MLB Playoff Schedule 2014: Full TV Info and Predictions for Weekend Matchups

Just like the 162 games played during the regular season, the early stages of the 2014 Major League Baseball postseason have been all over the map. We have seen tense nail-biters and never-ending blowouts, brilliant pitching performances and impressive power displays.

In other words, the games have been all you expect from baseball.

With pitching matchups set and most of the series already starting, we can finally break down what to expect.

It's easy to talk about these things before they start because that's when anything can happen, but the real meat and potatoes come when we see how teams look in the October spotlight.

A full weekend slate will make for great drama and plenty of highlights that will be featured in commercials for years to come. Let's take a look at the schedule for this weekend's playoff matchups and predictions.

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	Network
October 4	5:30 p.m.	Game 2: San Francisco Giants (Tim Hudson) at Washington Nationals (Jordan Zimmermann)	Fox Sports 1
October 4	9:30 p.m.	Game 2: St. Louis Cardinals (Lance Lynn) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Zack Greinke)	MLB Network
October 5	3:30 p.m.	Game 3: Baltimore Orioles (Miguel Gonzalez) at Detroit Tigers (David Price)	TBS
October 5	7:30 p.m.	Game 3: Los Angeles Angels (C.J. Wilson) at Kansas City Royals (James Shields)	TBS

Stats via FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.com.

Predictions

The Nationals Are Locks To Win Game 2

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

In his playoff breakdowns, ESPN.com's Keith Law (Insider subscription required) always says that even the best teams usually have a 55 percent chance of winning a series "because of the randomness inherent in short series and in baseball in general."

Even with the randomness Law speaks of, I have no problem saying that Washington is as safe a bet to win Game 2 as any team is to win any single game in these playoffs.

Some of this confidence has to do with Nationals Game 2 starter Jordan Zimmermann.

Whether he was coming off a no-hitter or not, Zimmermann is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. He led Nationals pitchers with 5.2 wins above replacement (WAR) and finished second in that category among all National League starters behind Clayton Kershaw (7.2). 

The Giants don't have a potent lineup, regardless of what Edinson Volquez might say. They were mediocre against right-handed pitching, posting a .307 on-base percentage (20th in baseball), and are playing without Angel Pagan and Mike Morse.

The bigger factor in this game will be Tim Hudson. The Giants were always going to be at a disadvantage in this series with Madison Bumgarner unavailable until Game 3 due to the Wild Card Game, but Hudson in Game 2 is a huge mismatch for the Giants.

Hudson is a contact pitcher, allowing 199 hits and registering 120 strikeouts in 189.1 innings, which isn't good when you have a Washington team with four hitters who crush right-handed pitching: Anthony Rendon (.824 OPS), Adam LaRoche (.891), Denard Span (.802) and Jayson Werth (.823). 

Even Bryce Harper, whose overall numbers against right-handed pitching don't look great, had 10 of his 13 homers against them.

Hudson also wore down as the season went on. His month-by-month ERA went from 3.13 in July to 3.81 in August and 8.72 in September. The stars are set up for Washington to win Game 2, which probably means Hudson will throw a two-hit shutout.

Bullpens Will Be More Important Than Starting Pitchers

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

No one should argue that relief pitching is more valuable than starting pitching, whether it's in the context of the regular season or playoffs, but this year we are going to end up discussing the bullpens more than starters.

It's already started with Kansas City's relievers shutting down Los Angeles in Game 1, which came after Detroit needed three relievers to get two outs after allowing Baltimore to score eight runs in the eighth inning.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports wrote an excellent piece about what makes Buck Showalter so great and valuable for the Orioles following the team's Game 1 win:

"

On Thursday, he took a tire iron to roles. He threw arguably his best reliever in the sixth inning – and let him pitch another for good measure. He went to his closer for an out in the eighth inning, fully intending to use him for a four-out save. He managed like he always does: with a keen sense of the moment, a singular ability to suss out the right thing for the right time.

"

One of the many criticisms heaped upon Royals manager Ned Yost is that he's such a stickler for defined bullpen roles that it hurts his team.

He actually told reporters after an 8-4 loss against Boston on September 15 that he was frustrated because they were one out away from being able to use the pitcher they wanted to.

“It’s frustrating that we were one out away from getting to Kelvin Herrera with a one-run lead," Yost said. “That was frustrating.”

Yost was then asked why he opted to stick with Aaron Crow in a spot to give up a grand slam to Daniel Nava instead of Kelvin Herrera.

“Because I had confidence in Aaron Crow," said Yost. "“That’s why. Aaron Crow’s inning is the sixth inning. Kelvin’s is the seventh.”

There are so many things wrong with those two sentences that you start to wonder what Yost says when he interviews for a job that makes teams keep coming back to him. 

Managers who aren't flexible with the role their relievers play are going to sink their teams in October. Showalter knows this better than anyone, which is what makes him so important for the Orioles.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus doesn't have anyone he can trust, so he was forced to stick with Max Scherzer as long as possible in a game when he clearly didn't have his best stuff. 

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy has been masterful at playing matchups the last two times the Giants have been in the playoffs. Washington manager Matt Williams has a great stable of starting pitchers, but we will see how he handles the relievers in his first postseason as a skipper.

Starting pitchers have to be great for their team to have a chance in October, but none of that will matter if relievers aren't doing their job and managers aren't putting their relievers in the right spots to succeed.

Kansas City Will End Sunday 1 Win Away from the ALCS

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

As much as Yost drives me nuts, the Royals look like a better team than Los Angeles right now. It also helps that they were able to steal Game 1 because Mike Scioscia continues to think that bunting in October is the best strategy, even though he's got excellent contact hitters like Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar. 

The Angels had the potential go-ahead run on base in four straight innings (7-10), and in the last three, Scioscia sacrificed an out to get a runner on second base.

That part of the plan did end up working, but the hitters next up couldn't do anything.

Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com wrote after Game 1 that the Angels attempted just 26 sacrifice bunts in 162 regular-season games and one of Scioscia's genius moves called for Kole Calhoun, who had a .450 slugging percentage, to lay one down with a 3-1 count.

Keep in mind that Scioscia is using this strategy despite having a team that led all of baseball in runs scored during the regular season.

While I won't go so far as to say the Royals will sweep the Angels—I am skeptical of Yordano Ventura in Game 2 given his erratic command of late—looking ahead to Game 3 with C.J. Wilson going against James Shields, the Royals have a significant edge.

Wilson was terrible down the stretch. and not much better any other time. He had 37 walks in 59.1 innings over the last two months and hasn't had an ERA under 4.76 in any month since May.

Even though the Royals finished last in the American League with 380 walks, they are smart enough to know that Wilson's bad control is going to create plenty of opportunities for them to score runs.

Stealing that first game in Los Angeles was huge because it swung the advantage to Kansas City with two home games and its best starting pitcher going against the Angels' fourth-best. 

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