Rock And Roll
Member
After 162 grueling games over the course of 6 months, the MLB postseason is here at last. Did your team make the playoffs? No? That’s okay, mine didn’t either. Such is the MLB postseason. Only the best of the best make the cut which makes for the best playoffs in all of professional sports. No sub 500 teams (hello NBA) or lousy market teams (hello NHL) duking it out in boring series, just the crème de la crème. And who are these teams this year, you ask? Why do you keep asking questions on my behalf, Rock and Roll? I’m glad you asked one of those questions, and I will answer it below.
American League
AL East
New York Yankees
The hateable winners are up to their old tricks. Smacking the ball around and punishing pitching across the league. Their pitching might be shaky but they’ve got enough power in the bats to make up for it. But don’t let the starters high ERAs fool you, James Paxton and JA Happ have quietly turned it around, looking impressive for all of September. Severino is back too and Tanaka, while getting rocked for HR’s even harder in this era of juiced balls, is always big in the playoffs. They also have a nasty bullpen that can cock block any offense from any foolish notion of making a late game comeback. They’ve also got a bunch of guys who can hit the ball. Oh, and also, they managed to win 103 games this year with their entire offense being crippled and using AAA/trash heap bets to plug the leak. Now that the majority is back and healthy, watch out.
Tampa Bay Rays
After missing out on a wildcard spot last year, the Rays have returned to the postseason with a roster full of superstars you’ve never heard of because you know, Florida sports. Armed to the teeth with extremely versatile position players, the Rays are able to play matchups and platoon on a game to game basis arguably better than any other team in the league. As always, the strength of the Rays is their pitching. They have the second lowest ERA in the majors and the lowest in the American League. They lead the majors in FIP. They have the lowest HR9 in the league, which is insanely impressive considering the offensive power and small parks of the AL East. They rack up strikeouts and don’t give up walks. Kevin Cash also has a multitude of ways to utilize his bullpen. If Tampa the pitching can continue to dominate, they’ll be playing deep into October.
AL Central
Minnesota Twins
The Twins surprised the majority of the baseball world this year by crushing pitches across the majors. They hit the most dongs in the majors with 307, becoming the first team ever to reach the 300 mark in a single season. You’d think this would come at a cost of high strikeouts and low batting averages but guess what? They own the second best team average in the league with .270 and are near the bottom of the list in strikeouts. These guys can hit, with Mitch Garver, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler and the ageless Nelson Cruz all topping 30+ longballs on the year. Their pitching however is less than inspiring. Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi have been serviceable this year, but other than that it’s not ideal. Taylor Rogers has been great in the closer role but they got to get him the lead first. The Twins need their offense to continue bashing the almighty crap of everything and finding a delicate balance of being in hit mode but not being overly aggressive. If the bats cool down, they’ll be eliminated in a fairly embarrassing fashion.
AL West
Houston Astros
Once again, the Astros are atop the AL West and posting impressive numbers across several key categories. The 1 2 punch of Verlander and Cole has been bolstered by Zack Grienke. This is easily the best starting rotation in the playoffs this year and its going to be tough to get anything going against these guys. Bullpen looks pretty good too, with Ryan Pressly and Will Harris setting up nicely for Roberto Osuna, who has managed to stay on the field this year by adhering to a strict diet, training regime and most importantly, not beating women. The offense looks the same as it always has, but they’ve added underappreciated all star Michael Brantly, who has stayed healthy after years on injury riddled season. Rookie Yordan Alvarez has put together a spectacular campaign and should be a front runner in the AL for ROTY award. Carlos Correa is also done, but they’ve managed just fine without him this season. With a potent offense and shutdown pitching, the Astros seemed poised to win the whole thing again.
National League
AL East
Atlanta Braves
Atlanta has taken a big step forward this year, with almost all of their young players trending in the right direction upward. Acuña has been brilliant and almost reached the coveted 40-40 mark this year, finishing up with 41 homeruns and 37 steals. Freddie Freeman has been his usual spectacular self. They’ve even got some vets putting up some good numbers, with Nick Markakis and Brian McCann posting solid numbers. Josh Donaldson signed a one year contract after an injury plagued season last year and has out up numbers worthy of a decent offseason signing. Mike Soroka has turned into the potential ace of the pitching staff, and Max Fried has been decent. Midseason signing Dallas Kuechel has done alright, though as someone who has pitched deep into the postseason before he could be invaluable at this time of year. They bullpen was bolstered by midseason trades, with Shane Greene and Mark Melancon coming over to help solidify the late innings. They’ve had a few rough spots between the two of them, so it’s hard to know what to expect. While the Braves have a potent offense, there are drawbacks. They tend to strikeout a lot and have a bit lower of a team batting average than the other teams in the playoffs. The bottom of the batting order is weak too. They’ve got a bunch of question marks, and in my opinion, don’t stand much of a chance.
