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Marcus Stroman is about to pitch one of the biggest games of his life for the Toronto Blue Jays.

When he takes the mound Monday at the Rogers Centre against the Cleveland Indians for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, he will be attempting to keep his team in the series and out of a desperation 0-3 hole.

Despite possessing a huge power advantage with Edwin Encarnacion (42 home runs, 127 RBI during the regular season), Josh Donaldson (37 homers, 99 RBI), Troy Tulowitzki (24 home runs) and Jose Bautista (22 home runs), the Blue Jays scored a grand total of one run in the two games played in Cleveland and are down 0-2.

The Blue Jays’ inability to get to Cleveland starters Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin in the first two games caused huge problems. The Indians were able to build small but significant leads at 2-0 and 2-1, and that enabled Cleveland manager Terry Francona to turn the game over to his scintillating bullpen. The Toronto Star‘s Richard Griffin (via his colleague Brendan Kennedy) elaborated on the dominance of Cleveland’s bullpen:

That’s something Toronto manager John Gibbons does not want to see. The Cleveland bullpen, led by the redoubtable 6’7″ left-hander Andrew Miller, may be the single most intimidating weapon of the postseason.

The Cleveland bullpen will almost certainly have an opportunity in Game 3 Monday night, but the Blue Jays need to find a way to get to starting pitcher Trevor Bauer before the bullpen gets called into action.

Encarnacion and Donaldson should be able to hammer the ball off of Bauer. The Cleveland starting pitcher was 12-8 during the regular season but posted an ERA of 4.26 and a WHIP of 1.311.

The Blue Jays should be able to find a way to get to him and get their booming bats going. They ripped through a strong Texas Rangers pitching staff by scoring 22 runs in three games, but the Indians’ pitching staff simply hasn’t allowed the Blue Jays to gain any traction.

Nevertheless, Donaldson says the Blue Jays believe they have the ability to turn things around. 

“Everyone in this room is confident,” Donaldson told Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com. “We get to play three at home. We feel good at home. We feel good in playing in front of our fans. They have had two to play in front of their fans.”

They should feel confident that they can get to Bauer, who was pushed back from a Game 2 start after cutting the pinkie finger on his right hand while trying to repair a drone, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick:

However, once the game gets turned over to Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen, the Blue Jays need to have the lead or they will be playing with fire.

Miller has thrown 3.2 scoreless innings against the Blue Jays in Games 1 and 2, and there is no reason to think Francona will lessen his workload in Toronto. Allen closed out each of the first two games, while Shaw, who appeared in 75 games in the regular season, has been a workhorse for the Indians.

Keys for Cleveland

The Indians must get another strong pitching effort from their starter. Francona can’t expect Bauer to come through with a Kluber-like effort, but if he can provide five solid innings and the Indians are within a run, they should have an excellent chance of tying the game or going ahead in the late innings. If he can leave with the lead, the Tribe will likely secure a 3-0 series advantage.

Carlos Santana hit a home run in Game 2, and that’s not a surprise, considering he hit 34 home runs during the regular season. Mike Napoli also hit 34 bombs during the regular season, and the Indians would like to see him come through with a long ball or two in Toronto.

Of course, the Indians need superior relief pitching from their bullpen stars. As good as Miller is, he can’t have any lapses. Allen will likely be asked to close out the game if the Tribe has the lead. He needs to remain consistent against a powerful lineup.

Keys for Toronto

The Blue Jays need to jump out to an early lead and then keep adding to it. The best thing they can do for themselves and their fans is get runs in the first inning. They need to dictate the pace of the game by hitting the ball hard from the start against Bauer, who is not an ace.

They must also run the bases well—take the extra base when it is available, but don’t force the issue. Cleveland is a strong defensive team and would be happy to take advantage of reckless baserunning.

Finally, Stroman needs to do a solid job. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs in the Wild Card Game victory over the Baltimore Orioles. A similar or better effort will be needed here.

Stats are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The 2016 American League Championship Series couldn’t be going much better for the Cleveland Indians, who own a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays with the series shifting to Toronto.

