Game 3 of the ALDS between the Astros and Athletics could the final contest of the series. Oakland is trying to avoid elimination, but a loss would mean the end of the season for the A's, who led the AL West pretty much wire to wire in 2020. They won the division by seven games over the Astros, who now lead the series two games to none and are looking for the sweep.
Let's check out the pertinent details for Game 3.
How to watch
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 7 | Time: 3:35 p.m. ET
Location: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
TV: TBS | Stream: TBS app
Odds: HOU -115; OAK +105; O/U: 9
Pitchers: LHP Jesus Luzardo vs. RHP Jose Urquidy
Follow: CBS Sports App
Preview
These A's have been here before. They were here just last week. They lost Game 1 of the wild card round to the White Sox and their backs were immediately against the proverbial wall. Now they need to reel off three straight against the Astros. The Astros did lose at least three games in a row four different times this season while the A's put together winning streaks of at least three games five times, so we know it's doable from both sides.
The Astros seem different, though, don't they? It's only been four games, but they've won all four in the postseason and are starting to play with that 2017-19 swagger, something that was mostly missing through their lackluster 29-31 regular season.
The Astros had ace Zack Greinke lined up and he is on the ALDS roster, but Tuesday it was announced that Greinke is out with an arm injury and Urquidy will get the ball for Game 3. In his lone start against the A's this year, Urquidy allowed two runs in six innings.
The A's counter with high-upside lefty Luzardo. He faced the Astros twice this season, both A's wins, and he allowed four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings while striking out 12. Of note here with how much Dodger Stadium has been playing as homer-friendly, especially during the day, is that Luzardo allowed three homers in those two outings against the Astros.
Prediction
Don't count the A's out. We saw their resilience against the White Sox in the first round, a superior regular-season team to the Astros, but I'm just getting the vibe here the Astros are going to close this thing down. We'll say Urquidy induces enough weak contact to hold the A's down while Playoff George Springer (he's 6 for 9 with two HR this series) continues to destroy the ball.
