Major League Baseball's radically revamped post-season starts tomorrow, with the Wild Card round. This year, it's a best of 3 series to advance to the league division series, in a concerted effort to add more excitement and drive television ratings.
Let's take a look at the National League first:
#5 San Diego @ #4 Mets (all games on ESPN): The Padres were one of the few teams in the National League that gave the Mets fits this season. They've played the whole season without tarnished star Fernando Tatis, Jr. (injuries, PED suspension), leaning more on Manny Machado to rein in his temper and lead the offense. Manager Bob Melvin has chosen Yu Darvish to open the series. The Mets will counter, per Yahoo!, with co-ace Max Scherzer.
New York erased the stench of getting swept by East division champion Atlanta by sweeping out Washington in dominating fashion. They have the NL batting champion in Jeff McNeil, and the RBI king in Pete Alonso, leading a potent offense that will still be without injured outfielder Starling Marte. However, as we saw in the last two days, the Mets will do just fine, thanks, if everyone steps up.
Game 2 figures to have ex-Valleycat Joe Musgrove vs. Jacob deGrom, leaving Blake Snell vs. Chris Bassitt in a possible game 3 on Sunday. Recall that the Cubs swept the Mets in the regular season 7 years ago, only for the Mets to collect a receipt in the NLCS that year.
Pick: Mets in 3.
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#6 Philadelphia @ #3 St. Louis.
The good news for the Phillies is that they made a late run to earn a Wild Card berth. The bad news? If they past St. Louis, they'll play Atlanta. Thanks for coming. The Braves & Mets, the top two in the East, dominated the Phillies in the regular season, and the only reason Phladelphia made it this far is because Milwaukee not only choked away the Central division lead, but their post-season as well. NL HR champ Kyle Schwarber needs to step back into the spotlight, since Bryce Harper is only a DH if he's able to play.
St. Louis has added an extra few days to the retirement tour for catcher Yadier Molina, 1B-DH Albert Pujols, and pitcher Adam Wainwright, who are all bidding farewell after their playoff run ends. One last World Series run is possible, and a division series match with Atlanta would be a rematch of the 1982 NLCS, which St. Louis won en route to a Series title. The Cardinals marked the 40th anniversary of that title run earlier this year. Wainwright vs. either Aaron Nola or Zack Wheeler figures to be the Friday matchup. Philadelphia has the thunder with Schwarber, Harper, and, if he finds his stroke, Nick Castellanos. It won't be enough.
Pick: St. Louis in 3.
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Now, on to the American League:
#5 Seattle @ #4 Toronto:
As is the case in the NL, the AL East placed three teams in the playoff tournament. The Yankees, the #2 seed, await the winner of the Tampa Bay-Cleveland series. The winner of this series gets top-seeded Houston. No fun either way.
Seattle snapped a 2 decade-plus playoff draught, but they can't just be happy to be there. Toronto chased the Yankees all season, and slid into 2nd place in the East as Tampa Bay & Baltimore faded. It's all about who's hungrier, and Seattle's willing to give Houston a battle. The Mariners have made a decent starting pitcher out of ex-Met Chris Flexen, and another ex-Met, Paul Sewald, is their closer. How crazy would it be if Seattle ran the table, and upset the Astros & Yankees? Crazy, but possible.
Pick: Seattle in 3.
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#5 Tampa Bay @ #4 Cleveland:
When the NFL's Washington Commanders went by the more generic "Washington Football Team" two years ago, they won a division title. Cleveland morphed from the Indians to the Guardians with plenty of advance notice, and, like Washington, won a division title, despite the whining and crying from certain bloviating geeks with no real interest. Tampa closed the regular season losing to Boston. This one should be easy.
Pick: Cleveland in 2.
Of course, I could be wrong.
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