boomer1709 : Nuts. I missed that one. Well, Pittsburgh got what they deserved, eh? Now it's time for them to face off against division rival St. Louis. Pittsburgh took the season series 10-9, so it's quite literally anybody's ballgame. I expect the Pirates to win. If they can at least make it deep, it'll be great not just for the city and for the fans, but for baseball in general. One could also say that for the '04 Red Sox. We're still early in the postseason, who knows what will happen? Today at 8PM EST/ 5PM PST: Tampa Bay vs. Cleveland. I'm rooting for the Indians, show them who's boss, Tito!

The Indians are starting a rookie with 10 career starts in game 1 of the ALDS? Considering they have had a couple days off, I'm not quite sure why they decided to let a rookie who debuted in July start game 1.

Chewedmint : Wait, that Wild Card game is over, too? I thought it was tonight. Also, Aaron Boone picked the Red Sox to win the World Series. Aaron Bleepin' Boon himself.

Mr. Nerd : Oops, I meant the WC game lol. My point still stands, though. Win or go home and you give the ball to a rookie with 10 career starts?

Chewedmint : That's even worse. However, Tito might see something in this young guy. From the outside looking in, it's not a very good idea. Cleveland obviously has a better pitcher they could start. Tampa Bay has had good pitching for years now, so it might end up in an out-dueling.

Salazar only has 2 pitches, But they have been some of the best pitches seen in the MLB this year, This ones going to come down to the wire, Im gonna say 5-3 Tampa bay Final! 

I'm predicting that the Rays will be able to win 5-4 in 10 innings. I have a feeling 9 innings won't be enough. Looking forward to a great game though! Although if the Indians get past this game, I don't think they can stop the Red Sox. But I think the Rays will have a chance. I guess we'll see what happens.

I suppose I am pretty happy for Marlon Byrd, he had an outstanding season with the Mets, and then he went to the Pirates and has a shot at some postseason games.

It's not looking good for the Indians right now. They are down 3-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning. Salazar, the rookie pitcher I mentioned earlier, only lasted 4 innings giving up 4 hits, a pair of walks, and three earned runs. He was pulled after walking the leadoff hitter in the 5th inning.

The Tigers will also do great things with both Scherzer and Verlander, I mean, look at Scherzer. Forget his 21 wins, he broke the record earlier in the year that was held by Roger Clemens. Scherzer became the first pitcher to go 13 and 0 to start a season since Roger Clemens had accomplished the feat in 1986.

Matt Harvey, the rising legend of the New York Mets was one of the best pitchers in the National League, if not the best when this happened. He had a 7 and 2 record, was on pace to amass well beyond 250 strikeouts, and started the All Star Game.

Impressive, just as impressive as another story that unfolded on the other side of baseball. The American League had its share of great pitchers, they have Felix Hernandez, they have Justin Verlander, and we can't forget that the American League boasts Mariano Rivera. Now, coming into the 2013 season, the American League has another pitcher to add to this mix and his name is Max Scherzer.

In order to understand the impact made by this amazing pitcher,one must also understand that Scherzer has not lost a game at that point. That's right, his 2013 record back then was 13 and 0. The last time a pitcher has gone 13 and 0 to start a season was in 1986 when Roger Clemens accomplished this feat during his third season with the Boston Red Sox.

His first three years with the Tigers from 2010 to 2012 resulted in a .614 winning percentage, and he can easily win the A.L. Cy Young award.

In my opinion, the W-L record is way overrated. For example, over the past four seasons, Felix Hernandez has a record of 52-45 even though his ERA in that span is under 3.00. Everyone knows he's a top 5 pitcher in MLB, however, his record indicates he's a mediocre pitcher because he hardly gets any run support. Also, look at 2010, the year in which he won the Cy Young. 13-12, 2.27 ERA, 6 CG, 249.2 IP, etc. He wasn't even an all-star that year because of his mediocre record. If he played for a team with a good offense and put up these kind of numbers, he would easily have 20+ wins.

And for relief pitchers, the W-L record is 100% meaningless. I wish they would get rid of it. It's such a misleading stat.

Well, the Indians lost 4-0. They had runners in scoring position a bunch of times but couldnt get hits at key times.

The rays will move on to face their division rival Boston.

With the rays pitching, it is not unreasonable to believe that the rays can beat the red sox.

bobq : The post-game stuff is on behind me right now, and the Rays are shooting... Silly String on each other? Y U NO HAVE WHIPPED CREAM!!!! Welp, seems that Boston will have to face the annoying little brothers of the AL East. It could go either way, but I think Tampa Bay could end up on top based on how hard they play. Then again, the Red Sox play REALLY hard, but the Rays just have this thing about them that allows them to win when you'd think they're the underdogs. Of course, this is baseball, and we'll have to wait until Friday to see.

Pittsburgh got spanked tonight. That is too bad, I was hoping they would get of to an early lead in this series.

The LA vs Atlanta game is still on right now, but it looks likely that the Dodgers are going to win. Thats disappointing because I was cheering for the 2 other teams.

Regardless, Im still hoping that Pittsburgh can advance in the playoffs.

bobq : I ended up watching only the Dodgers and Braves game, and got a similar disappointment as last year in the first ever WCG. It was quite similar to the ALWCG in that both teams had a strong start in the first inning and the away team quieted the crowd quickly. I was still in the Wild Card mindset until the 5th inning so I was kinda worried XD. Now, for the Cardinals and Pirates, why is it that they now let division rivals play against each other in the DS now? It made much more sense how they did it before the second Wild Card. In any case, hopefully the Buccos can grab the second game and win the rest at home.

Mr. Nerd :

They have made it so that division rivals mean nothing, and it is strictly based on your record. The cardinals had the best record in the NL so they get to play the wildcard team, who happens to be from the same division. Same with Boston playing the wild card team because they have the best record. That happened to turn out to be division rival rays.

I'm rooting for the Cardinals and the A's. If they lose, I would root for the Red Sox.

Not related to the playoffs, but here is some bad news for baseball: Mets all-star pitcher Matt Harvey will undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2014 season. Ouch.

Brutal. Lets hope he bounces back better than Kyle Draybek did.

That sure set the Mets back maybe 2 or 3 years. Hopefully their other potential star pitchers will be ready by then.

The Reds also fired Dusty Baker, despite leading the team to three 90+ win seasons in the last four years. I would assume they fired him because the Reds have made an early exit from the playoffs in all three of those years.