Kuzul

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.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

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.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

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)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

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.

Begin Slideshow

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs return to action on Sunday for Game 2 of the National League Championship Series with a stellar pitching matchup featuring Clayton Kershaw against Kyle Hendricks. 

Kershaw has been a true horse for the Dodgers so far in the postseason, pitching three times against the Washington Nationals in the division series. 

The Cubs got back to work on Saturday night in front of a raucous Wrigley Field crowd hoping to see the franchise make its first World Series appearance since 1945. 

Dodgers Key to Game 2: Ride the Horse

The narrative around Kershaw in October has been one of failure in the past, though his postseason resume doesn’t jive with that convenient story. He’s had bad games that have ballooned his ERA, sure, but virtually every other stat looks like what you’d expect from the best pitcher in baseball. 

Kershaw has already given the Dodgers everything they could possibly hope for this postseason. He threw a total of 211 pitches in two starts against the Nationals on just three days of rest, then came in for a two-out save in the decisive Game 5 with one day of rest. 

The good news for the Dodgers is Kershaw will essentially be starting this game on regular rest. He only needed seven pitches to close out the game on Thursday, which basically equates to a light bullpen day. 

Even though Kershaw‘s injured back during the regular season likely cost him a shot at the Cy Young Award, it may have indirectly been beneficial for the Dodgers in the postseason. He was only able to make 21 starts covering 149 innings in the regular season. 

In those previous years when Kershaw has struggled in the postseason—most notably 2013 and 2014 against the St. Louis Cardinals—he made a combined 60 starts covering 434.1 innings. It’s hardly a surprise that he hit a wall by mid-October. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, there was one common denominator in the Dodgers’ three victories against the Nationals:

The Dodgers pitching staff is a mess right now. Kershaw is the one sure thing. Rich Hill is an effective starter, but continuing to start him on short rest with his long injury history is asking for trouble. Everything behind those two is essentially manager Dave Roberts praying for four solid innings. 

It’s a formula similar to what the Cleveland Indians are working with, except Roberts doesn’t have the bullpen depth Terry Francona has to play with. Closer Kenley Jansen is brilliant, but the gap to get from starter to him has been a problem in the playoffs. 

For instance, Kershaw was charged with five runs in Los Angeles’ Game 4 win over the Nationals. He left the game with a 5-2 lead and the bases loaded before Pedro Baez and Luis Avilan allowed those three runs to score and tie the game.

Ultimately, the Dodgers will have to keep using Kershaw as much as possible if they want to shut down a Cubs team that led all of Major League Baseball with 103 wins during the regular season and features a relentless offensive attack that can strike at any time. 

Cubs Key to Game 2: Patience is a Virtue

There are really no weaknesses to the Cubs in 2016. They finished in the top three in runs scored, OPS, ERA, shutouts, opponent batting average, opponent OPS and WHIP. 

Per Sam Miller of ESPN.com, this year’s Cubs have a strong claim as the best defensive team in MLB history:

The Cubs have converted 74.5 percent of balls in play into outs this year, which is what Baseball Prospectus calls Defensive Efficiency. (Rephrased: Opponents are hitting .255 on balls put in play against the Cubs.) That’s not just the best in baseball this year. Adjusted for era, it might be the greatest defensive season ever, with the gap between the Cubs and the second-best team this year topping the spread between the next best and the 27th best.

That defense is a big reason why Hendricks will at least end up in the Cy Young conversation, if not become the second straight Cubs pitcher (Jake Arrieta) to win the award. His stuff doesn’t intimidate anyone with a fastball that averages 89.7 mph, per FanGraphs.com. 

But Hendricks is able to get away with the lack of velocity because his changeup is so good and the defense is able to convert so many of the ground balls hit into outs. 

Looking at all of those factors, there really doesn’t have to be one specific key for the Cubs to win any game in this series. 

Yet going up against Kershaw, the easiest way to earn a victory is knocking him out of the game early to get into that Dodgers bullpen. 

Taking pitches against Kershaw can lead to a lot of quick outs because he pounds the strike zone so well, but the Nationals were able to make him work in his two starts against them. He needed 101 pitches to finish five innings in Game 1. 

