Max Clark getting a breather against Guardians

Luzardo was activated from the IL on Tuesday after missing two weeks with shoulder inflammation. He threw one inning of relief in the final game of the regular season, so he will not be built up long enough to pitch deep into this game. He’ll go as long as possible, and then the Phillies will turn things over to Andrew Painter.

Hunter Brown is the team’s ace, and he last pitched on September 25th, so he would be on four days’ rest if he pitched on Tuesday. The Astros are likely going to give him one extra day and have him start Game 2. Peter Lambert just pitched two days ago, and Hayden Wesneski threw seven innings just three days ago. As a result, it will probably be AJ Blubaugh for bulk innings on Tuesday before the Astros can turn things over to their starting rotation.

Maki took over as the team’s pitching coach in July 2022, after Wes Johnson left the team midseason to take a job with LSU. Since then, the Twins rank 21st overall in ERA, including 25th this season and 24th last season. Maki has been with the organization since 2017. He started as the minor-league pitching coordinator before joining the MLB staff as bullpen coach in 2021. Injuries to Pablo Lopez, Mick Abel, David Festa, and others put the Twins pitching staff in a tough spot this season, and they will now find another voice to lead them.

This is obviously good news, but the bigger hurdle for Judge with a calf strain will be running. Especially the stop-start running when he leaves the batter’s box or takes off after being on base. He also claims that he intends to play the outfield, which will be another major test for his calf. As of now, Boone says that the team has not made a decision about whether or not to carry Judge on their roster for the Wild Card series against the Red Sox.

Westburg missed the entire 2026 season after suffering a UCL sprain in spring training and then having a setback in early May. Westburg wound up having Tommy John surgery in the middle of May but is now beginning his hitting progression, which means he should have plenty of time to be ready to go by spring training.

Bradish dealt with the injury over his final three starts of the season and was placed on the injured list on September 13th. The recovery from this surgery is usually a couple of months long, so he should be able to have a relatively normal offseason and build up to the necessary arm strength by spring training.

Sonny Gray will start Game 2, with Ranger Suarez potentially lined up for Game 3. It seems that Tracy may be looking to break up his lefties. Tolle is certainly a worthwhile Game 1 starter. He finished the regular season with a 3.03 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 28.4 percent strikeout rate across 148 2/3 innings. He has never made a start in the postseason before, while Gray has previous experience. Gray also posted a 2.72 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 21.8 percent strikeout rate in 169 innings this year. Either way, the Red Sox have a nice duo set up to start the first two games of the series.

Pages had a sac fly that accounted for the Dodgers’ only run over the first nine innings. He had a chance to break the game open with two on in the eighth, but he instead grounded into an inning-ending double play. He got another chance in the 10th after an Alex Call double gave the Dodgers the lead and essentially put the game away with his 23rd homer of the year. It was his second in six games since he returned from a fractured hand. He ends up at .274/.343/.468 with 85 RBI in 134 games.

Wrobleski has allowed one run in 8 2/3 innings in his last five appearances. He’ll probably stick on the Dodgers roster as a middle relief option in the NLDS. An All-Star as a starter before spending some time on the IL and finishing the season in the pen, he’ll enter October 12-5 with a 3.66 ERA in 140 innings.

Sasaki has struck out six over three scoreless innings since coming off the IL prior to Tuesday’s game. He averaged 99.2 mph and topped out at 100.4 mph with his seven fastballs today. Based on Evan Phllips’ improvement and the very recent results from Sasaki and Edwin Díaz, things seem to be looking up for the Dodgers pen.