The Wild Card series was a wild yet fun experiment for the MLB to try. My predictions weren’t spot on but I’m glad those teams proved me wrong (besides the Astros) like the Marlins who proved a lot of people wrong including me. The Rays showed why they’re the team to beat in the American League, the Yankees showed why having a 5 seed number attached to them doesn’t mean anything. The Astros showed their playoff experience and why their offense is still a force to be wrecking with. The A’s were the better team in the series and show they don’t need Matt Chapman to win a series. Dodgers ran over the Brewers and established themselves as the best team in baseball. The Padres 2020 season wasn’t a fluke and they showed they have officially arrived. And finally the Braves showed their pitching isn’t as bad as people (including me) make it out to be. So let’s get to these Divisional Round predictions!!
#1 Tampa Bay Rays vs #5 New York Yankees
Rays vs Yankees. This might as well be the ALCS because I firmly believe whoever wins this series will go to the World Series (sorry A’s fans, not sorry for Astros fans). A top 2 offense in baseball versus a top 2 pitching staff in baseball, that speaks for itself. The Yankees and Rays still have beef with each other from their regular season play so tensions will be higher than expected. The Rays dominating performance over the Blue Jays just showed us all why their pitching might be close to untouchable. But if there is a team that could overcome that pitching it’s the Yankees. The Yankees had a very deceiving win over their best pitcher this season in Shane Bieber but will the Yankees be able to win 3 games against elite pitching? The Rays were one game away from playing the Yankees last year in the ALCS with the same team and we know the Yankees would have won that series last and guess what this time the Yankees have Gerrit Cole and have a healthy lineup that they didn’t have against the Rays this season so…..
Prediction: Yankees in 4 *knock on wood*
#2 Oakland Athletics vs #6 Houston Astros*
The Battle of the AL West, will the A’s finally prove it’s their time to shine or will the Astros take the crown yet again away from Oakland? These questions will be answered in this 5 game series against two really good baseball teams. Oakland’s bats did better than most people expected, while the Astros bats looked like the Astros of old. For both teams there is still the concern of pitching which is why I said the Rays Yankees series is basically the ALCS. But both pitching staffs looked good against two powerhouse offenses and I’ll give them props for it. Oakland is the better team on paper but I just have a gut feeling that this is gonna happen…
Prediction: Houston Astros* in 5 (I wanna puke)
#1 Los Angeles Dodgers vs #4 San Diego Padres
The stars are out for this California battle, Tatis and Machado vs Betts and Bellinger. There is a lot swinging on this series like will Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevenger be able to pitch in this series? Well I’ve heard that Clevenger is most likely gonna return in some capacity but I’ve not heard anything on Lamet. The Padres in Game 2 and 3 were their coming out party as the “young and feisty” team we’ve become accustomed to in this shortened season. Fernado Tatis was the star of this series like he has been, Tatis had 2 HR’s in Game 2 and one of those HR Tatis had was a bat flip that resembled Jose Bautista’s bat flip in 2015. But let’s get to the Dodgers, firstly let’s congratulate them on not choking a series *clap, clap*. But seriously the Dodgers dominated the Brewers in every aspect of the game of baseball. Mookie Betts showed why he’s still a top 5 player in the league and Clayton Kershaw didn’t do terribly in a playoff game we’re truly are in 2020. The facts that Cody Bellinger hasn’t gotten hot this whole season speaks volume and even Justin Turner hasn’t been Justin Turner so both of those All Star are due for big series so that in mind…
Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers in 4
#2 Atlanta Braves vs #6 Miami Marlins
Now this time around I won’t be slandering the Miami Marlins because they were very impressive against the Chicago Cubs. The Braves held the Cincinnati Reds to 0 runs in over 20 innings which is very un-Brave like. This series is gonna be very interesting because it’s so easy to pick the Braves here but after what I saw against the Cubs the Marlins have a legit shot at an upset but unfortunately I don’t think so with that being said…
Prediction: Atlanta Braves in 3
TheDyspatch 