Eliminations Galore, Brain Farts, Pitching Gems - Wild Card Series Recap!
Diving into the slate of Game 2 sweeps...
Four teams are moving swiftly on.
We only needed two games for each Wild Card Series to be decided, with the Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies all completing sweeps on Wednesday night.
By the way, I was on pace for a perfect 4-for-4 in my predictions, only for the Brewers and their starting pitching crapping the bed to let me down. But I’ll take three out of four picks coming through.
And I’ll stand by my point that the Best-of-Three format in the Wild Card Series was a really good move by Major League Baseball. Yes, I’m aware that sounds strange given all four Series ended in sweeps - and three of the four in 2022 were sweeps too - prompting some to argue the one-game sudden death format should have stuck around, but I think you need to look a lot deeper than that.
All eight games across Tuesday and Wednesday were a hell of a lot of fun. And most of the teams who were swept had an opportunity on Wednesday to live to fight another day and force the Series to a do-or-die third game, but they fumbled the bag. Time after time after time.
And we’re going to lead off with one of the biggest culprits of that in our Game 2 recap…
Wild Card Series Game 2 Recap
Texas Rangers 7-1 Tampa Bay Rays (Rangers Wins Series 2-0, Advance To ALDS)
I’m sorry, but the Tampa Bay Rays have now officially entered the territory of being a really good regular season team, but then an absolute car crash in the Playoffs.
And they only have themselves to blame for that.
After gifting the Rangers a win in Game 1 thanks to some embarrassing and, quite frankly, baffling defense, Tampa Bay actually looked a little bit more put together in Game 2. Yandy Díaz made a couple of nice plays at first after a rough outing the previous night, and Zach Eflin threw three scoreless innings as the Rays looked to even the Series.
Then the wheels came off. All the way off.
Adolis Garcia started the damage by launching the first home run of the Series, highlighting the slew of power that exists in that Texas lineup. A Josh Jung triple and a solo shot from Evan Carter effectively called game in the fourth inning. The Rays never recovered. By the way, before we move on, what a story Evan Carter is turning out to be. He is now 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer, three walks, a stolen base and two RBIs in his first two career Playoff games. That’s after hitting .306/.413/.645/.1.058 in 75 plate appearances during the regular season after being called-up to the bigs in September. The Rangers have got quite the player on their hands.
Corey Seager and Marcus Semien - who have been slugging all year long - piled on in the top of the sixth with a double each as Texas flexed its offensive muscles. This team ranked second in Batting Average (.263), third in Slugging (.452) and third in OPS (.790) for a reason. The Rangers can full on mash at a very high level, and I think the American League Division Series between Texas and Baltimore is going to be an absolutely doozy. With the potential to be the most explosive and most entertaining Series of the entire postseason.
As for the Rays, boy, what a mess. It is true the postseason is an absolute crapshoot and I think we have enough evidence now to suggest that Tampa Bay’s magic formula of winning in the regular season with a stupidly low payroll just doesn’t translate to winning in October when it matters most. They now own the longest active postseason losing streak with seven games, replacing the Minnesota Twins who just clinched their first Playoff win since 2004, and their first postseason series win since 2002.
The Rays now haven’t made it past the Division Series since making the World Series in 2020. I saw a joke on Twitter - or X, or whatever the hell we are calling that dumpster fire these days - that the Rays will react to this latest setback by getting cheaper. I’m sure whoever came up with that was kidding on the square, but there is probably some truth to it. They had a payroll of just over $60 million in 2023, in a Division where the New York Yankees had a payroll of $279,131,154. Tampa Bay won’t spend any more money because they’ve had a plethora of success during the regular season while consistently coming in the bottom five lowest payrolls in MLB.
However, whatever that secret sauce is just doesn’t work in the Playoffs. I mean, the Rays ranked third in Batting Average (.260), fourth in On-Base Percentage (.331), fourth in Slugging Percentage (.452), fourth in OPS (.776) and sixth in home runs (230) during the regular season. Yet, across two games in the NL Wild Card Series, Tampa Bay failed to score a run in over 30 innings of play, they scored just one run in total and their offense just disappeared. In-fact, the Rays were one out away from tying the 1966-74 Dodgers for the longest postseason scoring drought in MLB history (34 innings).
And the fact that they laid an egg with hardly anyone watching at The Trop just makes it ten times worse. This was just a brutal, brutal series for the Rays and they are going to face a very long offseason reflecting on this one.
Toronto Blue Jays 0-2 Minnesota Twins (Minnesota Wins Series 2--0, Advance To ALDS)
There will be two decisions from Wednesday’s car crash of a Game 2 loss that will come back to haunt the Toronto Blue Jays time and time again over the coming days, weeks, months and even years.