The Blue Jays aren’t necessarily in a must-win situation in Game 3, but their chances of reaching the World Series will decline significantly if they find themselves in an 0-3 hole. In that respect, their return to Rogers Centre on Monday night couldn’t be coming at a better time.

While Cleveland took the first two games, little has separated the Blue Jays and Indians. Cleveland’s wins came by a total of three runs, and the two teams have registered 10 hits apiece.

The close margins of the series so far should give Toronto hope that it can turn things around and potentially head back to Cleveland up 3-2.

Game 3 is a great opportunity for the Blue Jays to take back some momentum.

The pitching matchup favors Toronto. Marcus Stroman will take the mound for the Blue Jays against Trevor Bauer. Overall, Stroman has performed better this year than Bauer, with their respective numbers below, courtesy of FanGraphs:

There are also question marks regarding Bauer’s throwing hand after he cut his right pinkie finger while repairing a drone. Granted, his biggest misstep of the past week was his pick for the best Star Wars movie, per NBC Sports’ Joe Posnanski:

The fact that Bauer will pitch Monday night leads one to believe the laceration is only a minor issue. Still, the 25-year-old can be wildly inconsistent from one inning to the next when he’s 100 percent. The thumb injury adds another variable to an already unpredictable pitcher.

While the Blue Jays should get back in the series with a Game 3 win, they have a long way to go before they punch their ticket to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1993.

For one, the trio of Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion hasn’t driven in a run during the first two games of the ALCS. Bautista is also batting 0-for-6 for the series and 3-for-21 with 10 strikeouts for the postseason.

According to Vice Sports’ Mike Vorkunov, Bautista is in full conspiracy mode as well:

Toronto can still win the series with a slumping Bautista—such is the depth of sluggers in the team’s offense. But Joey Bats was one of the biggest heroes for Toronto during last year’s ALCS run, and his bat is sorely missing in the Blue Jays lineup.

Far more concerning for the Jays is navigating through Cleveland’s dominant bullpen. The quartet of Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw, Cody Allen and Dan Otero has allowed two runs in 16.1 combined postseason innings.

Miller has been particularly filthy. Giving up Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield appeared to be a costly price for Cleveland to acquire the left-hander at the trade deadline, and so far, it’s one of the shrewdest trades of the season.

Miller and Indians manager Terry Francona are forcing fans to rethink the value of a dominant middle reliever. While Allen is coming out to finish games in the ninth inning, it’s clear he’s not the most important member of Cleveland’s bullpen.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy questioned why Blue Jays batters are even stepping up to the plate when Miller is on the mound:

Taking an early lead can help Toronto negate Miller’s impact, and jumping on a rotation that features Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger is achievable. But the middle of the order will have to set the tone.

Going up two games, however, provides Cleveland with some margin for error should Bauer or Clevinger have a dreadful start Monday or Tuesday before it’s Corey Kluber’s turn in the rotation again.

Between the timely hits they’re getting from their offense and their untouchable late-inning relievers, the Indians should be able to close out the ALCS when it heads back to Cleveland.

Prediction: Indians in six

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The Cleveland Indians have gotten out to a fast start in the American League Championship Series, but the Toronto Blue Jays are not going to go down without a fight.

Pitching has surprisingly been the story so far in this series, with the Indians earning wins of 2-0 and 2-1 in the first two games. Considering what we had seen from these two offenses coming into the week, fans were likely expecting a lot more scoring.

With the series shifting to Toronto for the next few games and each staff forced to go further down its rotation, we might finally start seeing some offense in Game 3.

ALCS Game 3

When: Monday, Oct. 17

Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: TBS

Odds (via Odds Shark): Cleveland (17-10), Toronto (20-37)

Preview

There were question marks about the Indians rotation coming into the postseason with both Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar suffering injuries. However, Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin showed there is still plenty of talent on the roster.

