MLB Previews: Key Pitching Matchups for Upcoming Series!

Maybe a World Series battle, who knows, Tampa Bay and Atlanta in Truist Field in the south here. We've got Peralta, A.J. Smith-Shawver, Tuesday matchup, McClanahan-Holmes, Nick Martinez, and Sale. Talk about an unpredictable series. This is definitely one of them. I would say Sale gives a very big advantage on Thursday, but beyond that, Freddie Peralta is as coin flip as it gets these days, and even with McClanahan back, he's a little bit of coin flip as well. So, I don't know. I'll just sit back and watch this series. What do you think, Tom? I think the series is going to be super fun, and frankly, I'm just going to be playing the series with, you know, people like to call it a zigzag. You start on one side, you just go back to the other side. If Team A wins game one, I'll just be on Team B game two. I think this is largely a coin flip series, and it's going to be super fun. Astros and Phillies. Actually a pretty good pitching matchup across the board here was Nesky's been better for Houston and Andrew Painter's been really good all of a sudden for Philadelphia, so maybe that's a good one here. Hunter Brown, Christopher Sanchez, yeah, give me some of that, and then Thursday, Christian Javier and Zach Wheeler. I think for Philadelphia right now, that Thursday matchup is probably the big one because they got to get Wheeler right here before the postseason. Now, Ranger Suarez is going to start a postseason game, and I definitely think that Christopher Sanchez is going to start one too, but they got to get Wheeler going in the right direction here a little more, Tom. I would also say the same thing about the Astros. We know Hunter Brown's going to start, presumably, game one of a postseason series, but who's their two? That's what I want to know for the Astros because Wiesniewski's been good, it's been hot, Peter Lambert, it's going to be Christian Javier. Who's their number two? I think that this is a good proving point for them. They need to know who their number two guy is because Painter's been good on the other side. If they can't take that series, they're going into a tough place to pitch, so I see this as more of a proving point for the Astros than the Phillies. Probably end of the line here for the Pittsburgh Pirates if they do not win the series in Chicago. This has got to happen. It's, again, it's been, I think overall, a disappointing season for the Pirates because they had a real opportunity to be in the wildcard mix, and they're still kind of in it, but got to win this week, and they got Chandler, Jared Jones, and Majinski. Majinski's been on the positive side, Jones has been on the negative side, Davis Martin is back off the injured list, but he has not been himself, too. My gosh, the White Sox are winning the division with these three guys pitching this week. I don't think the White Sox are going very far in the postseason, Tom. No, not at all. I'll take whoever's against them in the first round. I got to say for the Pirates, as you mentioned, the Pirates still have a positive run differential on labor. That's unbelievable. The Pirates have a positive run differential in September, and they're not in a wildcard mix. The pitching needs to step up just a little bit. They need to get more hitting, but the White Sox take this series. Rangers and Mariners, Bryce Miller, is he back in the rotation? Okay, that's fine. Kate Anderson, Logan Gilbert, maybe this is somebody puts the other away, Tom, like I said earlier. This is one where if one team sweeps, the other team is out, but beyond that, I don't trust either side. I can't possibly trust either side. The Rangers have let me down time and time again. The Mariners also let me down time and time again. It's going to be a boring series. It's very important, but boring. Rockies, Yankees, who do you got in this one as we close it out? I mean, when Cole Schlittler, Rodone are pitching, these are going to be insane prices in Yankees, minus 250, pushing minus 300. The Yankees at a minimum need to take two of the games, but this is a spot if Judge does come back, there's no softer landing spot for him to have against this pitching staff. Yeah, I would agree. I look at the Yankees and I see Garrett Cole and I think to myself, Garrett Cole, Gabriel Hughes, is it possible that Tuesday and Wednesday, Tom, I'll leave you with this. Are we getting minus 400 on Monday or Tuesday? No. 300, yes, but more than that's a bit much to swallow. All right, I'm going to check back with Tom on that. I think we are getting minus 400 in these games on Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll be right back.