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Game 3 of the American League Division Series between Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox has been postponed and will be played at 6:08 p.m. ET on Monday evening in Boston, according to Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram.

Cleveland holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. 

Cleveland’s three home runs in Game 1 paced the 5-4 win to open the series, while Corey Kluber’s seven shutout innings and Lonnie Chisenhall’s three-run homer led Cleveland to a 6-0 victory in Game 2.

While Cleveland has the Red Sox on the ropes, Josh Tomlin—the scheduled starter for Game 3—doesn’t want the team to grow complacent, according to what he told reporters in this clip from a recent press conference:

Certainly, the Red Sox aren’t about to concede anything.

“We have to win one game and go from there,” slugger David Ortiz told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. “We’re not done. We haven’t got in a rhythm yet. I think we will.”

Pitcher Clay Buchholz—who will start Game 3 for Boston—concurred:

It’s about you’re not out until the final out is made, and the only reason that we’re here is because of everybody and what they have done throughout this year. We have a potential couple MVP candidates, potential Cy Young candidate on this team. We’re a really good ball club and there’s no need to put added pressure or added stress on one game because of what could happen.

Boston’s offense is capable of slugging the team back into contention. The Red Sox led MLB in runs scored (878) and batting average (.282) this year, spurred by MVP candidates in Ortiz and Mookie Betts and excellent seasons from Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez.

Once the rains cease, Boston will need that lineup to wake up Monday night and save the season after being stifled in Game 2. 

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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It’s now or never for the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers.

Both teams are down 0-2 in their respective playoff series against the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays, and they must come up with wins Sunday if they are to remain alive in the postseason.

While the Red Sox are at least back at Fenway Park for Game 3 (and Game 4, if necessary), the Rangers are on the road at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Texas at Toronto, 7:38 p.m. ET, Toronto leads 2-0

That’s clearly a difficult task for the Rangers, but it’s one that is not impossible to overcome. Just one year ago, these same two teams met in the ALDS, and the Rangers took a 2-0 lead by winning the first two games in Toronto. The Blue Jays went on the road for Games 3 and 4 and won both of those games before returning home for Game 5 and winning that as well.

If the Rangers are going to pay the Blue Jays back, it will start with getting a strong effort from starting pitcher Colby Lewis. The Rangers starters have been hit hard by Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki, and that has allowed the Blue Jays to earn early leads and play with confidence.

Lewis, who was 6-5 with a 3.71 earned run average and a 1.126 WHIP, will need to be at his best to keep the Toronto bats in check. 

Aaron Sanchez will be on the mound for the Blue Jays, and he had a sensational 15-2 season with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.167 WHIP. Sanchez was at his best in the regular-season finale when he shut down the Red Sox at Fenway Park, and that helped the Blue Jays earn their spot in the playoffs.

In addition to getting a top effort from Lewis, the Rangers will need the big hitters in their lineup to pick up their production. Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre are the keys to the Texas attack, as those two combined for 65 home runs this season. Neither player has hit a home run in the first two games of the series.

None of their teammates have hit a home run, either. That needs to change in Game 3.

Prediction: The Rangers should be at their best in this elimination game. Look for them to stay close throughout, but Sanchez can be a shutdown pitcher, and he should get the job done here. He will give the Blue Jays eight strong innings, and Toronto sweeps the series with a 2-1 victory.

Cleveland at Boston, 4:08 p.m. ET, Cleveland leads 2-0

Clay Buchholz will get the ball for the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, and that’s quite a turnaround for a pitcher who was dropped from the rotation earlier this year.

However, when he got his second chance from manager John Farrell, Buchholz did a much better job in the final weeks of the season. Buchholz made a mechanical change to his delivery, as he decided to pitch from the stretch throughout the game.

After eliminating his windup, Buchholz became a much more effective pitcher. He was 3-0 in his final four starts with a 3.14 ERA and a 1.151 WHIP. Those numbers represent a significant improvement over his season-long numbers that included an 8-10 record with a 4.78 ERA.

