You’ve got to feel for Wade Miley.

He signs a free agent deal with the Astros, looking for his first ring. He goes 14-6 for the year, with a respectable 3.96 ERA. He has a few bad starts at the end of the regular season but overall a very good year.

And he’s left off the playoff roster. Thanks for playing, but no thanks, we’ll take it from here. It’s a cruel game.

Then there’s the case of Brad Peacock. He was a starter for Houston for most of the season. His last start, though, he lost 10-0 to the Pirates. Then he was sent to the pen.

So now here it is, Game 6 of the Championship Series, and the Astros, known for their starting rotation, don’t have a starter named for tonight’s game.

Miley is home on the couch. They didn’t trust him enough to even allow in the stadium. Peacock is in the pen. They don’t trust him enough with the first few innings of a game.

So, the Astros will probably go with rookie Jose Urquidy. He made five starts in July, was sent down to the minors, then made two more after being called back up in September. 

Do they trust him with a Game 6 start? Big moment for a rookie.

They Yankees are the same suspicious sorts. Both J.A. Happ and C.C. Sabathia are on their rosters. Both pitchers started regularly for the Yankees during the seson. Neither is trusted for a Game 6 start tonight. It will probably go to a bullpenner.

Nice slap in the face.

Game 6 is desperation time. For the Astros, they absolutely do not want to give the Yankees a chance to win this thing. For the Yankees, it’s do or die time.

In desperate times, you go with who you trust. For both teams, apparently it’s not the starters who helped get them there.

It’s a cruel game.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

TBD vs. TBD 
Game time: 7:08 on FS1