2019 MLB Postseason: NLCS & ALCS Series

[Eye Black]

 

 

 

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

(All times CT and subject to change)

 

Friday, Oct. 11: WSH at STL Game 1, 7:08 p.m., TBS

Saturday, Oct. 12: WSH at STL Game 2, 3:08 p.m., TBS

Saturday, Oct. 12: NYY at HOU Game 1, 7:08 p.m., FOX

Sunday, Oct. 13: NYY at HOU Game 2, 7:08 p.m., FS1

Monday, Oct. 14: STL at WSH Game 3, TBS

Tuesday, Oct. 15: HOU at NYY Game 3, FOX or FS1

Tuesday, Oct. 15: STL at WSH Game 4, TBS

Wednesday, Oct. 16: HOU at NYY Game 4, FOX or FS1

Wednesday, Oct. 16: STL at WSH Game 5 (if necessary), TBS

Thursday, Oct. 17: HOU at NYY Game 5 (if necessary), FOX or FS1

Friday, Oct. 18: WSH at STL Game 6 (if necessary), TBS

Saturday, Oct. 19: NYY at HOU Game 6 (if necessary), FOX or FS1

Saturday, Oct. 19: WSH at STL Game 7 (if necessary), TBS

Sunday, Oct. 20: NYY at HOU Game 7 (if necessary), FOX or FS1

[clancyphile]

Rooting for the Astros and Nationals in these series...

 

Then, I'll hope Houston gets their second World Series.

[wibadgers23]

I’ll be rooting for whoever comes out of the AL. And yes, even if it’s the Yankees.

[owbc]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

[nate82]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

 

I think the Astros will be fine. They actually played a better team than the Yankees did.

 

I like the Astros pitching more than the Yankees at least the starting pitching.

 

Offensively they are about even. Whoever wins in the AL should win the World Series.

[bill hAll Star]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

 

I know that we discussed this on the other thread, but what is stopping the Nats from (other than game 1), having Scherzer/Strasburg/Corbin covering 70% of the innings with Rainey, Hudson, and Doolittle covering almost all of the rest? And Sanchez is fine to use a bit. If the Cards light up one of the Nats' starters, they can just punt the game with Rodney and whichever other garbage men they have on the staff.

 

That could be described as, "need near perfection from their starters," but that is just as likely as the Cards cobbling together middle/late innings from their superior bullpen. The only difference is that the Nats will have to bat their pitcher a bit more often.

 

All you need to really map out is the innings that good pitchers will pitch. The Cards have a good starting staff and a deeper bullpen but the Nats have an elite rotation that they can creatively use to cover just as many innings. I don't really have a take on this series but if I had to pick, I'd take the Nats given they will have the slightly better pitching for the series for pretty much all of the innings.

 

FWIW, the Nats are -135 to win the series in Vegas (which means they are slight favorites).

[owbc]

I know that we discussed this on the other thread, but what is stopping the Nats from (other than game 1), having Scherzer/Strasburg/Corbin covering 70% of the innings with Rainey, Hudson, and Doolittle covering almost all of the rest? And Sanchez is fine to use a bit. If the Cards light up one of the Nats' starters, they can just punt the game with Rodney and whichever other garbage men they have on the staff.

 

That could be described as, "need near perfection from their starters," but that is just as likely as the Cards cobbling together middle/late innings from their superior bullpen. The only difference is that the Nats will have to bat their pitcher a bit more often.

 

All you need to really map out is the innings that good pitchers will pitch. The Cards have a good starting staff and a deeper bullpen but the Nats have an elite rotation that they can creatively use to cover just as many innings. I don't really have a take on this series but if I had to pick, I'd take the Nats given they will have the slightly better pitching for the series for pretty much all of the innings.

 

FWIW, the Nats are -135 to win the series in Vegas (which means they are slight favorites).

 

That's the path to victory for the Nats. And ultimately they beat both the Brewers and Dodgers by winning games in the late innings. But I think the Cardinals are smart and talented enough to get these games to the bullpen where they will have an edge.

[bill hAll Star]

I know that we discussed this on the other thread, but what is stopping the Nats from (other than game 1), having Scherzer/Strasburg/Corbin covering 70% of the innings with Rainey, Hudson, and Doolittle covering almost all of the rest? And Sanchez is fine to use a bit. If the Cards light up one of the Nats' starters, they can just punt the game with Rodney and whichever other garbage men they have on the staff.