Roberts stuck with Kershaw for 110 pitches in Game 4 because he didn’t want to use his bullpen. The Cubs faced a similar situation in the division series against the Giants. 

Matt Moore held the Cubs in check for eight innings in Game 4, leaving with a 5-2 lead and seemingly on the verge of forcing a winner-take-all fifth game. But after Moore threw 120 pitches, Giants manager Bruce Bochy turned to his shaky bullpen and the Cubs woke up with four runs for a 6-5 win. 

Jansen is a vastly superior closer to Sergio Romo, but the Dodgers relievers and setup men have not given Roberts many reasons to feel confident so far this postseason. 

The sooner the Cubs can get Kershaw out of the game, the easier their path to victory will become. 

Series Prediction

Until the Cubs show that they aren’t the best team in baseball, there is no reason to bet against them. Fans and analysts can play up curses and 108 years of history all they want, but none of that is relevant to this collection of talent.

Most teams have one or two ways, at best, you can specifically point to for why they will win a game or series. The Cubs can win games in any fashion. They can win a slugfest with their offensive talent, a bullpen game with their deep stable of relievers or a low-scoring battle between two starting pitchers. 

The Dodgers’ formula is to get at least 25 great innings out of Kershaw, which will only happen if the series goes seven games, and hope Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez hit like All-Stars. 

Prediction: Cubs in six

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The two league championships series are underway, but there is clearly a long way to go for any of the teams to clinch a spot in the World Series.

The Cleveland Indians are obviously in the best shape after their two wins over the Toronto Blue Jays, but they will have to find a way to keep it up when they go on the road. Considering the impact of the Rogers Centre in the postseason, this will not be easy.

In the National League, the Chicago Cubs got a big momentum boost when Miguel Montero hit a game-winning, pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning of an eventual 8-4 win. Still, this was just one win of four needed before knocking out the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The rest of both series will be worth watching regardless of your rooting interests.

ALCS

This series was supposed to feature a lot of scoring and plenty of home runs, but that hasn’t been the case through the first two games. Instead, the Indians were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead thanks mostly to their pitching.

Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com noted just how good the pitchers have been in the postseason:

Josh Tomlin keyed a 2-1 win in Game 2 after Corey Kluber was the star in a 2-0 Game 1 victory. Of course, the bullpen has also been a major part of the success. According to Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs, Cleveland’s relievers have combined for a 1.10 ERA while allowing a .473 on-base plus slugging percentage and earning strikeouts at a 44 percent rate.

Andrew Miller has been the real star of the show so far in the ALCS, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and just one hit allowed. He really mowed down the batters in Game 2:

If he and Cody Allen can keep up their strong play out of the bullpen, it will be a challenge for the Blue Jays to get any runs in this series.

Still, Toronto will not go down without a fight. Manager John Gibbons discussed the urgency down 0-2, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet:

The Blue Jays are hitting .212 as a team with zero home runs in the first two games. This came after hitting eight home runs in three games in the ALDS. Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion are still getting hits, but it isn’t enough.

While the pitchers have held their end of the bargain for the most part, the offense has clearly been disappointing so far.

They now have a chance to turn things around against Trevor Bauer, who had a 4.26 ERA during the regular season and failed to get out of the fifth inning in his only postseason start. The right-hander allowed two home runs in that game and 20 during the year, which could put him in danger against Toronto.

With the crowd likely to inspire the Blue Jays players throughout the game, look for the squad to try to turn things around in Game 3 Monday.

NLCS

The big story after Game 1 was undoubtedly the big swing by Montero. The catcher came up to the plate in a 3-3 game and took an 0-2 pitch off Joe Blanton and sent it deep into the bleachers.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports didn’t mince words with his thoughts on the play:

Montero didn’t have a single hit in the NLDS while going 0-for-4, but he is now batting 1.000 in the NLCS, and that is all fans care about right now.

While the home run was clearly the biggest moment of the game, the Cubs showed a lot of ability throughout the nine innings.

Jon Lester was impressive as a starter with six innings of one-run ball. Dexter Fowler, Kris Bryant and Javy Baez each had two hits. Baez even found a way to steal home for the team’s third run of the game.

Add in some incredible defense all around, and Chicago truly has all the tools necessary to keep winning. It’s not a surprise this group won 103 games during the regular season.

