By: Kelly Byrnes
NL Wild Card: Colorado Rockies (Kyle Freeland) at Chicago Cubs (Jon Lester)
The Rockies return to the Wild Card game from last year and are hoping for a different outcome this time around. The Cubs are back in the Wild Card game after winning the NL Central the last two seasons. In 2015 the Cubs beat the Pirates in the WC game. Jon Lester goes for the Cubbies. Lester is a big game pitcher except for that one time where he pitched in a Wild Card game and gave up 6 earned runs. Hopefully that won’t be in the back of his mind when he steps on the mound this time. The Rockies will hand the ball to Kyle Freeland on short rest which historically hasn’t worked very well. Since 1997 short rest starters vs fully rested starter are 20-40 in the postseason. Even after saying that I’m going to pick the upset and go with the Rockies. The Cubs offense has been struggling lately and will need a big game from Javier Baez. If Freeland gets through the 5th inning with the lead, he hands the ball to the bullpen and that will be the ball game.
AL Wild Card: Oakland A’s (Liam Hendriks) at New York Yankees (Luis Severino)
A couple of interesting choices for starting pitching in this game. A’s will go with Liam Hendriks as the “opener” which means he may just pitch 1 inning or to just a couple batters. The Yankees will go with Luis Severino again. He started in the Wild Card game last year and only lasted 1/3 of an inning. Obviously the Yankees will be looking for more length from Severino this time along. This game will definitely have a ton of pitching changes. I see a lot of offense in this game. The Yankees hit more HR’s than any other team in MLB history. The A’s have been the biggest surprise of the season and the hottest team in baseball since the beginning of July. I have really struggled picking a winner for this game. I have gone back and forth several times. Two good offenses, two great bullpens. Home field advantage doesn’t mean much in the history of the Wild Card game. It is just weird to me that Oakland is starting a pitcher that they released back in June. I realized that he is just an “opener” and will only pitch to a few batters. I love the A’s story this year but I’m going with the Yankees.