The first round results were more or less as expected. Two were utter blowouts, one was a landslide, but the fourth ended up be a competitive battle, albeit in the end with a clear winner. Still, it sets up the semi-finals nicely. But before we get to those, let’s check in with the first round match-ups
Round one results
#1 Jose Valverde vs. #8 Brandon Lyon: 95% Valverde
Papa Grande stomped his way over Lyon, in an expected manner. Valverde’s role on the 2007 Diamondbacks, the last D-backs team to reach the Championship Series was likely a huge factor here, as he saved 47 games and, never mind Cy Young (where he was 6th), Jose came 14th in MVP voting that year, I think probably making him the only D-backs reliever ever to be mentioned there.