While there is concern over Aroldis Chapman, who suffered his second blown save of the playoffs, the 1.55 regular-season ERA and the lights-out fastball should allow Cubs fans to rest easier.

On the other hand, the Dodgers had an uphill battle in this game to start. The pitching staff was short-handed after a dramatic Game 5 win against the Washington Nationals two days earlier and still needs a little bit of time to recover.

With ace Clayton Kershaw on the mound in Game 2, Los Angeles should have plenty of confidence in its ability to even the series.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Following Saturday’s Game 1 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs will meet again on Sunday night for a pivotal Game 2 before the teams head west to L.A.

Both the Dodgers and the Cubs are looking to end lengthy World Series droughts, although there is likely more desperation on Chicago’s side, since the Cubs haven’t reached the World Series since 1945 and haven’t won it since 1908.

Prior to Game 2, here is all the information you need regarding how to watch the matchup, as well as a prediction for which team will come out on top.

Where: Wrigley Field in Chicago

When: Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. ET

Watch: Fox Sports 1

Dodgers Player to Watch: Joc Pederson

Outfielder Joc Pederson was among the Dodgers’ most potent offensive players during the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, and he came through in some clutch situations as well.

Pederson hit .333 with one home run and three RBI in L.A.’s first playoff series, but the biggest of his five hits undoubtedly came in the seventh inning of Game 5, when he tied things up with a solo shot.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, it had been 28 years since a Dodgers player last accomplished a similar feat:

Pederson tends to be a streaky player due to his propensity for striking out, but he’s made huge strides since his rookie season.

The 24-year-old hit 25 homers and set a career high with 68 RBI, but he also improved his batting average from .210 to .246 and cut down his strikeouts by 40, making him a much tougher out.

That has translated to the playoffs thus far, and it makes the Dodgers’ entire lineup far more dangerous when he is putting the ball in play.

Perhaps no player on L.A.’s entire roster is more capable of changing the complexion of a game or series with one swing of the bat, and the Dodgers may need precisely that in a tough matchup with Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks on Sunday.

Cubs Player to Watch: Kyle Hendricks

Hendricks’ NLDS start against the San Francisco Giants ended after just 3.2 innings, when he got hit in the forearm with a line drive.

The 26-year-old allowed two earned runs on four hits and didn’t appear to have his best stuff, but he still contributed heavily to Chicago’s win.

After getting just two RBI during the regular season, Hendricks drove in two runs in that game, which hadn’t been done by a pitcher in the playoffs in eight years, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

There was some concern that Hendricks would miss time, but after throwing and testing his arm out, he ruled himself “good to go,” per Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago.

That was enough for manager Joe Maddon to name him the Cubs’ Game 2 starter despite having some other capable options at his disposal.

Hendricks went 16-8 and led qualified National League starters with a 2.13 ERA during the regular season. It was a true breakout campaign, but he has yet to prove he can get the job done on the big stage.

With a career ERA of 5.11 in three postseason starts, Hendricks is still searching for a gem in the games that matter most.

Continued playoff issues could lead to a huge Los Angeles win, but if Hendricks performs like he did during the regular season, the Cubs will almost certainly come away with the victory.

Game 2 Prediction

Seemingly every factor appears to be pointing in the Cubs’ favor ahead of Game 2, as they boast advantages across the board.

Chicago will play the game at home and Hendricks will pitch on extra rest. Plus the lineup is as deep as any in the league, with Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Javier Baez leading the way for the National League’s No. 2 regular-season scoring offense.

It’s difficult to argue against the notion that the Cubs are the best all-around team in baseball, and that should come in handy in Game 2, since it means they can beat the Dodgers in a number of different ways.

Look for strong starting pitching, timely hitting and clutch relief from closer Aroldis Chapman to carry Chicago to victory in Sunday’s NLCS clash.

Game 2 pick: Cubs win, 4-2

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

What do you get when you take the postseason version of Mariano Rivera, flip him around, replace his deadly cutter with a deadly slider and ask him to take on a slightly different role?

Basically the Andrew Miller you’re seeing right now.

There were rumblings of the Cleveland Indians being on the verge of something special with their tall, lanky left-hander during their sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series. The 6’7″ Miller pitched in two games, tallying four innings that included four baserunners and seven strikeouts. The way he was throwing, even foul balls were minor victories for Red Sox hitters.

