Come hang out and watch with us! We’ll be providing updates, analysis and banter throughout the game.
We’re less than 30 minutes away from the epic conclusion of the Giants-Dodgers National League Division Series.
These two teams have never met before in the postseason, and the matchup has lived up to the hype. It comes down to a final, winner-take-all game at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Sergio Estrada/USA TODAY Sports; Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports
Emma Baccellieri and I will be hanging out and having a conversation throughout the night as we watch the game. We’ll be providing updates and analysis, as well as some light-hearted banter. Let’s get started.
All times listed are EST
Matt Martell (8:55): Howdy, partner.
Emma Baccellieri (8:55): Hello!
MM (8:56): Ready to get this thing going?
EB: (8:56): Sure am. What are your thoughts on the Dodgers’ decision to open the game with Corey Knebel instead of Julio Urías?
MM (8:57): Well, first off, I love the gamesmanship. I like that we finally got a weird wrinkle between two teams that are facing each other for the 24th time this year.
That said, I don’t know how much of an impact it makes. Sure, it keeps the Giants from stacking all their right-handed-hitting platoon players at the top of the order, but they seemed to have adjusted fine with the lineup they put together. They still have Darin Ruff in the two-hole, anticipating that Urías will still be in the game for at least one, probably two, of his plate appearances. And they have lefty-hitting Tommy La Stella leading off, Brandon Crawford in the cleanup spot and Mike Yastrzemski hitting sixth. That’s fairly well-balanced. It does mean we don’t see LaMonte Wade Jr. until later in the game. The Giants smartly threw Wilmer Flores in the No. 8 spot so he’d be there for when Urías enters the game.
EB (9:00): So I don’t dislike this move. But I’m not totally crazy about it, either. It would be an easier call for me if a) the bulk guy in question was on short rest, or b) either of the pitchers involved had extreme platoon splits. Yet neither of those apply here: Urías is fully rested, with fairly minimal splits this season, while Knebel actually has reverse splits. I do think there’s an advantage to be gained here—but I think it’s far, far smaller than most cases where we think about an opener being useful.
As for what it does to the Giants’ lineup, I think they played this well. They did add more lefties (3) than they had when they last faced Urías (1), but there’s an interesting wrinkle in there: The left-handed trio includes Tommy La Stella, who was supposed to be on-call only as a pinch-hitter today, since he’s battling an Achilles’ injury. But with Knebel starting, he’s hitting leadoff instead, which guarantees him an immediate plate appearance against a righty. If he gets on base, that gives the team a chance to pull him without risking any serious exposure of him on defense, which actually might work out as an advantage for the Giants.
MM (9:05): What’s your prediction for tonight?
EB (9:06): I think Giants (but not by much!)
I also think we see Max Scherzer in relief at some point
MM (9:06): Is he the losing pitcher tonight?
