The time has come once again for the MLB postseason, and oh boy, it looks like it’s going to be a fun one. It’s a chance for the best teams in the league to compete for the ultimate prize, the World Series championship. The postseason consists of several rounds, including the Wild Card games, Division Series, Championship Series, and, of course, the Grand Finale of the World Series. But for this article, I will cover the Wild Card games and write more articles as the postseason progresses.
The Wild Card games are a three-game series where two wild card teams from each league fight for a spot in the Division Series. These games are intense, as one game decides it all. The two American League games for this year are the Astros (who are the number 6 seed) vs. the Twins (who are the third seed); the second game in the American League is the 5th seed Toronto Blue Jays vs. the 4th seed Tampa Bay Rays, who this season have had a bit more than ok season with the Jays having one of the best in the MLB. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has put up some good stats this year with 26 home runs and a batting average of .266, simply the number of base hits he has divided by the times he has been up to bat. And .266 is a little above average batting percentage.
Now we head over to the National League side. One game that seems eye-catching for baseball enthusiasts is the Arizona Diamondbacks (5th seed in the NL) vs. the Philadelphia Phillies (4th seed in the NL). Bryce Harper from the Phillies is having a remarkable comeback year (after having Tommy John surgery last November); he joined the Phillies back at the beginning of May, months after the season started, and his stats have been great. He has 20 home runs and is batting .292 with 70 RBIs (runs batted in). Their pitching has also been on point this year, with their top pitcher being Zach Wheeler, who has an ERA of 3.64 (ERA means earned run average or how many runs he has let out in 9 innings) and also leads the Phillies pitching in strikeouts with 207 on the season. This matchup is a good one and will be down to the wire. The other game is the Milwaukee Brewers (3rd Seed) vs. the Chicago Cubs (6 seed). The Brewers have clinched their division of the NL Central. They are playing a division rival in the Cubs, who are second in the NL Central, with the Cubbies being 8th in hitting stats in the MLB, but the Brewers are having few productive at-bats this season, being 23rd in hitting.
I have asked my fellow writers and sports enthusiasts to tell me their predictions for these games, and each of them has been giving a game to tell me their thoughts and outcomes of them.
Jon Yencho, an avid MLB viewer, has given me his thoughts on these games. I asked him about the Twins vs. Astros; he believes “they are a superior team to the Twins” and “have been too good for too long to lose to the Twins.” Jays vs. the Rays, he believes that the Jays “are a better team than their record says.” On the other side of the table, heading into the NL Wildcard game, he thinks that the Brewers “have an amazing pitching rotation, and have nasty pitches such as Corbin Burnes” and the Cubs “have a chance to win at least one game but end up losing.”
Hopefully, these predictions will show Jon’s knowledge of baseball (or not).
Good luck to all the wild card teams, and hopefully, everyone is pleased with the results.
