The playoffs have featured underdog wins in each of the first three games, highlighting the parity running rampant in baseball.
On Thursday, the World Series favorite Toronto Blue Jays fell 5-3 at home to the second-half-surging Texas Rangers while losing MVP candidate Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista in the process.
Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta stunned the Pittsburgh Pirates in Wednesday’s 4-0 win in the National League Wild Card Game, becoming the first pitcher in postseason history to throw at least 10 strikeouts with no walks, according to Ace of MLB Stats.
Meanwhile, the 100-win St. Louis Cardinals seem to have their beleaguered roster intact at the right time with Adam Wainwright’s return last week and the addition of Yadier Molina to the playoff roster.
With the division series off and running, here are a few key matchups to watch.
Cardinals Meet Cubs for First Time in Postseason
Given their chronicled history—2,363 meetings, according to Dayn Perry of CBS Sports—it’s hard to believe the Cubs and Cardinals have never clashed beyond the regular season.
Before 1969, the playoffs only consisted of the World Series between the National and American League champions. The Cubs and Cardinals play in the same league. From 1969 to 1994, after the league championship series was implemented, only division winners met in the semifinals. The Cubs and Cardinals play in the same division. Major League Baseball added the division series in 1995, so the clubs have only had 20 chances before now to meet in the playoffs.
Since then, the Cubs qualified for the postseason in 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2008—ironically just four of the eight years the Cardinals missed in that span.
St. Louis certainly holds a stronger playoff pedigree, with this year marking its 12th trip to the postseason since 2000. The Cardinals are among just four of the 19 teams the Cubs had a losing record to in 2015, having won the season series 11-8.
After starting the NL Wild Card Game, Arrieta won’t pitch until the series shifts to Wrigley Field for Game 3, according to Mike Axisa of CBS Sports. That means Chicago will lean on Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks against a St. Louis squad that won an MLB-high 55 games at home.
Astros Using Royals Blueprint to Postseason Success
Are this year’s Astros last year’s Royals?
Given their young talent, surprise success and lengthy postseason absences before reaching in consecutive years, it’s hard not to draw parallels, as MLB.com’s Richard Justice writes:
At this time last season, the Royals were the fresh new faces introducing themselves to the nation one sliding catch, one clutch hit a time. They were out there playing hard and laughing and seemingly having the best time of their lives. In other words, the 2014 Royals looked just like the ’15 Astros.
Last year, nobody knew what to expect from the Royals. And that’s somewhat the case for this year’s Astros after they made a chest-pumping statement of arrival in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the Yankees—eerily similar to Kansas City outlasting Oakland in a 12-inning AL Wild Card Game last fall.
The Royals’ run to the World Series captured the hearts of baseball, and the Astros have the bravado to do the same, as the Daily Progress’ Nick Mathews notes:
This series could come down to home-field advantage.
The Astros won convincingly Tuesday at Yankee Stadium in the AL Wild Card Game but were 33-48 on the road this year—the second-worst winning-percentage by a postseason team in history, according to STATS (h/t Associated Press). Kansas City took two of three from Houston at Kauffman Stadium and went 51-30 overall at home. The Royals were swept by the Astros in Houston in June.
As Dave Skretta of the AP writes, the Houston offense is predicated on power and benefited from playing at hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, where the Astros hit 128 of their 230 home runs—tops in the majors, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
The Royals still ache from falling to the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series, while the Astros keep silencing their doubters.
This should be fun.
Dodgers To Start Kershaw Over Greinke in Game 1 vs. Mets
Reigning NL MVP Clayton Kershaw will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 versus the New York Mets, while fellow Cy Young contender Zack Greinke will start Game 2. This is the third straight year the Dodgers have dished out Kershaw-Greinke to open the National League Division Series.
In nine starts against the Mets, Kershaw is 6-0 with a 1.34 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 60.1 innings, according to Baseball-Reference.com. However, the three-time Cy Young winner is 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 11 playoff starts, and the Dodgers are winless in his last four. Manager Don Mattingly offered a narrow perspective to the Sports Xchange (via UPI.com) when asked about Kershaw’s recent woes:
I look at this year in the present tense. There are probably only a few people in the world who could talk about Kershaw. If you don’t talk to Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson or somebody like that, there’s really nobody else who’s on his level. I don’t need to defend him. This year is this year. We’ll see what happens.
If the Dodgers fall behind in the series—meaning the Mets steal at least one in L.A.—Kershaw and Greinke could each pitch on short rest, according to JP Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News. Kershaw has pitched on three days’ rest in each of the last three Dodgers’ playoff series dating back to 2013.
Greinke’s 1.66 ERA was the lowest in the majors since Greg Maddux posted 1.63 in 1995, according to Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press.
The Mets were 1-1 in games against Greinke in the regular season and 4-3 overall against the Dodgers, the only playoff team they posted a winning record against among six qualifying teams. The Mets went 11-26 against the others.
And these Mets aren’t the Mets who last played the Dodgers in late July. They’ve since acquired superstar Yoenis Cespedes, Kelly Johnson, Addison Reed and Tyler Clippard and activated David Wright from the disabled list.
If they can get ahead of L.A.’s aces early and win their games at home, the Mets could march towards their first National League Championship Series appearance since 2006.
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