Pulling José Berríos less than four innings in, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. getting picked off at second in the top of the fifth with two outs and two runners on.
Let’s start with Berríos. That whole decision made less than zero sense, and it acted as another stark reminder that analytics have gone too far in professional sports. The nerds with their degrees from Harvard and Yale are running the asylum and they need to be stopped. Like right now. Teams are over-reliant on hard, cold stats and the word of some dork who probably has never stepped foot on a baseball diamond in his life. These bone-headed calls are now directly costing teams and ending seasons early. It’s just plain stupid.
And, I’ll say it again, it just made no freaking damn sense! Berríos was dealing, allowing one earned run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts. You have to allow for gut instinct and feel and the eye test to rise to the surface in situations as critical as the one the Blue Jays found themselves in on Wednesday with their season on the line. And your heart, your gut and your eyes would tell you that Berríos was locked in and could have gone a few more innings given he had thrown 47 pitches when he was pulled. I know the Twins favor a lefty lineup so the decision to yank Berríos that early would have been scripted. But, as Woody Allen once said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. After seeing Berríos have filthy stuff, Toronto manager John Schneider should have told the nerds to go screw and kept his starter in. Instead, Schneider ignored every single one of his instincts, followed through with the flawed plan, and put the lefty Yusei Kikuchi into the game, who immediately gave up an infield single to Max Kepler. Kikuchi would load the bases and then give up the only two runs of the game, sealing Toronto’s elimination. All the while, Berríos had to watch from the dugout as his former team, for whom he played six seasons, punched their ticket to the next round.
Believe it or not, that wasn’t the only stupid thing Toronto did in Game 2.
In the top of the fifth inning, down 2-0 in an elimination game with two runners on and two outs, Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the tying run at second while George Springer was at third. With Bo Bichette at the plate and in a 3-2 count, Guerrero Jr. had a nice lead before all hell broke loose. Carlos Correa, with all the stealth of an old Samurai Ninja, gradually made his way back to second base without Guerrero Jr. noticing, like he was stealing his lunch money from his back pocket. Then, in the blink of an eye, Twins starter Sonny Gray pivoted and threw to Correa to get the pickoff. Despite his best efforts to protest, Guerrero Jr. was out and it was such a brain fart that had dire consequences. If Guerrero Jr. had used his brain and stayed put, Bichette would have got the walk and the bases would have been loaded. Instead, Guerrero Jr. crapped the bed big time and his stupidity cost his team. You just can’t do that as the tying run with two outs. ESPECIALLY IN AN ELIMINATION GAME. It is asinine.
That without doubt was as significant as the decision to yank Berríos, and I just don’t know where the Blue Jays go from here. Despite boasting a hell of a lot of talent, they just can’t seem to figure it out. Since 2019, here’s what they’ve done in each season:
2019 - Didn’t make the postseason
2020 - Got swept by the Rays in the ALWC Series
2021 - Didn’t make the postseason
2022 - Got swept by the Mariners in the ALWC Series
2023 - Got swept by the Twins in the ALWC Series
For a team that talented to consistently fumble the bag means there is a larger problem at hand. And we’ll see what fallout, if any, takes place this offseason. But there is no doubt that this talented core have failed to live up to expectations so far.
I mean, look at Toronto’s lineup in both Games 1 & 2 (it was the same lineup for both games):
George Springer RF
Brandon Belt DH
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
Bo Bichette SS
Cavan Biggio 2B
Alejandro Kirk C
Kevin Kiermaier CF
Matt Chapman 3B
Daulton Varsho LF
A lineup that stacked shouldn’t be held to just one run across two games. A core featuring Bichette, Guerrero Jr., Kirk and Springer shouldn’t be getting swept in the Wild Card Series three out of four years. I feel like something needs to change when it comes to this group and this team. And fast.
I feel bad because I’ve hardly talked about the Twins, despite the fact they’ve now made history two nights in a row. After winning their first Playoff game since 2004 on Tuesday, they followed that up by clinching their first postseason series win since 2002 on Wednesday. Target Field was absolutely electric, and those long-suffering fans are making sure to enjoy every single moment of this.
