October Nathan Eovaldi is Different, Blue Jays Botch Big Moment, More Wild Card Takes
No hot take is premature in the best-of-three Wild Card Round, when a team's postseason run can start and end in the span of 48 hours.
Just ask the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.
Both AL East clubs were sent packing in series sweeps, with the Texas Rangers advancing to the ALDS behind a stellar start from Nathan Eovaldi and the Minnesota Twins riding a dominant bullpen performance to shake the postseason demons that have plagued them in recent years.
They are not the only ones making an early exit from the playoffs.
The Milwaukee Brewers also fell victim to a Wild Card Round sweep, striking for two early runs against Zac Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 2 before their bats fell silent and the D-backs came away with a 5-2 victory.
A 7-1 victory by the Philadelphia Phillies over the Miami Marlins concluded a full day of sweeps, and now baseball fans will have to wait until Saturday to get their next dose of postseason baseball when the ALDS and NLDS kick off.
In the meantime, there are takes to be had for winners and losers alike, and ahead we've taken a closer look at one major storyline for each team that was in action on Wednesday.
Rays Embarrassing Play Should Put Kevin Cash on the Hot Seat
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The Tampa Bay Rays started the year 13-0 and spent 12 of the first 13 weeks of the 2023 season in the No. 1 spot in B/R's weekly power rankings. Before the Atlanta Braves juggernaut offense hit its stride, they looked like the team to beat.
What the hell happened?
It would be easy to point to injuries to Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen in the starting rotation and sluggers Brandon Lowe and Luke Raley in the starting lineup. Or to say that this is a young roster, that the Texas Rangers offense was clicking, or that Nathan Eovaldi simply pitched a gem.
However, it's time to start asking if Kevin Cash is the right man to be steering the ship in Tampa Bay.
The Rays didn't just get beat, they were flat-out embarrassed, and for the brief 48 hours they were a playoff team they looked poorly composed and ill-prepared for playoff baseball. Those are issues that fall squarely on the shoulders of the man in the manager's seat.
He let a two-run inning turn into a four-run inning by leaving Zach Eflin in the game too long in the fourth. The Tampa Bay starter had already given up a solo home run to Adolis García, single to Leody Taveras and triple to Josh Jung, yet he was still left in to give up a two-run blast to Evan Carter.
For a Rays offense that got shut out on Tuesday night and failed to get a runner past first base until the seventh inning on Wednesday, four runs was insurmountable. A quiet offense has become a troubling trend for the Rays in October.
A year ago, this same Rays team managed just one run and nine hits in 24 innings while getting swept by the Cleveland Guardians in the Wild Card Round.
The Tampa Bay organization consistently finds a way to contend with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, but it's the front office that deserves credit for mining diamonds in the rough, spending wisely and excelling in player development.
In his role as manager, Cash has now failed to set the team up for postseason success in consecutive years, and that should put him on the hot seat.
October Nathan Eovaldi Has Entered the Chat
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In his first season with the Texas Rangers, Nathan Eovaldi pitched to a 2.83 ERA during the first half of the season to earn his second career All-Star selection, but a forearm strain sidelined him in late July and cost him nearly two months.
The 33-year-old returned to action on Sept. 5, but he didn't look like the same pitcher down the stretch, struggling to a 9.30 ERA in 20.1 innings while allowing an ugly .313/.418/.602 line to opposing hitters.
Turns out, he was just waiting for the calendar to flip to October.
The Rangers signed Eovaldi to a two-year, $34 million deal in part because of his impressive postseason track record. Sure enough, he flipped the switch with a dominant start in Game 2, taking the Rays offense out of the game early and rolling through the middle innings.
Eovaldi had a career breakthrough during the 2018 postseason with the Boston Red Sox, posting a 1.61 ERA in 22.1 innings while tallying two wins and two holds pitching in a variety of different roles. The Red Sox re-signed him to a four-year, $68 million, and he pitched well again during the 2021 postseason.
Add Wednesday's start—6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K—to his resume, and there's a fairly easy case to be made that he is one of baseball's best active postseason pitchers.
Can he anchor another World Series push with his new team?
The Twins Have a Secret Weapon
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Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, Caleb Thielbar and Louie Varland.
To the casual fan outside of Minnesota, it's an unknown cast of characters, but it might just be the secret weapon that leads the Minnesota Twins on a deep postseason run.
Those five relievers threw a combined 8.1 scoreless innings in Game 1 and Game 2 to help lead the Twins to a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card Round, and that group is the type of bullpen core that could shorten games all postseason.
The fact Twins manager Rocco Baldelli didn't think twice about taking Game 2 starter Sonny Gray—a pitcher who had a 2.79 ERA in 184 innings and is a lock to finish in the top five in AL Cy Young voting—out of the game after just five innings and 85 pitches speaks volumes.
The Twins bullpen finished 15th in the majors with a 3.95 ERA during the regular season, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The pieces really fell into place as the season unfolded, and their relief corps was a big reason why they ranked third in the AL with a 3.64 ERA in September while going 18-10 during the final month.
Duran, Stewart and Varland all touched 100 mph on the radar gun on Wednesday night, and high-octane arms like that can make a real difference in October when missing bats is the best way to quell a comeback.
They may have finished with the worst record of any AL playoff team, but don't sleep on the Twins as serious title contenders if their bullpen keeps mowing down hitters.
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Early Hook for José Berríos Will Be Discussed All Offseason
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There are certain postseason pitching decisions that get talked about for years to come.
Remember when Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter left All-Star closer Zack Britton and his 0.54 ERA sitting in the bullpen in favor of Ubaldo Jimenez during the 2016 AL Wild Card Game?
