Game Day: Wednesday, May 20th

It's Wednesday and a quick look at the schedule puts us on a time crunch with more than a few games starting in the early afternoon.

I am not much for being rushed so I'm going to take this post nice and easy.  When it's finished, I'll post it and if there is a good pick amongst the evening slate of games, I'll post a pick too.

Guardians Are Rolling

Winners of four in a row.  The Guards have won the first two games of a four-game series with the Tigers.  A loss today will be painful for Detroit and will drop them 8.5 games back in the division.  Last season, the Tigers were the team leading the pack early.  The Guards were able to mount a late-season winning streak, overcoming a seemingly insurmountable deficit to win the division.  I'm not so sure that the Tigers have the team to replicate that effort.  

The Guardians are winning everywhere and by that I mean, they can pitch, they get on base, they can slug the ball, they run the bases and they play great defense.  This is a complete baseball team.  

Guards are third in the league in walks and third in the league in stolen bases.  They are putting runners in scoring position without even swinging the bat.  

Last night's game is a good snapshot of how good their bullpen is. Five pitchers, all veterans from the '25 team, combined for 4.0 scoreless innings, only allowed three hits, struck out seven hitters along the way to a 4-3 win.  High leverage innings in a big game, the Guards' relievers locked it down.

Game Three this afternoon.  Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians and the Tigers, they haven't announced their starter.  It's a bad look for a team that has lost four in a row and is scrambling.  Big game for both teams.  Tigers need a win, a Guards' win secures the series.  It's a 5:40 PM CDT at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI.  

How About Them Rays?

The Rays are an astounding 14-3 in the month of May.  Griffin Jax is becoming a mainstay in the Rays' rotation.  The former closer threw five sharp innings in last night's game.  Jax gets a no-decision but it was his start and the pitching out of the bullpen that won that game.  Rays' pitchers sent Baltimore to the hotel with a 4-1 loss.  

The Rays' formula is similar to the Guardians.  They are getting on base and running the bases well.  They have a few sluggers who can put runs on the board with a swing of the bat.  They hit for contact but they don't take a lot of walks and have gotten timely hitting to this point.  Their starting pitching has been outstanding and the bullpen has pitched well but their defense isn't playing all that good and that is going to catch up with them.  Over time, their batted ball luck is going to even out.  

Looking at the two teams, the Guardians and the Rays, and the team stats to this point, the Guardians are a far better baseball team.  The Rays' starting pitching has been winning them a lot of baseball games.  

Game Three of a three-game series from the Trop.  Game is underway with the first pitch at 12:10 PM CDT.  

Chase Burns Them Down

Reds snapped the Phillies' five-game winning streak last night with a 4-1 victory of their own.  Burns has claimed the thrown as the Reds' ace with Hunter Greene absent due to an arthroscopic surgery.  Nine strikeouts, six innings, three hits, one earned run, a quality start and a win.  Burns smoked the Phillies last night.  He is 6-1 on the season and has a 1.83 ERA.  Reds' bullpen is tough to beat too.  Five strikeouts, one walk, no hits allowed last night in 3.0 scoreless innings.  Cincinnati by no means is out of contention in the NL Central and when Hunter Greener returns, and Nick Lodolo gets to throwing the ball well, they will have a case for being the best team in the NL Central.

In the meantime, they'll play the rubber match in Philadelphia today.  That game is underway from Citizens Bank Park.  Cincinnati sent lefty Andrew Abbott (3-2) to the mound to face-off with Phillies' veteran Aaron Nola (2-3).  Abbott and Nola have both pitched poorly this season.  The winner of this series gets a feather in their cap but how each of the starting pitchers performs today is as interesting or more interesting than the winner of this series.  

I'm the Miz!

Misiorowski versus Ben Brown didn't dissappoint.  Jacob Misiorowski made it clear that he is the top dog with 6.0 scorless innings.  "The Miz" only allowed three hits and struck out eight on the way to his fourth victory of the season.

Ben Brown didn't pitch all that badly.  He had a quality start on the line into the sixth inning.  Having only thrown 82 pitches, he could have managed six without much difficulty.  The Cubs went to the bullpen. 

Cubs' Manager, Craig Counsel, was dead-set on getting recent call-up Zach Thornton into the game, and he did in the eighth inning.  The Cubs down 3-2.  The Brew Crew taxed the rookie for a pair of earned runs on a Brice Turang home run ball that made it 5-2.  Abner Uribe locked down the ninth and the Brewers win a big series against their rivals in Chicago.  They will do them dirty with a win and a sweep tonight at Wrigley.  Game Three starts at 6:40 PM CDT and features Cubs' dark horse Edward Cabrera (3-1) versus Brewers' late-bloomer Kyle Harrison (4-1).  

Padres Fumble, Dodgers Even the Series

It was a 4-4 game into the ninth inning last night.  Padres brought in Mason Miller to work the top.  Max Muncy appealed a 3-2 punchout and won an ABS challenge, reversing the strikeout call of home-plate umpire, Rob Drake, and took his base.  Alex Call entered the game as a pinch-runner and advanced from first to third on a pickoff attempt that resulted in a throwing error charged to the Padres' closer.  The ball careened all the way into right-field.  He'd score the winning run on an Andy Pages' sacrifice fly.  

Padres are soft and let that game slip away.  The crisp blue and whites blind them again when it matters the most.  

Game Three tonight and it's Ohtani on the mound for the Dodgers.  The Padres have to beat the game's best starter tonight, Ohtani (3-2) leads the league with a 0.82 ERA in 44.0 innings pitched this season.  If the Padres are going to take the series they have to beat the best tonight.  Randy Vasquez (5-1) starts for the Padres.  It's a 7:40 PM CDT start from PETCO Park in San Diego, CA.

This articles getting long and I'm starting to get cranky.  That's it for Game Day today, May 20th, 2026.  I'll take a look at the odds for the games that start late and see if there is a good pick on the line.  If there is, I'll post it. Otherwise, back tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

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