The Oakland A’s will switch up their starting rotation heading into their ALDS series with the Houston Astros. Chris Bassitt – who started the 2nd game of the wild card series – will take the hill in the series opener, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (via Twitter).
It would be easy to confuse Bassitt for a fungible back-end rotation type, but he’s been a consistent performer for Oakland over the years. This season represented a breakout of sorts for the 31-year-old, who went 5-2 with a 2.29 ERA/3.59 FIP over 11 starts in the regular season. He went 7 innings, giving up just 1 earned run to keep the A’s season alive in game 2 of the wild card round against the White Sox.
Lefty Sean Manaea will look for postseason redemption when he gets the ball in game 2, per Gallegos. Manaea – Gallegos reminds us – gave up 3 home runs over just two innings last season in a wild card game loss to the Rays. He’ll be familiar with his surroundings at Dodger Stadium, as his last start came in that very park a little under two weeks ago. For the year, Manaea went 4-3 with a 4.50 ERA/3.71 FIP in 11 starts.
Manaea is one of a number of southpaws the A’s could throw at the Astros, who as a team marked a 94 wRC+ against lefties in 2020 versus 102 wRC+ against right-handers. Alex Bregman crushed lefties in 2020 for a 166 wRC+, but each of Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, and Kyle Tucker performed markedly better versus right-handers this season.
After Bassitt and Manaea, the A’s could go in a number of different directions, which will likely depend on the results of the first two games. Frankie Montas, Jesus Luzardo, Mike Minor, and Mike Fiers could all be possibilities to start games 3 through 5. That group gives the A’s a slight advantage over the Astros when it comes to their rotations, writes MLB.com’s Andrew Simon.
It would be quite the showdown for Fiers to get a start late in this series. Fiers, of course, famously outed the Astros in the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the baseball world last winter. The Astros and A’s already have enough to fight about given the early-season altercation between Ramon Laureano and Astros’ hitting coach Alex Cintron, which led to suspensions for the involved parties.
All that said, Fiers may very well not be the best option for the A’s. Though he started the deciding third game of the wild card series, he lasted just 1 2/3 innings. In prior seasons, he’s been passed over for key postseason starts both with the Astros and the Athletics. Luzardo is certain to land higher on the pecking order than Fiers, though he could be utilized out of the bullpen as he was in 2019. The same can be said for Montas, who came out of the bullpen for a two-inning stint against the White Sox.
On the other side, manager Dusty Baker announced Lance McCullers Jr. and Framber Valdez as the starters for games 1 and 2, respectively, per the Athletic’s Jake Kaplan and others. The only real surprise here is that Zack Greinke would then be held out until game 3. Greinke is less likely than others to show up out of the bullpen the way Valdez did in game 1 of the wild card series. Still, with a 5-game series in 5 days, there figures to be less opportunity for that sort of roster manipulation. There will be a game 3, and no matter how the first two games of the series go, the Astros figure to feel pretty good with a rested Greinke ready to go in game 3. Baker, to be clear, has not named his game 3 starter.
coupofthecentury
(places popcorn in the microwave to get ready for series)
Asfan0780
McCullers has been tough on A’s in past. Unless it’s an elimination scenario I wouldn’t pitch fiers or minor at all in this series. Maybe in a 5th game I’d go Bassitt short rest and all relievers after. Luzardo and montas have dominant stuff but prone to mistakes
texasfury93
Fiers is scared of pitching against the Astros.
GreenWood Porter
He should be, especially after they scored 10 runs in game 1.
MWeller77
Trash can batting cleanup no doubt
los olney boys
I bet you think you’re so clever with that witty comment.
Inside Out
It was very clever given the Astros are a scumbag organization with scumbag cheating players who we can only hope get swept.
nowheredan
Tiresome comments like this are why I’ve gone 180 and now hope the Astros win the whole thing.
MWeller77
I think Carlos Correa’s continued antics are far more tiresome than 1,000 trash can jokes
pc01
Na, you can be right about the Astros being big mean cheaters… still doesn’t make the comment clever.