The two starters combined for 12 innings of one-run ball, which was more than enough for the shutdown bullpen to take over. Andrew Miller is getting most of the headlines—and rightfully so—after tallying 10 strikeouts in two games, but the entire bullpen has been incredible to this point, per Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs:

With manager Terry Francona’s creative use of Miller, Cleveland is truly getting the most out of its pitching staff from top to bottom.

Despite the shutdown performances through two games, however, the Blue Jays aren’t ready to give up on the series.

“I believe in this team,” Edwin Encarnacion said, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. “I know we can hit. That’s one thing I know. And the way the pitchers have been throwing the ball, that’s why I feel so comfortable.”

Toronto’s pitching staff has held up its end of the bargain, especially Marco Estrada in Game 1. The team will now turn to Marcus Stroman in Game 3, who had an up-and-down year but might be the most talented pitcher on the roster.

After allowing just two runs in six innings in the AL Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles, he should have plenty of confidence going into Monday’s battle.

The question is whether the Blue Jays offense can finally get going. Encarnacion knows the team can hit, and hitting 10 home runs in the first four postseason games wasn’t a fluke. However, the squad has zero home runs in the ALCS so far and is batting just .159 as a team.

Josh Donaldson remains red-hot, but the rest of the lineup has been inconsistent at best.

The Blue Jays will hope to find some Rogers Centre magic in the next couple of games, starting Monday against Trevor Bauer. The Indians starter failed to get out of the fifth inning in his only postseason start and is known to allow home runs.

Toronto needs to take advantage of the Indians’ third starter and finally generate some offense. Otherwise, this series is over.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter.

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CHICAGO — Here came the manager. Out of the corner of his eye, from his spot behind home plate, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal spied Dave Roberts come up the dugout steps and out onto the Wrigley Field grass. He was on his way toward the mound.

So Grandal followed his instincts. He headed to the mound himself, jogging briskly, one goal in mind: get to Clayton Kershaw before Roberts did.

There were two out, one on, bottom of the seventh and the Dodgers were in Code Red. They led 1-0, but it was a fragile 1-0, and how much more was fair to ask of Kershaw, anyway?

In the Chicago Cubs’ on-deck circle, Javier Baez was swinging his big bat, ready to author another chapter in his ongoing best-seller of an October.

“No way you’re coming out of this game,” Grandal told Kershaw.

The catcher was assessing things as this contest rolled along, and right here, right now, with the Dodgers ace at only 82 pitches and his slider still wicked, Grandal knew Kershaw had more to give.

“Has Doc signaled to the bullpen?” asked Kershaw, who hadn’t seen Roberts when he first emerged from the dugout.

“No,” Grandal said. “He hasn’t.”

It was right about then that Roberts’ cleats crunched into the dirt on the mound, signaling his arrival, and the discussion began. “I can get Baez,” Kershaw told his manager. He was adamant: “I can get him.”

The discussion was brief. Roberts turned around and headed back to the dugout.

Two pitches and one stomach-dropping moment later, Joc Pederson had hauled in Baez’s drive to the deepest part of center field. Kenley Jansen entered for a drama-free six-out save, and the Dodgers carefully packed their 1-0 victory and a dead-even National League Championship Series for the flight home to Los Angeles and Game 3 on Tuesday night.

To watch them lean on Kershaw is to wonder how much more weight his creaky back can take before it starts screaming in rebellion.

Yet to see Kershaw respond the way so few others are capable of responding—Madison Bumgarner, and then who?—is to have an up-close view of another of nature’s wonders.

Four times over the past 10 days, the Dodgers had handed him the ball and asked him to keep their World Series hopes alive. There was his Game 1 start against the Washington Nationals in the division series on Oct. 7. There was his short-rest, do-or-die start in Game 4 against Washington on Oct. 11. There was his dramatic Game 5 entrance as a closer two days after that.

And then there was Sunday night in Wrigley Field.

Kershaw’s biggest concern going in was one that is endemic to every single starting pitcher in the game: As much as he wanted the ball Thursday in Washington, he wondered how the abnormal schedule might affect him in Game 2 in Chicago.