Washington Nationals
Free of the clubhouse cancer that is Bryce Harper, the Nationals have come together as a team in a glorious fashion this season. After a notoriously bad start of the year, they went on an absolute tear from the start of June onwards. The pitching duo of Scherzer and Strasburg is enough to make any opposing teams batters soil themselves. Adding Patrick Corbin to the rotation in the offseason has worked out well, as he has put together a solid season. Anibal Sanchez is back from the dead and has put together a respectable year. That bullpen though… not so great. Sean Doolittle has been great for most of the year but has been obviously fatigued. One has to wonder if Strasburg didn’t enter the wildcard game if the Nats bullpen could have held the Brewers off. Meanwhile the Nats bats have been great even without Bryce in the middle striking ou- fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers. Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Victor Robles and Adam Eaton are killing it while vets Howie Kendrick and Asdrubal Cabrera are proving they still got some gas in the tank. Meanwhile, Anthony Rendon has posted another brilliant year which will sadly be overlooked in the MVP voting. With good batting averages and a high stolen base total, the Nats can manufacture some runs as well if the long ball ain’t flying on any given day. They are serious contenders to win the NL pennant.
NL Central
St Louis are back in the playoffs for the first time in a few years with the next wave of their farm system showing signs of their potential. The Cards managed to fight off both the Cubs and Brewers in a hectic NL Central race and were solid down the stretch in September. There’s nothing really eye-popping about their offense, as Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna, two usually potent players have had off years. It looks pretty mild, to be honest, aside from one of the higher stolen base amounts in the majors. The cardinals love to run. Pitching has been the key to their success, with Jack Flaherty breaking out as a star this year. Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas have proven to be a great quite good as well. Michael Wacha has struggled at points and Wainwright may be entering the twilight of his career. As a team though they have not been bitten by the homerun bug and have posted a 1.2 per 9, good for second in the league. They are also not giving up a lot of hits to the opposition. Pitching will be key for the Cards to play deep, and I think they’ve got a good shot as the division they play in has some pretty big offensive threats.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
You name it, the Dodgers got it. Starting rotation. Dangerous offense. MVP and Cy Young candidates galore. A shut down bullpen. They’ve got everything you can possibly need to choke in the world series for the third year in a row.
There you have it. A complete breakdown about everything you need to know for October ball.
"wow rock and roll this thread has even less effort put into it than last year's abomination" Screw you, pal. I'll have you know I typed this up on my phone so it's probably riddled with spelling mistakes because autocorrect is terrible and I'm supposed to be worried about robots taking our jobs when my phone corrects at to st regularly. Robots are stupid, and so are robot umps. There, I segued back into baseball. Grab a beer, get some nachos, ignore your significant other and enjoy glorious, glorious playoff baseball on the greatest forum in the world.
EDIT: Here's my bracket from the other thread. Post your predictions below people!
Nats over Brews. Dodgers over Nats. Cards over Braves. Dodgers over Cards.
Rays over A's (poor Billy never catches a break). Astros over Rays. Twins over Yanks. Astros over Twins.
Astros over Dodgers one more time.
American League
AL East
New York Yankees
The hateable winners are up to their old tricks. Smacking the ball around and punishing pitching across the league. Their pitching might be shaky but they’ve got enough power in the bats to make up for it. But don’t let the starters high ERAs fool you, James Paxton and JA Happ have quietly turned it around, looking impressive for all of September. Severino is back too and Tanaka, while getting rocked for HR’s even harder in this era of juiced balls, is always big in the playoffs. They also have a nasty bullpen that can cock block any offense from any foolish notion of making a late game comeback. They’ve also got a bunch of guys who can hit the ball. Oh, and also, they managed to win 103 games this year with their entire offense being crippled and using AAA/trash heap bets to plug the leak. Now that the majority is back and healthy, watch out.
Tampa Bay Rays
After missing out on a wildcard spot last year, the Rays have returned to the postseason with a roster full of superstars you’ve never heard of because you know, Florida sports. Armed to the teeth with extremely versatile position players, the Rays are able to play matchups and platoon on a game to game basis arguably better than any other team in the league. As always, the strength of the Rays is their pitching. They have the second lowest ERA in the majors and the lowest in the American League. They lead the majors in FIP. They have the lowest HR9 in the league, which is insanely impressive considering the offensive power and small parks of the AL East. They rack up strikeouts and don’t give up walks. Kevin Cash also has a multitude of ways to utilize his bullpen. If Tampa the pitching can continue to dominate, they’ll be playing deep into October.
AL Central
Minnesota Twins
The Twins surprised the majority of the baseball world this year by crushing pitches across the majors. They hit the most dongs in the majors with 307, becoming the first team ever to reach the 300 mark in a single season. You’d think this would come at a cost of high strikeouts and low batting averages but guess what? They own the second best team average in the league with .270 and are near the bottom of the list in strikeouts. These guys can hit, with Mitch Garver, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler and the ageless Nelson Cruz all topping 30+ longballs on the year. Their pitching however is less than inspiring. Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi have been serviceable this year, but other than that it’s not ideal. Taylor Rogers has been great in the closer role but they got to get him the lead first. The Twins need their offense to continue bashing the almighty crap of everything and finding a delicate balance of being in hit mode but not being overly aggressive. If the bats cool down, they’ll be eliminated in a fairly embarrassing fashion.
