And just like that the Rays are advancing to the ALDS to face the Astros! I was so stressed for yesterday, but the Rays were able to take advantage of an early lead, and got out of a lot of stressful situations.
Yandy Came in Handy
Cheesy headline, but Yandy Diaz was a game changer. I was a little skeptical about having him in the lineup (even more so to see him leading off), but that was obviously unnecessary stress, as he proved to be the unofficial MVP of the wildcard game.
Not one, but two(!!) home runs in his first two plate appearances, including a home run to start off the game. Both off of Sean Manaea, who’s been incredible since coming off the IL in September. The two home runs look identical: same pitch, same spot, and same landing location. Check out this Statcast comparison of the two homers:
Charlie the Veteran
While I wouldn’t say Charlie Morton was lights out, he made pitches when he had to and got out of big spots. He was yanking his curveball, a pitch he usually relies on, but thankfully his fastball was enough to get him through 5 stressful innings with 0 ER**
** while there were technically no ER, he almost got 1 due to nearly hitting Jurickson Profar.
Shaky Brosseau
The A’s scored one run due to a short, rough throw from third to first by Mike Brosseau. He had just switched from second to play third and, as a result, threw short to first, causing the ball to head into the 10 miles of foul territory that the Oakland Coliseum has. Semien, who’s been one of Oakland’s best player this year, was able to get all the way to third. He then scored on a sac fly.
The Long Ball
I don’t remember the last time the Rays hit 4 home runs in a game. They aren’t a huge power team (which I like, more fun to watch!) and yet, all their runs scored were off home runs. I’m trying not to read too much into that (cause they still got a couple base hits) but I’m curious to see what happens going forward. They’re going to have to find other ways to manufacture runs against Houston.
Quiet Bats and Strikeout City
The Rays strike out a lot (8th most in baseball), and the Oakland pitchers capitalized, combining for 12 Ks. I think the Rays just need to take a few more pitches, be patient, and make the pitchers work. That being said, it seemed like the Rays were looking for certain pitches from Manaea.
This is a minor thing, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Brandon Lowe swinging at a 3-0 pitch (resulted in a ground out). I’m all for being aggresive (loved when Tommy Pham stole second), but I didn’t see a reason to be swinging there.
Kiermaier and Meadows in particular surprised me, as they didn’t have it going offensively last night. Not a big deal, especially for Meadows, as he hit some hard foul balls. Hopefully they can figure it out in time for Houston (same goes for Adames and d’Arnaud).
Home Field Advantage?
I’m so glad to see this didn’t affect the Rays. Oakland had a rowdy, sold out crowd of 57,000 people. But, the Rays were able to power through, as the whole game they seemed cool, confident, and focused (unlike me, who was stressed beyond belief until the final out).
Hopefully the Rays can keep this mentality and block out the crowd as they go deeper into October.
On to Houston
Overall great game, striking hard and early. Shout-out to Yandy, GarcÃa and Pham for getting those big hits, and to Willy Adames for some great defensive plays. I’m curious to see if they do anything with Brosseau since he was struggling quite a bit offensively and defensively.
Looks like Glasnow is starting Game 1 tomorrow at 2:05 ET. He’s been great all year and I’d love to see him shut down Houston.
One final thing, what really has stood out to me lately is the energy that the Rays have. They’re in the clubhouse yelling about how they have the worst odds to win the World Series, and using that as motivation. They have a great mentality. They truly believe they can beat any team and come out on top. The Rays may be the underdog with the lowest payroll and a small market, BUT they are a huge threat. Not only do the Rays have a great team, but they have something to play for, and they are hungry to prove themselves.
So as long as they #StayHungry, I see great things coming for them.