Now it’s the Toronto Blue Jays‘ turn to find out how that feels.

Miller has picked up where he left off in the American League Championship Series, helping the Indians to a 2-0 win in Game 1 on Friday and a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Saturday. Between the two contests, he’s logged 3.2 innings, allowed one hit and struck out 10 of the 12 batters he’s faced.

“It’s easy now,” Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez said, per August Fagerstrom of FanGraphs. “He’s too good, man.”

Miller had impressed in six previous October appearances, logging eight and a third scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. But the mind boggles at what he’s done this October. He’s pitched 7.2 innings in which he’s faced 28 batters and allowed only five of them to reach and none to come home. He’s fanned 17.

That last figure already looms large in the postseason record books. Miller is now tied for the 10th-most strikeouts in a single postseason and is only 11 away from Francisco Rodriguez’s record of 28 from 2002. Even if it’s a clean four-game sweep, Miller could tie or surpass that mark by the end of the ALCS.

But it’s not Rodriguez’s name that’s suddenly being lumped into the conversation with Miller. It’s Rivera’s.

His name is popping up on Twitter in a way that it probably hasn’t since he pitched his last game for the New York Yankees in 2013. Among the hottest takes is this one from fellow pitching great Pedro Martinez:

This isn’t high praise for Miller. It is the highest of praise.

If you haven’t seen it in a while, I recommend going to the table of Rivera’s postseason numbers at Baseball-Reference.com. Like Martinez’s own prime or Barry Bonds’ entire career, it’s filled with so many ridiculous numbers that it looks more like some baseball egghead’s wild fantasy than a record of actual events.

But Rivera really did those things. He really did pitch in 96 games. He really did allow fewer earned runs (11) than there have been men on the moon (12). He really did allow only 86 hits and 21 walks in 141 innings. He really did blow only five saves.

There’s no bad postseason hiding in there. There were eight postseason runs in which the Yankees used Rivera in six or more games. He never did worse than a 1.72 ERA in any of those. His peak was in 2009, when he tallied 16 innings and allowed only one run in 12 appearances.

The difficulty in comparing Rivera in the postseason to Miller in the postseason has to do with their roles. The Yankees almost exclusively used Rivera to finish games. Cleveland skipper Terry Francona is using Miller as a bridge to Cody Allen, bringing him into contests as early as the fifth inning.

But while he may not be finishing games and fattening his numbers even more by doing so, there has indeed been the same kind of “Game Over” feeling when Miller has entered games that used to exist with Rivera.

This is partially a matter of signature pitches. Rivera had his cutter, which Chipper Jones once said was “like a buzz saw,” per Bob Klapisch at Fox Sports. Miller has his slider. It’s a devilish pitch that he throws often. Per Baseball Savant, swings and misses on sliders accounted for 13.8 percent of all Miller’s pitches in the regular season, easily the highest mark of any pitcher.

It’s been same ol’, same ol’ in October, where not even reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson can keep himself from looking like a rag doll after swinging at it. Behold the visual evidence from Fagerstrom:

What Miller also has in common with Rivera in October is his ability to work more than one inning. Rivera did that 58 times. Miller has gone more than one inning in each of his appearances this October, and eight of 10 for his career in the postseason.

As such, the innings in which Miller’s dominance is taking place are really the only difference between him now and Rivera at his postseason best. And even that is arguably only footnote fodder now that the relief pitcher landscape is changing the way it is.

“It’s turning the baseball world upside down, the way bullpens have been used lately,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said before the ALCS, per Ted Berg of For The Win.

Miller and Francona are at the vanguard of the movement. The conventional wisdom used to be that elite relievers were to be used only in high-leverage innings, preferably with the last three outs on the line. Following a trade that brought Miller from the Yankees in July, Francona made it clear with his aggressive use of the lefty that he was tired of abiding by that wisdom.

“I hate waiting for the ninth inning,” Francona told The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh. “I never did understand that. You know, you wait around, wait around, and you lose a game in the eighth. Well, wait a minute, that might’ve been the most important inning of the game.”

