By: Kelly Byrnes
I’m going to start this off by saying I’m not a fan of this postseason format, maybe it will grow on me once we get through it once but as of right now, I don’t like it. I loved the 1 game Wild Cards, every year we had 2 built in Game 7’s. It was great! Now it’s a 3-game series where all the home games are in one city. Don’t even get me started on them not reseeding after the Wild Card round, I’m elaborate on that in my Divisional Series predictions article. Anyways, here are my predictions. If I picked against your team, all I have to say is, you’re welcome!
AL Wild Card: (3) Guardians vs. (6) Rays
I think this series comes down to the Guardians starting rotation vs the Rays bullpen. Will postseason Randy Arozarena show up? Jose Ramirez is the Guardians MVP, rookie sensation Steven Kwan on top of the lineup and Andres Gimenez having his breakout season but is it enough for the Guardians to win this series. I say, yes! Guardians march on.
AL Wild Card: (4) Blue Jays vs. (5) Mariners
The Mariners are my AL team and I’m overjoyed that they ended that postseason drought. I want the city of Seattle to have the chance to host a game in October, but I just don’t see it happening. The postseason is a different animal and experience helps, which they don’t have much of. The red-hot Bo Bichette leads the Blue Jays to the ALDS. I hope the Seattle Marinahzz prove me wrong!
NL Wild Card: (3) Cardinals vs. (6) Phillies
Phillies are another team that ended a long postseason drought. To me this series was one of the easiest to pick. Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina aren’t ready to call it a career yet. Cardinals are a no brainer here to advance further into October.
NL Wild Card: (4) Mets vs. (5) Padres
The Padres traded for Josh Hader at the deadline for this moment, but he went off the rails for a while. He’s figured it out at the right time but is it enough to upset the 100-win Mets. It’s going to be tough since you have to face Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer in the first two games which means you have to beat one of them. I don’t put anything past Manny Machado but he’s going to need help. I got the Mets winning their first postseason series since 2015.