there's no way you start screwing around and pitch him on short rest during the regular season before you've even clinched a playoff spot, in hopes that if you make the playoffs, he can start your wild card game.
He only has two regular season starts left. The question is when do you pull the trigger on start #2 - normal day (Friday) or do you hold him off for possible win-or-go-home game Sunday? My guess is they'll throw him Friday with the idea of him going Tuesday for WC. Best case scenario: he pitches Friday, Astros win the division, and he's ready for game 1 of the ALDS.
That's just crazy talk. If we have to win the final game of the season to get into the wild card game, and anybody but Keuchel takes the mound, should Hinch be fired then too? If we're down 3-0 in the World Series, should Hinch be fired if Keuchel doesn't start every remaining game? It is what it is. I wouldn't expect him to plan weeks in ahead for the WC game starter. That would be ridiculous in the first place, and it's barely even possible anyway. There are too many variables at play. Unless Kazmir continues to suck over his final starts, I have no problem with him getting the ball, if that's what the schedule dictates. They traded for him because he's a TOR starter. Hopefully he can perform like one. These one-game playoffs are probably the dumbest thing in sports. I'm not going to lose any sleep if we get bounced because they weren't able to find a way to start Keuchel. Part of me even prefers "gambling" with Kazmir just so we can have our rotation in order to start the real playoffs.
It's all going to be situation-dependent. Sure Friday sounds good right now, but as I said in the other post, what if we have to win Sunday to even get into the WC game? Bottom line is: either we are locked in to our playoff spot a couple days early, or somebody besides Keuchel is going to have to win a huge game late, be it the last game or two, or the WC game.
With the way this bullpen is completely crapping the bed right now, the starting pitchers are gonna have to all get into at least the 7th inning with a multiple run lead.
I'll add one more thing: If Kazmir looks good in his final 2 starts, I'd prefer the scenario of him pitching the WC game on full rest + Keuchel being able to open the ALDS vs. Keuchel pitching the WC on short rest + having a sub-optimal rotation for the ALDS (and likely the ALCS too, if we were to advance).
all this talk about WC when the Astros are 1 back and have 3 at home against the Rangers this weekend
nobody said that wasn't a possibility. There's not much to discuss regarding the rotation if that happens.
Somebody refresh my memory of what happens if the Astros-Rangers tie for both the division title as well as the 2nd wild card spot (i.e. - both are guaranteed the post-season anyways). Is it like 2001 where they go by head-to-head record... and the Rangers go on to the LDS, and the Astros go on to the wild card play-in game? Or, do the Astros and Rangers play 1 game for the division... and the winner goes on to the LDS, and the loser has to play another winner-take all game? Two possible winner-take-all games? Keuchel should pitch all of them!
We play the Rangers in a one-game playoff. Another stupid rule, since you're forcing an extra game on 2 teams that are guaranteed playoff spots. They should just use tie-breakers to decide the division.
One game tiebreaker, played in Arlington (due to H2H), to decide the division winner. Not sure what happens if the Rangers, Astros, and Minnesota all tie.
They would play a 1-game playoff on the day after the season with the rangers being at home (due to better head-to-head record). Winner is division champ. Loser is 2nd Wild Card and has to play the next day at what appears to be New York. To answer Major's question, it appears the Astros and Rangers would play @ Arlington for the division with the loser having to play Minnesota the next day. I have no idea where that game would be as both the Astros and rangers have a 3-3 record against Minnesota. Probably a coin toss at that point.
Three possible winner-take-all games. We can lose to the rangers, be tied for the 2nd wild card, then have to play them to get into the wild card game. #KloneKeuchel
The loser of astros/rangers plays minny to get into the wildcard game. lol. i feel dumb even typing that out. Bud Selig sure went out with a bang.
Exactly.... lets see what happens this weekend first before we start trying to line things up for the LDS. Possibly three winner take all playoff games? Add another one if you have to win on the last day of the season just to make it? Might as well just keep the rotation as is.
I think they had the coin flips already to decide all the possible tie-breakers... not sure of those outcomes.
No, which is why I mentioned it. Several times. I even put **'s around it to make it easy to spot. The priority is *making* the postseason; he can't line-up his rotation until they've done that. But once they have, he has to properly manage his players and their schedules. Yes. Absolutely....... He should start all 7. Then he's a bad manager. He should absolutely be preparing for a variety of scenarios with the priority being to line-up his best team possible when the stakes are highest. Do you honestly believe a Major League manager can't juggle various scenarios? Do you prefer he be passive? Shrug his shoulders and offer an "oh, well..."? He has to properly navigate this: that's his priority right now. If he exhausts Kuechel in a non must-win and, as a result, DK can't go in a must-win play-in game, then it is, in my opinion, a justification to at least question Hinch's competency. Unquestionably.
Marwin back. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> lineup today. <a href="http://t.co/RKjraJqz7F">pic.twitter.com/RKjraJqz7F</a></p>— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chandler_Rome/status/646413914431987712">September 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
