I would like to preface that I am a Yankee fan and I may have a tad of bias here, but the facts are the facts.
Let's start with the Rangers/Rays series, in which Texas was without former Cy Young winners, Jacob Degrom and Max Scherzer. Game 1 they went with former Yankee Jordan Montgomery, who threw a gem. In Game 2 Adolis Garcia and Evan Carter, a 20-year-old rookie who became the second-youngest postseason player in franchise history, homered off 16-game winner Zach Eflin, who was unable to save Tampa Bay's season. Nathan Eovaldi also delivered for the Rangers, pitching 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
Texas advances to a Division Series at AL East champion Baltimore starting Saturday. The Rays' scoreless streak reached 33 innings, one shy of the postseason record held by the 1966-74 Los Angeles Dodgers, before Curtis Mead's RBI single in the seventh.
Texas won a postseason series for the first time since 2011, when the Rangers reached the World Series before losing to St. Louis. After securing the AL’s second wild card, Tampa Bay lost its seventh straight postseason game. In getting swept in consecutive Wild Card Series, the Rays scored two runs over four games while hitting .161.
I would hate to see Brandon Lowe's mentions right now, I'd imagine it's a lot of "all that talk to not show up for two extra games".
If I was a really petty Yankee fan, I would bring up the attendance at Tropicana Field, especially for what could be the last series of the season. The MLB doesn't do the Rays any favors for attendance because almost every year they get the 3pm slot. Attendance for Game 2 was 20,198, another below-sellout crowd at Tropicana Field but up slightly from Tuesday's 19,704. Sad.
Minnesota Twins vs Toronto Blue Jays
The streak is over. The Twins hope they never have to talk about it again. Minnesota snapped an 18-game postseason losing streak -- the longest in any major North American sports league....and potentially their first series win.
It's the bottom of the 8th in game 2 right now, so by the time I finishing this blog the Twins. Carlos Correa just got hit on his right hand and with how he's been playing in these two games, you hope it's not serious but he's staying in the game, and also cheated when he was on the Astros.
Just like that Correa goes 1st to the 3rd on a single and the Twins may add a few on here. Nevermind....we head to the top of the 9th.
Correa has done it all, from his defense play in Game 1, to hiss RBI single earlier in Game 2 to get the Twins on the board. Jose Berrios is the focal point of this game, and it's all going to fall back on Blue Jays manager, John Schneider, is going to have to answer some hard questions. Berrios pitched 3 innings, but was pulled in the top of the 4th after a lead off walk, which ended up being an earned run to him. Yusei Kikuchi came in for relief and wasn't able to do his job (1 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk).
Currently watching the Twins figure out if their closer Duran is good to go, who had a blister pop during his last warm up pitch. If my dad is watching he turned the game off.
Toronto had an opportunity in the top of the 5th, with two runners in scoring position, and their best hitter at the plate, Bo Bichette. Up until that point, Bichette was 4 for 6 in the series, the rest of the Blue Jays hitters were 6 for 41, no one else you wanted up in that moment. Minnesota Twins starter Sonny Gray spun and picked off to second, catching an unaware Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end the threat.
Nice move fat ass, just potentially cost your team the series as the Twins shut it down in the 9th and go go to the ALDS to face the Houston Astros. First playoff series win since 2002. Sonny Gray leaves the Yankees and becomes a top 10 AL starter....but thats show biz baby!
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