chw42

I think it has more to do with them having to play Grandal and McCann today than his ability to DH. I think he'll be in there tomorrow at DH.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/heres-who-is-going-to-win-the-2020-world-series-maybe/ Most of the guys over at FanGraphs have us winning this series. There's also 1 that has us winning the World Series.

Collins is on the roster.

The A's already released their starting lineup. We don't even have a roster released.

I mean he's a righty, so why should he care?

I'm curious to see the roster moves. I'd have to imagine Lopez won't be on the roster and we can squeeze a 3rd catcher in so McCann and Grandal can be in the same lineup.

I mean, there just aren't a lot of good left handed starters right now in the AL and NL Central. However, our combined OPS against all lefties is far higher than it is against righties. Here's the lefty starters we've faced (WAR values are fWAR) Danny Duffy - 0.5 WAR Kris Bubic - 0.5 WAR Brett Anderson - 0.6 WAR Tyler Alexander - -0.1 WAR Matthew Boyd - 0 WAR Tarik Skubal - - 0.1 WAR Jon Lester - 0.3 WAR Steven Brault - 0.8 WAR Rich Hill - 0.7 WAR I count a total of 3.2 WAR. Also Tim Anderson alone put Matthew Boyd into negative WAR territory. Yes, none of those guys were elite, but there just weren't a lot of elite left handed starters this year. If you go look at the Pitcher WAR leaderboards, the first lefty that pops up is freaking Marco Gonzales. Are the A's lefties better than most of the guys we faced? Probably. But does that mean our numbers against lefties are just propped up by bad pitchers? Doesn't appear so.

It might actually benefit Eloy to sit tomorrow since Grandal will probably DH. If he can't run well enough on that bad foot, he really shouldn't be playing the OF. Especially in Oakland.

This almost sounds like EE is not going to start. But what do I know?

It's interesting they're going Luzardo over Manaea, considering Luzardo is a rookie. Manaea didn't exactly fair well in the one playoff start he got last year.

Luzardo game 1. Bassitt game 2.

Isn't Jimmy going to be suspended? How is his appeal still going on?

The game where Crede got ejected cause the umpire said he let the pitch hit him on purpose? It's always something out of our control in that damn stadium. I remember we almost swept them in Oakland to start the year in 2016, but the A's were terrible back then.

He's clearly fathom

They probably go with Manaea in game 1.

TV schedule is out. Sox play at 2 PM in games 1 and 2.

It sucks cause I thought he turned a corner after his starts against Cleveland and Minnesota. But after he gave up the Bote homer today, he went back to his usual shit.

Why would we need to when we have Crochet and Bummer already? In what situation would you throw Rodon ahead of those 2 guys in a high leverage situation? Especially in the playoffs, where you throw your best guys regardless of how little rest they have.

Oh damn you're right. At least McCann's bat will be in the lineup.

EE single handedly handcuffed Abreu in the Cubs series by batting right behind him. I don't want to see Edwin in the postseason unless he's pinch hitting against someone throwing below 90.

He's not gonna play LF if he plays. Gotta be at DH.

I think Lucas will be fine. If anything I think his first inning struggles have usually happened at home. If he starts the game in the dugout he might not get as amped up.

lol that's incredible

Oakland has been a house of horrors for us. So many heartbreaking losses there, even in 2005. I hope this team is different enough to not have that affect them. The matchup on paper actually isn't bad for us.

Oakland's rotation is not good. Manea's ERA looks bad but his peripherals are actually really good. Bassitt has been good this year, but he doesn't have impressive stuff. Luzardo isn't great yet, but he has great stuff. They have Fiers and Minor as the back end of their rotation. Oakland doesn't have a bunch of impact players after they lost Chapman, they have solid players everywhere and that adds up. Their backend of the bullpen is also lights out with Hendricks and Diekman.