Boston starters Rick Porcello and David Price were hit hard in Games 1 and 2, and the Red Sox need Buchholz to give them six solid innings.

They also need their hitters to pick it up after a disappointing performance in Cleveland. Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. need to start hitting the ball well if the Red Sox are going to resemble the team that led the American League with 878 runs scored.

The Indians were the beneficiaries of clutch hitting and excellent pitching performances by reliever Andrew Miller in Game 1 and starter Corey Kluber in Game 2. They are sending Josh Tomlin to the mound at Fenway Park, and if manager Terry Francona can get five or six innings from him before turning the game over to the Indians bullpen, he should be happy.

Cleveland will look to sluggers Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana for offensive production. Both players hit 34 home runs this season and are capable of big games in Boston.

Prediction: The Indians will not fade away on the road, and they will get at least three runs off of Buchholz. However, the Red Sox offense will come alive, and they will hit Tomlin and the Cleveland pitching staff hard. The Red Sox get back in the series with an 8-4 victory.

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Dropped from the pitching rotation in July, Clay Buchholz holds the key to the Boston Red Sox postseason in his right arm.

Buchholz will take the mound in Game 3 Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park as the Red Sox try to stay alive in their American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians.

After dropping the first two games of the series at Progressive Field, the heavily favored Red Sox have put themselves in a position where they must win two games at Fenway Park to force a return trip to Cleveland if they are going to survive and advance in the postseason.

The Texas Rangers are in an even more precarious position. They also dropped the first two games of their series with the Toronto Blue Jays, but the Rangers dropped both of those games at home. They have to go to the Rogers Centre in Toronto and win two before they can return to Arlington, Texas, for a potential fifth game of the series.

Cleveland at Boston; Cleveland leads 2-0

The Red Sox need Buchholz to pitch with the same kind of confidence he showed in his most recent starts. Buchholz had a largely forgettable season, as he was 8-10 with a 4.78 earned run average and a 1.328 WHIP.

Buchholz had a hard time keeping the ball in the ballpark, and he was hit hard for much of the year. However, a tip from batting coach Chili Davis helped him turn things around later in the year. 

Davis let Buchholz know that he was much tougher to read when he was pitching from the stretch. It was harder to pick up the ball, and it wasn’t as easy to read his pitches.

Buchholz took Davis’ advice and started pitching exclusively from the stretch. While it did not turn him into a dominating flamethrower, Buchholz is 3-0 in the last 28 days, and his ERA is 3.14 with a WHIP of 1.151.

In years past, Buchholz was one of the Red Sox aces, but injuries regularly kept him from dominating for a full season. That was not the case this season, when he was hit hard for the majority of the year but has remained healthy.

If Buchholz has truly gotten his act together, he can help steady the Red Sox’s starting pitching, which was a major disappointment in the two games in Cleveland.

Boston’s hitters must also come through the way they did throughout the majority of the season. Boston scored a league-high 878 runs this season, but Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. did not swing the bat well in Cleveland.

It seems more likely that they will find their batting strokes at home.

The Indians don’t want to change a thing after winning the first two games of the series at home. Cleveland got clutch hitting in both games, and manager Terry Francona used his bullpen in spectacular fashion in Game 1 and got a brilliant start from Corey Kluber in Game 2.

Another bullpen game is likely in Game 3, because starter Josh Tomlin seems quite hittable. Tomlin had a 13-9 record during the regular season, but his 4.40 ERA demonstrates he will give up a few runs. His 1.190 WHIP is quite respectable, but the Red Sox’s big bats should be ready to do some damage.

That’s where reliever Andrew Miller should come into play. He is a powerful left-hander with tremendous stuff and an ability to throw one of the nastiest sliders around. If the Indians stay in touch on the scoreboard or even have a lead, Miller could be a huge difference-maker.

The Indians also need Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana to deliver some big hits at Fenway. Napoli—a former Red Sox slugger—and Santana both hit 34 home runs this season.

Keys for a Cleveland victory: Stay close through the first few innings, get Miller in the game to shut down the big bats and get clutch hits from Napoli and Santana.

