SU is a fan of the best of 3 Wild Card round in MLB. It’s fair that you pay a penalty of a short series for not winning your division or not having the best record in your League. I also like having all 3 games in one city. That’s a reward for caring about having a better record than the other teams come September and running through the tape as they say.
Btw, I do not like the best of 3 format in the WNBA playoffs for all 8 teams. I know they are rushing to finish the season as the NBA gets going in a few weeks but best of 5 feels much better to me. But I digress.
SU is looking at the Yankees vs. Red Sox series (naturally) as they run it back from 2025. Per usual, the Yankees took off 80 games during the season where they play lethargically, lose every extra inning game and wonder why Aaron Boone managed teams do this every year. They fell short to the Rays and here we are. Boston has its own injury issues with Contreras possibly not being available and Gasper hurt. Of course, Judge is a likely not going to be on the roster and Stanton, who has been elevated to a slow jog, is still not playing (I assume).
The Yankees have great starting pitching (SU would say the best in baseball this year) and Bednar is a lock down closer. The set up guys (Blackman and Headrick) have had great years but they were overused and they are not a sure thing now. Yankee starters go 6 innings – that is pretty much it and SU says this series will be won in the 7th and 8th innings. If Weathers is available, that would be huge for the Yankees. But I do worry about Headrick in particular – he pitched so many innings this year and was not as effective in September.
Boston will throw every left handed pitcher available at the Yankees this series. Sonny Gray will start one of the games and he has been tough on the Yankees recently although not always over the course of his career. Otherwise, lots of lefties including Chapman as the closer. SU’s concern is that Boone is going to overstack the lineup with right handed hitters and it will also mean putting Garcia, Jr. on the bench. Goldschmidt will start at 1st base (makes sense – no issue there) and Heliot Ramos will play every game in right field (terrifying). He is a truly bad outfielder and in a series featuring close, low scoring games, you know the ball is going to find him. And must he really bat 3rd? And late in games, you cannot even replace him with a true outfielder. A big thank you to Brian Cashman for the roster deficiencies.
Rosario is also going to play a lot as will Caballero. SU is guessing that Boone will sit Spencer Jones although he rakes against lefties. And will they start Volpe over Jazz at 2nd base? SU would do that. Check your ego at the door. I would leave Grisham off the roster for the wild card round – no need. But they can load up on some extra position players in this round.
Look, the Red Sox stopped hitting in September. They don’t score much and they are not coming into this series with any momentum. However, SU says come the playoffs, momentum is overrated. It’s all about pitching and defense.
Prediction: I say the Yankees prevail in 3 games but I can easily see the Red Sox winning this series. It is a very close call. The Yankees generally struggle against starting pitchers and do their damage against the bullpen. The left-handed hitters (Rice, Bellinger, Wells, maybe Jones) are going to have to produce.
Elsewhere, I will go with the White Sox (enough of the Astros), Braves (sorry John) and the Padres.
The floor is open for anyone to offer up their fearless predictions. SU will worry about the next round at the end of the week.
I expect a close, low-scoring series. Both leagues are very wide open, I think underdogs have a shot all over the place.
Interesting that the column included a WNBA reference, but no mention of college football, where I found out early Saturday evening that there is a “Higher Power” out there (with a conscience) that determines the outcome of certain games. That can be the only explanation for how Iowa won that game, providing a temporary feeling of justice and fairness for Ohio State fans like me, as well as the rest of the college football world that lives outside of the maize and blue bubble that you and some of your readers live in.
Mark, I am not a believer in the karma gods when it comes to sports. Michigan is an at best average team this year and I expect an 8-4 or 7-5 record by year’s send. From what I have seen on the Western Michigan game clock and the replay officials tape, they handled it properly using that clock. Whether it was the right clock to use, that is another issue. In the end, it’s college football and crazy stuff happens. I am sure that there will be other “injustices” later in the year. In fact, I just read that Tennessee’s onside kick against Texas was illegal and should not have counted. Just another Saturday in college football! The loss to Iowa was self-inflicted and Michigan deserved what they got. But glad the Ohio State fans are feeling better – at least temporarily!