What Francona is doing now is something so obvious it’s a wonder he’s the first to do it. He’s essentially treating all postseason innings as the most important inning of the game. They’re all high-leverage innings. That means taking no chances, which means using your best pitchers when you can.

Even if he’s not yet on the future Hall of Famer’s level, Miller is basically the second coming of Rivera in this sense: He’s the best at doing what only the best relievers should do.

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

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs is underway at Wrigley Field.

Keep it here for all the latest updates, reaction, analysis, pictures, tweets and anything else we can think of as the action unfolds.

Hit us up in the comments section below and on Twitter @RickWeinerBR to partake in the festivities! 

Final Score

Cubs 8, Dodgers 4

WP: Chapman

LP: Blanton

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Cleveland Indians drew first blood in the American League Championship Series, and now it’s time for the Toronto Blue Jays to see if they can answer back.

That will not be an easy task, because the Indians continued their shutdown pitching as they defeated the Blue Jays 2-0 in the first game of the ALCS at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Strangely, it was Toronto pitcher Marco Estrada who threw the complete game for his team in a losing effort. While Estrada was sharp, he gave up a two-run homer to Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning, and that was the only hit that produced runs in the series opener.

Estrada became the only Toronto pitcher to throw a complete game this season.

The Indians figured to have an excellent chance to win Game 1 at home with ace Corey Kluber on the mound. He had his good stuff working, but it was more of his ability to work out of trouble that got the job done for 6.1 innings.

Kluber made his best pitches with runners on, and he kept Toronto’s big bats from getting clutch hits. Manager Terry Francona then brought in bullpen ace with one out in the seventh inning, and Andrew Miller pummeled the Blue Jays throughout the rest of the seventh and eighth. Cody Allen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and allowed the Indians to secure the win.

In many ways, Game 1 was a must-win game for the Indians because they had their ace on the mound. They will have a much more difficult time in Game 2 Saturday with Josh Tomlin on the mound against J.A. Happ.

On the surface, the Blue Jays have the advantage. Happ was 20-4 with a 3.18 earned-run average and 1.169 WHIP, and he has the ability to shut down good teams.

Tomlin is not a hard thrower, and the Blue Jays hitters should feel confident that they can get good swings against him.

Tomlin was 13-9 with a 4.40 ERA this season and gave up 187 hits in 174.0 innings. More importantly, he gave up 36 homers this season, and that’s the most of any pitcher on the Cleveland staff by a wide margin.

However, Tomlin is not a pushover. He pitched the clinching game Monday night in the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox, limiting his opponents to four hits in five innings.

The Blue Jays are -125 favorites (bet $100 to win $80) to win Game 2, according to Odds Shark. The Indians are +115 underdogs in Game 2 at Progressive Field.

When it comes to the World Series, the Chicago Cubs are solid favorites among the four remaining teams. The Cubs are +140 favorites to win their first World Series title since 1908. The Blue Jays are the second choice at +250, while the Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers are both +450.

Predictions

The Indians may have gotten the jump on the Blue Jays, but it’s difficult to see them winning this seven-game series. They have the advantage when Kluber pitches, but the rest of their starting staff looks vulnerable. Look for the Blue Jays to turn the series around starting Saturday night. They will win Game 2 with Happ on the mound and take the series in six games.

The Cubs are the strongest team left in the postseason, and they are set up well to beat the exhausted Dodgers in the first two games of the series at Wrigley Field. Cubs manager Joe Maddon will send Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44 ERA, 197 strikeouts and 1.016 WHIP) and Kyle Hendricks (16-8, 2.13 ERA, 0.979 WHIP) to the mound in the first two games, while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Kenta Maeda (16-11, 3.48 ERA, 1.139 WHIP) will start the series opener.

The Dodgers showed plenty of heart in beating the Washington Nationals in five games, and they are likely to fight the Cubs to the limit in each game. However, the Cubs will earn the National League pennant by a 4-1 margin.

The Cubs get to their first World Series since 1945, and their 108-year drought and worldwide following will make them heavy sentimental favorites.

However, the Blue Jays have the depth, power and talent to extend this series to seven games, and by the time it’s over, the Cubs, Maddon and their fans will be left thinking about what might have been. 

Toronto will win the World Series in seven memorable games.

Advanced stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com