MLB Hoosiers: Tampa Bay's Aaron Slegers is Last Hoosier Standing in Baseball Playoffs

The American League divisional series start on Monday, with an epic showdown between hated AL East rivals Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees in the spotlight.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Major League Baseball playoffs resume on Monday with two American League divisional games, and the National League joins the party on Tuesday.

This year, there were seven former Indiana baseball players in the major leagues for the first time ever, but with eight teams left, only Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Aaron Slegers is still playing. (Final rosters will be announced at 1 p.m. ET today)

The Rays open their five-game series against the New York Yankees on Monday night, and this is unique for several reasons, most notably that it's being played at a neutral site – San Diego's Petco Park — because of COVID-19 and that all five games are being played in five days, with no travel date.

This puts a lot of pressure on pitching staffs, and it's all hands on deck, who could very well have to cover 45 innings in five days, at least, with this new schedule format. That schedule might favor Slegers and Tampa Bay, which has a long and deep bullpen that's capable of pitching in any situation, early or late.

In a unique twist, all four series are being played by divisional foes this year, which has also never happened before. The low-budget Rays won the American League East, with the Yankees finishing second. Oakland and Houston are both in the AL West, and it's the same thing in the National League, with Atlanta and Miami from the NL East squaring off and the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres (NL West) meeting each other again.

This year, to minimize travel and exposure during the shortened 60-game regular season, teams only played 10 games against teams in their own division, plus five more against teams from the other league in the same location. 

In the 10 regular-season games between the Rays and Yankees, Tampa Bay went 8-2, with Rays pitchers mostly shutting down the Yankees' bats. Tampy Bay starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton, who are starting the first three games of this series, pitched in seven of those 10 games.

This will be the 400th game ever between the Rays and Yankees, but the first ever in the postseason.

The Rays held the Yankees to 3.40 runs per game and a .117 average (7-for-60) with runners in scoring position, but the Yankees are much healthier now than they were during the regular season, and they pummeled Cleveland pitchers in the first round, scoring 22 runs in two games in the sweep. 

“We’re a lot healthier and these games are a lot more meaningful,” Yankees first baseman Luke Voit said. “They have good pitching and they figured out ways to score runs against us, so you’ve got to give them credit.

"It's different now. We’ve got a really tough lineup, and I think we’re going to do a lot of damage against them.”

During the regular season, Oakland went 7-3 against Houston, Atlanta was 6-4 versus Miami and the Dodgers went 6-4 against San Diego.

Here's a quick breakdown on the four remaining series, all played at neutral sites for the first time in baseball history:

American League Division Series

Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees

  • Best-of-5 series, all games played at Petco Park, San Diego
  • Game 1, Monday at 8:07 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Rays' Blake Snell (4-2, 3.24 ERA in regular season) vs. Yankees' Gerrit Cole (7-3, 2.84 ERA).
  • Game 2, Tuesday at 8:10 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Rays' Tyler Glasnow (5-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. TBA. 
  • Game 3, Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Rays' Charlie Morton (2-2, 4.74 ERA) vs. TBA
  • Game 4, Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: TNT): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 5, Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: TNT): Pitchers TBA

Oakland A's vs. Houston Astros

  • Best-of-5 series, all games played at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
  • Game 1, Monday at 4:07 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Astros' Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 3.93 ERA in regular season) vs. A's Chris Bassett (5-2, 2.29 ERA)
  • Game 2, Tuesday at 4.37 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Astros' Framber Valdez (5-3, 3.57 ERA) vs. A's Sean Manaea (4-3, 4.50 ERA)
  • Game 3, Wednesday at 3.35 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 4, Thursday at 3:35 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: TNT): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 5, Friday at 3:35 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: TNT): Pitchers TBA

National League Division Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres 

  • All games played at Globe Life Park, Arlington, Texas
  • Game 1, Tuesday at 9:38 p.m. ET (TV: FOX Sports 1): Dodgers' Walker Buehler (1-0, 3.44 ERA in regular season) vs. Padres' TBA
  • Game 2, Wednesday at 9:08 p.m. ET (TV: FOX Sports 1): Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.16 ERA) vs. TBA
  • Game 3, Thursday at 9:08 p.m. ET (TV: MLB Network): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 4, Friday at 9:08 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: FOX Sports 1): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 5, Saturday at 8:08 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: FOX Sports 1): Pitchers TBA

Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins

  • All games played at Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
  • Game 1, Tuesday at 2;08 p.m. ET (TV: FOX Sports 1): Braves' Max Fried (7-0, 2.25 ERA in regular season) vs. TBA.
  • Game 2, Wednesday at 2:08 p.m. ET (TV: MLB Network): Braves' Ian Anderson (3-2, 1.95 ERA) vs. TBA
  • Game 3, Thursday at 2:08 p.m. ET, (TV: FOX Sports 1): Braves' Kyle Wright 92-4, 5.21 ERA) vs. TBA
  • Game 4, Friday at 2:08 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: FOX Sports 1): Pitchers TBA
  • Game 5, Saturday at 4:08 p.m. ET, if necessary (TV: FOX Sports 1): Pitchers TBA

Published
Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew has been the publisher of “Indiana Hoosiers on SI’’ since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as an award-winning reporter and editor for more than four decades, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He operates seven sites on the “On SI’’ network. Follow Tom on Twitter @tombrewsports.