“My last seven or eight days have been a little different, so just kind of going into the unexpected,” he said. “That was more of my concern than workload or anything like that.”

His previous October frustrations have been examined to the point the Dodgers have a hair trigger when the subject comes up. They are quick to point out that his postseason numbers coming into this October, 2-6 with a 4.59 ERA in 13 appearances (10 starts), are skewed and not all his fault.

Many of the numbers confirm that as truth. In particular, the bullpen has betrayed him over the years to a horrific degree; of the 15 baserunners the bullpen has inherited from Kershaw over his postseason starts, it has allowed eight to score. A grand total of 53 percent. And as August Fagerstrom pointed out in an excellent FanGraphs study, Kershaw has been charged with 41 earned runs in his postseason career, and he was sitting in the dugout when 20 percent of those scored.

“I’ve never bought into the narrative,” Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said in a happy clubhouse. “There’s no other pitcher I’d rather have on the mound, whether it’s February, March, May, October or November.”

When he arrived on the mound on an unusually warm October evening, it didn’t take long for Roberts to concur with Friedman.

Kershaw made his case—strongly. The manager listened.

“I had every intent to go out there and get him and go to Kenley,” Roberts said. “But as I went out there, looked him in the eye and [saw] the confidence Clayton had to get the hitter, I just went with my gut and said, ‘We can get this guy.’

“And at that point in time, that’s all I needed to hear.”

The seventh had started with a four-pitch walk to Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo, who has been quiet enough this postseason that Chicago is beginning to get concerned. But then Kershaw froze Ben Zobrist with a 93 mph fastball for a called third strike and then induced a pop to left field from Addison Russell, another Cub whose bat has gone silent.

On the second pitch after the meeting, Baez sunk his teeth into another 93 mph fastball so savagely that Kershaw thought it was curtains.

“I did,” he said. “I thought it was out for sure. He hit it pretty good.

“And yeah, after Dave came out and I kind of talked my way into it, he probably was not going to trust me again after that.”

From his vantage point at second base, Chase Utley did not think the ball was going out. But he did think it was going over Pederson’s head, which would have given Rizzo plenty of time to score from first, tie the game and then, yes, ruin another of Kershaw’s October nights.

In the stands, Friedman did not think the ball was going out because of its trajectory. But as he talked in the clubhouse afterward, he paused at one point mid-sentence. He was staring at the clubhouse flat-screen television, which was showing the highlights of the just-completed game.

“Sorry,” Friedman said. “I was watching Baez—that just scared me again.”

If the rest of this series is scripted anything like these first two games, it would not be the last time Friedman, Kershaw, Cubs manager Joe Maddon or anyone else finds their hearts skipping a few beats. Over two nights in Chicago, as the Cubs chase their first World Series title in 108 years and the Dodgers gun for their first Fall Classic appearance in 28 years, every pitch has mattered. Every inning has been taut. Every strategic decision is dissected.

Well aware of Kershaw’s recent workload and knowing how hard the Dodgers are leaning on him, the Cubs were curious to see just how well he would hold up in Game 2. Specifically, before the game, Maddon had cited his velocity and location, two telltale signs as to whether he was fatigued.

“It became apparent that he did not want to throw his curveball, I thought, and that the slider was just hit or miss for him,” Maddon said. “He pitched with his fastball, and he pitched to good spots.”

He mowed down the first 14 Cubs in order, with Baez finally breaking the perfect game with a base hit in the fifth. There wasn’t much room for error for Kershaw—Adrian Gonzalez’s solo homer in the second provided the slim margin—but that’s all he needed.

“It’s fun when you win, so yeah, I’m enjoying it right now,” Kershaw said. “When you’re in the moment, you’re just trying to constantly stop runs, preventing runs.”

That he’s done in October—and at the most opportune times. Plus, he’s done it while breaking in a new catcher, Grandal, after the club traded away his favorite catcher, A.J. Ellis, in August.

Grandal noted that in their previous couple of games together, they changed signs a few times and were adjusting to each other. On Sunday night, there was none of that.

