Eight Houston Pitchers Worked Game 1. The Man Starting Game 2 Hasn't Gone Past 5⅓ Innings in Three Starts.

By the time Houston's Game 1 ended Tuesday, eight pitchers had thrown 155 pitches across nine innings. The setup said it would go this way: AJ Blubaugh, a reliever listed as the starter, got two outs on 27 pitches with three walks, and Bryan King followed with four hits allowed in a third of an inning. Chicago won 6-3, and Houston now trails 0-1 in a best-of-three, so a loss ends its season.

Game 2 is where that bill comes due. Josh Hendrickson threw 37 pitches Tuesday, the most of any Astros reliever. Miguel Ullola has thrown 49 pitches over Houston's last two games (18 Sunday, 31 Tuesday) and King 45 (23 and 22), with Monday an off day. Those are workloads, not injury reports, but they are the arms that have already spent the most. Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu threw 11 pitches each, Bennett Sousa 13.

Then the man on the mound. Hunter Brown carries a 3.19 ERA against a 3.32 expected ERA, so there is no sequencing luck to argue about, only length: 107⅓ innings over 20 starts (5.4 an outing), and 5.0, 5.0 and 5⅓ innings on 91, 98 and 100 pitches in his last three. Houston needs roughly four innings from a bullpen that spent Tuesday.

Chicago is not fresh either. Grant Taylor threw 54 pitches over 2⅓ innings Tuesday, and Sean Newcomb has pitched in both of the White Sox's last two games (17 and 19 pitches). Sean Burke (3.34 ERA) has gone 5.0, 6.0 and 5⅓ in his last three. Both dugouts are reading the same page tonight: whichever starter gets deepest shrinks the other side's problem.

Ben Rice went 4-for-5 with two home runs and six RBI in Tuesday's 9-0 win, batting from the designated-hitter spot in a lineup that did not include Aaron Judge.

That absence is the story of this series. Judge, on the injured list since Sept. 16 with a calf strain, was left off New York's Wild Card roster; Aaron Boone said "I don't think he's all the way back," and the extra rest could make him available for the Division Series if the Yankees advance. Giancarlo Stanton, out since late April with calf strains, was added to the roster and was not in Tuesday's starting lineup.

Rice is the lineup's center of gravity now, and it is not a hot week: .264/.363/.534 with 41 home runs, a 14.3% barrel rate, and a .384 wOBA that sits right on his .378 expected mark. The contact has matched the results all year.

Boston's answer is a starter and a glove. Sonny Gray (2.72 ERA, 3.87 xERA) opposes Max Fried (2.80 ERA, 2.51 xERA, and a 2.4% barrel rate, the lowest of tonight's eight starters). Behind Gray sits an uneven defense: Ceddanne Rafaela is +17 Outs Above Average in center, among the seven best in the majors, while Andruw Monasterio's -15 at shortstop is the third-worst mark. Trevor Story played short Tuesday, with Monasterio at DH.

The series says Atlanta. The market says something closer to a coin flip with a slight tilt the other way. The Braves lead 1-0 after Tuesday's 5-3 win and play at home, yet Philadelphia is the shorter price at all nine books we checked. Atlanta ranges from -105 to +102 (FanDuel at +100 and BetUS at +102 show it at even money or better) while Philadelphia sits between -109 and -118. DraftKings has the Braves at -103, from -108 at the open, and the Phillies at -117, from -112: a five-cent drift each way, well short of the move that earns a Sharp Signal tag. The disagreement is about who is favored, not by how much.

The reason is the mound. Cristopher Sánchez owns a 2.91 ERA (3.39 xERA) for the season, and the market is pricing that number. His September reads differently: 18 earned runs in 31⅔ innings across five starts, a 5.12 ERA, and he is 3.87 on the road against 2.23 at home. Tyler Mahle (3.99 ERA, 3.95 xERA) is the mirror image: 2.74 at home against 5.28 away, and 3.08 in day games, the shape of this 11:00 AM Pacific first pitch.

The bullpens are lightly worked, which is why the starters carry the price. Atlanta's Dylan Lee, Didier Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias threw 16, 12 and 7 pitches Tuesday. Philadelphia's Jhoan Duran (13 Sunday, 27 Tuesday) and Alex McFarlane (22, 16) have each pitched in both of the Phillies' last two games. A loss ends Philadelphia's season; the price says the market thinks it has the better starter for the day, and the splits say the season line may not be the number that matters.