The Yankees and Dodgers are both looking to take commanding leads as each of the LCS reach an inflection point.
At the moment, it feels like Major League Baseball’s dream World Series matchup is in the cards. The Yankees are making short work of the Guardians while the Dodgers took the series lead against the Mets on Wednesday.
But things can flip in an instant. The ALCS is moving to Cleveland today, where home cooking could do the Guardians some good. If the Mets can get back to even in the NLCS they will have to feel pretty good about their chances with another home game on Friday.
That’s why they play the game, folks.
Yankees @ Guardians, 5:08 pm, TBS – Yankees lead 2-0
Starting pitchers: Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA in regular season) vs Matthew Boyd (2-2, 2.72 ERA)
This might not technically be a “must win” game for the Guardians, but it is darn close. The 2004 Boston Red Sox are still the only team in AL/NL history to go down 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series and come back to win it. The Guardians don’t want to face that monumental sort of task.
Boyd probably won’t stick around this game too long. The 33-year-old has not pitched beyond the fifth inning since September 6. He has made two appearances this postseason. They lasted 4.2 and 2.0 innings, respectively. But they have been as good as they have been short. Over those 6.2 total innings he has 10 strikeouts, three walks, and no runs allowed.
Schmidt pitched in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Royals. On that day he allowed two runs on four hits, a walk, and four strikeouts over 4.2 innings. He faced these Guardians back in April, when he tossed five innings and allowed just one earned run.
Dodgers @ Mets, 8:08 pm, FS1 – Dodgers lead 2-1
Starting pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-2, 3.00 ERA) vs Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA)
It’s been a mixed bag for Yamamoto in his first taste of the MLB playoffs. He flopped in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres: three innings, five hits, five runs, two walks. But then he bounced back in Game 5: five scoreless innings. The Dodgers did lean on their bullpen for five innings on Wednesday and have another game on Friday to think about, so one would imagine that Dave Roberts hopes Yamamoto can at least get through five frames.
Quintana has been incredible in the postseason. Over two starts he has thrown 11 innings and is yet to allow an earned run while striking out 11 and walking three. His only appearance against the Dodgers this season came back in late May. On that day he gave a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings in a losing effort.