Wild Card Series…Game One Reviews
Tuesday, September 29th Tonight is the first night of Major League Baseball’s Wild Card series. The contestants are the three wild card teams from each league and the division winner with the fewest number of victories. In the National League the Atlanta Braves won the East Division but had the “worst” record out of the three division winners. So, the Braves host the wild card team with the lowest winning percentage, which in this case is the Philadelphia Phillies.
The best part about having the better record of the two combatants is that you have home field advantage throughout the best-of-three series.
The San Diego Padres finished in the number one wild card position, so they are hosting the second-place wild card team, the Chicago Cubs. The two National League teams with the best records, the Brewers and the Dodgers, are waiting with bated breaths to see who their first-round opponents will be. In the American League the division winner with the “worst” record was the Central Division winning Houston Astros.
Actually, they finished at 81 and 81, so their record wasn’t that great, but they still made the playoffs, so good for them. They are hosting the third-place wild card team, the Chicago White Sox. Probably the best match up of them all, the New York Yankees are hosting their bitter rivals the Boston Red Sox in this best-of-three series.
The two American League teams waiting in the wings are the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays. If at the beginning of the season you would have put down a small wager on those teams being the top two seeds in the American League at the end of the year, you’d probably be accused of witchcraft and hanged from the gallows. But at least your heirs would have a pretty good inheritance.
Now for a summary of the four games played today: Atlanta 5 – Philadelphia 3 Austin Riley’s big three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth led the Atlanta Braves to a hard-fought victory over the visiting Philiadelphia Phillies. Chris Sale started the game for the Braves, throwing six and a third innings giving up three runs on four hits while striking out nine.
Jesus Luzardo took the mound for the Phillies, lasting five innings while surrendering only three hits and one earned run while striking out six. Alec Bohm’s RBI double in the top of the first gave the Phillies an early lead. Mike Yastrzemski’s RBI single in the bottom of the second tied it up for Atlanta. Ozzie Albies put the Braves in the lead once more with an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth. 2-1 Atlanta. JT Realmuto put the Phillies back on top with a two-run triple in the top of the seventh. 3-2 Phillies. But then the big blow of the game, Austin Riley’s three-run homer, put the Braves up 5 to 3 and that’s just what the Braves needed to nail down the win.
Dylan Lee got the victory for the Braves while Jhoan Duran took the loss for the Phillies. Game two tomorrow at 2:00 ET. White Sox 6 – Astros 3 The Chicago White Sox got out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the first five innings, and then holding on for a well-deserved 6 to 3 victory on the road over the Houston Astros. Hagen Smith started the game for the Sox, pitching three innings of shutout baseball and giving up just two hits. AJ Blubaugh started for the Astros, lasting only two-thirds of an inning, giving up a run and walking three batters. Houston used a total of eight pitchers in tonight’s game.
Blubaugh took the loss. Jordan Hicks got the win in relief for Chicago. The White Sox got a run in the top of the first courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Munetaka Murakami. Chicago got two runs across in the top of the second off of Sam Antonacci’s two-run single. 3-0 Sox. Colson Montgomery led off the top of the fourth with a home run to center field. 4-0 Chicago. Chase Meidroth brought home another run for the Sox in the top of the 5th with an infield single. Chicago now has five runs.
The Astros finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Nelson Velazqquez smacked a two-run homer to left field. 5-2 Sox. In the top of the seventh, Munetaka Murakami scored on a wild pitch. 6-2 Sox. Houston got a run in the bottom of the eighth as Jeremy Pena scored on an infield throwing error. 6-3. And that’s the way it ended…6-3 Chicago. The White Sox are the only team in history to make the postseason after three consecutive seasons with over 100 losses. In 2024 the Sox set a modern-day major league record with a mind-blowing 121 defeats. That’s quite a turnaround. Wow… Game two tomorrow in Houston at 5:00 ET. Yankees 9 - Red Sox 0 Ben Rice had a night to remember, hitting two home runs and driving in six, leading the New York Yankees to a 9 to 0 blowout win over the much-despised Boston Red Sox.
New York started off the scoring in the bottom of the second as Austin Wells’ single scored George Lombard. Ben Rice gave the Yankees another run in the bottom of the fifth with a home run to center field. 2-0 NY. Rice was at it again in the bottom of the seventh with a single to right field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt.
The Yanks got another run on a double-play ground out by Luis Garcia. 4-0 Yankees. I’ll bet you can guess who came up in the bottom of the eight and hit a grand-slam home run…you got it, Ben Rice. His second homer of the night. 9-0 Yankees. And that was a blowout for sure… Rice was the obvious choice for offensive player of the game with his two home runs and six RBIs. Cam Schlittler started for New York tonight, going six and a third innings, surrendering only two hits while striking out ten Red Sox. He threw a total of 117 pitches. That’s a ton. The Yanks look to wrap up the series tomorrow at 8 ET. Padres 8 – Cubs 0 Michale King had a no-hitter going into to the top of the seventh as the San Diego Padres shut out the visiting Chicago Cubs. The Cubs ended up with just three hits in a dominating performance by those home town Padres. San Diego got started early by scoring a couple runs in the bottom of the first courtesy of solo home runs by the dynamic duo of Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado.
The Padres added a run in the bottom of the third as Manny Machado’s double scored Fernando Tatis. 3-0 SD. San Diego’s third home run of the night, courtesy of Xander Bogaerts gave them a 4-0 lead. Jackson Merrill’s two-run single gave the Padres a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
A passed ball on a strike out led to the Padres’ seventh run of the game. The Cubs got their first hit of the game in the top of the seventh when Nico Hoerner ran out an infield single. But they couldn’t push across a run. The Padres added on a run in the bottom of the seventh. Fernando Tatis led off with a single. He then stole second base and came all the way around to score on a throwing error by the Cubs’ catcher.
Michale King went seven innings for the Padres, giving up only an infield single while striking out eight Cubbies. Chicago actually showed a sign of life by loading the bases in the top of the ninth. But they could not score a run…it wasn’t meant to be. The Cubs ended up with three hits for the game.
San Diego hopes to end the series tomorrow night at 10 ET. Dave’s Dime…Stadium Improvements Good news for Washington Nationals’ fans…last week Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser indicated she will introduce new legislation that would give the team $380 million to be used for renovations and maintenance at Nationals Stadium over the next six years. In today’s big money culture $380 million may not sound like that much, (I can’t believe I’m actually typing that!) but it actually equals about a third of what Nationals Park would be worth today when you factor in inflation.
The original stadium cost $700 million, which would equal $1 billion today. Wouldn’t it be interesting, and a challenge, and a huge responsibility to be presented with $380 million bucks and just go to town with upgrades and premium experiences that would not only bring more fans to the park but more revenue for the owners.
That’s the main idea, is it not? Some of those ideas floating around include a year-round entertainment area offering retail stores and restaurants that could be used even on off-days when the Nats were on the road. Another plan might include adding retail areas and cafes along the streets that border the stadium.
Make the whole neighborhood feel better about itself and improve the ambience. And of course, in today’s age of social media, the need is there for “social areas” or “neighborhoods” where the fans can mingle while eating and drinking in a bar-like area while watching the game highlights on, let’s say, the scoreboard in right field.
Rumor has it that many people attend sporting events these days as much for the interaction with fellow humans than actually watching the game. As long as they’re not on their phones. That’s all I care about. More tomorrow,
