American League Division Series

1. Baltimore Orioles vs. 5. Texas Rangers

The youth movement has been in full effect all season long in Baltimore. At the front has been Adley Rutschman who is probably the best all-around catcher in baseball today. Gunnar Henderson tied for the team lead in home runs with 28. Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander are probably the most underrated outfield group in baseball. Aaron Hicks and Ryan O’Hearn were integral parts of their run to the best record in the American League. One of Baltimore’s strengths has been their bullpen. They will have to find a way without their closer Felix Bautista who is out due to Tommy John surgery. Yennier Cano had a career year and saved 8 games along the way. Cionel Perez had good stretches for them and Jacob Webb was a solid mid-season addition. DL Hall could be the x-factor in the bullpen for them. Kyle Bradish was their best starter with a 2.83 ERA in 30 starts. Kyle Gibson and Dean Kremer had 15 and 13 wins respectively. They were innings eaters for the Orioles. Jack Flaherty has postseason experience from his St. Louis days. He could be a big help for them, but struggled during the regular season after being acquired at the trade deadline.

Texas was successful in their Wild Card sweep of Tampa Bay in large part due to their rotation. Jordan Montgomery pitched 7 shutout innings in his start and Nathan Eovaldi gave up the only run of the series in 6-2/3 innings. That in turn put less pressure on their bullpen. Aroldis Chapman and Jose Leclerc both gave up no runs in their outings against Tampa Bay. Their lineup was on fire in the two games they played. September call-up Evan Carter was constantly on-base with 3-hits and 3-walks in the two games. Corey Seager had a .500 batting average. Josh Jung being healthy drove in 2-runs. Adolis Garcia added a home run. If Marcus Semien can heat up in the Division Series, Texas will be hard to beat.

Rangers in 5 games

2. Houston Astros vs. 3. Minnesota Twins

It was an interesting ride during the regular season for the defending World Series champion Astros. Their lineup is healthy at the right time for Houston. Kyle Tucker has been the one constant for them being one home run short of a 30-30 season (HR-SB). He did lead the team with 112 RBI though. Jose Altuve got back to his old ways batting .311 in just 90 games. Yordan Alvarez drove in 97 RBI and led the team with 31 home runs in 114 games. Chas McCormick and Mauricio Dubon had career years and are key components for them going forward. Alex Bregman played in 161 games, hit 25 home runs and drove in 98 runs. Jeremy Pena, Jose Abreu and Yainer Diaz were all making contributions. Even Michael Brantley returned in September and can provide a big at-bat. Framber Valdez is the clear ace of the rotation. He had some ups and downs heading into October, but when he’s on, the Astros rarely play poorly. Justin Verlander is back and the expectation is that he will repeat what he did in the last Postseason for Houston. The Astros bullpen has been a strength all year. Hector Neris and Bryan Abreu both had ERAs under 2 in 70+ appearances. Ryan Pressly saved 31 games, but had a 3.58 ERA in the process. Kendall Graveman was a trade deadline acquisition and performed well in his return to Houston with a 2.42 ERA in 23 appearances. J.P. France and Hunter Brown could see starts in October, but Brown’s 5.09 ERA could have him see more time in the bullpen for the Astros.

Minnesota finally ended the streak of losing Postseason games and in the process ended the series losing streak with their Wild Card series win. Their rotation accomplished that feat with Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray pitching at least 5 innings apiece and combine to strikeout 9 batters. Lopez surrendered the only run they allowed to Toronto in the series. The bullpen took care of business with Jhoan Duran saving both games striking out 5 batters and giving up only 1 hit and 1 walk. Griffin Jax and Brock Stewart combined to give up only 1 hit in their combined 3 innings pitched. Royce Lewis isn’t slowing down and his bat led the way with 2 home runs and 3 RBI in the two games played in the Wild Card Series. Carlos Correa showed that he hasn’t lost a step in October with a .429 batting average and driving in a run. Max Kepler and Edouard Julien had a few big at-bats, but need to provide more going forward. Michael A. Taylor provided gold-glove caliber defense in center field for the Twins.