Keys for a Boston victory: Take advantage of the home field and get the bats going the way they were throughout the majority of the regular season. Buchholz also must give the Red Sox six strong innings and depart with the lead.

Texas at Toronto; Toronto leads 2-0

It would seem that the Texas Rangers are hanging on by a thread. Even though the Rangers had the best record in the American League and earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason, they lost the first two games of the American League Division Series at home.

The situation might seem hopeless, but there’s this little piece of history to consider: The Rangers and the Blue Jays met in last year’s ALDS, and the Rangers won the first two games at the Rogers Centre and took a 2-0 lead home. However, the Blue Jays bounced back with with two road wins of their own and then took the decisive game on their home field.

Can the Rangers pay the Blue Jays back? If they are going to do that, they are going to need pitcher Colby Lewis to have a standout game.

Lewis had a 6-5 record and a 3.71 ERA, and he is going to need to cool down the Blue Jays’ hot hitters. At the same time, the Rangers are going to have to shake their inconsistencies at the plate and find a way to get to Aaron Sanchez, who was 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA.

Sanchez was dominant for the Blue Jays Oct. 2 when Toronto clinched its playoff appearance with a win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Toronto jumped all over the Texas pitching in the first two games of the series, and it’s clear that the Rangers will need improved starting pitching to slow down hitters like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki.

At the same time, the Rangers need their big hitters like Rougned Odor, Adrian Beltre, Ian Desmond and Mitch Moreland to suddenly get hot.

A complete reversal of what happened at Globe Life Park is what the script requires. If it doesn’t, the Blue Jays should finish this series in three games.

Keys for a Texas victory: An excellent starting pitching effort from Lewis, with clutch hitting from big hitters like Odor and Beltre.

Keys for a Toronto victory: Stay hot with the bats and continue to get big hits with runners on base. If Sanchez can throw the same type of game he did against Boston last week, the Jays should be ready to advance to the ALCS.

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The American League Division Series could reach a rapid conclusion Sunday with the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers already facing elimination after dropping the first two games against the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays, respectively.

Boston and Texas don’t have to look back too far for a source of optimism, though. Just last year, the Blue Jays fought back from a 2-0 hole to stun the Rangers in the ALDS. Surely that provides some added motivation for Jeff Banister’s group to flip the script this time around.

Let’s check out all of the important details for Sunday’s slate, including viewing information and odds for both matchups. That’s followed by game previews and predictions.

Sunday’s MLB Playoff Schedule

Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox (2-0 CLE)

The Red Sox wanted to give David Ortiz a storybook ending to his career, but that’s not going to happen unless the team’s starting pitching improves in a hurry. Rick Porcello gave up five earned runs in 4.1 innings in Game 1, and David Price allowed the same number of runs in 3.1 innings in Game 2.

Now they turn to Clay Buchholz to save their playoff hopes. He finished the regular season with a lackluster 4.78 ERA, but it’s worth noting he pitched much better after the All-Star break. His ERA was 5.91 in the first half and 3.22 in the second half.

Preventing the Indians from building another early lead is essential. Beyond that, longtime Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia believes the team has simply gotten away from playing its brand of baseball so far, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

“I think we’ve kind of lost who we are,” Pedroia said. “We’re the Boston Red Sox. We need to go out there and play the game. We should dictate the tempo of the game and how everything should be played.”

Meanwhile, what the Indians have been able to accomplish with injuries to starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar is astonishing. But now their rotation depth will get tested as they trot out Josh Tomlin to face the league’s highest-scoring offense.

John Buccigross of ESPN commented on the Indians’ ability to attack the potent Boston lineup:

Ultimately, the lack of reliability from the Red Sox starting staff makes it difficult to envision a path where they win three straight games. But the offense is too strong to go down with a whimper, so they should slug their way to a Game 3 victory to stay alive.

Prediction: 7-5 Red Sox

Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays (2-0 TOR)

The Blue Jays faded down the stretch of the regular season, looking nothing like a team capable of making a World Series run. But when there’s a roster with that much talent, especially offensively, sometimes all it takes is one spark to turn things completely around.

