If you’re a baseball fan I’m sure you’ve heard the game described as weird or strange or something to that affect at some point in time. There are upsets in baseball pretty much every day and personally I think it’s the most difficult game of all to predict on a game-to-game basis. Here’s a couple of examples for you.
On Monday the Tampa Bay Rays the team with the best record in all of baseball rolled into Wrigley Field for a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs. While the National League east leading Atlanta Braves started a three-game series on Monday against the team with the worst record in baseball the Oakland A’s.
Now looking at these two series you’d think that the Rays and the Braves would most likely sweep these series are at least win two out of the three games. This is where baseball gets odd.
On Monday Marcus Stroman limited the Rays to just 1 hit as he threw a complete game shutout against Tampa Bay as the Cubs won Game 1 of that series 1-0. In Oakland Michael Soroka returned to start the game for the Braves after missing almost two full seasons due to an Achillies injury. While it was a positive for the Braves to get Soroka back into their starting rotation the A’s scored 4 runs off of Soroka on their way to a 7-2 victory.
You look at those two scores and you might think well that’s just baseball and bad teams beat good teams every now and then. Well on Tuesday the Cubs and the A’s kept the weirdness of baseball going.
Cubs pitching again limited the Tampa Bay offense as the Rays managed just 1 run in last night’s game as they lost their second in a row to the Cubs 2-1. In Oakland the Braves could only manage 1 run as the A’s picked up a win in Game 2 of that series by the same 2-1 score.
So, Tampa Bay and Atlanta went from teams that coming into these series had a very good chance to sweep to teams that are just looking to salvage a game in these series. Is there anybody out there that predicted that?
The Cubs have Justin Steele starting for them today while Tampa Bay has Zach Eflin as their starting pitcher. Steele is 6-2 on the season for the Cubs but is coming off his worst start of the season in his last outing. Steele lasted just 3 2/3rd innings and took the loss against the Cincinnati Reds. Eflin is 7-1 for Tampa Bay this season and is coming off a win in his last start. Eflin threw 7 innings in a 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
In Oakland the A’s will send James Kaprielian to the mound as they try to sweep the Braves. Kaprielian is 0-5 with an ERA of 8.45 this season. In his last start Kaprielian took the loss against the Houston Astros, he pitched 5 innings in that loss. The Braves will counter on the mound with rookie Jared Shuster who will be making his 6th major league start. Shuster pitched 5 2/3rd innings in his last start, and he took the loss against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Tampa Bay has lost two games in a row four times this season, but they’ve never lost three games in a row. Interestingly all three of those times that the Rays lost two games in a row it was to the same team. Is it possible that the Cubs could not only sweep the Rays, but could they be the first team to take three in a row from Tampa Bay.
Atlanta has had one four game losing streak and two three game losing streaks but is it possible that facing a team that even after winning two games in a row still has the worst record in baseball at 12-45 that Atlanta could lose three in a row.
There is absolutely no logic at all for the Cubs and the A’s to have won these first two games in their current series, but that’s baseball.
Let me know what you think. Do you see the Cubs and the A’s doing the improbably and sweeping Tampa Bay and Atlanta? Or do you see the Rays and the Braves bouncing back today and getting one win in the series? Let me know what you think the outcome of today’s games will be.
Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.