Astros in 4 games

National League Division Series

1. Atlanta Braves vs. 4. Philadelphia Phillies

Ronald Acuna Jr. became only the 5th player in MLB history to accomplish a 40-40 (HR-SB) season, but was the first to have 70 stolen bases with the 40 home runs. He is likely the National League MVP, but on a team with Matt Olson who batted .283-54-139, the vote could be split. Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies each hit over 30 home runs with Ozuna hitting 40. Riley almost drove in 100 runs where Ozuna and Albies each drove in at least 100. Michael Harris had a sluggish start, but bounced back and finished with a .293 average and nearly had a 20-20 (HR-SB) season. Sean Murphy and Eddie Rosario each hit 21 home runs which shows just how deep this lineup is. Atlanta’s pitching staff has room for improvement. Their rotation has dealt with a rash of injuries all year and will miss Charlie Morton for the Division Series. Spencer Strider and Max Fried will be counted on to set the tone early in October. Bryce Elder was solid all season and must continue that trend for the Braves. Their bullpen has two guys that earned double digit saves. Raisel Iglesias saved 33 and A.J. Minter saved 10 for Atlanta. Kirby Yates saved 5 games during the season and has experience in pressure situations. Pierce Johnson was nearly perfect after he was acquired mid-season with a 0.76 ERA in 24 appearances. Joe Jimenez is another option to get big outs late in games.

The road to the World Series goes through Philadelphia as they are the defending National League champions. They took care of business in the Wild Card series against Miami. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola locked down the Marlins lineup in their respective starts. They combined for 11 strikeouts and allowed only one run. The Phillies bullpen sealed the deal with Craig Kimbrel getting a save in Game 1. Jose Alvarado and Jeff Hoffman were perfect in setting up the ninth inning. Orion Kerkering made only 3 appearances in the regular season, but might be the diamond in the rough for the Phillies bullpen going forward. Philadelphia’s lineup didn’t slow down with Trea Turner batting .571 in the two games. J.T. Realmuto batted .375 with a home run. Bryson Stott hit a clutch grand slam in Game 2. Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm each batted .250. Bryce Harper was a bit off, but did have 2 walks at key moments. Look for Harper to bounce back.

Braves in 5 games

2. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. 6. Arizona Diamondbacks

It was business as usual for the Dodgers during the regular season. Mookie Betts had a MVP caliber season batting .307-39-107. Freddie Freeman also had a MVP caliber season batting .331-29-102. Freeman nearly had 60 doubles being one double shy. Betts had 40 doubles and nearly had a 40-40 (2B-HR) season being one home run shy. J.D. Martinez had a quiet 30 home run 100 RBI season. Max Muncy had a 36 home run, 105 RBI season, but only had a .212 batting average. James Outman had a solid rookie season with 70 RBI. Will Smith was good being one home run shy of a 20-20 (2B-HR) season. Jason Heyward had a solid year and provides more depth in the lineup. The backend of the Dodgers bullpen is set with Evan Phillips being the closer, Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier in the setup roles. Clayton Kershaw’s health is important to the rotations success. Injuries have decimated this group throughout the season. Bobby Miller was good with a 3.76 ERA in 22 starts. He’ll be counted on in October to continue provided quality starts. Lance Lynn was far better in LA than in Chicago after he was acquired from there.

Arizona had a rough go in the Wild Card series, but walked away with the sweep of Milwaukee. Zac Gallen had a quality start with 6 innings and came away with the victory in Game 1. Brandon Pfaadt had a rough go in Game 2, but didn’t get the loss. Their series victory came in large part to their bullpen who didn’t allow a single run. Paul Sewald closed both games allowing only 1 hit. Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson pitched in both games combining to strikeout 7 batters. Where the bullpen locked it down for Arizona, their lineup performed to their standards. Corbin Carroll was on a tear batting .571 with a home run and two RBI. Gabriel Montero and Ketel Marte hit clutch home runs for the Diamondbacks. Christian Walker batted .375 and drove in 2 runs. Evan Longoria might not have made an impact at the plate, but his defense was impactful at third base who has experience in October. Arizona could repeat what San Diego did to Los Angeles last October if the Dodgers aren’t careful here.

Dodgers in 4 games