It seems that’s exactly what’s happened with Toronto after it survived an 11-inning battle with the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Round. The team’s bats have returned to form, pounding out 15 runs over the first two games against Texas.

SportsCenter highlighted the odds for teams in the Jays’ current spot:

The Rangers must do a much better job in clutch situations if they want to get back in the series. They threatened in each of the final three innings of Game 2 but came away with just two runs in those frames and three runs for the game. In all, they left 13 men on base.

But Texas does have the added motivation of the Jays’ aforementioned comeback in this round last year to lean on. Third baseman Adrian Beltre admitted it’s something on the team’s collective mind as it heads north of the border for Game 3, per T.R. Sullivan and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

“We have to win,” Beltre said. “There’s no tomorrow. Not only that, we’re trying to do what they did to us last year. Hopefully we can turn it around and do the same thing they did to us last year. We know we can do it. We just need to get it done in the field. There’s no doubt we believe in this team.”

Alas, the pitching matchup favors Toronto. Aaron Sanchez, who went 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA for the Jays during the regular season, will take on Colby Lewis. The Rangers’ starter gave up 19 homers in 19 starts, which isn’t a hopeful sign as he prepares to face a power-filled lineup.

Prediction: 5-4 Blue Jays

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When the goal is to snap a World Series championship drought that’s existed for longer than Wrigley Field itself, it’s best to leave as little as possible to chance.

That pretty much explains the 2016 Chicago Cubs.

To do a quick recap of what happened in the regular season, the Cubs won 103 games and scored 252 more runs than they allowed. Both figures far outpaced those of any other team. The long and short of it is that the rest of Major League Baseball had no answer for how to stop Chicago.

So why should anybody be surprised that the San Francisco Giants haven’t found it in the National League Division Series?

One day after a thrilling 1-0 win in Game 1, the Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 series lead with a 5-2 win in Game 2 at Wrigley Field on Saturday night. This one was less thrilling. Both clubs scored all their runs in the first four frames. Then there was a bullpen battle that featured little drama until Aroldis Chapman closed it out with the help of his triple-digit heat.

And just like that, the Cubs are now one win away from their second trip to the National League Championship Series in as many years.

Oh, I know. It’s not wise to count the Giants out.

They weren’t always favored in their postseason matchups in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and more than once (2012 NLDS, 2014 NLCS), they found themselves with their backs against the wall. They cast whatever spell it is they cast and won three World Series anyway. And now they’re going home and will be throwing ace left-hander/postseason pitching deity Madison Bumgarner in Game 3.

“It’s tough to lose two here, but it’s a case that we have been down this road before,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, per Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “It’s never easy with us, so we’re hoping to get one here, but now we go home, and you keep fighting. That’s all you can do.”

However, nothing the Giants have experienced in their three World Series runs has prepared them for a team like the Cubs. Simple fact is: There is no team like the Cubs.

Their lineup was the first thing that caught the eye coming into the year, and it lived up to the hype. The Cubs finished second in the National League in runs and first in on-base percentage.

Manager Joe Maddon’s mixing, matching and manipulating were key. Even disregarding the pitcher’s spot, the Cubs’ skipper used 130 different lineups during the regular season. He didn’t use any one particular lineup more than six times. Taken with the collective on-base ability, the Cubs offense has basically been a shape-shifting monster that just…keeps…coming.

The shape-shifting aspect has yet to be seen in the NLDS. Maddon has only changed the last two spots in the two lineups he’s used. But the relentlessness of the Cubs offense was felt Saturday when it chased Jeff Samardzija with six hits, a walk and four runs in the first two innings.

Not to be overlooked in the midst of that was Javier Baez, who showed off another quality of this Cubs offense. Per FanGraphs, the Cubs were a top-five baserunning team in the regular season. Being aggressive in the right situations was a factor in that, and Mike Axisa of CBS Sports is right to point out how Baez’s aggressiveness on a single by Kyle Hendricks created an extra run.

