8 to watch in today's 4 Division Series games

The absence of off-days in the Division Series round impacts both relief-pitcher usage and remote-control usage. With no travel days on tap, we are once again blessed with four postseason games on the tube on Wednesday -- including a potential clincher (the Astros are up, 2-0, against the A’s).

So we’ve got a lot of watching to do. And these are the particular people we’ll be keeping a keen eye on in today’s games.

Marlins-Braves, Game 2 (2 p.m. ET, MLB Network)
Game 2 FAQ: Lineups, pitchers, more

Marlins: Don Mattingly, manager
On one hand, Mattingly played with fire in Game 1 by letting starter Sandy Alcantara begin a fourth trip through the order by facing Ronald Acuña Jr. with a runner aboard in the seventh inning and the Marlins clinging to a 4-3 lead. On the other hand, Miami's bullpen, which had a 5.35 ERA in the regular season, isn’t overflowing with awesome options.

Maybe Game 1 is a different game if Yimi García, who gave up the game-tying RBI single to Marcell Ozuna and the game-changing three-run homer to Travis d’Arnaud, gets a clean inning there. Mattingly, whose club got to the playoffs in large measure because of its performance in seven-inning doubleheaders, will have to keep that in mind when 24-year-old starter Pablo López is nearing the end of his rope in Game 2. López has not gone more than seven innings or 100 pitches in any start this season. So, Donnie Baseball, who do you trust -- and when?

Braves: Ronald Acuña Jr., CF
The kid’s been on another level since coming off the injured list on Aug. 26 (left wrist inflammation). He has a .429 on-base percentage and .642 slugging percentage in that span, including the playoffs. In Game 1 of the NLDS, after the 22-year-old Acuña became the youngest player to hit a leadoff homer in the postseason, tempers flared when he was plunked by a Marlins pitcher for the fifth time since 2018.

Can the Marlins stop Acuña without hitting him? Considering he's hit 18 homers and driven in 43 runs in 45 career games against the Fish, his tweet after Game 1 was as correct as it was cocky:

A’s-Astros, Game 3 (3:30 p.m. ET, TBS)
Game 3 FAQ: Lineups, pitchers, more

A’s: Ramón Laureano, CF
Laureano charging the Astros’ dugout and starting a benches-clearing scuffle in August was the defining moment of the inflamed tensions between the two clubs. And perhaps that genuine dislike fed into Laureano -- a league-average offensive player overall in 2020 -- putting up a terrific .314/.405/.543 slash line against Houston in the regular season. His performance was a big reason why the A’s took down the Astros in the AL West.

But thus far in this series -- and in this postseason -- Laureano has been punchless. He’s 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in the ALDS and 2-for-18 with seven strikeouts overall. The lower third of Oakland's lineup has been invisible against Houston (3-for-20, one RBI), and that’s got to change in a hurry.

Astros: George Springer, CF
These neutral-site games were put in parks from the opposite league to prevent any unfair advantages. However, that didn’t account for Springer hitting at Dodger Stadium, where, after two more Springer dingers in Game 2, he now has five postseason homers, second only to Reggie Jackson’s six at the ballpark. Springer is also one homer shy of tying Jackson (and some guy named Mickey Mantle) for fifth all time in overall career postseason homers, as he now has 17 (Albert Pujols’ 19 are the most among active players).

The A’s desperately need to keep Springer in the ballpark if they’re going to resuscitate this series. But bad news: Springer is 2-for-4 with (you guessed it) a homer in his career against Game 3 starter Jesús Luzardo.

Rays-Yankees, Game 3 (7 p.m. ET, TBS)
Game 3 FAQ: Lineups, pitchers, more

Rays: Charlie Morton, RHP
The Rays got five innings and four runs allowed apiece from Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow in Games 1 and 2. With no off-days in the ALDS, they could certainly use a bit more from Morton. But will a long layoff (the 36-year-old hasn’t pitched since Sept. 25) work for or against him?

Morton finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting last year with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in 194 2/3 innings. But this year, he’s seen a drop in four-seam fastball velocity (from 94.7 mph to 93.4), a drop in strikeout rate (from 30.4 percent to 24.7) and a big rise in ERA (up to 4.74). Morton pitched only four innings against the Yankees during the regular season because of a right shoulder issue. But as his year progressed, he saw an uptick in his ground-ball percentage, and that could benefit him against a loaded Yankees lineup.

Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton, DH
After the Deivi García-J.A. Happ plan in Game 2 didn’t work, the Yankees undoubtedly need length from Masahiro Tanaka in Game 3. But they’re already getting length of a different sort from Stanton, who has not only announced his return to form in this postseason but has done so with some unholy bashing of baseballs.

Stanton hit two homers in Game 2 off Glasnow -- a 114.8 mph shot that went 374 feet and a 118.3 mph blast that went 458 feet and darn near hit the scoreboard. Those came after he hit a 411-foot grand slam in Game 1. Stanton has gone deep in all four of the Yankees’ postseason games thus far. If he does it again in Game 3, he’ll tie Carlos Beltrán (2004) for the second-longest postseason homer streak, one shy of Daniel Murphy’s 2015 mark (six games).

Padres-Dodgers, Game 2 (9 p.m., FS1)
Game 2 FAQ: Lineups, pitchers, more

Padres: Zach Davies, RHP
When Davies arrived to San Diego as part of a four-player trade with the Brewers last winter, the right-hander was seen as a nice, albeit unsexy, back-end-of-the-rotation guy. But his own performance and injury issues affecting Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet have made him a prominent figure in the Padres' postseason plans.

Davies had a 2.73 ERA and 157 ERA+ this season, and he went at least six innings in each of his two starts against the Dodgers. The Padres could sure use some of that, considering Clevinger left Game 1 of the NLDS with no outs in the second inning. A sinker/changeup guy, Davies can potentially limit a Los Angeles lineup that was stronger against pitches of 90 mph or more (.383 weighted on-base average) than against pitches that were less than 90 mph (.300 wOBA).

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw, LHP
Nuance vs. narrative. The narrative claims that Kershaw is an “October failure.” The nuance is that, as we saw again in the NL Wild Card Series against the Brewers (eight scoreless innings, 13 strikeouts), there are some gems in there. He’s had nine postseason starts in which he’s gone at least six innings with less than two runs allowed. And in this shortened season, we’ve seen a Kershaw rejuvenated by better health, better training and better velocity.

• Dallas native Kershaw ready for 'weird' NLDS

The trouble is that the deeper the Dodgers go, the worse Kershaw has been. He has a 3.99 ERA in 79 career innings in the NLDS, a 4.61 ERA in 52 2/3 innings in the NL Championship Series and a 5.40 ERA in 26 2/3 innings in the World Series. The 2020 format means the NLDS is the second round for Kershaw and the Dodgers. Pitching near his Dallas hometown, will he be as sharp as he was against the Brewers?