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Playoffs matchups to watch in LDS quadrupleheader

Vaseline October 9, 2024

A blitzkrieg of raw, rollercoaster playoff baseball is about to reach its climax: a quadrupleheader with a pair of potential closeout games and two more crucial Division Series Game 3s.

From the moment the Detroit Tigers greet the Comerica Park crowd awaiting the first playoff game in a decade, until the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres leave the stage – perhaps for good in the Dodgers’ case – such nine hours of tight, tense postseason play will unfold.

It’s the last day with so many games to watch until 2025, and for the first time all four Division Series started with 1-1 splits. As this day of reckoning arrives, USA TODAY Sports explains what to watch in these crucial hours:

Guardians-Tigers, 3:08 ET (TBS): Step on the accelerator in Motown

After two games at Cleveland’s Progressive Field that can feel claustrophobic, the Guardians and Tigers return to the spacious confines of Comerica Park, where their ALDS is tied at 1-1.

And the Tigers certainly welcome the opportunity to not only play in front of their home fans, but also stretch their legs on the basepaths.

Detroit led the major leagues in extra bases at 49% in 2024, and since third base coach Joey Cora led a fiery August rally touting the benefits of aggressive baserunning, the Tigers have been first-teamers more often than not. to third place more than any team in history. the majors.

And after taking Cleveland’s best shot in Game 1 — the Guardians scored five points before the Tigers recorded an out — the series has settled down considerably. Cleveland has scored just two runs in 17 innings since that breakout, while Detroit has had just one run-scoring hit: Kerry Carpenter’s stunning three-run homer off peerless Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning of Game 2.

Now the series is square, back on Detroit soil and perhaps on their terms. A day off has rested their bullpen and with right-hander Alex Cobb starting for Cleveland, they can put the speedy Parker Meadows back at the top of the lineup.

Certainly, Comerica remains a difficult yard to hit a ball in the seats. But don’t keep your eye on the Tigers or they’ll steal away with another win against the AL’s top seed.

Phillies-Mets, 5:08 ET (FS1): End of the road?

Once again, Mets slugger Pete Alonso is faced with his potential Last Home Game At Citi Field, a road first crossed on September 22, when New York closed its home schedule with a win over the Phillies on Sunday night.

That launched the Mets into a furious wave of elimination baseball, 10 straight road games bridging the regular season and the playoffs until finally, Tuesday, the Mets hosted Philly again for Game 3 of their NLDS.

And Alonso kept this unlikely company raging, with his second-inning home run off Aaron Nola ensuring the Mets never trailed in their 7-2, series-turning victory.

Yes, today Alonso, a free agent and four-time All-Star, could play his last home game in Vlissingen. But this time, there’s a good chance he won’t.

The Mets hold a 2-1 lead in this NLDS, with two shots to close out the Phillies: in Game 4, behind Jose Quintana, or back in Philly, where they should once again topple Phillies ace Zack Wheeler.

But all the pressure is suddenly on the other side of the field.

The Phillies have had terrible at-bats in almost all 27 innings of this series, save for a late uprising in Game 2. Their hopes rest on Ranger Suarez’s left arm, and while he was a good playoff performer, he didn’t make the year off. in good shape.

And it’s more useful to think about what the Phillies might be wasting.

Their 95 regular season wins were for naught. An undeniable feeling that despite all the good vibes at Citizens Bank Park, they are backsliding: Pennant winners in 2022, NLCS losers in 2023, NLDS exit in 2024.

Simply put: it will be a sickening evening in both dugouts on Wednesday evening. But for the Mets, it will be anticipatory; for the Phillies, simple fear.

“This whole experience,” Alonso said after Game 3, “was just incredible.”

Yankees-Royals, 7:08 ET (TBS): Same as ever?

After their own 17-day road trip, the Royals are finally home. And Salvador Perez says again that 2015 “feels just like yesterday.”

The Royals certainly hope so. Their stylish old ballpark will host its first two playoff games since they defeated the Mets in a five-game World Series conquest in 2015. Perez, the respected and likely future Hall of Fame catcher, is of course the only remaining soul from that selection.

It’s quite a hornet’s nest for the Yankees.

They are tied 1-1 in this ALDS. They face an intimidating matchup with veteran right-hander Seth Lugo, who dominated them exactly a month ago at Yankee Stadium, striking out 10 in seven shutout innings. And while they love their own starter, Clarke Schmidt, he has made just five starts since returning from a nearly four-month absence due to a strained right lat.

It would help if he gave them some length. Right now, the only element shooting well for the Yankees is their bullpen, which has absorbed 9 ⅓ innings and given up just one run.

That feels untenable. And the Royals have managed to score nine runs in two games while their best player, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., is 0-for-10 with four strikeouts.

He’ll be greeted by a much more welcoming crowd in Game 3. The Yankees would do well to get out of town with their season intact — which requires a win Wednesday or Thursday night.

“Now the boos will be for them, and not for us like in New York,” Perez said Tuesday. “Super excited. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Dodgers-Padres, 9:08 ET (FS1): Heading for the kill

It’s going to be a hot mess.

There’s really no other way for this crazy NLDS to end, and it likely will in Game 4, with San Diego tapping ace Dylan Cease on three days’ rest to stifle the Dodgers once and for all.

It was a crazy fall for the Dodgers, who once inspired enormous hopes entering the postseason, only to have the strangest calamities — some of them self-inflicted — befall them.

Now they’re heading into two consecutive years of teetering October with uncertain pitching plans and, not surprisingly, some spectacular failures at times. One more loss and they’ll be eliminated from the NLDS for the third straight season – twice by the Padres.

But unlike last year’s dismal onslaught by Arizona, these Dodgers are fighting back. Sure, they lost a crucial Game 3 at Petco Park 6-5, but considering they were down 6-1 and pushing every last Padres reliever into the fire with high leverage, this is not an insignificant victory.

Now to parlay that victory into the next day’s starting pitcher’s momentum…

“It’s a bullpen game,” manager Dave Roberts said after Game 3. “I see one of our relievers starting.”

Oh well.

The Dodgers don’t just have problems with weapons. Shortstop Miguel Rojas aggravated an adductor injury and first baseman Freddie Freeman was again unable to complete nine innings due to a sore ankle, though he of course singled before limping away.

LA stopped in Game 1, or more specifically Shohei Ohtani, erasing an early deficit with a three-run homer. Padres manager Mike Shildt says Cease will have “some bullets” for Game 4, and said his bullpen will be “ready to rock” despite absorbing four stressful innings on Wednesday.

“It’s good to get two,” Shildt says, “but it doesn’t matter until we get three.”

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