It’s that time of year for some October madness as the MLB Playoffs begin. It’s time to see if a Wild Card team can make a magic run, or will one of the favorites take the crown. This is when the action really hits up, and this will be my prediction for the MLB playoffs
Predictions & Analysis:
AL Wild Card
Tampa Bay Rays vs Oakland Athletics: Rays Win
Most of the time these wild card game come down to pitching, and the Rays have an experienced starter in Charlie Morton. He dominated the last few years for Houston, and will now look to extend the Rays season on the road. Sean Manaea will get the start for the Athletics who has impressed in a small sample size this season. Manaea is one of their better young pitchers who has missed most of the year with injuries. There is no doubting his stuff, but he does not have the postseason experience compared to Morton. Charlie will face a tough lineup in Oakland who was 5th in home runs this year. Matt Olson and Matt Chapman lead this offense, and don’t forget about Marcus Semien. Tampa Bay’s biggest threat has been Austin Meadows, and the 24 year old has shined all year. This team is known for the pitching coming into the postseason with the 2nd best team ERA. Pitching is key in a one game playoff, and I like the Rays chances on the road behind Morton.
AL Division Series
Minnesota Twins vs New York Yankees: Yankees in 5 games
Both of these teams are built behind the long ball, and are 1st and 2nd in terms of home runs. The Yankees lineup is very deep with a multitude of threats like Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, D.J. LeMahieu, and Giancarlo Stanton is back after missing most of the year with injuries. The Yankees pitching has been shaky, and will likely lean on James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka to lead the charge. Luis Severino could factor in as well as he returns from injury, along with veterans J.A. Happ and C.C. Sabathia. The strength of their pitching staff is the bullpen behind Aroldis Chapman, Adam Ottavino, and Zach Britton. The Twins suprised the baseball world dominating this year after missing the playoffs last year. Their offense is full of power behind Nelson Cruz, Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, and Eddie Rosario. Mitch Garver has been impressive at the plate, and calling the games at the catcher spot. Their offense is very deep, and truly do not have a weakness in their lineup similar to the Yankees. Their top two pitchers this year have been veteran Jake Odorizzi and the flame throwing Jose Berrios both displaying a high strikeout rate. Veteran pitchers Kyle Gibson, Michael Pineda, and Martin Perez will compete to round out the postseason pitching staff. Their bullpen is underrated behind closer Taylor Rogers, and vets like Tyler Duffey, Trevor May, Sergio Romo, and Mike Morin. Both of these teams are offense first, and in most cases look to out power their opponents. The Yankees have more experience in the postseason, and their bullpen has more star power. Their lineups are very similar, and I believe the Twins have the more consistent starting rotation. However, the Twins pitching staff is lacking in terms of postseason starting experience. I like the Twins, and feel they are a very underrated team but the Yankees are my pick. I feel their offense has more consistent pop, and the experience will play a factor in late game situations.
Tampa Bay Rays* vs Houston Astros: Astros in 4 games
The Rays offense isn’t dominant, but their pitching staff has been one of the best in baseball. Charlie Morton is their ace, and this team heavily relies on their bullpen/opener strategy. Their pitching staff is very deep with standout arms like Oliver Drake, Tyler Glasnow, Emilio Pagan, Ryan Yarbrough, Ryne Stanek, and Nick Anderson. This list goes on and on, and the Rays have found ways to win games with an unconventional pitching attack. Blake Snell has elite level stuff, and could be a underrated factor if he can stay healthy in the postseason. They have speed on the base paths behind Tommy Pham and Kevin Kiermaier, and as I mentioned earlier have been led offensively by Austin Meadows. Their lineup isn’t overwhelming, but Tommy Pham, Avisail Garcia, Travis D’Arnaud, and Ji-Man Choi have all produced this season. This teams leans on their solid pitching, good defense, and timely hitting in order to win. The Astros are a star studded team without a clear weakness. Alex Bregman has played at a MVP level, and this team has experience with winning it all before. Their defense is high level ranking 3rd in terms of lowest number of errors. Their offense is still dangerous behind George Springer, Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel, and the returning Carlos Correa. Their pitching staff is led by three dominant aces in Justin Verlander, Gerritt Cole, and Zack Greinke. Wade Miley has been a nice addition to the pitching rotation as well. Their bullpen isn’t as deep as Tampa, but has some nice arms in Will Harris, Joe Smith, Ryan Pressley, and Brad Peacock. Don’t forget about the flame throwing closer Roberto Osuna as well. The Rays are a really deep team with tons of depth, but are lacking the star power of the Astros. I think the lineup of Houston is going to be too much for the Rays, and their trio of aces will use their postseason experience to shut their bats down
AL Championship Series
New York Yankees vs Houston Astros: Astros in 6 games
The Yankees have a big time offense, but do not have the pitching depth of the Astros. In my opinion, Houston has enough depth on offense to be able to score at the same pace as the home run hitting Bronx Bombers. The difference in this series will be the starting rotation where Houston has a clear advantage. However, the Yankees in my opinion have a better overall bullpen, and will be the biggest test this Astros rotation could potentially face. This will be a very entertaining series to watch if it comes into fruition, but I like Houston in this ALCS round. Their team is deeper than the Yankees, and A.J. Hinch has built up experience making postseason decisions.
NL Wild Card
Milwaukee Brewers vs Washington Nationals: Nationals Win
The Nationals have had a tough time producing come playoff time. They take on the Brewers who found a way to make the postseason after losing their team MVP Christian Yelich. As I mentioned earlier, these Wild Card games comes down to who do you trust on the mound. It’s hard for me to pick against the Nationals behind the arm of former Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. Brandon Woodruff has been really good this year, but doesn’t have the experience pitching with this pressure like Mad Max. The Brewers will need their vets Mike Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal, and Ryan Braun to lead the charge in order to win. The Nationals offense flows behind star third baseman Anthony Rendon, and young phenom outfield Juan Soto. However, their lineup drops off mightily after these two. Max Scherzer will have to put this team on his back in order to move on, and I believe he will do it.