Roughly 24 hours earlier, it was Baez who displayed the other noteworthy quality of the Cubs offense. He was one of nine different Cubs to hit 10 or more home runs in leading the team to 199 dingers in the regular season. If Baez hadn’t been Johnny Javy on the Spot with his clutch dinger off Johnny Cueto in the eighth inning, it may eventually have been someone else.

Even Cubs pitchers are no pushovers. They posted the second-highest OPS among National League teams this season. Hendricks lived up to that with a two-run single in Game 2. Travis Wood did him one better with a solo job in the fourth, becoming the first reliever to hit a postseason homer since 1924.

Meanwhile, the same guys who form a multitalented offense also form a multitalented defense. The Cubs finished far ahead of any other team in defensive efficiency, according to Baseball Prospectus. Ditto for defensive runs saved.

This has also been felt in the NLDS. The Cubs got out of character by making three errors in Game 2, but Game 1 featured David Ross do Jon Lester a solid by cutting down two baserunners. In a game that was scoreless until the eighth, that was huge.

Of course, Lester also did his part in shutting out the Giants for eight innings. That was a bit of same ol’ same ol’ for a Cubs starting rotation that led baseball with a 2.96 ERA. Hendricks, the major league ERA leader at 2.13, may have kept it up in Game 2 if he hadn’t taken a line drive off his pitching arm.

But Hendricks’ early exit was an opportunity for Maddon to show off his bullpen. Even before he called on his big guns (Hector Rondon and Chapman) to seal the deal, a B squad of Wood, Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery combined for 3.2 scoreless innings.

That was a taste of what things were like in the second half. The Cubs had a leaky bullpen before the break. But after the break, in part due to the additions of Chapman and Montgomery, it had a 3.11 ERA that ranked second in MLB.

Considering all this, give the Giants credit that this series hasn’t been one-sided. They’ve played the Cubs tough, only getting outscored 6-2. Take away runs driven in by pitchers, it’s only 3-2. For whatever that’s worth.

But in this case, it doesn’t feel like a bad break that the Giants have played the Cubs tough and still come away with two losses. It feels like reality running its course. The Cubs have been an unstoppable force all season. With an 87-75 record that a 30-42 showing in the second half brought down, the Giants are a poor fit as the immovable object that’s going to stop them.      

The big question, as such, remains unchanged: Is any team a good fit for that role?   

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Game 2 of the National League Division Series may not have gone as planned for the Chicago Cubs, but they earned a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants and took a commanding 2-0 series lead Saturday at Wrigley Field. 

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks caused mass panic in Chicago when he exited in the top of the fourth inning after taking a line drive to his right (pitching) arm off the bat of Angel Pagan. 

Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reported Hendricks left with a right forearm contusion and was being evaluated. He led Major League Baseball with a 2.13 ERA and finished second with a 0.98 WHIP during the regular season. 

The Cubs could have an issue if Hendricks has to miss a start, though the good news is the team announced his X-rays came back negative.

Jon Lester was brilliant with eight scoreless innings in Game 1, but Game 3 starter Jake Arrieta struggled with a 3.69 ERA in the second half. Expected Game 4 starter John Lackey had a 2.76 ERA in the second half, though he only started 11 games due to injuries. 

Prior to leaving, Hendricks was having an outing to remember in an unexpected way with this two-run single in the second inning, as MLB Network showed:

Travis Wood relieved Hendricks with two outs in the fourth inning, and he struck out Conor Gillaspie to end the top half of the frame. Wood came up to bat in the bottom half of the inning and proceeded to hit a homer deep into the left field bleachers. 

Per ESPN’s Jayson Stark, home runs for relief pitchers in the postseason have become extremely rare:

Per Muskat, it hasn’t been quite as long since the Cubs have had a pitcher—starter or reliever—hit a home run in a playoff game:

At that point, Cubs pitchers accounted for three of the team’s five RBI.

The Giants were in a huge hole early because Jeff Samardzija’s first career playoff start did not go well for San Francisco. He gave up four runs in the first two innings and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the third. 

