Sports Time Radio

The Major League Baseball playoffs started last night with the American League wild card game. Surprisingly it didn’t turn out to be a very competitive game as the Boston red Sox easily handled the New York Yankees 6-2.

Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning with a 2-run home run to centerfield. In the bottom of the 3rd inning Kyle Schwarber added a run to that Red Sox lead with a solo home run to to rightfield. Anthony Rizzo was finally able to get the Yankees on the board with a solo home run in the top of the 6th inning. Alex Verdugo then drove in the next three runs for the Red Sox. In the bottom of the 6th inning Verdugo got the run back by doubling home Bogaerts and then in the bottom of the 7th a single by Verdugo drove in the final two runs of the game for the Red Sox. It was a 6-1 game heading into the top of the 9th inning when Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run for the Yankees, but it was too little too late s the Red Sox bullpen closed out the Yankees for a 6-2 win.

The Yankees looked to have a slight advantage when it came to starting pitching in this wild card game, but Gerrit Cole was terrible and couldn’t even get out of the 3rd inning. Cole line on the night was 2 innings pitched; he gave up 3 runs on four hits two of which where home runs; he walked 2 and struck out 3. Not the kind of outing the Yankees needed from a player who is considered on of the better starting pitchers in baseball.

Even though the Yankees seem to have a slight edge in starting pitching it wasn’t much of one as Nathan Eovaldi has been very good for the Red Sox this season. The issue you’re always going to have with Eovaldi is he’s not going to give you a lot of length when he starts. Even last night Eovaldi threw just 71 pitches, but only lasted 5 1/3rd innings. I get that this is the new way starting pitchers are handled, but this is the playoffs and you need a starter who can stay into the game through that dreaded third time through an opponents line up.

Now the only run Eovaldi gave up was the solo home run to Rizzo, but that was enough for Red Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to his bullpen; which let’s face it has had it’s issues this season. Luckily last night Boston’s bullpen was right on. The Red Sox bullpen covered 3 2/3rds innings giving up just the solo home run by Stanton. They also allowed just one other hit while striking out 3 and not walking anyone.

You never know; maybe it was the fact that the Red Sox relievers knew they had some runs to play with or if they have found their roles in the bullpen, but it’s the kind of relief work they’re going to need as they head in the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Eovaldi’s official pitching line saw him throw 5 1/3rd innings; he gave up just 1 run on 4 hits and he struck out 8 without walking anyone. He also picked up the win for Boston.

With the win the Red Sox advance to the ALDS which is schedule to Start on Thursday night in Tampa Bay.

Tonight we get the National League wild card game which has the Los Angeles Dodgers hosting the St. Louis Cardinals. Max Scherzer makes the start for the Dodgers while the Cardinals will start Adam Wainwright.

Now you’d think that the Dodgers would win this game and advance easily since they had 106 wins in the regular season and the Cardinals only had 90, but don’t forget how well St. Louis has played down the stretch. The Cardinals went 19-3 to close out the season and two of those three loss where after they had clinched a wild card spot. Let’s hope that this makes for an interesting game tonight.

Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. start on TBS. With multiple networks carrying playoff game they can be hard to find from time to time; so now you know where you can watch it.

Now before the wild card game starts tonight why not listen to Sports Time Radio podcast and hear what Dan the Man and The Big Jack think about tonight’s game. You can listen to Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime