Alright, so the Wild Card play in games went pretty much as expected (both games awesome and fun to watch... I mean, how often to you see a relief pitcher clock a run scoring triple?) So our playoffs are set. Let's see it!
American League:
Red Sox vs Houston Astros:
Red Sox took the AL East after a challenging season with the Yankees fighting pretty much the entire way. The Red Sox went into the season making the trade of the off season, acquiring Chris Sale from my White Sox for a bunch of prospects... and Sale had the season of his career, being the first pitcher to strike over 300 people out in a whole bunch of years. Sox were led by both Sale and Mookie Betts. Betts leading the offense. Other contributors include Drew Pomeranz (P) and Andrew Benintendi.
Astros took the AL West pretty easily. Not much of a challenge during the season. If you read my previous post (Part 1 of the Sox Season), you'll see how I talked about the Sox losing while building towards the future... the Astros are benefactors of going through this process already. Being garbage for plenty of years as they built from the inside out, getting to where they are now... constantly playoff contenders. Astros are pretty offensive heavy, led by MVP favorite Jose Altuve. Also playing crazy well include George Springer and Carlos Correa (all 3 at or above 5.0 WAR which is crazy good). Pitching was led by former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel.
Houston traded for Justin Verlander at the deadline specifically for the depth since their pitching has been marred with injuries during the season. Astros definately have the advantage in offense and Red Sox have the clear edge in pitching. This is going to be Sale's first time in the playoffs and he was known in Chicago to kinda fizzle out in September, which he did, just not as bad as he has done before. But the playoffs are unknown and he has a tendency to get into his own head quickly. If the Astros offense gets to him quick, then it's pretty much over. All things considered, I want the Astros to win, but the Red Sox will probably take this pretty quickly.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Cleveland Indians vs New York Yankees:
Congrats Yanks, your prize for winning the Wild Card is traveling to Cleveland to start a 5 game series! You read my review on the Yankees here so here's the Indians:
Indians took the best record in the American League and had the AL Central pretty much from day 1. After falling a bit short last year in the World Series, Indians reloaded for 2017. Indians got great performance from Francisco Lindor & Jose Ramirez offensively and Cy Young leader Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco. They were a pretty solid all around, hence having 100+ wins!
The Yankees have a bit of the edge here since they have the playoff feeling already. Yankees are sending out Sonny Gray for Game 1, Indians sending out Trevor Bauer. Not Corey Kluber. Kluber is starting Game 2... I think Indians feel they could use Kluber in game 5 if necessary. But it won't be. Because the Yankees will win, Surprising the world and annoying a whole bunch of people!
Enjoy the games today! NL to follow tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment