(PhatzRadio Sports / AP) —- A look at what’s happening all around the majors today:
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ALTUVE’S OCTOBER
Jose Altuve was a candidate for AL MVP during the regular season and he’s been among the best players in the postseason so far, too. Houston’s 5-foot-6 dynamo had three more hits in a Game 1 win over New York on Friday night in their AL Championship Series. He is 11 for 19 (.579) in the playoffs and has the most hits in a team’s first five postseason games since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.
BACK TO START
Returning to his usual role as a starter, Justin Verlander gets the ball for Houston in ALCS Game 2 against the Yankees. Verlander came out of the bullpen to win ALDS Game 4 against Boston, throwing 40 pitches over 2 2/3 innings. The right-hander will be working on four days’ rest since that outing and should be well rested, even if his routine is a little off.
Luis Severino will pitch for New York. The 23-year-old fire-baller is coming off a Game 4 win over Cleveland last round, when he struck out seven and pitched three-run ball over seven innings.
RESTED DODGERS, WEARY CUBS
Los Angeles has been waiting comfortably at home since Tuesday to begin their NL Championship Series, while Chicago enters the opener fatigued and well-traveled. The Cubs finished a 4-hour, 37-minute victory in Washington early Friday morning to clinch their NLDS, then sat on their ensuing charter flight to the West Coast for about 10 hours after a passenger’s medical problem forced a long stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After arriving around lunchtime Friday, they had to skip a scheduled workout to catch up on sleep.
“So we’re going to be tired (Saturday). Who cares?” Chicago manager Joe Maddon asked Friday. “They’re going to be ready to play.”
CALLING ON CLAYTON
The Dodgers turn to ace Clayton Kershaw for Game 1, while the Cubs are likely deciding between Jose Quintana and John Lackey but hadn’t announced a decision as of Friday night.
Kershaw won Game 1 against Arizona in the Dodgers’ NLDS despite allowing four solo homers — the left-hander got aggressive in the zone after Los Angeles spotted him a big lead early. In last year’s NLCS against Chicago, Kershaw went seven innings in a 1-0 Game 2 victory but struggled in a decisive Game 6 loss, allowing five runs in five innings to the World Series champions.
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ASTROS 2, YANKEES 1
HOUSTON (AP) — Dallas Keuchel faced the New York Yankees in the postseason for the second time and the Houston Astros ace shut them down again.
Keuchel struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings to help Houston to a 2-1 victory on Friday night in the AL Championship Series opener.
“I think it’s just pitch execution, and it’s just been there more times than it hasn’t against the Yankees,” Keuchel said.
Keuchel threw six scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over New York in the 2015 AL wild card game.
He allowed four hits — all singles — and walked one to improve to 8-2 with a 1.09 ERA in eight starts against the Yankees in the regular season and postseason combined. He joined Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott as the only Astros pitchers to reach double digits in strikeouts in a postseason game.
“Late movement — he moves the ball and he commands it well,” the Yankees Greg Bird said.
Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel hit RBI singles in the fourth off loser Masahiro Tanaka, and left fielder Marwin Gonzalez threw out Bird at the plate trying to score on Aaron Judge’s two-out single in the fifth.
“We had a shot,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “If Bird’s safe maybe we really get to him in that inning.”
Bird homered off Ken Giles with two outs in the ninth, and the closer struck out pinch-hitter Jacoby Ellsbury . Giles, who threw a season-high 37 pitches, escaped a two-out jam in the eighth by striking out Didi Gregorius .
Greeted by MVP chants each time to the plate, Jose Altuve had three more hits and at 11 for 19 (.579) has the most hits in a team’s first five postseason games since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.
Houston is in the Championship Series for the first time since beating St. Louis in 2005. The Yankees, who overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Cleveland in the Division Series, lost their sixth straight ALCS game since 2010.
After the Astros totaled eight runs in the first innings of their four AL Division Series games, Tanaka kept the Astros hitless until Altuve’s infield single rolled through the pitcher’s legs in the fourth. Altuve swiped second before scoring on Correa’s single. Gurriel followed with a two-out single, his 10th hit of the postseason.
Bird singled to start the fifth and Matt Holliday, making his first appearance of the postseason, reached when Altuve dropped his slow bouncer to second for an error. Judge singled with two outs and Gonzalez, throwing with such force that he fell to the ground, made a 97 mph one-hop throw to catcher Brian McCann, who tagged the sliding Bird.
“That was their best moment in the game, (I needed) to stop the momentum,” Gonzalez said. “All I was thinking was to go get the ball as fast as I could.”
The call was confirmed in a video review.
“I’m too slow. I wish I was a little faster,” Bird said.
Primarily an infielder, Gonzalez had just two outfield assists in the regular season. He beat his hand into his glove three times in celebration after watching McCann make the tag.
“It’s one of the best throws I’ve ever seen from an outfielder,” Correa said. “Long hop, low tag right there. It was just perfect. Unbelievable.”
Gonzalez threw out Boston’s Mitch Moreland at the plate in the Division Series finale and is the first outfielder with assists in consecutive postseason games since Jim Rice in the 1986 World Series. He joined Lance Berkman as the only players in franchise history to have two outfield assists in one postseason.
After controversially failing to challenge a call in Game 2 of the Division Series, Girardi didn’t hesitate to ask for a review.
“We thought he was out,” he said. “But God knows I’m not doing that again.”
UP NEXT
Yankees: Luis Severino will make his third start of this postseason on Saturday. Severino yielded three runs and four hits in seven innings of a win in Game 4 of the ALDS to bounce back after allowing three runs and getting just one out in the wild-card game.
“I feel good, I feel confident in myself,” he said. “I knew that that first start I did, that wasn’t me, and I made adjustments. That’s how we do it; we make adjustments and the second start I put in place those adjustments and did good.”
Astros: Justin Verlander is scheduled to make his 18th playoff start on Saturday. Verlander got the win in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Red Sox and picked up win No. 2 of this postseason when he made his first career relief appearance in Game 4. He’s 9-5 with a 3.36 ERA and 115 strikeouts in his postseason career.
GAME 3
Manager A.J. Hinch announced that Charlie Morton will start Game 3 and that Lance McCullers, a starter who pitched in relief in the ALDS, could pitch Game 4. The Yankees will start CC Sabathia in Game 3 and Sonny Gray in Game 4.
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A capsule look at the Cubs-Dodgers playoff series
A look at the best-of-seven National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers:
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Schedule: (All times EDT) Game 1, Saturday, at Los Angeles, 8:08 p.m. (TBS); Game 2, Sunday, at Los Angeles, 7:38 p.m. (TBS); Game 3, Tuesday, Oct. 17, at Chicago, 9:01 p.m. (TBS); Game 4, Wednesday, Oct. 18 at Chicago, 9:01 p.m. or 8:08 p.m. (TBS); x-Game 5, Thursday, Oct. 19, at Chicago, 8:08 p.m. (TBS); x-Game 6, Saturday, Oct. 21, at Los Angeles, 4:08 p.m. or 8:08 p.m. (TBS); x-Game 7, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Los Angeles, 7:38 p.m. (TBS).
x-if necessary.
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Season Series: Dodgers won 4-2.
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Projected Lineups:
Cubs: CF Jon Jay (.296, 2 HRs, 34 RBIs, .374 OBP) or 2B-OF Ben Zobrist (.232, 12, 50), 3B Kris Bryant (.295, 29, 73, .409 OBP), 1B Anthony Rizzo (.273, 32, 109, .392 OBP), C Willson Contreras (.276, 21, 74), LF Kyle Schwarber (.211, 30, 59, 150 Ks), SS Addison Russell (.239, 12, 43), RF Jason Heyward (.259, 11, 59), 2B Javier Baez (.273, 23, 75).
Dodgers: CF Chris Taylor (.288, 21, 72, 17 SBs), SS Corey Seager (.295, 22, 77), 3B Justin Turner (.322, 21, 71, 56 Ks, 59 BBs), 1B Cody Bellinger (.267, 39, 97), LF Curtis Granderson (.212, 26, 64, .323 OBP with Mets and Dodgers; .161, 7, 12, .288 OBP in 36 games with Dodgers), 2B Logan Forsythe (.224, 6, 36) or Chase Utley (.236, 8, 34), C Yasmani Grandal (.247, 22, 58), RF Yasiel Puig (.263, 28, 74, 15 SBs).
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Starting Pitchers:
Cubs: RH Kyle Hendricks (7-5, 3.03 ERA; 2.19 in 13 starts after All-Star break), LH Jon Lester (13-8, 4.33, 180 Ks in 180 2/3 IP), LH Jose Quintana (11-11, 4.15 with White Sox and Cubs), RH Jake Arrieta (14-10, 3.53).
Dodgers: LH Clayton Kershaw (18-4, 2.31, 202 Ks, 30 BBs, 23 HRs allowed in 27 starts, 175 IP), LH Rich Hill (12-8, 3.32, 166 Ks in 25 starts, 135 2/3 IP), RH Yu Darvish (10-12, 3.86, 209 Ks, 27 HRs allowed in 31 starts with Rangers and Dodgers), LH Alex Wood (16-3, 2.72 in 27 games, 25 starts).
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Relievers:
Cubs: RH Wade Davis (4-2, 2.30, 32/33 saves), LH Brian Duensing (1-1, 2.74), RH Pedro Strop (5-4, 2.83), RH Carl Edwards Jr. (5-4, 2.98), LH Mike Montgomery (7-8, 3.38, 44 games, 14 starts, 3 saves), RH Hector Rondon (4-1, 4.24), RH John Lackey (12-12, 4.59, 31 games, 30 starts), LH Justin Wilson (4-4, 3.41, 13 saves with Tigers and Cubs; 5.09 in 23 appearances for Cubs), RH Justin Grimm (1-2, 5.53).
