2020 American League Divisional Series Preview

Gerrit Cole (Wikimedia Commons)

The 2020 Major League Baseball playoffs continue on Monday with the American League Divisional Series. The New York Yankees play the Tampa Bay Rays in San Diego, while the Oakland Athletics play the Houston Astros in Los Angeles. Both series will not have spectators and will be played in National League stadiums.

It is also interesting that in both series, the teams know each other extremely well. The Yankees and Rays are division rivals in the American League East, while the Athletics and Astros are division rivals in the American League West. The Rays won eight of 10 games against the Yankees in 2020, while the Athletics won seven of 10 games against the Astros.

The Yankees and Rays both swept their first round series. The Yankees got by the Cleveland Indians, and the Rays knocked out the Toronto Blue Jays with ease.

In round one against the Indians, it was a marvelous two games for Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres of Carcas, Venezuela. In seven at bats, Torres had five hits and batted .714. He had four singles and one home run as the Yankees won 12-3 in game one, and 10-9 in game two. The Yankees had a brilliant pitching performance from ace Geri Cole of Newport Beach, California, who only gave up two earned runs in gave one, and had 13 strikeouts.

The Rays meanwhile beat the Blue Jays 11-3 in two games of action. In game one, a 3-1 Tampa win, the Rays got a strong pitching performance from Blake Snell of Seattle, Washington. Snell only gave up one hit in 5 2/3 innings and had nine strikeouts. Then in game two, an 8-2 Tampa win, the Rays got a quality start from Tyler Glasnow of Newhall, California (two earned runs in six innings) and a grand slam from Hunter Renfroe of Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

The Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox two games to one in a wildcard series that went the distance. Oakland bounced back from a 4-1 loss in game one with 5-3 and 6-3 victories in games two and three. Chris Bassitt of Toledo, Ohio was sensational for the Athletics in game two as he only gave top one earned run in seven innings. It should be noted that Oakland won the series despite only having a team batting average of .194.

The Astros beat the Twins two games to none after a 4-1 win in game one and a 3-1 win in game two. The fact that the Twins only scored two runs in two home games is stunning when they had the best home record in baseball this season at 24 wins and seven losses. Houston is definitely coming into their series with Oakland with a ton of momentum, despite having a losing record in the regular season at 29 wins and 31 losses.

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