How about when Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little left a tiring Pedro Martinez in too long in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, only to watch him squander a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning en route to a 6-5 loss?
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider might have just added himself to that list.
Right-hander José Berríos tossed three scoreless innings to open Game 2 for the Blue Jays, scattering three hits and tallying five strikeouts. He issued a leadoff walk Royce Lewis to start the fourth inning, seemingly pitching around the red-hot hitter, and that was it as Yusei Kikuchi was summoned from the bullpen.
Kikuchi promptly allowed the first three runners he faced to reach base, and by the time the fourth inning ended the Blue Jays were trailing 2-0, which would hold up as the final score in an elimination game for Toronto.
Back to Berríos, we are talking about a pitcher who logged a 3.65 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 184 strikeouts in 189.2 innings this year. He pitched into the sixth inning in 27 of 32 starts. The Blue Jays gave him a seven-year, $131 million contract exactly for situations like his Game 2 start.
What was Schneider thinking?!
The Status Quo Is Not Working for the Brewers
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Something has to change in Milwaukee.
The Brewers looked like a title contender on the rise in 2018 when they took the Los Angeles Dodgers to Game 7 in the NLCS behind breakout performances from young pitchers Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff in bullpen roles.
In the five years since, they have been the class of the NL Central, winning a pair of division titles and reaching the postseason four times. However, they have gone a combined 1-8 during those four playoff runs, exiting in the Wild Card Round three times.
This year's early exit came in particularly frustrating fashion:
With Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Willy Adames, Rowdy Tellez and Adrian Houser all headed for free agency after the 2024 season, the window is closing on this current core, and while they could stay the course and try to make one more push with that group, the last five years have proven it's simply not enough.
This offseason is the time to look to the future by trading one or both of Burnes and Woodruff, especially if a long-term extension with either player does not look like a realistic possibility.
If they enter the season next year with essentially the same roster and fall short once again, it will be a massive missed opportunity for the franchise and could make retooling on the other side of that mass exodus in free agency significantly more difficult.
This is a make-or-break offseason for Matt Arnold and company.
Zac Gallen Is the Ace for a Reason
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After the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen tossed 6.1 scoreless innings in relief of starter Brandon Pfaadt in Game 1, they could ill afford an early exit from ace Zac Gallen in his Game 2 start.
The first inning can often set the tone for a starting pitcher's entire outing. Let's see how things went for Gallen in the bottom of the first on Wednesday night.
Uh oh.
Luckily, the 28-year-old is the ace of the staff and one of the best pitchers in baseball for a reason, and after those initial struggles he settled in nicely and cruised for the remainder of what ended up being a quality start.
Over the next five innings, he scattered two hits and two walks while keeping the Brewers from adding to that early lead, and the D-backs took the lead for good with a four-run top of the sixth inning.
Aside from his own early struggles, Gallen also had to overcome starting catcher Gabriel Moreno abruptly leaving the game with an injury, and tip of the cap to seldom-used backup catcher Jose Herrera for calling a great game the rest of the way.
The gamble to start rookie Brandon Pfaadt in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series paid off, as the D-backs now have Merrill Kelly and Gallen lined up to start Game 1 and Game 2 in the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Aaron Nola Is a $100 Million Pitcher
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Aaron Nola did not look like the same frontline starter he has been throughout his time with the Philadelphia Phillies over the final few months of the 2023 season.
The 30-year-old struggled to a 4.92 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 60.1 innings over his final 11 starts, completing six innings just four times during that stretch, and with free agency waiting this offseason there was the added significance of possibly costing himself significant money if those struggles continued into October.
Following his gem in Game 2 against the Miami Marlins, the idea that he won't be one of the highest-paid players of the winter just seems silly.
With his full five-pitch repertoire working, Nola cut through the Miami lineup with ease, allowing just three hits and one walk over seven shutout innings before turning things over to the bullpen with a 7-0 lead.
After quality starts in the Wild Card Round and NLDS a year ago, Nola failed to finish five full innings in Game 2 of the NLCS, Game 1 of the World Series and Game 3 of the World Series, posting a combined 9.69 ERA while allowing 20 hits in 13 innings across those three starts.
Now he has effectively erased question marks about his inconsistent finish to the 2023 regular season and 2022 postseason, and teams will be lining up to make a run at signing him this winter.
Outside of NL Cy Young front-runner Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani whenever he is healthy and back on the mound, Nola is the best starting pitcher on the market, and after Carlos Rodón reeled in a $162 million payday with a far less impressive career track record, Nola should have no problem punching a nine-figure payday this winter.
First things first, he will once again join Zack Wheeler in anchoring the Philadelphia rotation on a postseason push, and a stacked Atlanta Braves lineup is up next.
In three starts against Atlanta during the regular season, Nola posted a 3.50 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with a stellar 20-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 18 innings, though he had to settle for three no-decisions.
Marlins Cap off Day of Sweeps, Wild Card Round Trend Continues
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On paper, the Miami Marlins looked like the weakest team in this year's postseason field, and that was quickly proven true as they were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in lopsided fashion.
The Marlins were outscored 11-2 in the two-game sweep, and both of their runs were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
The Phillies built a 3-0 lead in Game 1 before the Marlins avoided the shutout with a lone run in the seventh inning, and it was a 7-0 score in Game 2 before the Marlins finally got onto the scoreboard with a run in the top of the ninth.
With that, a full day of sweeps came to a close.
Including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when the Wild Card Round was first introduced, a whopping 13 of 16 best-of-three series that have been played over the past four years ended in a two-game sweep.
We are now left with no baseball on Thursday or Friday before the ALDS and NLDS kick off with four games of action on Saturday.
See you this weekend, baseball fans!
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