Watch Rays-Dodgers tonight, live on YouTube
A pair of potential postseason contenders are set for an intriguing Interleague showdown, and you can only watch it on YouTube.
The Dodgers and Rays begin a two-game set at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday in the MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube. An MLB Network production, the game is scheduled for 10:10 p.m. ET, and it can be viewed for free on MLB’s official YouTube page. It’s the penultimate YouTube game of the season, with the Cardinals and D-backs on tap next Wednesday in Arizona.
Tampa Bay and Los Angeles split the first leg of their doubleheader in May in St. Petersburg, with Clayton Kershaw leading the Dodgers to a 7-3 win in Game 1 and the Rays storming back to an 8-1 win in Game 2.
Tuesday marks a big night for Tampa Bay in multiple ways. The Rays are in the thick of a postseason race, holding a 1 1/2-game lead over the Indians for the second American League Wild Card spot. But Tuesday's game also marks the return of reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who hasn’t pitched off a Major League mound since July 21 after needing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his left pitching elbow. Expect to see Snell pitch only two to three innings Tuesday as Tampa Bay eases him back, but his presence could be a big boost for a club in the thick of the October hunt. Snell owns a 4.28 ERA this season, as well as the highest whiff-per-swing rate of any qualified starter in baseball.
Snell will be opposed by L.A.'s Caleb Ferguson, who will make his 42nd appearance but just his second start of the season. The lefty Ferguson replaced right-hander Ross Stripling as the Dodgers' starter several hours before game time on Tuesday. Ferguson allowed three runs in one-third of an inning his last time out, but before that had put together a 0.77 ERA in his previous 11 2/3 innings.
The Dodgers have already clinched home-field advantage in the NLDS, and their magic number to clinch home-field advantage through the NLCS is down to single digits. The Rays lost to the Angels on Sunday, but have won 32 of their last 47 games dating back to July 24, the second-best record in the Majors in that span.