Saturday NLDS Thread

The AL teams have the day off, but the NL is still warming up

Brewers at Atlanta Game 2 (Brewers lead 1-0) - 4:07 PM CDT

The Crew will send out Brandon Woodruff who broke out this season with a 2.56 ERA. If there was any doubt in your mind that pitcher wins are an awful stat, he went 9-10 despite that sparkling ERA and the peripherals to back it up while pitching on a team that ultimately won its division.

Atlanta will counter with one of their best pitchers, Max Fried. Fried (pronounced FREED) went 14-7 with an ERA of 3.08. He was a big part of Atlanta’s second-half push to the playoffs, going 8-2 with a 1.74 ERA after the All-Star Break. They also have old friend Jorge Soler leading off and playing right field. Soler found his 2019 form after being traded to Atlanta and was also a huge help for them down the stretch.

Dodgers at Giants Game 2 (Giants lead 1-0) - 8:07 PM CDT

The Giants will be relying on Kevin Gausman to try to give a similar performance to teammate Logan Webb. Gausman has had a very up-and-down career for the Orioles and Giants but had a terrific 2021; he went 14-6 with a 2.81 ERA, this year. Unlike Fried, he really struggled after the break when a drastic increase in home runs allowed had him earn a 4.42 ERA as compared to the 1.73 he had prior to the All-Star Game.

The Dodgers will parry with Julio Urías. Urías is in his sixth season with the Dodgers but this was his first full year at the ripe age of 24. It paid off for the Dodgers as he went 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 32 starts. The young lefty will be pitching in his fifth post-season and he has a 6-2 record with a 2.79 ERA. This will be only his fourth start, however. His first start, in 2017, went very poorly. His second, in last year’s NLCS, went extremely well. His last start, in the World Series, was short and mediocre. There’s no way of knowing what will happen today.

Lineups for Game 1