A look at the most crucial factors as Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Toronto and New York aim to stave off elimination.
USA TODAY's MLB insiders Bob Nightengale and Steve Gardner debate who has more pressure to win this weekend's Wild Card series between the Mets and Padres.For all the talk that Major League Baseball’s best-of-three wild-card weekend would somehow be fairer than the one-game playoff that preceded it,With the Game 1 winner statistically favored to prevail at least 75% of the time in a best-of-three series, Friday’s losers need answers – and quickly.
Yet these mighty Mets were relegated to this shootout round because 101 wins were one too few to win the East. And after Josh Bell, Trent Grisham, Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado all homered, loudly and longly, Scherzer was on the losing side for a third consecutive playoff start. After all, it didn’t work out so well toward the end this year. And only deGrom can make sure it’s not all over Saturday night.Rogers Centre was supposed to be a house of horrors for visiting teams this month. Instead, the Blue Jays can pick any one of three unsettling sights from their Game 1 pratfall against Seattle.
The greatest lesson from Friday’s 4-0 loss? The Mariners are a team you do not want to fall behind against, a concept that heaps a little more pressure on Saturday’s Game 2 for Toronto. “You expect them to come out with the same energy, the same mentality, the same focus,” says Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider, “and just understand that you ran into a really good pitcher today for seven-plus innings and a really good one after that in Muñoz.Should they lose Game 2 Saturday at Cleveland
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