Gerrit Cole needed some spider-tac last night. He hasn't been the same pitcher since MLB started focusing on that.
Spider tac or not that arm has some mileage on it and isn't going to get any better with time. 31 is about the time I'd expect performance to start slipping.
I still think this postseason format sucks. Get rid of game 163 possibilities and use tiebreaker. Get rid of the play in games. Go back to 4 teams. Best record hosts worst record, 2nd best hosts 3rd best.
Give me ace vs ace, 2 vs 2, etc. All series 7 games with a single travel day.