Dodgers: RH Kenley Jansen (5-0, 1.32, 41/42 saves, tied for NL lead), RH Josh Fields (5-0, 2.84, 2 saves), LH Tony Cingrani (0-0, 4.22, 52 Ks, 12 BBs, 42 2/3 IP in 47 games with Reds and Dodgers; 2.79 in 22 games with Dodgers), RH Brandon Morrow (6-0, 2.06, 2 saves), LH Tony Watson (7-4, 3.38, 10 saves in 71 games with Pirates and Dodgers; 2-1, 2.70 in 24 games with Dodgers), RH Pedro Baez (3-6, 2.95), RH Ross Stripling (3-5, 3.75, 2 saves), RH Kenta Maeda (13-6, 4.22, 1 save in 29 games, 25 starts), LH Luis Avilan (2-3, 2.93, 61 games).
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Matchups:
Chicago is making its third straight appearance in the NLCS and looking to knock off Los Angeles for the second year in row. The Cubs eliminated the Dodgers in six games in 2016 on the way to their first World Series title since 1908. The Dodgers shut out the Cubs in Games 2 and 3 behind dominant starts by Kershaw and Hill. But the Cubs took the next three, with Hendricks outpitching Kershaw in a 5-0 win in Game 6 at Wrigley Field. … The Dodgers outscored the Cubs 22-11 in head-to-head meetings this season. … Los Angeles outscored Arizona 20-11 in its NLDS sweep. Turner hit .462 (6 for 13) with five RBIs against the Diamondbacks, and Puig batted .455 (5 for 11). … Lester and Baez were co-MVPs of the NLCS last year. Lester is coming off a strong NLDS against Washington, with a 1.86 ERA in two appearances. He pitched six innings of one-run ball in Game 2. He relieved Jake Arrieta in Game 4 and retired first 10 batters he faced. Baez was 0 for 14 in the NLDS. … Bryant was 4 for 20 with 10 strikeouts against Washington. … After managing eight runs through the first four games of the NLDS, the Cubs closed out the Nationals with a wild 9-8 win. … Wood made two starts against Chicago this season and went 1-0 with a 1.04 ERA. He struck out 12 in 8 2/3 innings. … Kershaw got hit hard in his only start against the Cubs this year, allowing four runs and a season-high 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision on May 28. … Cubs OF Albert Almora Jr. went 4 for 9 in five games against the Dodgers this year. He hit .342 against left-handers this season, making him a tempting start for manager Joe Maddon against Kershaw, Hill or Wood. … Rizzo batted .292 with two homers and five RBIs against Los Angeles this season. The team batting average for the six games versus the Dodgers was .191.
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Big Picture:
Cubs: That long championship drought for the Cubs seems like ancient history with each passing day. Chicago is the first team with three straight appearances in the NLCS since St. Louis made it four times in a row from 2011-14. It has survived four straight win-or-be-eliminated postseason games, including three straight to end the 2016 World Series. … The Cubs last won consecutive World Series in 1907 and 1908. They are trying to become first team to repeat as champion since New York Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000. … Chicago has played a major league-high 517 games since the start of the 2015 season. The Blue Jays and Dodgers are tied for second at 506 games. The Cubs also lead the majors with 310 wins over that same time span, with the Dodgers in second at 297 victories.
Dodgers: Is this the year? Los Angeles has made it to the playoffs for five straight years and nine times in last 14 seasons, but it hasn’t made it to the World Series since it won it all in 1988. After a first-round sweep against Arizona, the Dodgers are rested and their rotation is lined up for the rematch with the Cubs. … Los Angeles finished with the majors’ best record for the first time since 1974 and will enjoy home-field advantage throughout the postseason. It went 57-24 at Dodger Stadium during the regular season, finishing with five more wins than any other team had at home, and then outscored Arizona 17-10 in its two home wins in the NLDS.
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Watch For:
—Turner’s Time. Turner is batting .388 (26 for 67) with three homers and 17 RBIs in his last 19 playoff games. The All-Star third baseman has developed into one of the game’s most dangerous hitters. Holding him in check will be one of Chicago’s top priorities.
—Closing Time. Chicago’s bullpen was shaky against Washington — even Davis. All but automatic during the regular season, the three-time All-Star gave up Michael A. Taylor’s grand slam in Game 4. He got the last seven outs of Game 5 in his longest appearance since 2012. But he yielded a run in the eighth inning before working a perfect ninth.
—Kershaw’s Chance. Kershaw has done it all during his stellar major league career, except lead Los Angeles into the World Series. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner is 5-7 with a 4.63 ERA in 19 career playoff games. He pitched 6 1/3 innings in the playoff opener against Arizona and was charged with four runs and five hits.
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