Delay is beneficial for the Phillies more than the Astros, for sure.
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/world-series-game-3-postponement-benefits-phillies-more-than-astrosQuote
Minutes after the game was canceled Monday, Phillies skipper Rob Thomson announced that his team would switch up their pitching plan. The club’s typical No. 3 starter, Ranger Suárez, who was moved from Game 3 to Game 4 to give him an extra day of rest after his brief relief appearance in Game 1, will now start the postponed Game 3 on Tuesday night. That means Aaron Nola, who started Game 1 in Houston, will start Game 4 on full rest Wednesday night. Game 5 probably will belong to Noah Syndergaard, Game 3’s original starter. But if Thor is thrown into an emergency relief role in either of the next two games, Kyle Gibson will start Game 5. That allows Philly to give their exhausted, stuff-depleted ace Zack Wheeler a few extra days of rest before a start in a potential Game 6.
This new plan has three main benefits for the Phillies.
1. Suárez could pitch on full rest in a Game 7.
Because Suárez was initially slated to throw Game 4 on Tuesday, he would have been on short rest in a Game 7. But now that Game 3 is on Tuesday and a potential Game 7 would come Sunday instead of Saturday, Súarez would start that game. Since a shaky first start against the Braves in the NLDS in which he walked five, the young Venezuelan lefty has been nails for Philly in October. He showed well in his NLCS start against San Diego and then came out of the bullpen in Game 5 to escape a jam and send Philly to the Fall Classic. Getting two starts out of him instead of one could be a game changer for the Phils.
2. Nola could throw on short rest in a Game 7, too
Same deal as Suárez. Nola will still pitch Wednesday, as was the original plan. That’s just Game 4 instead of Game 5. As such, Nola should be available to provide at least three innings in relief against Houston in a potential Game 7.
3. Wheeler gets some extra rest
The Phillies ace looked like a diminished version of himself against Houston in Game 2. His velocity was down. His offspeed stuff lacked its usual bite. As a result, the Astros tattered him for five runs. It was easily the worst start of Wheeler’s postseason thus far, a postseason in which he’d been wonderfully dominant. After the postponement Monday, Thomson insisted Wheeler’s reduced capacity was a result of fatigue and not a return of the elbow injury that left him sidelined for a month late in the season. At this point, Wheeler could use every additional hour to recharge his juicebox for his fifth and final postseason start.
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So who does the off day benefit more?
Philly. Easily. They pivoted to what they see as a more optimal set-up. The Astros stayed pat. It's as simple as that.
The shuffled calendar somewhat mitigates Houston’s pitching depth advantage over Philly, which probably was their single biggest edge in this series. McCullers and Javier are both better than Suárez and Syndergaard. The gap between Javier and the current, super-power-less version of Syndergaard is particularly stark. The more innings the Phillies can squeeze out of Wheeler, Nola and Súarez, the better. Houston wants to get to Philly’s pitching underbelly. Philly wants to keep it hidden. This rainout gives them a better opportunity to do so.
This post was edited by Sixers on Oct 31 2022 09:15pm