By: Kelly Byrnes
NLDS: Colorado Rockies (91-72) at Milwaukee Brewers (96-67)
Rockies will be riding high after knocking out the Cubs in the Wild Card game. The Brewers have been one of the hottest teams in baseball the last month. The Brewers announced they will use Game 1 as a bullpen game and start an “opener”. I personally don’t understand it. The Rockies should be licking their chops for Game 1. I think this series will be closer than people think. Rockies definitely have the advantage at home especially when Kyle Freeland is pitching. I do believe Christian Yelich will continue his red hot hitting and carry the Brewers into their first NLCS since 2011.
NLDS: Atlanta Braves (90-72) at Los Angeles Dodgers (92-71)
The Braves are making their first postseason appearance since 2013 and if you say you saw this coming you would be lying. The Braves are a young team and were thought to start battling for the postseason in 2019 or 2020 but they put it all together and were the NL East Champs. The Dodgers have one thing on their mind and that is to return to the World Series. Kershaw finally has an ace to go behind him in Walker Buehler and neither of them is starting Game 1. That honor will go to Hyun-Jin Ryu who has had a heck of a season. The Dodgers are deep and will look to their experience to knock out the upstart Braves, but they won’t just lay over for the boys in blue. The Dodgers have their eye on the World Series and anything less would be a disappointment.
ALDS: Cleveland Indians (91-71) at Houston Astros (103-59)
The Indians haven’t played an important game since the middle of June because the AL Central is kind of a joke. The Astros won 103 games and were still fighting off the Oakland A’s until the middle of September. This will benefit the Astros as they never really went into cruise control. The Indians will miss Trevor Bauer. They still have a good starting rotation but not as good as the Astros. The Indians have a good lineup but not as good as the Astros. Basically what I’m saying is that the Indians are good but not as good as the Astros.
ALDS: New York Yankees (100-62) at Boston Red Sox (108-54)
Finally the Yankees and Red Sox meet in the postseason and for the first time since 2004. Red Sox were the best team in MLB all season long winning 108 games so maybe it isn’t fair that they have to face a 100 win Wild Card team in the Yankees. The Red Sox have been knocked out of the ALDS the last two seasons and the Yankees want to make it three straight more than anything. JA Happ starts Game 1 for the Yanks and he pitches very well against the Red Sox. David Price pitches for the Red Sox in Game 2 and the Yanks own him. Does this mean the Red Sox will be down two games going into Game 3? Doubtful because of the Red Sox offense. This series goes 5 games and as much as it pains me to say this I give the edge to the Yankees.