Wow, just wow. That was pretty crazy! The MLB Divisional Series is in the books, and we are deep into October baseball. The series brought many surprises, like the top two teams in the NL knocked out early, chokesaw was not a surprise, and the Rays taking the Astros to 5 even if they couldn’t pull it off. We are on to the “semifinals” and so, so close to what we have all been waiting for; THE FALL CLASSIC.
Nationals (4) vs Cardinals (3):
The Nationals pulled off the upset of the playoffs so far, and Natitude is oh so real. The Cardinals are coming in after the upset of the two seed Braves where, in game 5, their offense exploded winning 13-1. Now the booming offense will have to face the vaunting rotation from Washington. So far in the Postseason, Nats aces Max Scherzer and Stephan Strasburg have combined for 30 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .171 batting average in 22 innings. On the other side, Jack Flaherty struggled in his first start giving up 3 and taking the game 2 loss, but turned it around, with the big game 5 win. The Cards decision to pitch him 6 innings in that game even after 10 first-inning runs, could be costly. He will be starting game 3, and the only way they can get 2 starts out of him, will be him throwing in game 7. In those first 6, they will face either Max, Strasburg, or dominant starter, Patrick Corbin, who allowed 1 earned run in 6 innings of his sole start, at least 4 times. The Nationals bullpen has continued to struggle, giving up 14 of the teams 22 runs in the prior series, 6 were from Corbin coming out of the pen. Cardinals closer, Carlos Martinez also struggled, blowing one save and nearly escaping another, finishing with 6 runs in 3 ⅓ innings. The Cardinals have Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna red hot, both hitting .429 with 2 homers, but the Nationals have an offense of their own. They are well rounded, with 5 different players with HR’s and powerful core Antony Rendon and Juan Soto. With the rotation of the Nationals, they will be hard to top, giving them an early series advantage. I think the Nats will continue to fight, just as they have all postseason long, and punch their fist trip to the World Series in franchise history.
Result: Nationals over Cardinals 4-2
Yankees (2) vs Astros (1):
In the heavyweight matchup of the playoffs, the Yankees will try to knock off the baseball’s best team in 2019, the Astros. With a rotation that contains Zach Greinke, Justin Verlander, and the one and only Gerrit Cole, they have a major starting advantage. Considering that any of those guys could be number 1 options on almost every other MLB team, and one of them will be pitching in probably 6/7 of their potential games is unreal. Game 1 starter, Zach Greinke struggled in his first start but should bounce back after an unbelievable season. While the Stros were pushed to 5 games by the Rays, the Yankees made quick work of the Twins, in a 3 game sweep. Gleyber Torres has been on fire for New York, with a .417 average, 4 RBI’s, and a homer in 3 games. The starters were good but didn’t have to do too much to beat Minnesota, with most innings pitched by a starter, being 5 by Masahiro Tanaka. They will have a much bigger challenge against Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Yordan Alvarez who are all hitting above .300. I think this will be a hard-fought series, but pitching will prevail with Cole pitching an unbelievable Game 7 at home.
Astros over Yankees 4-3
My picks weren’t the greatest for the last round, but the games were certainly exciting to watch! I’m still thinking Astros to win, but the Nats are very close. Can’t wait for the World Series!!
4th and Short Sports 