Monday, October 7, 2019

Newsletter Excerpt, October 7, 2019 -- "ALDS Review"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

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"Down 2-0, can either of these teams come back to win? The Rays have the stronger case. They’ll have their ace, Charlie Morton, on the mound in today’s Game 3, and they draw Jose Urquiddy, the Astros’ soft spot, in Game 4. Their pitching has kept them in these games, with a two-run error by Brandon Lowe due to miscommunication between him and Tommy Pham making Game One look a bit worse than it was. They have a very deep staff, and it’s pitched fairly well: 18 strikeouts over two games against the best contact team in the league, just six walks allowed. The Rays can keep throwing different looks at the Astros. In close games, they can make it a battle of the bullpens, where they have a small advantage. Two wins just puts them back in Houston against a rested Justin Verlander, but they’d take that outcome this morning."