It's Time for the Second Wildcard Shootout!
Date: Wednesday Oct. 4
Time: 8:08 p.m. ET
Location: Chase Field -- Phoenix, Arizona
Starting Pitchers: Jon Gray (10-4) vs. Zack Greinke (17-7)
Tonight's wildcard match pits the Arizona Diamondbacks (93-69) against the Colorado Rockies (87-75) .
These two teams have to battle one more time to see which is going on and which team is going home.
In the 19 games played against eachother during the regular season the Diamondbacks also have gotten the better of the Rockies with a 11-8 record in those matches.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona has the slight edge with wins, they've won more games against Colorado thruout the regular season and they'll also enjoy homefield advantage for this match. They've scored slightly less runs per game overall this season but the difference is almost negligible.
The Dbacks scored on avg 5.08 runs per game to that of 5.11 for Colorado. Arizona has the better pitcher taking the bump, Zack Grienke is and has been one of the premier pitchers in the game for the last few years. Just looking at most stats you'd have to give the edge to Arizona in this one but before we get carried away, let's review the Rockies.
Colorado Rockies
Colorado sends a far less experienced pitcher to the mound in their most important game of the year. Left hander Jon Gray had a decent year, was 10-4 with an ERA of 3.67 over 20 starts.
While that's a decent earned run average considering some of those games are at home in hitter friendly Coors Field, I've seen him get chased early a few games this year. If the good Jon Gray shows up tonite the Rockies have a decent chance of winning this match.
The Rockies bats have been great all year, lead by thier center fielder Charlie Blackman. The #1 hitter in the lineup had a career year. He hit 37 homeruns and finished with 108 RBIs. That's good enough for me to say he's the best leadoff hitter in the game today.
Hot shot 3b Nolan Arenado also had a terrific season, proving this year that he's definitely one of the best hitters in baseball. The Rockies are going to need both of these players to have a good game if they want a shot at a World Series title.
Prediction Time
I didn't mention either bullpen in the above analysis. If this match is anything like the AL wildcard last night, whoever has to goto the pen early is in big trouble. Col. and Ari. have evenly matched relief pitching. I'd say both are below average and if one of these teams gets in trouble early it's over for that team.
I have Colorado winning this one 5-3.
Jon Gray is going to have to stay on pace with Arizona's Zack Grienke if this is to happen. Alot rests on the 25 year olds shoulders but I think the Rockies will avoid getting snake bit by a good lineup that features the red hot JD Martinez and Paul Goldschmidt.
I think this is going to be one hell of a game. Both teams are very familiar with eachother and pretty well evenly matched.
Whoever wins tonite gets the honor to move on and face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thanks for reading sports fans,