MWeller77
Trash can jokes may not be clever but they are endlessly funny. They also seem to get funnier the more people complain about them *shrug emoji*
92jays
More like trash can batting 1-9
Ashtem
Beane deserves a WS ring.
seth3120
He really dose. He’s put so many playoff caliber teams together witch a small marker budget you’d think one of these years things would fall into place and they’d win one. Tampa Bay is about due too but Beane created the type of baseball operations the Rays use now
123redsox
Beane isn’t about winning world series. He’s about keeping teams relevant that shouldn’t be. Ultimately, you need to pay for premium talent and you need premium talent to separate yourself from the teams that are relevant but not winning anything
wild bill tetley
Beane doesn’t deserve one until his team actually reaches a WS. You usually have to earn the ring to get one. He hasn’t.
julyn82001
A’s Billy Beane is just a tremendous VP, Manager of analytics. Unfortunately, He is just a minority owner for the Athletics and therefore his hands are often tied specially considering the small budget he’s been giving to begin with. Beane is definitely overdue for a WS ring.
wild bill tetley
Win an ALCS first.
steven st croix
I would love to se Fiers get blasted by Houston.
arc89
Why? So your morals is if you see thieves break in to your neighbors house you say nothing because thieves are good people got it
92jays
He must be an Astros fan
texasfury93
I would love to see other thieves punished, but that won’t happen because Manfred doesn’t want to conduct a league-wide investigation.
GreenWood Porter
Is that supposed to be an analogy? Pretty weak if you ask me.
Mrtwotone
I hope the athletics win the AL
geg42
A’s should be careful with Bregman. Luzardo pitching to Abreu in game 1 vs the White Sox was poor strategy. They can’t allow mistakes like that in this series.
mlbnyyfan
If Beane cared about winning he would of left already. Cohen should make him an offer he can’t refuse
A'sfaninLondonUK
Yeah – @nyyfan…..
Beane made a statement that but for the money offered (by the Mets by coincidence) he’d have gone to Stanford, rather than being drafted as a high school kid. He subsequently was persuaded to invest that (I think) $125,000 in a business that failed….
He vowed to make it the only decision he’d ever make based on money. A luxury which he has (now) but most of us don’t.
Subsequently he’s rejected offers from a number of MLB teams (most prominently the Red Sox) because he wants to be basically be his own man and do his own thing.
Your mantra – that availability is the best ability – applies. He isn’t available unless it is under his own terms…. which given Cohen is a billionaire isn’t that likely IMHO…
NativeAmerican
Arty Moreno should make Beane an offer he can’t refuse.
Allen Adams
Dusty Baker needs a a ring.
nrd1138
Why the Astros are even allowed to be in the playoffs is beyond me. MLB was wayyyy to easy on the org. They should have been banned for at least 1 season from the playoffs (actually two would have been better).
Redwood13
Gee ban them for life, more then 2/3 of that team have moved on to other teams including A’s, Yankees, white Sox, Twins, Red’s, and some retired. No one ever saying anything about them.
Asfan0780
Yet those players that moved onto other teams weren’t really among the stars or core players and actually dealt with the media and apologized . I haven’t seen one current astros player do that although maybe they were told not to, who knows. I actually liked Correa pre scandal, but the more he talks trying to play the victim motivation, them against the world and haters type thing, is ridiculous
markakis
This is the problem. Marisnick and Marwin in particular escaped the hatred of the media. The whole thing was about scapegoating the astros to avoid mlb having to also investigate NYY, TEX, MIL, who were all named in the original report.
texasfury93
Pretty sure Marwin had the highest percentage of “bangs’ among any of the players from that team, but I haven’t reviewed the data in a while. I could be incorrect. Weird though, how he has escaped criticism and attacks.
jessaumodesto
I thought the A’s were going to go 0-2 BBQ in the first series. We don’t have a prayer of winning this next series
JesusLizard44
Is that some reverse psychology you’re playing on the baseball gods? They went 7-3 against the Astros this year, all 3 losses came from DH games.
jessaumodesto
Have you watched the A’s in the post season the last 30 years?
GreenWood Porter
Obviously not, poor deluded Athletics fan.
jdgoat
I find it amazing that a team as good as the A’s had to start a pitcher like Mike Fiers in an elimination game. I want them to come out of the AL but I don’t know if they can, unless their bullpen can really pitch otherworldly.
Asfan0780
Well Sean Manaea would’ve started but white Sox great vs lefties. Mike minor may have been an option but also lefty. Frankie montas had just pitched the Sunday before and over 110 pitches. I personally wouldn’t start fiers this week vs Astros
texasfury93
The rat is scared of the Astros.
pinstripes17
the asterisks finished the season with a losing record, i promise you absolutely nobody is scared of those washed up cheating bums
jdgoat
The Yankees cheated
GreenWood Porter
So did the Red Sox. And everyone in MLB is afraid of those bums.