ANTHONY GETTINO
Special to The Leader
Playoff baseball starts tonight, which means it’s about that time that everybody watches their first game of the season. Maybe their second if they’re a real dedicated fan.
Tonight marks the Wildcard games in both the American League and the National League. It’s a one game series; winner moves on to face the first seed, loser goes to their couch a loser.
The New York Yankees will be facing the Oakland Athletics in New York. The winner of this game will go on to face the Boston Red Sox in Fenway.
You have to believe that the Yankees have the advantage in this game, due to the star power in their lineup. They use the long ball more than any other team in baseball, and the short porch in right field in Yankees Stadium will be used to their benefit.
Both teams have shaky starting pitching, but commanding bullpens. Oakland has gotten a resurgent season from Washington Nationals castaway Blake Treinen at the back end of their bullpen, with him posting a sub 0.50 ERA on the season.
The Yankees have bullpen ace Aroldis Chapman to bolster the group including Zach Britton, Dellin Betances, David Robertson and Jonathan Holder.
The keys to each teams success relies on their offenses. If the A’s can get Kris Davis to crank some long balls with runners on, they have a shot.
For the Yankees, if they can get the long ball to fly, with their power hitters Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres, they will be able to breeze past this A’s team and have a competitive shot at Boston.
In the divisional round of the American League, the Cleveland Indians will be facing the Houston Astros, with Houston having home field advantage as the second seed.
The Astros, winners of 100+ games this season, should be viewed as the favorites, with commanding starting pitchers to go along with a formidable lineup.
This does not mean that the Indians don’t have a chance, as they have two Cy Young candidates of their own and a starting pitching staff that can go toe to toe with Houston’s. They also have one of the better offensive infields in all of baseball with Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor and Josh Donaldson.
Both teams weaknesses are their bullpens.
This should make for long outings for both teams starting pitchers and a whole lot of late game thrills throughout this entire series.
The other American League matchup is the Boston Red Sox facing the winner of the Wildcard matchup (see above) in Boston.