What was already thought to be a competitive American League Division series between the Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros, unexpectedly started out as a back-and-forth offensive affair. It ended in unforeseen bullpen dominance by the Astros, and in an even more shocking defensive and bullpen collapse by the A’s. The Astros emerged victorious 10-5 to take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-five series. Here are key takeaways from the opening game of the division series.
One Team vs One Manager Playing With Chips On Their Shoulders
This series is a special intra division playoff matchup. It is intensifying what has already been a bitter rivalry over the course of just 10 regular season meetings between the two teams. The A’s and Astros have battled it out in the American League West. The A’s won the season series 7-games-to-3, but many of the games have been very close. Also, don’t let an Astros win by five runs in the game fool you. The A’s had two promising leads which they gave up, including an early 3-0 lead.
The story of this series goes far beyond the numbers. The A’s have a couple of major chips on their shoulder. While they might have broken their first round playoff curse in the previous round, they still have unfinished business. They are yet to win a World Series, let alone appear in one under the helm of current executive vice president and legendary general manager, Billy Beane. This is also the A’s chance to establish themselves as the new team to beat in the American League West.
While the Astros have a chip on their shoulder with the whole cheating controversy, no Astro has a bigger chip on his shoulder than the team’s manager, Dusty Baker. Hired in place of the fired AJ Hinch in the offseason, Baker is embarking on his fifth managing gig in the MLB, where he has become known for one thing: leading every team he manages to the playoffs but never winning the big one. From the San Francisco Giants World Series choke in 2002, to the Steve Bartman incident with the Chicago Cubs, to the Cincinnati Reds collapse from being up 2-games-0 in the 2012 National League Division Series, Baker is the definition of playoff heartbreak. While it is shocking to some that Baker got another managerial opportunity, this might be his last chance to finally achieve his destiny.
Unusual Bashfest Seen At Dodgers Stadium, Will This Series Turn Into A Slugfest?
The ball carried, and by carried the we’re talking a total of six home runs in the game. This all happened in one of the deeper ballpark outfields in baseball. Many of the home runs looked like routine fly balls initially, but somehow had just enough power and just enough launch angle to leave the ballpark. The A’s and Astros were two teams not known for the longball throughout the regular season, or even in the previous round of the playoffs. Both teams came out hacking immediately which might have just turned the course for the sort of games we should expect in the series. Each teams certainly has capable power bats in their lineups, but both teams also did not give up the long ball a whole lot this season. This series might be a high scoring hitters delight after all. Of course each game is a fresh slate.
Both Starters Struggled To Locate Pitches, Leading To Hard Contact
What allowed for the early power surges by both teams was the rough outings by both starting pitchers. Neither starter lasted more than four innings. Both teams certainly felt a degree of confidence in their game one starters, but the experiment did not work out for either one. The Astros went with their next man up in the rotation, Lance McCullers Jr.. McCullers struggled to properly locate the ball where his catcher was calling, thus leaving pitches in great spots for an A’s slugfest.
Meanwhile, the A’s turned to Chris Bassitt who was able to get through the first three innings before falling behind in counts and hanging pitches, something a team can ill-afford to do against the experienced postseason bats of the Astros. Early on, it was becoming clear that the outcome of the game would depend on which bullpen would provide more shutdown relief.
The Two Teams Looked Like They Suddenly Changed Identities
That bullpen that provided shutdown relief, turned out to be the underdogs, the Astros bullpen. The young, inexperienced bullpen is what many saw as the Astros greatest weakness this postseason. It was anything but. Through the last five innings, four Astros relievers allowed no runs on no hits, with just one walk. Not easy to do especially against a team like the A’s, who are known for late inning heroics. The A’s bullpen on the other hand was the team’s biggest strength going into the postseason. They posted the lowest team bullpen ERA in the regular season, yet they somehow fell apart in a fashion that few anticipated.
Following Bassitt being pulled out of the game, the A’s bullpen had a lead to work with and looked to have the clear edge in the game. Yet an error made with two outs and the bases empty by an A’s team who also thrived on playing fundamental defense, ended up being costly. Following that error the Astros offense exploded for four runs in the sixth, all with two outs. They were able to do even more damage on the A’s bullpen in the seventh and ninth innings. One play truly can change the course of the postseason. The Astros bats who have struggled as of late came up huge. It might only be game one of the series, but the results of the game have only set the tone for the expected ambiguity in this year’s ALDS.
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