The Division Series got underway over the weekend, with the visitors off to strong starts. The Rangers put the Orioles on the brink of elimination by taking two in Baltimore, while the Twins leave Houston with a split. Over in the National League, both Wild Card teams took Game 1 over their 100-win opponents.
With the NL series continuing this evening, some storylines to follow over the next few days:
1. National League Division Series
While the American League clubs are on a travel day, the NL teams square off in Game 2. Starting at 5:07 pm CDT, the Braves’ elite lineup will look to bounce back after being blanked in Game 1. They’ll have their work cut out for them against Zack Wheeler, who allowed one run while fanning eight over 6 2/3 innings to beat the Marlins last week. Atlanta counters with Max Fried in what’ll be the southpaw’s first appearance since September 21. The star lefty was hampered by a blister late in the regular season.
The nightcap, which begins at 8:07 pm CDT, sees the D-Backs headed back to Dodger Stadium after their 11-2 drubbing of L.A. in Game 1. Arizona sends ace Zac Gallen to the hill as they try to stretch their lead. The Dodgers counter with hard-throwing rookie Bobby Miller, who turned in a 3.76 ERA over 22 starts in his debut campaign. Miller is the most in-form pitcher on a patchwork Dodger rotation, working to a 3.36 ERA with a 24% strikeout rate since the All-Star Break. They’ll need him to carry that over in his first playoff start to avoid digging themselves a significant hole.
2. Kim Ng’s contract status
The Marlins’ surprising run came to an end when they were rather easily dispatched by the Phillies in the first round. Tough postseason aside, it was an exciting year for the Fish, who made the playoffs despite generally being viewed as the fourth-best team in the NL East going into the season. They’re on to offseason mode, although they’ll first need to address the contract of their top executive. General manager Kim Ng is reportedly in the final season of a three-year deal. It’s hard to envision owner Bruce Sherman making a change atop baseball operations just weeks after the franchise’s first full-season playoff berth in two decades. An extension feels the likeliest outcome, but there’ll be some amount of uncertainty regarding the Fish until Ng puts pen to paper.
3. Managerial interviews
Four teams presently sit without a manager. The Giants, Mets and Angels all moved on from their previous skippers, while Terry Francona stepped aside after an 11-year run in the Guardians’ dugout. There’s still not a ton of clarity on those situations, but prospective candidates are likely to interview in the coming days. San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters last week they were beginning the interview process imminently, while there’s been speculation about a few candidates (e.g. Will Venable, Carlos Mendoza, Craig Albernaz) who might be on Cleveland’s radar. One wild card: Brewers manager Craig Counsell, whose contract with Milwaukee reportedly expires at the end of this month.
vacommish
Why are the times in the article being posted in CST since most everywhere uses EST.
Dodgerfan34
The West is the best.
Jim Morrison.
I.M. Insane
Get here and we’ll do the rest.
avenger65
And so is the central. Every time I see a starting time I have to subtract an hour. This time, thanks to MLBTR, it’s our turn.
Fever Pitch Guy
avenger – There is a very, very easy solution.
Central Zone states should stay on Daylight Savings Time throughout the year, that would keep them aligned with Eastern Zone states for at least half the year … better than nothing (until the DST laws change in the East).
In Seager/Hader We Trust > the 70 MM DH Ohtani
The site is owned by a Cubs’ fan. He must be pretty sad most years, though.
Roguesaw2
It’s local time for the guy who runs the site
BaseballisLife
Because Tim Dierkes is in Chicago.
rockiesmagicnumber
Meanwhile us Coloradoans have been doing timezone math our whole lives
AHH-Rox
I bet those times aren’t really CST. We are still on Daylight Saving Time.
Deadguy
Does that apply in Arizona bay?
Prospectnvstr
Speaking of griping, now it’s my turn to gripe. The Cleveland BASEBALL team is CURRENTLY known as the GUARDIANS. They were FORMALLY called the Cleveland INDIANS. Prior to that they were the NAPS and the SPIDERS. Terry Francona was the CLEVELAND’s manager for 11 years. He’s ONLY managed the GUARDIANS for the last couple
Deadguy
Do the California Angel’s play in Anaheim, or Los Angeles? Depends who you ask? I liked the idea of changing the name back to the spiders? But you know “something corporate” happened… MONEY ITS A HIT
avenger65
Happyripper: There was a poll taken by the fans to rename the Indians, which is not offensive to begin with. I’m Italian and I would have nothing against a team name The Italians. It is not offensive. Anyway, the winning name was The Spiders, but ownership ignored the poll that they began and they chose the Guardians, which is the dumbest name in all of sports. The Washington FB team waited a year before settling on The Commanders. Now that’s a cool name. Back 100+ years ago the media named bb teams. One year Cleveland had a lot of tall players so the media called them the Spiders. They also had several other names. I still refer to them as the Indians.
SonnySteele
Avenger: How about a team named the Dagos? 😉
Slow day at work
@avenger65 imagine if you are Italian, but people call you “Frenchies” and they name a team after your people called the Frenchies with a pretty racist mascot of a mustachioed dark skin man eating a slice of pizza. That’s pretty much the equivalent of the Cleveland Indians.