 

That could be described as, "need near perfection from their starters," but that is just as likely as the Cards cobbling together middle/late innings from their superior bullpen. The only difference is that the Nats will have to bat their pitcher a bit more often.

 

All you need to really map out is the innings that good pitchers will pitch. The Cards have a good starting staff and a deeper bullpen but the Nats have an elite rotation that they can creatively use to cover just as many innings. I don't really have a take on this series but if I had to pick, I'd take the Nats given they will have the slightly better pitching for the series for pretty much all of the innings.

 

FWIW, the Nats are -135 to win the series in Vegas (which means they are slight favorites).

 

That's the path to victory for the Nats. And ultimately they beat both the Brewers and Dodgers by winning games in the late innings. But I think the Cardinals are smart and talented enough to get these games to the bullpen where they will have an edge.

 

“Nats bullpen” evokes negative thoughts, but they have 3 good relievers in Doolittle, Hudson, and Rainey and Corbin/Scherzer may fill in a bit.

 

If the Nats are using their 4th/5th/6th best bullpen arms that means that the Cards have roughed up Max Scherzer or Stras handily. They don’t have to use the bad bullpen guys unless things have gone sideways.

 

You can say, “the Nats starters have to be really good” but you can just as easily say, “Dakota Hudson for 5 + Brebbia for 2 have to be good enough to beat Strasburg’s 7 innings” because that’s what the matchup is.

[bill hAll Star]

I guess the summary of what I’m saying is the Nats and Cards can both cover all of the innings with good pitchers. The Cards starters will mostly go shorter but have a deeper bullpen. It’s not like the Nats are the Twins, where if Berrios/Odorizzi/Rogers didn’t throw shutouts in all of their innings, they HAD to pitch an Uber driver and that group wouldn’t be making up ground.

 

Ok, end of thought. It looks like the first Nats starter IS pitching pretty well...

[Ennder]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

I don't agree with this at all. The Nats are easily a better team than the Cardinals and are the clear favorites here. Much better rotation, better lineup, just as good defense. The only advantage the Cardinals have is the bullpen.

[Pugger]

I'm glad the Nats won last night. The last thing I want to see is the Cards winning another WS.

 

I'm hoping for the Nats and Astros. I don't want the freaking Yankees to win again either.

[owbc]

Looking like I was wrong after last night...

[TURBO]

I'm fine with the Yankees winning it, as long as it isn't StL. The Yankees currently have no players I dislike, in fact, they are a pretty exciting team to watch.

 

As long as they aren't breaking any rules established by MLB, then I just can't jump on the Yankee HATE train.

[markedman5]

What an end of season fall from grace for Wade Miley.......from a guy we were all missing to being left off the Astros NLCS roster.

[PeaveyFury]

God, the Cardinals are exhausting:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27828553/st-louis-cardinals-claim-baseballs-traveling-less-postseason

[markedman5]

Cards breaking records!

 

[PinaMadness]

Vanilla Ice has more hits than the Cardinals this series.

[yourout]

Wow.

[owbc]

That was a nice sendoff for Wainwright. Thanks Nats!

[PinaMadness]

Wow! That could be a costly mistake. Knowing the Cardinals, they will make it a big mistake.

 

 

Or maybe not.

[stoutdude04]

My favorite part of that, was that somehow, that clear error is ruled a double.

[olliegjw]

My favorite part of that, was that somehow, that clear error is ruled a double.

 

99% catch rate is obviously not a routine play.

[phnxcrew]

Love it! Take it back to Washington and give the cardinals two total runs in the sweep. Screw em'!

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

 

Or ... counterpoint ... the Cardinals suck.

[owbc]

In the NL the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The Nationals will need near-perfection from their starters to have a chance. I think the Nats will take 2 games where the starting pitching wins it for them but that's it.

 

Yankees-Astros should be more entertaining and could go either way. I see it as a tossup but will go with the Yankees--they are rested while Verlander and Greinke looked vulnerable in Tampa.

 

Cardinals in 6

Yankees in 7

 

Or ... counterpoint ... the Cardinals suck.

 

That post did not age well.