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The division series kicked off in the baseball playoffs and I was wondering if the teams that received the byes would have any trouble getting back into the swing of things. There were some interesting finishes to the opening games of these series, but in the end only one of the teams that received the bye ended up losing.

The Atlanta Braves were the only team that had a bye into the division series that lost game 1 yesterday and they made the game interesting late. Atlanta trailed right from the get-go as Philadelphia scored two runs in their first at bat. It seemed as though the Braves were never really in the game until the 9th inning. Atlanta started the inning off with a couple of singles before the first outs was made. Matt Olson came up and hit a 3-run home run to cut the Phillies lead to one run at 7-6, but after the Olson home run the Braves couldn’t get another player on base and they ended up dropping game 1.

Now the other team that had a bye coming into this round that looked as though they were going to lose game 1 was the Houston Astros. The Mariners led the game for 8 2/3rds innings and at one point had a 7-3 lead and looked as though they’d cruise to a game 1 win. The Astros picked up two runs in their half of the 8th inning to cut the Seattle lead to two runs, but that’s still a tough hill to climb. The Mariners were unable to add to their lead in their half of the 9th inning, so Houston came to bat needing two runs to tie and three runs to win. The Astros went ground out, hit by pitch, strikeout, single to put runners on first and second with two outs. Seattle’s manager Scott Servais came to the mound to make a pitching change and he brought in lefthander Robbie Ray who’s normally a starting pitcher to face Houston best player in the regular season Yordan Alvarez. Ray only threw two pitches to Alvarez the first one he fouled off and the second one he crushed to rightfield for a game winning three-run home run to win the game for the Astros 8-7.

The other two division series games didn’t provide as much drama. The New York Yankees used a quality pitching performance from Gerit Cole to take game 1 of their series with the Cleveland Guardians 4-1. Cole pitched 6 1/3rd innings giving up 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 8 and walking 1. Both teams scored in the 3rd inning and then the Yankees added a run in the 5th inning plus 2 runs in the 6th inning on an Anthony Rizzo home run to put the game away.

In the final division series game of the day the Los Angeles Dodgers continued their winning ways beating the San Diego Padres 5-3 in the first game of their series. The Dodgers got their runs early as they scored 2 runs in the 1st inning and then added three runs in the 3rd inning. San Diego cut into the Dodgers lead scoring 3 runs in top of the 5th inning, but that was it for the scoring in this game as the Dodgers picked up the victory.

Today’s schedule has just the National League teams playing. Game 2 between the Braves and the Phillies has a 3:35 p.m. start time on Fox. Kyle Wright gets the start for the Braves while Zack Wheeler will start for the Phillies. The second game has a 7:37 p.m. listed start time and is on FS1. The Dodgers will start Clayton Kershaw while the Padres will counter with Yu Darvish.

The American League series resume on Wednesday with both games being on TBS. The first game has the Astros hosting the Mariners. Houston will start Framber Valdez while the Mariners will go with Luis Castillo. The game has a listed start time of 2:37 p.m.

The second game is scheduled to start at 6:37 p.m. as the Yankees host the Guardians. New York will start Nestor Cortes in game 2 while the Guardians are going with Shane Bieber as their starter.

Well, if you get here in time let me know if you think either National League team will take a 2-0 lead in their series.

I’d also like to know how you think game 2 in the American League series will go. Do you see one or both teams taking a 2-0 series lead?

Remember that I’m on Twitter, @Burketime.