Things are really heating up in the MLB postseason. The Chicago Cubs are still among the leading favorites to win the World Series—for the first time in more than a hundred years— but the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, and Toronto Blue Jays are still in the bracket.
Baseball fans will have a busy Monday night, with three Game 3 options to watch: Nationals v. Dodgers at 4:00 p.m. ET, Indians v. Red Sox at 6:00 p.m. ET, and Cubs v. Giants at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Only two days after defeating the Nationals in their opening postseason matchup 4-3, the Dodgers slipped up in Sunday’s game, giving the Nats a 5-2 victory and tying up the series. The Dodgers established an early lead by the third inning, but could not come back after Nats backup catcher Jose Lobaton’s three-run homer in the third. The Dodgers will likely come out strong on Monday night as they seek redemption for the previous day’s mistakes.
Unlike the even standings between the Nats and Dodgers who will have to continue through to Game 4 Tuesday, the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs have a chance to seal the deal with a Game 3 victory in the best-of-five series.
After a rained-out game Sunday, the Indians will finally get their chance to end the Red Sox’s World Series dreams once and for all.
While some are worried that the Indians may have lost their momentum with Sunday’s postponement, the players themselves don’t seem worried. "I don't think it hurts our momentum," closer Cody Allen said. "They're going to be ready to play regardless of if we played today, yesterday or tomorrow. You've got two really good baseball teams going at it. I don’t think there’s any momentum involved.”
The Cubs also have a chance to seal the deal Monday night and take the next step in breaking their 108-year World Series dry spell– reaching the NL Championship Series for a second straight year. Unfortunately, they’ll have to face San Francisco pitcher Madison Bumgarner who helped lead the Giants to a 3-0 victory in the NLDS Wild Card game.
Bumgarner, who lowered his postseason ERA to 1.94 after SF’s game against the Mets, and his postseason road ERA to an ridiculous 0.50, will pose the biggest threat to the Cubs advancement to the next round of the NLDS postseason series.
But Cubs players say the pressure is on the Giants, not on them. “We’re free in that game,” said second baseman Ben Zobrist. “The pressure’s not on us. It’s all on them. So we can go out, just play the game, take some chances, hopefully score some runs off of him [Bumgarner].”
Despite Zobrist’s encouraging statement, the pressure will be on for all six teams tonight in the NLDS and ALDS postseason playoffs. We’ve made it easy for you to catch all of Monday night’s action in these high-stakes games.
Here’s How to Watch the NLDS and ALDS Postseason Games:
Monday night’s baseball schedule:
4:00 p.m. ET: Washington Nationals away against the Los Angeles Dodgers
6:00 p.m. ET: Cleveland Indians away against the Boston Red Sox
9:30 p.m. ET: Chicago Cubs away against the San Francisco Giants
In order to watch the games online, fans can use the Fox Sports GO website (or app for mobile viewing), but access requires a valid login through a cable provider. Games are also available for streaming on TBS Sports and you can find even more ways to watch without a cable login from Cut Cable Today.
You can also find the full postseason schedule, along with the latest baseball news at MLB.com.
And, just a reminder, the first game of the 2016 World Series is set for October 25th.