Now, personally, I would have preferred they kept the Native American theme and chosen a name that honors Native Americans instead of ridiculing them. Even the name Spiders would have been better than Guardians, but I guess that’s what people in Cleveland chose.
Farian
Italians are no longer a marginalized class in society, so you can shut up. Ask Native Americans what they think. That opinion is what matters, not yours.
HalosHeavenJJ
Do the New York Giants and Jets play in the state of New York? Or the Dallas Cowboys in the city of Dallas?
Teams use the name of the media market not the actual location nowadays.
Hemlock
IS your GRIPE that your CAPS LOCK key keeps locking? It’s a CAPS LOCK KEY—it is supposed to LOCK. That’s like getting ANGRY at the SPACEBAR key for taking up too much SPACE on the KEYBOARD.
metsoptimist
Sorry to do this, but it’s “formerly.”
JoeBrady
No, at the time, would the Cleveland Indians be considered a “formal” name?
Farian
They are also formally called the Guardians.
Check your spelling if you’re gonna “gripe” in what’s a thinly veiled complaint that they changed their racist branding.
Troy Percival's iPad
I see we’re airing out gripes today. Devonta Smith was worth only 1.1 Points in Fantasy Football this week, so go Braves
ohyeadam
Marlins probably want to extend Ng. They should’ve done it before she gets her chance to interview around the league for all these new opening though
solaris602
Similar to the Counsell situation. If the organization wanted to keep her, why haven’t they acted on that before now? We’ll probably never know, but the facts cannot be denied. The Marlins currently do not have a GM.
SonnySteele
Maybe the Marlins prefer Fords… 😉
BigFred
They need to quickly extend her because “it was an exciting year for the Fish, who made the playoffs despite generally being viewed as the fourth-best team in the NL East going into the season” and they finished up as the third-best team in the NL East. Only 20 games out of first.
Rezimodos
Extend her for what? Having a poor track record and getting bailed out by the team hitting a hot streak at the right time? She had little if anything to do with their success and a great deal to do with the issues they battled through all season many of which will linger into next year.
Old York
I picked the O’s but they look like they’re done. Buh Bye! Time for another rebuild…
Braves & Dodgers are junk teams. I’ll look forward to saying Buh Bye to them soon.
solaris602
Sir, you have missiles incoming from BAL, LA, and ATL. Just sayin’
avenger65
Old York: I know you sometimes post things just to stir things up, and that’s OK. I’m sure a lot of posters see through that. Anyway, I’m not counting the Os out just yet, but I didn’t realize how good the Rangers are. Same with the Braves. They’re not done yet. I would love to see an Arizona/Baltimore WS, but unfortunately that ain’t gonna happen.
Old York
@avenger65
In all seriousness, I will stick with the O’s to win, as I did pick them. I was mostly poking fun at myself for picking them and they’re down 0-2. Anything can happen and wouldn’t be surprised if the Braves and Dodgers come back but who knows. It’s the fun part of baseball.
Old York
@solaris602
Don’t worry, I have a defense shield.
metsoptimist
I would love the Mets to hire Kim Ng.
avenger65
The Marlins would be crazy to let Ng go after she added players that made the PO. But GMs who had their team make the PO have been fired before. Just look at Houston last year.
Rezimodos
To do what? Pass papers for David Stearns?
Slider_withcheese
Ng is just a novelty. She hasn’t done anything. That whole roster is loaded with preArb or Arb 1 guys minute Bell and Soler. The hard part is ahead for her. Wouldn’t surprise me to see her bail out so she doesn’t have to do any real work.
Manfred Rob's Earth Band
Why is that? Has she exhibited the quitter mentality before?
Slider_withcheese
The Mariners, San Diego Padres, Angels, and Giants all passed on her for a reason.
disadvantage
@slider – You dodged @manfred’s question. Has she exhibited the quitter mentality before? 30+ years in the industry and being promoted to GM seems pretty hard working, but you seem to know something we do not.
As for the Mariners, Padres, Angels, and Giants:
– All four of those teams missed the playoffs in spite of having aspirations, and making moves to win
– All four of those teams performed the same or worse compared to last year (Angels being the “same”, but also the worst of that group). The Marlins made the playoffs and won 15 more games compared to last year, and in a tougher division
– Fans of the Padres, Angels, and Giants are screaming for front-office changes
So please do tell us the reason why the Mariners, Padres, Angels, and Giants passed on her, and why they are better teams because of it.
metsoptimist
Why don’t you state outright what you’re getting at?
Rezimodos
She’s a bum.
Farian
and you’re a misogynist clown
JoeBrady
Way too early to tell. She’s about 1.5 years in, right? I see good and some bad. Arreaz was good. Soler, Cueto & Segura not so good, and I have no idea what she was thinking with Cueto & Segura.
Farian
So all those years in baseball make her a novelty? Your chauvinism is showing. She’s more qualified than nearly every GM in the game.