Per ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon, Samardzija’s two-inning start marked the shortest of his MLB career. Stark noted the Shark struggled against winning teams in 2016:

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, going into a 4-0 hole against Hendricks has not been a recipe for success in 2016:

Regardless of who is pitching, getting a four-run lead has been virtually an automatic win for the Cubs this season, per Baseball Tonight:

Before Hendricks was forced out, the Giants chipped away at the lead thanks to Gregor Blanco’s RBI double, which scored Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt’s sacrifice fly, which scored Blanco to make it 4-2. 

The bad news for the Giants is that was all their offense could muster.

Wood, Carl Edwards Jr., Mike Montgomery, Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman combined for 5.1 scoreless innings in which they allowed just two hits with no walks and six strikeouts. 

Another problem facing the Giants as they head back home for Game 3 on Monday is they aren’t taking advantage of holding the heart of Chicago’s lineup (Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell) to a combined 1-for-21 in the first two games. 

There is one bright spot for San Francisco even with this hole to climb out of: Madison Bumgarner. The Giants ace will take the mound at home, trying to keep his team alive. 

In case you haven’t heard, Bumgarner is pretty good in these do-or-die situations. His last run allowed in the playoffs was a solo homer by Salvador Perez the seventh inning of Game 1 of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. 

Bumgarner has gone 23 straight scoreless innings in the postseason since, including a complete-game shutout against the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card Game on Wednesday. 

The Cubs have looked every bit the best team in baseball they were during the regular season through two games. They got great pitching in Game 1 from Lester, and the offense came to life early in Game 2 before the bullpen took over. 

Even though the even-year magic may have helped carry the Giants this far, even with Bumgarner going Monday, they will need a lot of help to bring this series back to Chicago for a potential Game 5. 

Postgame Reaction

After the game, Hendricks’ arm was one of the biggest discussion points. He seemed optimistic about this being a short-term issue, per Muskat and Chris Haft of MLB.com:

When it first hit me, I didn’t really feel it in the moment. I just tried to recover and make the play. Once I started throwing off the mound, it just started tightening up on me. The X-rays were negative though, so hopefully it’s just a day-to-day thing. I’ll see how I feel over the next couple days.

From one difficult moment to another, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is using his team’s recent history of October success as a motivating factor going back home.

“It’s tough to lose two here, but it’s a case that we have been down this road before,” Bochy said, per Muskat and Haft. “It’s never easy with us, so we’re hoping to get one here, but now we go home and you keep fighting. That’s all you can do.”

There isn’t any way to sugarcoat where things stand for the Giants. All they can do is hope history is able to repeat itself starting Monday. 

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks left Saturday’s National League Division Series game against the San Francisco Giants after taking a line drive off his arm.

Continue for updates.

Latest Details on Hendricks’ Injury

Saturday, Oct. 8

X-rays on Hendricks’ arm were negative, per Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.

Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the pitcher has a bruised arm.

Hendricks Tried to Stay in Game

Saturday, Oct. 8

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed Hendricks after the right-hander tried to talk his manager into leaving him in.

Former Cubs outfielder Angel Pagan hit the liner off an 80 mph changeup from Hendricks, and it appeared to strike his forearm. Hendricks threw a few warm-up pitches, hoping to remain in the game, before Maddon made the decision to bring Travis Wood in from the bullpen.

Hendricks’ Surprise Breakout Season Gives Cubs Dominant Rotation

Hendricks is enjoying a breakout season for Chicago that’s left him among the league leaders in every major pitching category, including ERA (2.13) and ERA+ (188), per Baseball-Reference.com. It makes the prospect of an injury setback even more concerning as the team gears up for a potentially deep postseason run.

The 26-year-old has remained durable during the early stages of his major league career. He made 32 starts last season, his first full year in the big leagues, and has been a constant cog in Chicago’s rotation throughout 2016.

The Cubs still boast depth in their starting rotation for the postseason with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Hendricks is a clear difference-maker after his breakout season, and it would be a huge loss if he has to miss extended time.

