Morning Rundown: Wildcard round begins today, Paul Skenes is BA Rookie of the Year
Four games on the schedule for Tuesday
According to Andrew Destin of the Post-Gazette, the Pirates are parting ways with Andy Haines and Justin Meccage.
The Pirates have struggled to hit under Haines, posting the third-worst wRC+ as a team this past season. They’ve ranked near the bottom in wRC+ (28th), strikeouts (27th), runs (26th), average (29th), and OPS (27th) under his tutelage. They’ve had several hitting prospects, most notably Henry Davis, struggle to adjust to the major leagues.
Meccage was the Pirates' bullpen coach, and the bullpen went from being a potential strength to one of their greatest areas of concern. The bullpen had the fourth-highest ERA in the majors.
After splitting their doubleheader on Monday, the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets each make the playoffs.
The Mets rallied back, scoring eight runs in the final two innings to win game one and clinch their spot in the playoffs. Francisco Lindor hit his 33rd home run of the season, giving the Mets the lead in the ninth inning.
Atlanta won by a shutout in the second game, punching their ticket to the playoffs. Six pitchers combined to three-hit the Mets in the shutout.
The Wild Card round begins on Tuesday, with all four games spread throughout the day. The four matchups are as follows:
Detroit Tigers vs Houston Astros, 2:32 pm ET
Kansas City Royals vs Baltimore Orioles, 4:08 pm ET
Milwaukee Brewers vs New York Mets, 5:32 pm ET
Atlanta Braves vs San Diego Padres, 8:38 pm ET
On Monday, Paul Skenes was named Baseball America’s 2024 Rookie of the Year. They reviewed some of his accolades during his season, which, as expected, were quite impressive.
Ryan Palencer has today’s feature, with another look at Bubba Chandler. I’ll jump back on to drop a paid feature on Carlson Reed on Wednesday before Nola has a three-part series taking an early look at the off-season.
The first playoff game thread will drop around noon. I’m still messing around with the format and may start adding lineups, but not while I’m on ‘vacation.’
I’d be open to suggestions on what could be added/different to them to help the experience.
Support the site by becoming a paid member, and get access to all of our premium content, including our Top 25 list with complete player write-ups and video breakdowns, which come out weekly.
It will also give access to my player feature articles from on-site trips.
We have monthly and yearly plans available, with the latter costing an average of $4.16/month.
Now we can begin to heal.
And if the Pirates come out worse hitting next season, well, then I might just pack it in that the Pirates are just cursed.
Here for more Carlson Reed content.