Friday Open Thread

It’s time for the MLB playoffs, and while we’re a Vanderbilt blog, well, we know a lot of you are interested in this too. There’s also some college football on tonight, but it’s bad college football, so, uh, you should probably watch the MLB playoffs.

11:07 AM: Rays at Guardians, Game 1 (ESPN)

No, I still can’t get used to the Cleveland baseball team being the “Guardians.” At least this is better than the “Commanders.” Honestly, Cleveland should have just called themselves the Baseball Team. That would have been fun. Anyway, this is most noteworthy for the Shane-vs.-Shane pitching matchup (McClanahan for the Rays, Bieber for the Guardians.)

1:07 PM: Phillies at Cardinals, Game 1 (ABC)

Maybe it was just me, but it felt very weird that Albert Pujols hitting his 700th career homer was treated as a smaller deal than Aaron Judge hitting 62 in a season. After all, only three players had hit more than 700 career homers. That’s a big deal. 62 is the 7th-most homers someone has hit in a single season, but it’s the record except for all the times that don’t count.

3:07 PM: Mariners at Blue Jays, Game 1 (ESPN)

First of all, ESPN has gotten the message and put down four-hour windows for the playoff games, because... we can’t play a postseason game in under four hours, I guess. Second, this is the Mariners’ first postseason game since 2001. That leaves the Sacramento Kings with the longest postseason drought in professional sports.

6:00 PM: Nebraska at Rutgers (FS1)

College football is not sending its best against the MLB playoffs.

6:30 PM: Houston at Memphis (ESPN2)

Okay, this is fine. Houston is a disappointing 2-3 after being a preseason Top 25 team, though the losses came against an SWC rival, a Big 8 team, and an SEC team. Memphis is quietly 4-1 after getting drilled by Mississippi State in its opener.

7:07 PM: Padres at Mets, Game 1 (ESPN)

Now this, this is a good matchup. Max Scherzer going against the Padres’ young lineup? Sign me up.

9:30 PM: Colorado State at Nevada (FS1)

College football is not sending its best against the MLB playoffs, part 2.

9:30 PM: UNLV at San Jose State (CBS Sports)

I bet you didn’t realize that these teams are 4-1 and 3-1, respectively, did you? Granted, the best win for either of these teams was San Jose State’s win over Wyoming. But also, both of them played a Power 5 team within a score (San Jose State lost 24-16 at Auburn, UNLV lost 20-14 at Cal.) Also, how Vanderbilt would it be for UNLV to get good the year before they host Vanderbilt?