SI:AM | One Thing to Watch in Each Wild-Card Series

Plus, a horrendous game on ‘Thursday Night Football.’

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I didn’t watch a single second of Broncos-Colts and I feel like I dodged a bullet.

In today’s SI:AM:

⚾ Previewing the postseason

🐴 Russell Wilson struggles again

🤠 The king of Texas football

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Previewing the first round of the MLB playoffs

I know it’s the seventh day of the month, but October really starts today with the first day of the MLB playoffs.

For the first time, MLB has expanded the postseason to include six teams from each league. But the expansion of the playoffs isn’t really about giving more teams the opportunity to play postseason baseball. It’s about giving TV networks the opportunity to pay Major League Baseball to broadcast more postseason baseball.

All that bonus baseball starts today with the four wild-card series. The best-of-three series will be played on three consecutive days, all at the home park of the higher seed. Here’s one thing to look for in each matchup:

Rays at Guardians (Game 1 today at 12:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

In an era when starters are pitching fewer innings than ever (especially in the playoffs), it might seem silly to focus on a starting pitcher here. But I’m legitimately most interested in seeing what Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow does.

Glasnow was originally expected to miss the entire 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last August. But his rehab went well enough for him to make his season debut Sept. 28 (against these very same Guardians, coincidentally). He pitched three innings of one-run ball in that game and made a second start against the Red Sox earlier this week. Glasnow is currently slated to start Game 2 of this series, which will be an elimination game for one team. Turning to a guy freshly back from reconstructive elbow surgery in what could be a do-or-die game is a risk. But Glasnow is an ace when healthy and turning in a strong performance (even though it figures to be a short one) would be a great story.

Will Laws has three other keys to the series.

Phillies at Cardinals (Game 1 today at 2:07 p.m. ET on ABC)

This is an easy one: Albert Pujols.

Pujols’s career will come to an end when the Cardinals’ postseason run ends—and the way Pujols has been hitting lately, that might not be for a while. His resurgence over the past several months has been remarkable, punctuated by his furious pursuit of 700 career home runs.

So many of the biggest moments of his career have come in the playoffs with the Cardinals so this is a fitting way for him to go out. And his role on the team is far from ceremonial. St. Louis has relied on him this season to pick up hits in big spots, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he has at least one more heroic postseason moment.

Mariners at Blue Jays (Game 1 today at 4:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

This series could be all about the long ball. As Nick Selbe points out, the Mariners (1.16 home runs per nine innings) and Blue Jays (1.13 HR/9) are allowing home runs at a higher rate than any other 2022 playoff team. At the same time, these two are among the best power-hitting teams in baseball. Toronto ranked seventh with 200 home runs hit this season, while Seattle was tied for ninth with 197. If this series becomes a home run derby featuring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Julio Rodríguez, fans will be happy.

Padres at Mets (Game 1 today at 8:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

This series, Stephanie Apstein writes, will likely hinge on which version of the team’s biggest stars we see. Jacob deGrom and Juan Soto are perhaps MLB’s best pitcher and best hitter, but they’ve struggled of late.

Soto put up the worst offensive numbers of his career this season. Maybe you chalk up his underwhelming .246/.408/.485 slash line in 101 games for the Nationals to the uncertainty surrounding his future with the team and the lack of good pitches to hit that he saw in a god-awful Washington lineup, but he wasn’t any better in San Diego. Now, he was still an above-average hitter by OPS+ (149, with 100 being league-average), just not the kind of guy who drew Ted Williams comparisons in earlier seasons. He is showing signs of life, though, batting .309 with a .969 OPS over the past 15 games. The Padres will need him to keep that up if they want to upset the Mets.

The Mets have their own struggling star in deGrom. He returned in early August after missing 14 months with various injuries and initially looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. In his first seven starts back, he recorded a 1.66 ERA. But in his last four starts he has an ERA of 6.00. On top of that, he left his last start after developing a blister. The Mets haven’t officially announced him as the Game 2 starter, but assuming the blister heals he figures to get the nod. If the blister keeps him from getting the ball, that’s a bigger issue for the Mets. They’d rather have a struggling deGrom pitch a pivotal game than any other available starter.

Every game day during the postseason, our MLB coverage team will be bringing you special editions of the Five-Tool Newsletter. Sign up for free here to get insights from all your favorite baseball writers, including Tom Verducci, Stephanie Apstein and Emma Baccellieri.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Courtesy of Phillip Laster Sr

Today’s Daily Cover is part of SI Climate, an ongoing series focusing on the ways sports are impacting and adapting to our changing world. Jon Wertheim writes about the rising number of football players who have died from heat.