“We got it going,” the catcher noted, adding that in that meeting on the mound, everybody, including the infielders, was on the same page about Kershaw remaining in the game.

You can say whatever you want about Kershaw’s previous Octobers, his postseason numbers and anything else, but the ace remains to these Dodgers what the sun is to Los Angeles.

“Being around here the past two years, seeing how he prepares, knowing what kind of competitor he is, looking ahead, I have more confidence in him than anybody in baseball,” Friedman said.

As for what Kershaw has crammed into these past 10 days, Friedman just shook his head.

“It should surprise me, but it doesn’t,” he said. “I feel like I’m being too flippant about it.”

In the manager’s office, the feeling is the same.

“I’ve said it time and time again: He’s the best pitcher on the planet,” Roberts said. “I’ll take him any day. As would 29 other managers.”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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Anthony Rizzo is an excellent hitter. That needs to be said, because for the first six games of the 2016 MLB postseason, he has looked like anything but.

The Chicago Cubs first baseman went 0-for-3 with a walk in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. Rizzo is now 1-for-23 in the playoffs with six strikeouts and zero extra-base hits.

That’s bad for anyone. For a guy who’s going to get NL MVP votes, it’s bad with a side of awful.

It’s not as if the Cubs are on the ropes. They defeated the San Francisco Giants in four games in the division series and won Game 1 of the NLCS Saturday.

Rizzo’s free fall, however, is disturbing. More specifically, it’s handicapping a lineup that ranked second only to the altitude-aided Colorado Rockies among Senior Circuit clubs in runs and OPS.

“Anytime you struggle, it’s going to be tough,” Cubs lefty Jon Lester said of Rizzo, per Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times. “So I think that says a lot about our team. One of our big horses isn’t swinging the bat well, and we’ve got guys ahead of him and below him that are picking him up.”

That’s true. Kris Bryant, Rizzo’s bash brother for much of the season, has been doing damage, as has second baseman Javier Baez, who appears to be throwing a budding-superstar coming-out party.

But Rizzo is one of the biggest-stirring straws in this drink. He posted a .292/.385/.544 slash line in the regular season with 32 homers and a career-high 109 RBI.

Since Game 162, that guy has been entirely missing in action.

As if to punctuate his ill-timed slump, Rizzo came up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game 2 against the Dodgers and lined out weakly to second base to send the Cubs to the showers and disappointed North Side fans to the exits.

He might as well have been a Triple-A scrub, or a pitcher pressed into emergency pinch-hitting duty.

What gives? 

Rizzo’s numbers dipped in the second half. He posted a 1.006 OPS before the All-Star break compared to an .837 mark after. But he hit six homers and tallied 16 RBI in September and October, so it’s not as if his bat turned into an undercooked spaghetti noodle.

His splits also skew worse against southpaws, not surprising for a left-handed swinger. And he’s faced three lefty starters in six playoff games, including Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner, two of the best in the business. 

More than anything, we’re dealing with a small sample size. Players slump, even the great ones, and Rizzo is slumping. He’s also battling elite competition, because that’s how it works in the postseason.

He’s not the only Cubs hitter who’s scuffling. All-Star shortstop Addison Russell and big-money free-agent Jason Heyward have likewise failed to deliver, as CBS Sports’ Kent Sterling pointed out:

Heyward, in particular, stands out because of his gaudy paychecks and grossly underwhelming regular season.

Rizzo, however, is a team leader. At age 27, he’s long in the tooth compared to many of the Cubbies’ nascent mashers. He’s a bellwether bat, the type of guy whose performance is important symbolically as well as practically.

If he can come up with a key knock or two in Game 3, it’ll energize the entire Cubs dugout. If, on the other hand, he continues his frigid ways against Dodgers lefty Rich Hill, the hand-wringing will intensify.

Anthony Rizzo is an excellent hitter. If the Cubs are going to continue their curse-busting run, he needs to start acting like it.

All statistics current as of Sunday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers evened the National League Championship Series at 1-1 with a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night at Wrigley Field.

