LEADING OFF: Playoffs begin, Bieber vs Cole in prime matchup

A look at what's happening around the majors on Tuesday:

MARQUEE MATCHUP

Shane Bieber dominated this year for Cleveland, leading the American League in wins (8), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122). He didn’t allow a run in six of his 12 starts.

Gerrit Cole delivered for the Yankees in his first season since signing a $324 million, nine-year contract, going 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA.

Now they meet in the playoff opener at Progressive Field, a classic pitching duel in the making on the first day of the postseason.

“We’re fired up,” Bieber said. “We think this is a good matchup.”

For all Bieber and Cole have accomplished in the shortened regular season, it will mean little if they don’t perform well to start the best-of-three series.

WE’RE PLAYING WHO?

In a year where so much about baseball has looked different, this 16-team postseason has at least one throwback element.

“It’s like the old days, man, when you played a team you’ve never played before. It’s exactly what it is,” said Sandy Alomar Jr., the acting manager for the Indians. “It’s very strange.”

Seven of this week’s eight wild-card series are pitting clubs that haven’t seen each other all year, an unusual quirk after the regular season schedule was staged regionally amid the pandemic.

That means a lot of video and scouting work, especially for players that haven’t been around the block. For instance, Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka has only played 72 regular season games, including just two against wild-card foe Cleveland. The 30-year-old said New York provided him with a trove of data to peruse Monday, and he was cross-checking all of that with video work.

“Want to have that extra edge to hopefully give you the advantage in the game,” he said.

Higashioka will start the opener...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/LEADING-OFF-Playoffs-begin-Bieber-vs-Cole-in-15604442.php