Biggest question for every LDS matchup: Can Yankees defense handle Rays' offense? When will Chris Sale pitch?

The Wild Card Series is in the books and, on Saturday, MLB's postseason will continue with the four Division Series. It is a best-of-five series now with travel involved. Both teams will get the chance to play at home, unlike the Wild Card Series. The Division Series winners advance to the best-of-seven Championship Series, which will decide each league's World Series representative. 

Here are the Division Series matchups:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Guardians

NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers
Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers 

The Braves outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies in three games in the Wild Card Series. The Padres (over the Chicago Cubs), White Sox (Houston Astros), and Yankees (Boston Red Sox) secured two-game sweeps. Friday's universal off-day gave the four Wild Card Series winners a little bit of rest ahead of the Division Series.

Here now is the biggest question heading into each Division Series.

Braves at Dodgers: When will Chris Sale pitch?

Chris Sale is likely to be a National League Cy Young finalist this season and the Braves needed him to come out of the bullpen to get the final four outs of Game 3 against the Phillies in order to punch their ticket to the NLDS. That came two days after the 37-year-old threw 6 ⅓ innings and 95 pitches in Game 1. It was the first time Sale pitched on one day of rest since 2011, when he was a reliever with the White Sox. It was the first time he pitched on anything less than three days of rest since the 2018 postseason.

On Friday, Braves manager Walt Weiss acknowledged Sale may not be able to start until Game 3 of the NLDS on Tuesday. Normal rest following his Wild Card Series Game 1 start would have lined him up for Game 2 of the NLDS on Sunday.

"Not sure," Weiss said about Sale's Game 2 availability. "... A lot of it's going to depend on how Chris feels. Certainly don't want to jeopardize him and his health. He just happened to feel great (for Game 3 on Thursday) when he got to the park, and that's why he was in play. He's had to grind here recently. We're going to err on the side of giving him more rest, if it's even close."

The Braves have a small army of starting pitchers on the injured list: Bryce Elder (knee surgery), Reynaldo López (shoulder inflammation), Martín Pérez (back inflammation), Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow surgery), Spencer Strider (elbow inflammation), and Hurston Waldrep (Tommy John surgery). Atlanta is likely to use a bullpen game in Game 1 on Saturday. If Sale can't go in Game 2, either Wild Card Series Game 2 starter Tyler Mahle will pitch on short rest or it'll be another bullpen game.

Starting Sale in Game 2 would also line him up for a potential Game 5 on normal rest. If he cannot start until Game 3, then Sale will only be able to make one start in the NLDS, and it goes without saying that Atlanta's best chance to beat the two-time defending World Series champions involves Sale taking the ball as often as possible. Even if Sale can only go 70-75 pitches in Game 2, it's worth starting him (especially given the alternatives) and keeping a Game 5 start in play.

Padres at Brewers: Can the Padres get a lead for their bullpen?

What a fun series this will be. The Brewers had the best record in baseball this year and the Padres had the best record in baseball after the admittedly arbitrary date of July 23. The Padres went 41-18 and outscored their opponents by 1.2 runs per game during that stretch. Fernando Tatis Jr. has powered San Diego's turnaround and his first-inning at-bat against Jacob Misiorowski to begin Game 1 on Saturday will be must-watch television.

For the Padres, the path to victory is pretty simple. Find a way to hand a lead to the bullpen. How they go about getting that lead is pretty complicated, but the idea is simple. Cobble together a lead, then hand the ball over to Mason Miller & Co. San Diego's bullpen is the best, most formidable bullpen in baseball with Miller at the end, righty Bradgley Rodriguez and lefty Adrian Morejon setting up, and others like Jason Adam and Yuki Matsui picking up stray outs.

"I think both teams are probably trying to play the same game. Get out to an early lead and let the bullpen handle it the rest of the way," Padres manager Craig Stammen said on Friday. "I think both bullpens have a lot of flexibility in who they can use. Right and left-handed pitchers, pitchers that get both handedness hitters out, and guys that can go multiple innings. I think you add all those things up, that's what makes a great bullpen. They have a great one from the last guy to the first guy. That's how we feel about our bullpen too. It will be a tough series. It will probably be a lot of close games because of that."

The Padres were 66-5 when leading after six innings during the regular season and 72-3 when leading after seven innings. Only the Rays (81-2) had a better record when leading after seven. Rodriguez and Morejon have both shown the ability to get six outs, if needed, and Miller got four outs on occasion during the regular season. Stammen could ask those three to cover five innings on a given night. The Padres can shorten a game like no other team in this postseason field. The bullpen is their superpower.

