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Rays magic number3/17/2023 ![]() ![]() The Nationals have three games remaining with the Minnesota Twins.ĪL WILD CARD: To summarize what’s noted above. The Nats will meet either the Cardinals or Brewers, depending on which team doesn’t win the NL Central. NL WILD CARD: The Nationals are locked into the wild-card game and have a one-game lead over Milwaukee for home-field advantage thanks to Thursday’s 6-3 win against the Phillies. Louis finishes the season at home against the Chicago Cubs, while the Brewers will travel to Denver to face the Rockies. Milwaukee closed the gap with a 5-3 victory in Cincinnati. NL CENTRAL: The Cardinals have a one-game lead in the NL Central over the Brewers. ![]() They lead the Rays, who were idle on Thursday, by one game for home-field advantage in the winner-take-all battle scheduled for Oct. The A’s, by virtue of Thursday’s 3-1 win against the Mariners, only need a win or an Indians loss to clinch their spot in the wild-card game. Another loss on Friday, coupled with a Rays win, would be enough to end their dreams of making the postseason and ending baseball’s longest World Series championship drought. Aaron Civale, Triston McKenzie, and Shane Bieber are all slated to start with their best relievers rested and ready to go.After losing 8-0 to the Chicago White Sox, the Indians will enter the weekend on the brink of elimination. Thanks to some lengthy outings from starters and relievers alike this series, the Guardians are lined up well against the White Sox. A sweep could make the final two weeks of the season a relaxing jog into October, while getting swept could make every game against the Rangers and Royals count. Cleveland sits four games ahead of the White Sox, who they also happen to be playing for the next three days. With the series wrapped up, we reach true make or break time for the postseason. Sam Hentges was the real hero, closing out the final 2.1 innings without allowing a hit and striking out a pair. Cal Quantrill, utilizing a heavy Sinker-Cutter mix as per usual, worked 5.1 innings with three earned runs, two strikeouts, and a walk. By the end of the eighth, they were using a position player to get outs, and he might have been their best pitcher of the game.Ĭleveland’s pitchers faired much better, which is great news for the upcoming series against the White Sox. A mix of hits, wild pitches, and steals ended with the Guardians putting four more on the board to effectively sink Minnesota. Only, this time, the Twins offense sputtered at four runs while the Guardians exploded against the bullpen in the eighth. The hot start gave way to the Twins chipping away at the lead like they did in that 15-inning monster game on Saturday. Naylor unleashed his frustrations on an inside breaking ball before unleashing an angry string of naughty words when he was hit by a pitch a few innings later.įor a while, it appeared the Guardians were in for another mid-game collapse. He crushed a home run in the first inning that gave the Guardians a quick 3-0 lead, his first home run in two weeks and hopefully a sign of things to come. It’s also just possible he didn’t have it today, just like the rest of his team.įor the Guardians, you don’t have to look far to find positives in a 11-run game, but one of the biggest was Josh Naylor finally getting back on track. I have not seen anything injured-related announced, but that certainly seems possible. Twins starting pitcher Sonny Gray was removed after just 44 pitches as his velocity was down across the board (1.7 mph off his four-seamer) and the Guardians had no trouble hitting his breaking ball. Andrés Giménez, who still inexplicably bats in the bottom half of the lineup, also recorded a pair of hits in the win. Every starter had at least one hit, and the top four in the lineup - Steven Kwan, Amed Rosario, José Ramírez, and Josh Naylor - all finished with two. The shellacking today came courtesy of just about everyone in the Guardians lineup. But let’s call a spade a spade here - they are effectively done for after being blown out today, 11-4, and dropping four of five to the Guardians over the weekend. The Twins are only seven games back in the AL Central and wild things could still happen that give them a ticket to the postseason. The Minnesota Twins’ playoff chances are dead. ![]()
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