Postseason Gamethread: Wild Card Game 1s

Oct 7, 2022 - 3:45 PM

The MLB Postseason is here. For the first time, 12 teams will compete to bring a World Series title home. The Wild Card round will take place this weekend, in four best-of-three matchups. The teams with the higher seed will host the entire series.

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The Cleveland Guardians host the Tampa Bay Rays in the first competition of the day. The Rays will send Shane McClanahan to the mound to face Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.

Bieber finished the regular season with a 13-8 record and posted a 2.88 ERA. The righty had one postseason start with Cleveland back in 2020, going 4 ²⁄₃ innings and surrendering seven runs.

His opponent, McClanahan, finished the 2022 season with a 12-8 record and posted a 2.54 ERA. He has appeared in six postseason games with the Tampa Bay ball club. In these six appearances, he is 1-0 with an 8.10 ERA over 10 innings pitched.

This game starts at 11:07 a.m. CT. It can be watched on ESPN.

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Jose Quintana and the St. Louis Cardinals will take on Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies in St. Louis for the second game of the day.

Quintana, old friend of the White Sox, was traded from Pittsburgh to the Cardinals at this year’s trade deadline. Quintana went 6-7 in the regular season, with a 2.93 ERA, and pitched in four playoff games in 2017 with the Chicago Cubs. He has a postseason record of 0-1 and 5.40 ERA over 13 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Zack Wheeler went 12-7 with a 2.82 ERA during 2022. The Phillies are playing in the postseason for the first time since 2011, and this will be the first career postseason start for Wheeler.

First pitch will be at 1:07 p.m. CT. This game will be on ABC.

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The Seattle Mariners will visit the Toronto Blue Jays in the third matchup of the day. Alek Manoah is set to take on Luis Castillo.

Manoah went 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in the 2022 season. This is Manoah’s second year in the big leagues, and will be making his first career postseason start.

Castillo, who was sent to Seattle from Cincinnati at this year’s trade deadline, had a regular season record of 8-5 with a 2.99 ERA. Castillo went to the postseason with the Reds in 2020, where he started one game; he is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA over 5 ¹⁄₃ postseason innings.

The Blue Jays will take on the Mariners at 3:07 p.m. CT. The game can be watched on ESPN.

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Wild Card Day 1 will wrap up with the New York Mets hosting the San Diego Padres. Max Scherzer is set to take on Yu Darvish.

Scherzer posted a regular season record of 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA. This is his eighth season of postseason baseball. In 26 postseason appearances, Scherzer is 7-6 with a 3.22 ERA over 128 ²⁄₃ innings of work.

Darvish finished his 2022 regular season campaign with a 16-8 record and a 3.10 ERA. Darvish holds a 2-5 postseason record with a 5.18 ERA over 33 innings of work. Today marks his eighth postseason start.

The final game of the day will start at 7:07 p.m. CT. This game can be watched on ESPN.