White Sox at Guardians: Can Chicago put the ball in play enough?

There are several big questions heading into this series. Do the White Sox have enough pitching? Their entire staff looks like it's on fumes. Will the Guardians generate enough offense? That's been an issue the last few Octobers. What can we expect from José Ramírez? He hasn't looked very José Ramírez-like since returning from hamate surgery in July. Will Pope Leo step in to provide some divine intervention? The born-and-raised South Sider is rooting hard for the White Sox.

In the end, though, I keep coming back to the strikeouts, specifically Cleveland's ability to generate them on the mound and the White Sox's inability to limit them at the plate. Here are the strikeout rates (as a percentage of batters faced) since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, which better reflect the rosters we'll see on the field in the ALDS than the full season numbers:

The MLB average strikeout rate was 22.1% this season, for reference. Guardians pitchers were comfortably above that all year, and especially after the trade deadline. Same deal with White Sox hitters. They struck out much more than the league average all year, and especially after the trade deadline. On paper, it's a particularly bad matchup for the White Sox.

For Chicago, the saving grace could be the home run ball. The White Sox hit the fifth-most home runs in baseball this year, and the seventh-most after the trade deadline. Cleveland's pitching staff is prone to giving up hard contact in the air. After the deadline, their pitching staff had the ninth-highest barrel rate allowed, and "barrels" are basically the best possible contact. They are the ideal combination of exit velocity and launch angle, and the Guardians can give them up.

Nothing good happens on offense when a hitter strikes out and White Sox hitters have struck out a lot all season. Chicago's hitters won't suddenly become contact machines in the ALDS. To win this series, they will have to do extra-base damage when they do make contact, because stringing together multiple singles in an inning to scratch out even just one run will be difficult against the Parker Messick/Gavin Williams one-two punch, plus the Cleveland bullpen.

"Obviously their pitching is elite," White Sox manager Will Venable said on Friday. "We know very well exactly who they are and the challenges we have to beat. We also know what we have to do to beat them. It's just really hard to do."

Yankees at Rays: Is New York's infield up to the task?

These two AL East rivals have very different offenses. The Yankees hit the second-most home runs (223) and had the fourth-highest strikeout rate (24.7%) during the regular season. The Rays ranked 22nd in homers (169) and had the lowest strikeout rate (18.8%). The Yankees are the Bronx Bombers. They're built to bang the ball around the yard. The Rays have a superstar power hitter in Junior Caminero, but otherwise rely on putting the ball in play and creating havoc.

To further drive home the point, here are some regular-season numbers showing just how well the Rays create said havoc:

BUNT HITS
1. Rays: 49
2. Brewers: 32
3. Marlins: 31

INFIELD HITS
1. Pirates: 154
2. Rays: 143
3. Brewers: 143

Rays players ranked second (Chandler Simpson), third (Cedric Mullins), and fourth (Taylor Walls) in bunt hits during the regular season. Simpson led all players with 42 infield hits, 11 more than runner-up Otto Lopez. The Yankees use Yankee Stadium's short right field porch to their advantage via lefty power hitters. The Rays use Tropicana Field's turf to their advantage by putting the ball on the ground, running like crazy, and forcing the other team to make plays.

New York's infield ranked 11th in the regular season with plus-13 outs above average, so it's a good defensive unit overall, but it is prone to mistakes. Third baseman Ryan McMahon has had throwing issues all season, particularly short-hopping throws to first base. Rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. committed nine errors in 42 games after being called up. Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. has a tendency to get to first base late when covering the bag on bunt plays.

The Rays will test New York's infield defense this series, particularly at home at Tropicana Field, and the key for the Yankees is making the plays they're supposed to make. Take the outs you're given and don't try to force something that isn't there with a rushed throw (e.g. he should have held the ball but instead made things worse by throwing it away) or a bad decision (throw to the wrong base, etc.). The Rays prey on those mistakes.

"Obviously the postseason and with off-days leading into a series, it allows you to work on team defense, whereas at different times during the season, that can be a challenge," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Friday. "We replicated a lot of stuff the day before the Red Sox series. We'll do a team defense ahead of our individual defensive stuff out there today. Obviously, it's an area we want to play really clean in, especially against a team that you know is going to play that kind of game when they get their opportunities."