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The Yankees’ season may be over, but the baseball world spins on. Whether you’ve decided to continue watching the postseason or have swapped your viewing schedule to the NFL, NBA, NHL, and NCAA seasons, we’ll continue to provide the most up-to-date coverage on the quest for Rob Manfred’s piece of metal.
What happened last night?
Absolutely nothing! Thanks to the Red Sox and Astros each wrapping up their divisional series in four games, no Game 5 was needed on the American League side, while yesterday was a travel day for both the Dodgers and Giants. Aside from the groundskeepers prepping Oracle Park for arguably the most highly-anticipated Game 5 of all time, the baseball world slept quietly last night.
What’s on deck?
NLDS Game 5
San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
(Logan Webb vs. Julio Urías)
Time: 9:07 pm EDT
Venue: Oracle Park
TV: TBS
Youth reigns supreme in the NLDS as both the Giants and Dodgers send a pair of youngsters, both of whom are in their age-24 season. Don’t let their age fool you, however, as just about every team in the league would give up well more than a king’s ransom to have one of those two front their rotation for the foreseeable future.
San Francisco’s third-year ace was on the mound for them in Game 1 last Friday, and he made more than a great first impression in his first-ever postseason start. He shut out the potent Dodgers lineup — you know, the one that has seven players with an OPS+ of 123 or more — for 7.2 innings, striking out 10 without allowing a walk. Outdueling Walker Buehler, a Cy Young candidate, Webb announced his presence to a national audience in a big way, and he looks to continue building a reputation as one of the league’s premier pitchers with the biggest outing of his young career tonight.
Despite his young age, Urías is already a postseason veteran, with 19 playoff appearances (4 starts) coming into Game 5. Los Angeles’s starter for Game 2, the young lefty threw five innings of one-run ball last Saturday as the Dodgers evened the series at one apiece. Although I would not say that this is the biggest outing of Urías’s life — that distinction would go to the save he earned in Game 6 of last year’s World Series to secure the title — it is probably the biggest start of his six-year career to date, as it is his first-ever start in a win-or-go-home game.