Pitching dominated the game, with the two teams combining for five hits and 16 strikeouts.

Kyle Hendricks gave the Cubs 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits. He struck out five batters and walked four.

On another night, those numbers might’ve been good enough to propel Chicago to victory, but Clayton Kershaw was magnificent for the Dodgers. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowed two hits, struck out six and walked one.

Despite being the best pitcher in baseball and a three-time Cy Young Award winner, Kershaw has yet to enjoy much success in the postseason. He entered Sunday night with a 3-6 record and 4.79 earned run average in 16 playoff appearances.

Kershaw pitched 12.1 innings in the National League Division Series, including the final two outs of Los Angeles’ Game 5 series-clinching win over the Washington Nationals. As a result, some questioned whether fatigue would be a factor for the dominant lefty.

CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes provided his workload over the past week:

Not only did Kershaw silence the high-powered Cubs offense, but he was also efficient in doing so. ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark noted how quickly the six-time All-Star breezed through the first half of Game 2:

Statcast showed how Kershaw kept Cubs hitters on their toes by locating his pitches all over the plate:

Kershaw didn’t need much offensive support, and Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez delivered enough in the top of the second with a solo home run to left-center field. The Dodgers provided a replay of the drive:

According to Baseball-Reference.com, it was the fifth home run Hendricks allowed at home this year, compared to 11 on the road.

After Kershaw threw four perfect innings, the Cubs got their first baserunner with two outs in the fifth. Second baseman Javier Baez and catcher Willson Contreras hit back-to-back singles, but right fielder Jason Heyward fouled out to end the inning.

Los Angeles got runners on first and second with one out in the top half of the sixth. Baez made a heads-up play, though, to complete a double play and prevent any damage.

Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson hit a soft liner to second. Rather than catching the ball, Baez played it off a hop, which allowed him to get the force out at second. Shortstop Addison Russell then tagged out Gonzalez between second and third for the second out.

CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan praised Baez for thinking so quickly on his feet:

Baez was feet away from being the hero on offense in the bottom of the seventh.

With two outs in the inning and a runner on first, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts visited the mound, seemingly to replace Kershaw with closer Kenley Jansen. Instead, Roberts left his starter out for one more batter.

Baez drove a 1-0 fastball deep to center field, and the Wrigley Field crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of a go-ahead two-run homer. But the windy conditions inside the stadium knocked the ball down, and Pederson made the catch in front of the center-field wall.

Kershaw thought Chicago had taken the lead, per Stark:

According to Statcast, Baez’s flyout is a home run more often than not:

Jansen came on for Kershaw to start the eighth and set the Cubs down in order over the final two innings to seal the win.  

Rich Hill and Jake Arrieta will take the mound in Game 3 on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Hill looked strong early in his two postseason starts, but Roberts showed he isn’t afraid to remove the veteran left-hander at the first sign of trouble. Hill made it through 4.1 innings in his first outing and 2.2 innings in his second.

Should the Cubs jump on Hill in the first few innings, Roberts may once again be forced to dip into his bullpen earlier than he otherwise would’ve wanted.

Arrieta picked up a no-decision in his lone postseason start. He pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs before handing Game 3 of the National League Division Series over to his relievers.

The 2015 Cy Young winner went seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers on May 31. If he can repeat that Tuesday, Chicago will likely take a 2-1 lead in the NLCS.

Postgame Reaction

Kershaw shared his thoughts after the game with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (via Fox Sports: MLB):

Pederson praised Gonzalez, Kershaw and Jansen:

“Now it’s a race to three,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

“The big thing with Kershaw is that if he’s on top of his game, man,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, according to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale. “It is what it is. You never anticipate scoring a lot of runs.”

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The Toronto Blue Jays have been stymied by the Cleveland Indians over the last two games, but the blame might not fall completely on the players.

Jose Bautista hinted the umpires have been giving Indians pitchers favorable calls so far in the American League Championship Series. The outfielder explained Sunday, per Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star:

I’m having great at-bats. It’s just sometimes the elements and the circumstances that we have to deal with as hitters sometimes doesn’t necessarily go our way. But I’m not trying to really get into that.