NL Division Series
St. Louis Cardinals vs Atlanta Braves: Cardinals in 5 games
The Braves pitching staff is led by young starters Max Fried and Mike Soroka. Veterans Julio Tehran and Dallas Kuechel are expected to contribute as well for the postseason staff. The Braves beefed up their bullpen adding Shane Green and Mark Melancon. Young pitcher Jacob Webb has been impressive out of the pen, and proven vet Darren O’Day is back as well. This lineup has some major pop with developing star Ronald Acuna putting up MVP numbers. Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson bring defense, speed, and solid bats as well. Veterans Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson have been major power threats beside Ronald Acuna. This team has a really good infield, but is lacking in consistent outfield production outside of Acuna. The Cardinals hung on to win the division behind their pitching. They have veteran pitchers in Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha with postseason experience. Young starters Dakota Hudson and Jack Flaherty have been the leaders of this staff. The Cardinals strength is in their bullpen with a wide arrange of weapons. Arms like Andrew Miller, Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Hesley, Jordan Hicks, Carlos Martinez, and John Gant. This team is built to lean upon their bullpen to close out games. Their offense isn’t nearly as dynamic as the Braves, and will have to improve in order to win. Paul Goldschmidt is their leader, and has been really good in his first year as a Cardinal with 34 home runs. Paul DeJong has a power bat, and Marcell Ozuna can certainly blast the baseball too. They committed the fewest errors in the MLB, and have the best defense in the league. They do not beat themselves, do just enough offensively, and lean on their bullpen to close games out. This is a tough series to call, but I like the Cardinals behind their strong bullpen. I believe their rotation is a more proven staff as well, and the Braves won’t be as dominate offensively come playoff time.
Washington Nationals* vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Dodgers in 3 games
The Nationals offense is built behind Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Their production outside of those two has been pedestrian to say the least. Guys like Trea Turner, Brian Dozier, and Matt Adams have to contribute in order to compete against the Dodgers. Their rotation is led by Scherzer (starting the wild card game) Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and Anibal Sanchez. Their bullpen has been disappointing outside of Daniel Hudson. Sean Doolittle, Fernando Rodney, Joe Ross, and Hunter Strickland are all above 4.00 in ERA. Their bullpen has to pitch better against a dangerous, and deep Dodgers baseball team. The Dodgers are dominant with a deep lineup behind MVP favorite Cody Bellinger who had 47 home runs this year. Max Muncy, Joc Pederson hit over 30 home runs in 2019. Their offense doesn’t stop with Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and A.J. Pollock making up the rest of the field. This team will make mistakes defensively, and was ranked 23rd in terms of errors. Their pitching staff is led by Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler, and Rich Hill. Their bullpen is deep as usual with Kenta Maeda, Adam Kolarek, Julio Urias, Yimi Garcia, Ross Stripling, and Pedro Baez. Their closer Kenley Jansen has been up and down this year, and that could be concerning long term for Dodger fans. The Nationals are similar in terms of numbers to the Dodgers offense, but when you break down the players LA has an advantage. Their lineup is deeper, their starting staff is better, and bullpen is superior. I like the Nationals, but the Dodgers are too talented to go down to a less talented Washington squad.
NL Championship Series
St. Louis Cardinals vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Dodgers in 5 games
The Cardinals bullpen is arguably better than the Dodgers, but their starting staff isn’t as consistent as the Dodgers. The Cardinals lineup isn’t as deep as the Dodgers either, and their manager, Mike Shildt, has yet to lead a team in the playoffs. Dave Roberts has led his team to back to back World Series appearances, and has the talent to do it again. I just feel the Dodgers are clearly the best team in the National League. The only way I see them losing is if they beat themselves with errors or if their pitching staff has a breakdown in production. The Dodgers should make it back to the World Series based on their talent alone.
World Series
Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Astros in 7 games
A rematch of an unforgettable, action packed 2017 World Series which was one of the best postseason series of all time. I see these two matching up again because they are the two deepest teams in the MLB. I have spoken in depth about both rosters, and will be breaking down the advantages in all phases. In terms of offense they are very similar in terms of depth, but the Astros have the deeper lineup. However, the Dodgers could make the case of having the better overall superstar in Cody Bellinger. In terms of the starting rotation, this is a very close matchup between both sides. The Astros are more top heavy with Verlander, Cole, and Greinke. However, the Dodgers have more depth with Kershaw, Ryu, Buelher, and Hill. In terms of the bullpen, I believe the Dodgers have the advantage with more versatile, and consistent arms to take pressure off the rotation. They have guys like Stripling, Maeda, and Urias who can start or pitch effectively out of the pen. The Astros closer Roberto Osuna has been better than Kenley Jansen, but the latter has more postseason experience. Based on the numbers, the Astros have a big advantage in terms of defense as they are ranked 2nd in fielding percentage, and the Dodgers come in with a 22nd ranking. Both benches are very deep, and both sides have multi dimensional talents if needed. Both coaches have a wealth of big game coaching experience, and know each other very well. After breaking down all facets of the game I have to go with Houston. This team improved so much throughout the year, and was able to dominate despite many injuries. I just feel the Astros are healthy, and are too strong for the Dodgers to overcome. If the Astros live up to their potential they should be the clear favorite to win the World Series.
World Series MVP: Alex Bregman
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