2020 ALDS Primer

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In this unorthodox season, we’ve finally hit a sense of normalcy in the MLB playoffs. Although there’ll still be no fans, the MLB has boiled down it’s season to the traditional top 8 teams in the ALDS and NLDS. Pretty much all of the teams remaining are deserving of the spot they’re in (the exception being Houston). With no off days, October 5th begins a week of non-stop adrenaline pumping baseball. Here’s what you need to know heading into MLB’s Divisional Playoffs:

ALDS: Yankees vs Rays

These teams simply don’t like one-another. A flurry of high pitches thrown by both teams followed by fighting words in postgame pressers supplied the competitive void left with the down years of the Red Sox.

The Yankees have the big names, but the Rays have take the regular season series handily, 8-2. You can make the point that the Yankees were depleted with injuries in many of these games, but the Rays were impacted even worse by the injury bug with their pitching staff pummeled throughout the season.

It’ll be Gerrit Cole vs Blake Snell in Game 1. Cole has struggled vs the Rays in 2020, mostly due to Ji-Man Choi’s seemingly extraterrestrial dominance over the Yankees ace. Choi is 8-for-12against Cole with three homers and eight RBIs. Choi took Cole yard twice already this season. Worth noting, however, most of Cole’s struggles both against the Rays and the rest of the MLB this season have been with Gary Sanchez behind the plate. Aaron Boone has since confirmed that Kyle Higashioka is Gerrit Cole’s postseason battery-mate, so it’ll be interesting to see if the change at catcher leads to a change in fortune.

ALDS: Astros vs Athletics

Does Carlos Correa really think continuing the 18-straight postseason losing streak is a sign that the under-.500 2020 Astros have a great team? Well according to him, “We (Houston) are a solid team. We played great baseball. We won a series on the road in Minnesota. So, what are they going to say now?”

Well, Carlos, “they” (me) might bring up how beating Minnesota in the playoffs proves nothing. They also might say none of what Houston is criticized for is negated after a 2020 season in which the 2017 stars, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and George Springer have combined to bat .242, a stark difference from their past three seasons.

Past baseball sins aside, the A’s fit in the popular category of teams that hate the Astro’s. This boiled over early in the 2020 season when A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano charged the Astros dugout after being plunked twice in one game and subsequently challenged to do something about it by Astros hitting coach.

The Astros lost Gerrit Cole in the offseason, and Justin Verlander to Tommy John surgery. The rotation that has made them a postseason force now looks a lot different. The A’s will throw their ace, Chris Bassitt against the Astros’ Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers Jr. can certainly handle the pressure, as he was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series for Houston. Chris Bassitt, in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series last week, tossed seven innings allowing one run and struck out five in a win-or-go-home game. Houston has the postseason experience and success, while the Athletics have been playing better baseball all season long.

 

In a 2020 season where nothing can be predicted, one things for certain. Both American League series’ will feature raised tensions and bad blood, making for appointment television.