All you have to do is go look at video and try to count the number of pitches they have thrown over the heart of the plate. It hasn’t been many. But they’ve been able to do that because of…the circumstances.

The Indians had some fun with Bautista’s comments on their Twitter account: 

Bautista cleverly avoided any specific mention of the calls, but it’s clear he isn’t happy with the breakdown of balls and strikes so far in a pair of losses to the Indians.

Toronto’s offense has struggled immensely in the series, generating just one run in two games after scoring 27 in the first four games of the postseason. The offense is 10-for-63 through two games, good for just a .159 batting average with zero home runs.

The Blue Jays have also struck out 25 times over two games, including 10 against Indians reliever Andrew Miller.

Bautista has been one of the biggest holes in the lineup to this point, going 0-for-6 with five strikeouts.

The squad will try to bounce back with its return home to the Rogers Centre for Game 3 on Monday. Whether the team gets more favorable calls or simply hits better, something has to change for the Blue Jays to avoid falling into an 0-3 deficit.

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Behind dominant displays from Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen, the Los Angeles Dodgers tied the National League Championship Series with a 1-0 Game 2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

In the best postseason start of his career, Kershaw stifled the Cubs through seven spectacular innings. Although the ace only threw 84 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him for Kenley Jansen, who recorded a six-out save with four strikeouts.

Kyle Hendricks limited them to one run despite issuing four walks, but Adrian Gonzalez’s solo home run in the second inning proved all the offense Los Angeles needed. 

Both sides combined for five hits in a quick game which lasted under three hours. After evening the series at 1-1, the Dodgers will now host the next three matchups, starting with Game 3 on Tuesday night.

FINAL SCORE: Dodgers 1 – 0 Cubs

W: Clayton Kershaw (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)

L: Kyle Hendricks (5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K)

SV: Kenley Jansen (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K)

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have appointed Mike Hazen as their new general manager and executive vice president, the team announced Sunday.

“We feel very strongly that we have found the ideal candidate to lead our baseball operations,” managing general partner Ken Kendrick said in a statement, via the Boston Herald. “Mike’s reputation throughout the game is impeccable, and his championship experience gives us great confidence in naming him to this position.”

And Hazen noted: “I’m extremely grateful for this incredible opportunity to help the [Diamondbacks] reach the next level.”

The 40-year-old had been with the Boston Red Sox since the 2006 season. He served as a director of player development and amateur scouting before becoming the assistant general manager under Ben Cherington. He was then named the team’s senior vice president and general manager under Dave Dombrowski in Sept. 2015.

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball had more on the hire:

Buster Olney of ESPN added:

Turning around the Diamondbacks won’t be easy, as the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2011 and went 69-93 this past season. 

One of Hazen’s first major decisions will be appointing a manager. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe speculated on one potential hire:

Torey Lovullo was Boston’s bench coach this past season. If Hazen doesn’t pursue Lovullo—or if Lovullo isn’t interested in the position—Bob Nightengale of USA Today floated the name of another potential manager:

It will be the first of many big decisions to come for Hazen as he looks to turn the Diamondbacks into a contender in the highly competitive National League West.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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The National League Championship Series kicked off with a bang on Saturday night, as the Chicago Cubs plated five runs in the bottom of the eighth en route to an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Miguel Montero delivered the big blow with a pinch-hit grand slam, and Hector Rondon was able to slam the door after the Cubs turned to Aroldis Chapman earlier in the game.

Jon Lester gave the Cubs six strong innings in a no-decision, but Kenta Maeda lasted just four innings for the Dodgers, forcing them to go to the bullpen early.

Now it’s on to Game 2, where Clayton Kershaw will take the ball for the Dodgers, and the Cubs will turn to Kyle Hendricks.

Before the action resumes on Sunday night, let’s take a look at some keys to victory for both teams as the Cubs aim to take a commanding lead and the Dodgers hope to even things up before the series shifts to Los Angeles.

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