Feature photo by Connor Ballou
By Connor Ballou
MLB’s Wild Card series always provides an extreme level of excitement for fans, players, coaches, and everyone else involved. Series are only the best out of 3, so the stakes are heightened in a shorter amount of time.
This Wild Card series will feature the Tigers at the Guardians, the Padres at the Cubs, the Red Sox at the Yankees, and the Reds at the Dodgers.
Tigers vs Guardians
Starting with the Cleveland Guardians hosting the Detroit Tigers, this will feature two teams from the American League (AL) Central. Cleveland edged out Detroit in the AL Central by one game with a massive push in the last month of the year.
On July 6th, the Tigers had a 15.5-game lead on the Guardians, and it was their biggest lead of the year. Sitting with a 10-game lead in the division on September 3, Detroit stumbled down the stretch.
By winning the division, the team secured home-field advantage for the best-of-three series, with all games scheduled to be played at home if necessary. The Guardians face a tough challenge in game one, as the Tigers will start Tarik Skubal, the current favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.
Cleveland will counter with former East Carolina University Pirate and North Carolina native, Gavin Williams. Game one is so crucial in these best-of-threes, and the Guardians will need an excellent performance from Williams, considering Skubal is the counterpart.
Ethan Hummel, a left-handed pitcher for William Peace University (WPU) as well as a Detroit Tigers fan, spoke on his expectations ahead of this series.
“My expectations for the Tigers and Guardians series is for the Tigers to bounce back,” said Hummel. “We’ve had one of the worst stretches of all time at the end of the season, including losing five out of six games to the Guardians and dropping from first place to them in the AL Central.”
“Truthfully, it’s hard to beat the same team in three three-game series in this short amount of time, so I’m expecting us to learn from our past games with them and take care of business in this series,” said Hummel.
Regarding the other three Wild Card series, Hummel was asked which one he was looking forward to the most.
“Another Wild Card series I’m very excited to watch is the Sox vs the Yankees,” said Hummel. “This series holds so much historical animosity against each other, and you can’t ask for much more than that in October baseball.”
“Drama, grit, and one winner is all we see from this series, and I can’t wait,” said Hummel.
Padres vs Cubs
The San Diego Padres visiting the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field will be the next Wild Card series to kick off. The Cubs finished out the year at a very strong 92 to 70, coming in second place in the National League (NL) Central. The Padres finished 90 to 72, finishing second in the NL behind the powerhouse Dodgers.
San Diego will send the veteran Nick Pivetta to the mound in game one, hoping to take the first of three. The Cubs will have the lefty Matthew Boyd on the mound. These teams have split the season record at three to three.
Although they have faced each other in two series, they have not met since all the way back on April 16th in San Diego. With this series featuring many of the game’s stars likeCinn, this will be a very intriguing series in one of the most historic ballparks, Wrigley Field.
Red Sox vs Yankees
The first night game of the playoffs will be the Boston Red Sox visiting the New York Yankees. The rivalry speaks for itself as this is one of the best in all of sports. Although the Red Sox have had the Yankees’ number this year, Aaron Judge is still one of the most feared hitters in all of the sport.
This will be a battle of aces on both sides, with Max Fried and Garret Crochet going for the Sox. Max Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees for this reason: to take the ball in game one of a playoff series.
Now, as great as Fried has been, Crochet has been just as good, if not better. Crochet came from Chicago to Boston in a massive trade haul. Multiple of Boston’s top prospects were sent for Crochet. He led the MLB in strikeouts this year with 255 and posted 32 starts for Boston.
One of the most fascinating matchups of these playoffs will be Garret Crochet vs. Aaron Judge, power on power. In 15 plate appearances, Judge is three for 15 with 11 strikeouts and two home runs. So, the numbers show it’s either a strikeout or a home run for Judge vs. Crochet.
Another chapter of the best rivalry in baseball will be written throughout this series.
Reds vs. Dodgers
The night capper will be the Cincinnati Reds visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds ended up being the third Wild Card team despite having the same record as the Mets. Cincinnati held the tiebreaker over the Mets, so they were able to get in.
Beating the defending World Series champions will be a tall task, but Cincinnati has one of the best managers in baseball, Terry Francona. On the flip side, there are many things to circle with the Dodgers, including the best player in baseball, Shohei Ohtani.
Young stud Hunter Greene will take on the tall task of facing this daunting Dodgers lineup with a lot of playoff experience. Southpaw Blake Snell will be the Dodgers’ pitcher for game one.
Will Stadler, a Cincinnati Reds fan and WPU senior, spoke on his expectations coming into this series.
“As far as the Reds go, I think we might play better than people expect,” said Stadler. “We have no expectations of ourselves, we’re playing with house money, we have a huge opportunity in front of us, and I hope we capitalize.”
Stadler spoke on the series he’s most excited about.
“I am really looking forward to the Yankees-Red Sox,” said Stadler. “Any time you get a rivalry matchup in the playoffs, it’s that much intense.”