Cubs (to wear out the Dodgers more).
Wednesday’s games:
Mariners at Tigers, 3:08 Eastern, FS1
Seattle leads, 2-1
Starting pitchers: Bryce Miller (SEA), Casey Mize (DET)
The original plan for Seattle would have been to have Bryan Woo pitching in this game. Woo had a 2.94 ERA and 0.927 WHIP over 30 starts this season. Pretty good! However, Woo was left off the ALDS roster due to pectoral inflammation, so it’s Miller (5.68 ERA, 1.406 WHIP) instead. That’s a tough downgrade there. At least they played well enough over the first three games that this one is not a must-win. They’d still probably rather win if they can, of course.
Brewers at Cubs, 5:08 Eastern, TBS
Milwaukee leads, 2-0
Starting pitchers: Quinn Priester (MIL), Jameson Taillon (CHC)
Priester was not even in the Brewers organization when the season began. The Red Sox weirdly traded him in April and the result is Milwaukee has a solid Game 3 starting pitcher in the postseason. Priester posted a 3.32 ERA in the regular season. Perhaps he was fortunate to outperform his 4.01 FIP, but either way, as an Orioles fan it’s pretty easy to be envious of that kind of out-of-nowhere rotation find.
Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:08 Eastern, FS1
Toronto leads, 2-1
Starting pitchers: Louis Varland (TOR), Cam Schlittler (NYY)
I won’t be glad if the Blue Jays win but I will be glad if the Yankees lose. Toronto blew a 6-1 lead last night to end up losing 9-6. They could have had a sweep. Now, they’ve got to avoid choking away a slam dunk series win.
Phillies at Dodgers, 9:08 Eastern, TBS
Los Angeles leads, 2-0
Starting pitchers: Aaron Nola (PHI), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD)
In contrast to all of these other series, this one started out with the road team winning the first two games. The Dodgers have the easiest road of anyone to advance, in that they only need to win one of three games – the first two of which will be at home – to get to the League Championship Series round of the postseason.
The other thing that seems to swing this solidly in favor of the Dodgers is who the Phillies are starting. Although Nola has been a decent-to-good pitcher in his career, highly durable even when results were more on the decent side, this was a bad year for him. His ERA finished above 6 and he only started 17 games.
This is not an ideal circumstance for having your team’s back against the wall. Imagine the Orioles down 2-0 in a postseason series (yeah, I know, it’s not hard) and their Game 3 starter is Brandon Young. That’s the kind of 2025 results we’re talking about.
