ALDS Open Thread

Due to the vagaries of MLB’s postseason scheduling, plus autumn weather in the northeast, there is only one ALDS contest today. It features the Seattle Mariners visiting the Houston Astros in an AL West showdown.

You might know how their prior game went: Yordan Alvarez hit an improbable, monumental three-run walkoff dinger off Robbie Ray, who supplanted “usual” closer Paul Sewald with two outs in the ninth and a two-run lead.

So, the Mariners will try to bounce back from a stunner in this one, as they send Luis Castillo to go get ‘em opposite Framber Valdez. The Astros are slightly favored, in the 52-53/47-48 range, as they have the team quality edge, but Castillo (75/76/81) seems to have a higher estimation from projections than Valdez, despite the latter pitching about as well, if not better, in 2022 (73/78/76). Interestingly, 538 has the Astros are more like 58 percent favorites for the game, even though they too see Castillo as giving his team a substantial edge over Valdez.

That game starts at the random number generator-determined (apparently) 3:37.