Sonny Gray tossed a gem, not allowing a run on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts, and he also got the crucial pickoff against Guerrero Jr. But, the real star of the show for the Twins in this Series was Carlos Correa. The shortstop has been through quite the transformational journey over the past few years, going from disgraced World Series Champion with the Houston Astros, to being the central storyline in a bizarre injury saga in Free Agency, to now putting a Minnesota team starved of postseason success on his back. Correa’s fingerprints were all over this series. Although the stats may not bear it out - he did hit two singles and drove in a run - Correa had a different kind of impact. He made an unreal defensive play in Game 1 when he snatched a ball that had eluded third baseman Jorge Polanco, still managing to throw out Bo Bichette while being off-balance. And Correa of course played a leading role in picking off Guerrero Jr. with two runners on base in Game 2. A veteran and the highest-paid player on this team, Correa is leading by example and he will now get the opportunity to make some big plays against his former team the Astros in the ALDS. Now that’s a storyline I’m looking forward to watching play out.
Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2 Milwaukee Brewers (Arizona Wins 2-0, Advance To NLDS)
Oh man, where to even begin with the Brewers.
I’m a little mad at them given that they are the reason I’m not 4-for-4 in my picks heading into the Division Series. They screwed me, just like they screwed themselves.
I was convinced the Brewers would beat the D-Backs and advance through to the NLDS, mainly because I was convinced that they had the best starting rotation of any team in the postseason. That may have been the case on paper, but that’s certainly not how it played out in reality.
After Corbin Burnes laid a Godzilla-sized egg in Game 1, the onus was on Freddy Peralta to throw a gem, even the Series and ensure that Milwaukee took advantage of its biggest strength. It all started so well too. Peralta threw four scoreless innings as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead into the fifth, but then the wheels fell off big time. Peralta gave up a solo home run to Alek Thomas in the top of the fifth to start the damage., Corbin Carroll hit a double in the sixth, and then Ketel Marte put Arizona ahead for good with a two-run single later in the inning.
The Brewers, who have now dropped nine of their past 10 Playoff games, tried to come back but Carlos Santana struck out with two runners on and no outs in the bottom of the eighth, and Willy Adames went one better by grounding into a force out with the bases loaded to effectively seal Milwaukee’s fate. This team had a slew of opportunities to get right in this series, but they just couldn’t do it and it could now mark the end of an era. With longtime executive David Stearns now president of the Mets, he could look to hire Brewers manager Craig Counsell. who will now become a free agent this offseason.
As for the D-Backs, they are proving that anything is possible and they won’t be scared of the Dodgers in the NLDS. They have a rising star in Carroll, a lineup that can mash about as well as nearly anyone, and a rotation that will more than hold up. Just look at Zac Gallen. He absolutely shoved on Wednesday, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out four in six innings of work. This is a young, dangerous team with plenty of speed that can slug, put the ball in play and they have pitching too. They are going to be a tough out for LA.
Miami Marlins 1-7 Philadelphia Phillies (Philadelphia Wins 2-0, Advance To NLDS)
I don’t know if the Phillies were just too damn good, or if the Marlins had just run out of gas after clinching a Wild Card spot on the final weekend of the regular season.
It was probably somewhere in the middle.
But, what I do know is that the Phillies are red hot and they are an elite team who are primed to make a deep run. I mean, they did this last year. They stumbled and got in their own way throughout the first half of the year, before eventually figuring it out at the All-Star Break, getting hot down the stretch and then making a run to the World Series.
I can see this team doing it again this year.
Aaron Nola - pitching in possibly his final postseason with the Phillies - was stellar as he went seven innings, not allowing a run on just three hits while walking one and striking out three. That’s exactly the type of outing you want from your second starter in the Playoffs.
Then this explosive offense did the rest and took care of business. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again; this lineup is stacked 1-through-9 and they can both mash and put the ball in play. This was proven in Game 2. Kyle Schwarber led things off with a double in the bottom of the third inning, Trea Turner scored Schwarber with a single and then J.T. Realmuto blasted a solo shot in the fourth. And the icing on the cake was Bryson Stott hitting a grand slam to center field in the sixth to put one big, fat exclamation point on the win for Philadelphia. Stott, by the way, was hitting seventh in the lineup which just highlights the depth this Phillies team has on offense.
Look, anyone who is a regular visitor here will know how high I am on the Atlanta Braves. They were the best team in Baseball in 2023, they’ve been the gold standard of the NL East for years now and they are set to dominate the sport for years. However, they have flaws just like any other team and, if there’s one team that could take them down, it is the Phillies. This is going to be one hell of a fun series to watch play out between two bitter rivals, and I really do think it could go the distance.
Coming Up
I’ll be back on Friday with a full preview of the upcoming Division Series, which commences on Saturday.
I’ll also have a Storylines-type post up either on Friday or Saturday to really get you set. I’m hoping to get some Phillies-related content up over the next couple of days too.
Then, after Saturday’s slate of games, I’ll recap all of that action on Sunday before the first Game 2 gets underway.
Make the most of the downtime before we crank things up a level on Saturday.
See you on Friday!