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The Colorado Rockies are in search of a new manager after Walt Weiss stepped down from the job after four seasons with the club on Monday.

Continue for updates.

Perez On Rockies’ Radar

Saturday, Oct. 8

On Saturday, Thomas Harding of the Rockies’ official website reported that the team is looking at Atlanta Braves first base coach Eddie Perez as a possible candidate. Perez “acknowledged” that he’s been contacted by the organization, according to Reyes Urena of Venezuelan publication El Emergente (via Harding).

Other than Perez, Harding noted any other Rockies coaching candidates have remained unknown at the moment, although Triple-A manager Glenallen Hill’s name was mentioned during a conference call after it was announced that Weiss would not be returning. 

Perez is currently spending the offseason coaching Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan Winter League and has been a coach with the Braves for 10 seasons. 

Last season, he won the Winter League title with the Venezuelan club and advanced to the Caribbean Series, where his team fell in the finals to Mexico’s Venados de Mazatlan. 

That kind of managerial success was expected from his former teammate and future Hall of Famer, Chipper Jones, via David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

I’m not surprised at all of Eddie’s success as a manager. It is just a matter of time before he is experiencing success as a big league manager. He’s learned a ton, as have many coaches, from the great [former Braves manager] Bobby Cox. Some of the same traits that made him an all-time favorite teammate for countless players, are also what makes him a great manager now, and in the future.

The 48-year-old previously spent 11 years in the majors from 1995 to 2005 as a catcher and first baseman mostly for the Braves along with two one-year stints with the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. 

He posted a .253 career batting average with 40 home runs and 172 RBI as he spent a large portion of his career backing up Javy Lopez in Atlanta. However, his finest moment came in 1999 when he was voted NLCS MVP for batting .500 with two home runs and five RBI against the New York Mets in six games:

Whether it be Perez or another candidate, the new manager of the Rockies will have their hands full in turning around an organization that has been irrelevant for the better part of seven years. 

The 2016 season was the first time since 2010 that the Rockies didn’t finish fourth or last in the National League West Division. They haven’t had a winning season since that 2010 season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2009. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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One swing was all the difference in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez’s eighth-inning solo shot off the San Francisco Giants’ Johnny Cueto accounted for all of the night’s offense and powered the Cubs to a 1-0 Game 1 victory and identical lead in the best-of-five series.

Both teams will try to generate more offense in Game 2 when the Cubs send MLB‘s ERA leader Kyle Hendricks (16-8, 2.13 ERA, 170 K) to the mound, while the Giants will counter with former Cub Jeff Samardzija (12-11, 3.81 ERA, 167 K).

Can the Giants even things up? Or will the Cubs take a commanding 2-0 lead as the series prepares to move back to San Francisco?

Keep it here for all the action from Wrigley Field.

Final

Cubs 5, Giants 2

WP: Wood

LP: Samardzija

SV: Chapman

• Bottom 1st (CHC): Zobrist RBI single
• Bottom 2nd (CHC): Hendricks two-run single
• Bottom 2nd (CHC): Bryant RBI single
• Top 3rd (SFG): Blanco RBI double
• Top 3rd (SFG): Belt RBI sac fly
• Bottom 4th (CHC): Wood solo HR

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Saturday’s scheduled Game 2 of the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals was postponed and rescheduled for Sunday due to poor weather conditions created by Hurricane Matthew.

Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet L.A. was among the first to report Major League Baseball’s decision. David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports confirmed that Game 2 is now scheduled to start at 1:08 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon in Washington.

The Dodgers tweeted a photo of the scene at Nationals Park as the grounds crew tended to the field in an effort to ensure it is playable for Sunday:

Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the series Friday with a 4-3 victory in which Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw outdueled Washington’s Max Scherzer.

The expected pitching matchup for Game 2 will pit L.A.’s Rich Hill against Nats righty Tanner Roark.

Hurricane Matthew’s impact has been felt throughout the sports world in recent days, as a number of college football games were postponed Saturday, including a clash between Florida and LSU.

Per ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred added that Game 3 of the series remains scheduled for Monday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

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