AL West
Houston Astros
Once again, the Astros are atop the AL West and posting impressive numbers across several key categories. The 1 2 punch of Verlander and Cole has been bolstered by Zack Grienke. This is easily the best starting rotation in the playoffs this year and its going to be tough to get anything going against these guys. Bullpen looks pretty good too, with Ryan Pressly and Will Harris setting up nicely for Roberto Osuna, who has managed to stay on the field this year by adhering to a strict diet, training regime and most importantly, not beating women. The offense looks the same as it always has, but they’ve added underappreciated all star Michael Brantly, who has stayed healthy after years on injury riddled season. Rookie Yordan Alvarez has put together a spectacular campaign and should be a front runner in the AL for ROTY award. Carlos Correa is also done, but they’ve managed just fine without him this season. With a potent offense and shutdown pitching, the Astros seemed poised to win the whole thing again.
National League
AL East
Atlanta Braves
Atlanta has taken a big step forward this year, with almost all of their young players trending in the right direction upward. Acuña has been brilliant and almost reached the coveted 40-40 mark this year, finishing up with 41 homeruns and 37 steals. Freddie Freeman has been his usual spectacular self. They’ve even got some vets putting up some good numbers, with Nick Markakis and Brian McCann posting solid numbers. Josh Donaldson signed a one year contract after an injury plagued season last year and has out up numbers worthy of a decent offseason signing. Mike Soroka has turned into the potential ace of the pitching staff, and Max Fried has been decent. Midseason signing Dallas Kuechel has done alright, though as someone who has pitched deep into the postseason before he could be invaluable at this time of year. They bullpen was bolstered by midseason trades, with Shane Greene and Mark Melancon coming over to help solidify the late innings. They’ve had a few rough spots between the two of them, so it’s hard to know what to expect. While the Braves have a potent offense, there are drawbacks. They tend to strikeout a lot and have a bit lower of a team batting average than the other teams in the playoffs. The bottom of the batting order is weak too. They’ve got a bunch of question marks, and in my opinion, don’t stand much of a chance.
Washington Nationals
Free of the clubhouse cancer that is Bryce Harper, the Nationals have come together as a team in a glorious fashion this season. After a notoriously bad start of the year, they went on an absolute tear from the start of June onwards. The pitching duo of Scherzer and Strasburg is enough to make any opposing teams batters soil themselves. Adding Patrick Corbin to the rotation in the offseason has worked out well, as he has put together a solid season. Anibal Sanchez is back from the dead and has put together a respectable year. That bullpen though… not so great. Sean Doolittle has been great for most of the year but has been obviously fatigued. One has to wonder if Strasburg didn’t enter the wildcard game if the Nats bullpen could have held the Brewers off. Meanwhile the Nats bats have been great even without Bryce in the middle striking ou- fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers. Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Victor Robles and Adam Eaton are killing it while vets Howie Kendrick and Asdrubal Cabrera are proving they still got some gas in the tank. Meanwhile, Anthony Rendon has posted another brilliant year which will sadly be overlooked in the MVP voting. With good batting averages and a high stolen base total, the Nats can manufacture some runs as well if the long ball ain’t flying on any given day. They are serious contenders to win the NL pennant.
NL Central
St Louis are back in the playoffs for the first time in a few years with the next wave of their farm system showing signs of their potential. The Cards managed to fight off both the Cubs and Brewers in a hectic NL Central race and were solid down the stretch in September. There’s nothing really eye-popping about their offense, as Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna, two usually potent players have had off years. It looks pretty mild, to be honest, aside from one of the higher stolen base amounts in the majors. The cardinals love to run. Pitching has been the key to their success, with Jack Flaherty breaking out as a star this year. Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas have proven to be a great quite good as well. Michael Wacha has struggled at points and Wainwright may be entering the twilight of his career. As a team though they have not been bitten by the homerun bug and have posted a 1.2 per 9, good for second in the league. They are also not giving up a lot of hits to the opposition. Pitching will be key for the Cards to play deep, and I think they’ve got a good shot as the division they play in has some pretty big offensive threats.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
You name it, the Dodgers got it. Starting rotation. Dangerous offense. MVP and Cy Young candidates galore. A shut down bullpen. They’ve got everything you can possibly need to choke in the world series for the third year in a row.
There you have it. A complete breakdown about everything you need to know for October ball.
"wow rock and roll this thread has even less effort put into it than last year's abomination" Screw you, pal. I'll have you know I typed this up on my phone so it's probably riddled with spelling mistakes because autocorrect is terrible and I'm supposed to be worried about robots taking our jobs when my phone corrects at to st regularly. Robots are stupid, and so are robot umps. There, I segued back into baseball. Grab a beer, get some nachos, ignore your significant other and enjoy glorious, glorious playoff baseball on the greatest forum in the world.
EDIT: Here's my bracket from the other thread. Post your predictions below people!
Nats over Brews. Dodgers over Nats. Cards over Braves. Dodgers over Cards.
Rays over A's (poor Billy never catches a break). Astros over Rays. Twins over Yanks. Astros over Twins.
Astros over Dodgers one more time.
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