The Tigers and Guardians get the League Division Series round of the post-season underway at 1 PM EDT with Tyler Holton facing Tanner Bibee. Holton serves as the opener for Reese Olson. Holton led off game two of the AL Wild Card round as the opener in a bullpen game for the Tigers and pitched a perfect first inning. Olson, with a 3.53 ERA, did not come out of the bullpen in 2024, but did make three relief appearances in 2023. Bibee, in his second season, added six starts and 30 innings for a 3.47 ERA. He was extremely good at limiting base runners with a .285 OBP allowed.

The Mets and Phillies take the late afternoon slot Kodai Senga and Zack Wheeler kicking things off for the NL at 4:00 PM EDT. FanGraphs lists Senga as an opener, but in his one start this season he went 5 1/3 innings. The Mets may play this by ear with David Peterson standing by. Wheeler posted one of the top seasons in the NL, his 2.57 ERA ranking second. He was also only one of two NL pitchers to reach 200 innings.

The Royals visit the Yankees at 6:30 PM EDT with Michael Wacha getting the call against Gerrit Cole. Wacha saw some early post-season success, but got knocked around in his last four starts. He allowed eight post-season home runs in 38 innings. Cole makes his 18th post-season start. He stands 10-6 with a 2.93 ERA and 134 K in 104 1/3 innings. He gets the decisions.

Finally, the Padres at the Dodgers goes off at 8:30 EDT, 5:30 PDT with Dylan Cease on the mound against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Cease did a great job this season of limiting both base runners and power, with a .269 OBP and a .332 slugging percentage allowed. He did not allow a home run to the Dodgers in two starts. Yamamoto missed half his rookie season, but managed to post impressive three-true outcomes.

Enjoy!