NYY @ TBR, ALDS Game 5, 10/9/2020 6:10 pm CT, Game Thread

The NLDS series have wrapped up. The Houston Astros have punched their ticket to the ALCS.

Game 5 of the Yankees and Rays is the only baseball game happening today, and it decides who the Astros face in the their fourth consecutive ALCS.

But even if this match didn’t have implications for the Astros, there’s no shortage of reasons to want to tune into this game.

It’s a winner-take-all game 5 where all hands are on deck, including Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell on short rests.

Both teams will look anywhere and everywhere to get the outs they need, and if a particular guy doesn’t have his stuff today, well then, too bad. He’s got to somehow get to the end of the inning or face three batters before evac can be arranged.

Or maybe you are fascinated by the low budget Rays versus the high budget Yankees storyline.

Or perhaps you’re just a closet masochistic Pirates fan who wants to look longingly on the two starting pitchers Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow who were once in your organization’s arms but were tossed aside for loose peanuts. Again! This is the second consecutive year Glasnow and Cole are facing off in an ALDS game 5!

Or maybe you’re someone who is forever convinced that AJ Hinch should have brought in short rest Cole in game 7 of the 2019 World Series and you know that this is the first time short rest Gerrit Cole will be on display for the world to see.

Or perhaps you just want to see a Yankees game, in honor of Hall of Fame southpaw Whitey Ford, who passed away today.

Maybe you just want to check out Petco Park, where the Astros are headed for the ALCS, since they haven’t been to San Diego since 2015. (Except for Jose Altuve who was at the 2016 All-Star Game there. And I guess Aledmys Diaz.)

Or it could be that it’s just Friday night, it’s 2020, and there isn’t anything else to do, so you’re turning on TBS. (very funny.)

Whatever the case, it looks to be a good game, full of high amounts of stress. . . just not for Astros fans.

Will the Astros face the Rays? I think the Astros GM may know a thing or two about that team. Or their former teammate Gerrit Cole, with whom Brent Strom and Martin Maldonado might have a little familiarity with?

Watch and comment along with the rest of the peanut gallery.