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The NLCS got off to a good start yesterday evening, with Anibal Sanchez no-hitting the St. Louis Cardinals into the 8th inning, helping the Nationals take a 1-0 lead.
They’ll kick off game two today from St. Louis at 4:08 PM EDT, live on TBS. It’ll be a tall task for Cardinals to even up the series as the Nationals will send Max Scherzer to the mound for game two. Scherzer got off to a bit of a rough start in the Wild Card game, but was his typical nails in the NLDS, pitching eight innings across two appearances, with a 1.13 ERA and a 0.875 WHIP. Not bad.
The Cardinals will turn to Adam Wainwright, who dominated the Braves in his NLDS start. At 38 years old, Wainwright threw 7.2 innings without giving up a single run with eight strikeouts. He nor the Cardinals would get the win, however, as Carlos Martinez blew the game in the ninth.
Will be interesting to see if Wainwright can keep pace with Scherzer tonight.
Nationals lineup
You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. #Scherzday // #STAYINTHEFIGHT pic.twitter.com/TB1u348Pqx
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 12, 2019
Cardinals lineup
#Cardinals Fowler(S) CF Wong(L) 2B Goldschmidt(R) 1B Ozuna(R) LF Molina(R) C Carpenter(L) 3B Edman(S) RF DeJong(R) SS Wainwright(R) P https://t.co/Q1qiobeqlu
— MLB Daily Lineups (@DailyMLBLineups) October 12, 2019
In the nightcap, the American League Championship Series kicks off from Houston, with the New York Yankees facing off against the Astros. First pitch is scheduled for just after 8 PM EDT. I think many in the baseball community probably see this series as the de facto World Series, especially with the Dodgers out of the National League mix.
It looks to be a really interesting and entertaining series. Masahiro Tanaka gets the start for the Yankees. Tanaka got the game two start and win over the Twins in the DS, giving up only one run over five innings. Tanaka has been good in the playoffs over his career, with a 1.54 ERA over 35 innings pitched across six appearances since 2015.
Zack Greinke will start for the Astros. He is coming off one of his worst playoff starts. The Rays knocked Greinke around for six earned runs (three HR) in only 3.2 innings pitched, though he did strike out five and only walk one. He’ll try to bounce back against a really dangerous lineup in the Yankees, though he’ll really need to, you know, not give up a home run an inning (though the Yankees lineup is perfectly capable of doing just that).
Yankees lineup
TBD
Astros lineup
TBD