In a slightly surprising move, Oakland has listed Relief Pitcher Liam Hendricks as their starter for their winner takes all Wild Card game against the NY Yankees tonight. It’s not clear at this stage who will fill in the innings between him and All-Star closer Blake Treinen, however, given much of their success this season has been down to their close down Bullpen there is some rationale to this. After all in a win or go home situation there is no point in resting arms.
Hendricks is unlikely to pitch much more than one inning (he pitched a perfect opening inning against the Yankees on Sept 4th this year) and Treinen normally pitches no more than two so who pitches innings 2-6 is still a mystery but given the depth of their Bullpen they should manage to etch it out.
Now if it goes to extra innings things could become rather interesting, maybe they will turn it on its head and play a starter, probably Mike Fiers?
The Winner of tonights AL Wild Card Game will face the Boston Red Sox in the AL Divisional match up which starts Friday.
