American League games dominated by pitching

The American League played four Game ones today. The Rays versus the Blue Jays, the Indians versus the Yankees, Minnesota versus Houston, and the A's versus the White Sox. In a best of three series, it is always helpful to get the early advantage. These games can prove to be crucial, and they can also be the make or break point for a team or player. Look at the White Sox and Lucas Giolito, who took a perfect game into the seventh inning. On the other end of the spectrum, there is Cleveland's ace Shane Bieber, who looked nothing like the pitching Triple Crown winner that he was this year.

Pitching was the main thing to look at in these games, as many had projected. As already mentioned, Lucas Giolito dominated, meanwhile his offense dominated left handed pitchers as they have all season, and they are now 14-0 when facing lefty starters. The Rays' Blake Snell dominated in his start, showing the Blue Jays that he could be back to his 2018 form. On the other side, the Blue Jays could never get anything going. The Astros used just two pitchers in their win over the Twins, with Zack Greinke going four innings and Framber Valdez finishing the remaining five. On the other side, the Twins' Kenta Maeda went five innings, but it took five pitchers to go the remaining four innings. Then there was the matchup that everyone was looking forward to. Shane Bieber faced off against Gerrit Cole. Two of the top pitchers in the game going to head to head. Cole would dominate, going seven innings and giving up just two runs. His offense backed him up and showed what they could do when healthy, as they forced Bieber to leave the game after just 4.2 innings pitched while giving up seven runs. Game two in the AL will be played tomorrow, along with the NL starting their postseason.

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