Seven of baseball’s eight wild card series match teams that didn’t meet this year
In a year where so much about baseball has looked different, this 16-team postseason has at least one throwback element.
“It’s like the old days, man, when you played a team you’ve never played before. It’s exactly what it is,” said Sandy Alomar Jr., the acting manager for Cleveland. “It’s very strange.”
Seven of this week’s eight wild-card series are pitting clubs that haven’t seen each other all year, an unusual quirk after the regular-season schedule was staged regionally amid the pandemic.
That means a lot of video and scouting work, especially for players who haven’t been around the block. For instance, Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka has played only 72 regular season games, including just two against the Indians. The 30-year-old said New York provided him with a trove of data to peruse Monday, and he was cross-checking all of that with video work.
“Want to have that extra edge to hopefully give you the advantage in the game,” he said.
Higashioka started the opener instead of Gary Sanchez. Sanchez, a two-time All-Star, hit .147 this year, which would have been lowest in the majors by far if he had enough at-bats to qualify. Sanchez also has been plagued by passed balls throughout his career.
Challenge the umpire: Video reviews overturned 42.4% of calls checked during Major League Baseball’s shortened regular season, down slightly from 44% in 2019.
Boston was the most successful team, gaining overturned calls on 10 of 13 challenges for 76.9%. The Chicago White Sox were second, successful on eight of 11 challenges for 72.7%, followed by Kansas City at seven of 10 (70%).
Pittsburgh was the least successful at 2 of 11 (18.2%), and Toronto was 7 of 25 (28%).
MLB said Tuesday there were 468 manager challenges and 58 crew-chief reviews among...