After the primary full week of regular-season video games gave us feats we hadn’t seen in a long time, it’s truthful to say that baseball is firmly again. And we’re solely simply getting began.
This coming week options some high-profile matchups, together with a pair of rematches from the 2022 playoffs and Toronto doing its greatest to attempt to take down the Tampa Bay juggernaut. Here are seven sequence to observe in the course of the week of April 10:
Yankees at Guardians
3 video games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head to move: The Yankees went 5-1 within the 2022 common season in opposition to the Guardians, sweeping a sequence at house and taking two out of three in Cleveland. However, the postseason was extra evenly matched, because the Yankees overcame a 2-1 sequence deficit to win the ALDS in 5 video games.
Storyline: This would be the first time these groups see one another since that thrilling ALDS, which was simply one in all two sequence within the 2022 postseason to go to a winner-take-all recreation (Padres-Mets went to 3 video games within the NLWC — extra on them later). That was solely the most up-to-date occasion of the Yankees ending the Guardians’ season, although, as New York additionally eradicated Cleveland within the 2017 and 2020 playoffs.
Watch out for: Gerrit Cole. Cole was at his best in final yr’s ALDS, successful each of his begins in opposition to Cleveland with a mixed 16 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings. Cole has additionally been dominant to start the 2023 season, successful every of his first two begins with a miniscule 0.73 ERA to this point. He is projected to start out the second recreation of this sequence on Tuesday, in opposition to Hunter Gaddis.
White Sox at Twins
3 video games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head to move: The Twins went 10-9 in opposition to the White Sox in 2022. Five of these 19 video games had been determined by one run, with Chicago going 4-1 in such video games.
Storyline: Both of those groups are in the same place of chasing Cleveland within the AL Central, because the Guardians have completed first or second within the division in every of the previous seven seasons. Last season, the White Sox and Twins completed second and third within the division, respectively, although each had been a minimum of 5 video games out of a Wild Card spot.
Watch out for: Twins beginning pitching. In every of Minnesota’s first seven video games, its beginning pitcher threw a minimum of 5 innings and allowed no multiple run. The Twins joined the 2018 Red Sox as the one groups since a minimum of 1901 to have a beginning pitcher accomplish that in every of the crew’s first seven video games — and that crew went on to win 108 video games and the World Series.
Padres at Mets
3 video games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head to move: The Padres went 4-2 in opposition to the Mets within the 2022 common season, and so they additionally beat the Mets, 2-1, within the NLWC. Coincidentally, San Diego took two of three video games in all three sequence in opposition to the Mets final season, together with the playoffs.
Storyline: As beforehand talked about, the Padres-Mets was one in all two postseason sequence to be determined by a winner-take-all recreation final season, becoming a member of the Guardians-Yankees ALDS. The Padres gained 12 fewer video games than the Mets within the common season, however shocked New York en path to their first NLCS look within the twenty first century. This is the groups’ first assembly since then.
Watch out for: Yu Darvish. Darvish was stellar in Game 1 of final yr’s NLWC, throwing 72 strikes on 101 pitches in seven sturdy innings, incomes the win over Max Scherzer’s Mets. On Monday, Darvish and Scherzer are slated to face off to open the sequence as soon as once more.
Dodgers at Giants
3 video games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head to move: The Dodgers had been usually dominant throughout their 111-win season final yr, and their video games in opposition to the Giants had been no exception. In reality, their 15-4 report in opposition to San Francisco in 2022 was their greatest report in opposition to the Giants in a season within the Modern Era (since 1900).
Storyline: This rivalry wants no introduction, because the Dodgers’ and Giants’ 2,554 all-time matchups ranks third all-time (trailing Cubs-Pirates and Cardinals-Pirates). However, as of late, it’s been considerably one-sided. After the Giants had seven successful seasons and three World Series titles from 2009-2016, they’ve solely had one successful season since 2017 — a span during which the Dodgers have gained a minimum of 92 video games in each non-shortened season. And even in that one successful season for San Francisco, it was the Dodgers who had the final snort, defeating the Giants in 5 video games within the 2021 NLDS.
Watch out for: James Outman. The 25-year-old was a relative unknown coming into the season, solely having appeared in 4 MLB video games, however he has made a big effect with each his legs and his bat, with a .296/.457/.778 line to this point in 2023.
Rangers at Astros
3 video games (Friday-Sunday)
Head to move: The Astros went 14-5 in opposition to the Rangers in 2022, which represented their most wins in opposition to any opponent of their World Series-winning season.
Storyline: Is the tide lastly turning? Since 2017, the Astros have made six consecutive ALCS (the all-time AL report), whereas the Rangers have had six consecutive dropping seasons. But so far in 2023, it’s the Rangers, led by first-year supervisor Bruce Bochy, who’re above .500 and forward of the Astros within the standings.
Watch out for: Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez has picked up proper the place he left off in his monster 2022 season, blasting three house runs with 14 RBIs in Houston’s first 9 video games. That included a grand slam on Saturday with a stellar 116 mph exit velocity.
Rays at Blue Jays
3 video games (Friday-Sunday)
Head to move: The Rays went 10-9 in opposition to the Blue Jays in 2022. Both made the postseason as Wild Card groups, however they didn’t face one another there.
Storyline: The hunt for 162-0 is on. Alright, probably not. But it’s no joke that the Rays have had a record-setting begin to 2023, as they turned the primary crew within the Modern Era (since 1900) to win every of their first 9 video games by a minimum of 4 runs. Their +57 run differential by 9 video games can be a Modern Era AL/NL report.
Watch out for: Wander Franco. There’s seemingly no finish to the record of things behind Tampa Bay’s outstanding stretch, however Franco’s sizzling begin is as necessary as any of them. In his third MLB season, Franco has a .351/.400/.757 line, with 4 house runs — two fewer than his whole from the complete 2022 season.
Angels at Red Sox
4 video games (Friday-Monday)
Head to move: The Red Sox had been 4-3 in opposition to the Angels in 2022, together with 1-2 in video games at Fenway Park.
Storyline: Shohei Ohtani and Masataka Yoshida meet for the primary time … once more. Ohtani and Yoshida overlapped in Japan’s NPB from 2016-2017, earlier than Ohtani joined the Angels in 2018 and Yoshida turned Boston’s $90 million man 5 years later. While this would be the first time they face off in MLB, they did get reacquainted with each other on the World Baseball Classic in March, the place they had been Japan’s solely two All-Tournament picks en path to successful the championship.
Watch out for: Rafael Devers. Fresh off signing a monster 11-year extension within the offseason, Devers has been pretty much as good as ever to start 2023. The third baseman ranks tied for third in MLB with 18 hard-hit balls (95+ mph exit velocity), spearheading a Boston offense that’s averaging 6.6 runs per recreation.
Content Source: www.mlb.com