Here are our experts’ picks for the MLB playoffs. … For some players, the best part of making the playoffs is all the fresh gear they get, Stephanie Apstein writes. … After another terrible offensive game for the Broncos, Conor Orr thinks it might be time to start blaming Russell Wilson for Denver’s struggles. … Pat Forde profiles Sonny Dykes, whose deep roots in Texas are helping turn TCU into a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12. … Jimbo Fisher’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer is in jeopardy, Richard Johnson writes. … These are the most sought-after seats in college football for Week 6. … Here are the matchups, spreads and odds for the Week 5 edition of SI Sportsbook’s Perfect 10 contest.

Around the sports world

Stephen Curry said the reporting around the Draymond Green–Jordan Poole altercation has been “b.s.” … Richard Sherman had a good reaction to Russell Wilson’s goal line déjà vu. … Packers defensive back Rasul Douglas had a strong quote about the challenges of playing in London. … Lionel Messi confirmed this year’s World Cup will be his last. … At least one person died at a soccer game in Argentina after police used tear gas during clashes between fans.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. The Mets scoreboard operator’s message to a reporter.

4. This video of Erling Haaland helping a ref during a game.

3. This photo of Victor Wembanyama making Rudy Gobert look small.

2. Wembanyama’s highlight reel from another impressive game.

1. A fan’s tweet correctly predicting the final score of that ugly Broncos-Colts game.

SIQ

On this day in 2012, which quarterback broke Johnny Unitas’s 52-year-old record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass?

• Peyton Manning
• Tom Brady
• Drew Brees
• Ben Roethlisberger

Yesterday’s SIQ: Which Phillies fielder made an impressive defensive play for the final out of Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter in 2010?

• Jimmy Rollins
• Chase Utley
• Shane Victorino
• Carlos Ruiz

Answer: Carlos Ruiz. Halladay got Reds leadoff hitter Brandon Phillips to chase a curveball out of the zone. Phillips hit a little dribbler up the first base line and dropped his bat near where the ball was rolling. Ruiz dodged the bat, picked the ball up and made a strong throw to Ryan Howard at first to nab the speedy Phillips.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy play,” Halladay said after the game, “but it couldn’t have happened to a better guy to have Carlos get the last out. It was a fun, exciting way to end it.”

The no-hitter came in Halladay’s first postseason appearance. After playing for some Blue Jays teams that were mediocre at best, Halladay was traded to the Phillies before the 2010 season and finally made the playoffs for the first time in his 13th season.

I think it’s safe to say Halladay’s game will probably be the last postseason no-hitter. Managers today keep pitchers on short leashes during the regular season and especially so in the playoffs. No pitcher has thrown a complete game in the postseason since Justin Verlander did in the 2017 ALCS. That’s in keeping with recent trends about pitcher usage. Halladay led the majors with nine complete games the year he threw the no-hitter. Since 2018, only one pitcher has thrown more than three complete games in a season (Sandy Alcantara had six this year).

From the Vault: Oct. 7, 1991

John Biever/Sports Illustrated

It’s difficult to remember, especially following the consistent run of success they enjoyed under Sean Payton and Drew Brees in recent years, but the Saints were once among the most pathetic franchises in the NFL. From their first season in 1967 to ’86, they finished last in their division 10 times and never had a winning season. Their best finish was 8–8 in ’79 and ’83.

But 1991 was different. That year, the Saints jumped out to a 7–0 start (5–0 at the time of SI’s publication) for the first time in their history. Leading the way was quarterback Bobby Hebert, a Louisiana native who had stayed home to play college ball at Northwestern State and joined the Saints in ’85 after a couple of years in the USFL.

Hebert’s seventh great-grandfather had arrived in New Orleans from Nova Scotia in 1785, and Saints fans loved that they had a local quarterbacking their team. That is, until Hebert refused to report to the team in 1990 in an attempt to increase his salary, Ed Hinton wrote:

Last year, when Hebert said, “It’s time for me to move on,” word spread around town that he wanted out of New Orleans and Louisiana as a place to live, not just out of the Saints organization. When he said, “I have to do what I feel is best for me and my family,” wildfire gossip had it that he had said he didn’t want his three children to grow up in New Orleans, with its economy gutted by the oil bust, its crime rising, its educational system lacking and its population suffering from a general malaise.

At the beginning of this season, when Hebert returned to the Saints for a reported $2.73 million over two seasons-low on the NFL quarterback pay scale, considering his past production, and considerably less than the $2 million a year he had originally asked for—gumbo ya-ya at the Superdome: “Booooooooo!” A big banner hanging in the stadium for the season opener, as well as a letter to the editor of the local

Times-Picayune

, demanded a public apology from Hebert. “I’m not so prideful that I wouldn’t apologize,” says Hebert, who is far closer to the good Cajun boy New Orleans first welcomed to the Saints than to the mercenary turncoat imagined in gossip, “but I don’t know what they want me to say.”

The Saints soldiered on without Hebert in 1990, squeaking out an 8–8 finish with Steve Walsh at quarterback, but they really hit their stride when he returned in ’91. After winning their first seven games, the Saints finished 11–5 even though Hebert hurt his shoulder and missed seven games.

Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.

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