The Postseason promises the best baseball of the entire year. It was a long and difficult road for many of these clubs to reach this point, with some being locked in battles for playoff spots until the final day of the season. Finally, MLB’s best teams will go head to head, and it’s time to see who will emerge as champions.
ALDS: Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays
The Rangers boast a balanced team that enjoyed much success during the regular season, finishing at 95-67, good for first place in the American League and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If Ian Desmond, Carlos Gomez and Nomar Mazara can continue to set the table effectively (all have an OBP of .320 or higher), the pure power of 37-year old wonder Adrian Beltre (.300 BA, 32 HR) and Rounged Odor (33 HR, 88 RBI) will be able to score runs against a Toronto team whose Achilles heel is pitching. However, the Jays' lineup will strike fear into the heart of any team, led by reigning MVP Josh Donaldson (37 HR, 99 RBI), Edwin Encarnacion (42 HR, 127 RBI), Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Bautista. The hitting prowess of Michael Saunders, Kevin Pillar and Russell Martin give Toronto one of the most complete top-to-bottom lineups in baseball. If Marcus Stroman (who already pitched brilliantly in the Wild Card win), Marco Estrada, and J.A. Happ pitch to the level they are capable of, Texas will have a tough time in this series, even with home field advantage. However, Texas will rely on the one-two punch of Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish, two of baseball's very best starting pitchers, to stifle Toronto's ferocious attack. This series should be very interesting, considering the drama of Toronto's five game triumph over Texas in the ALDS last year and the quality of both teams. Prediction: Toronto wins the series three games to one.
ALDS: Cleveland Indians vs Boston Red Sox
The two best pitching teams this postseason, the Indians and the New York Mets, were both hit extremely hard with injuries to their staffs, severely hurting their chances at winning it all. The Tribe was hit hard in September, losing rotation stalwarts Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar to injury, but it still holds the edge in the pitching battle against Boston due to the sheer depth of its staff. In Game One, 22-game winner and Cy Young candidate Rick Porcello will face Trevor Bauer of Cleveland before two former Cy Young winners, David Price and Corey Kluber, face off in what is easily the best matchup of the series. It will also be interesting to watch two elite relievers duke it out as Andrew Miller faces Craig Kimbrel of the Sox in late-inning situations. Price has been plagued his entire career with poor postseason performances, and combined with the strength of Cleveland's staff and bullpen, especially if Salazar can return by the end of the series, should give the Indians the weapons needed to shut down Boston's elite offense, led by MVP candidates Mookie Betts and David Ortiz. Prediction: Cleveland wins the series three games to two.
ALCS: Cleveland Indians vs Toronto Blue Jays
The Indians will face a tougher challenge in the American League Championship Series, as their offense will have to face a better top-to-bottom staff than their previous series against top-heavy Boston, albeit with an inferior bullpen and lineup. Toronto will need to rely on their stellar offense to topple the Indians, and this series will most likely be decided by how well the Jays' staff can match up with that of the Indians. However, led by shortstop Francisco Lindor (.301, 78 RBI) and utility man Jose Ramirez (.312, 76 RBI), the Indians' offense has all the tools it needs to find success against the Blue Jays. Prediction: Cleveland wins the series four games to two.
NLDS: Chicago Cubs vs San Francisco Giants
No one could stop the Chicago Cubs in 2016. From Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta's dominance, to MVP-caliber seasons from Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, the Cubs feature the NL's best offense and pitching, and Aroldis Chapman's 106-mph fastball will quiet nearly every offense in the ninth. This team is built to win it all, and there are very few holes any team can expose during any point of the game. Led by defending NL Manager of the Year Joe Maddon, if this team carries their regular season performance into October, they should be unbeatable. Madison Bumgarner will have to continue his stellar October play to keep Bruce Bochy's team in this series; Bumgarner already dominated the Mets to earn the right to face the Cubs, pitching a complete game shutout at Citi Field. They will need huge performances from Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford at the plate as well, which could prove challenging against such a talented Cubs staff. Prediction: Chicago wins the series three games to one.
NLDS: Los Angeles Dodgers vs Washington Nationals
The Dodgers lost a lot of star power to injury this season, and will need solid production from the near-certain 2016 Rookie of the Year, Corey Seager, as well as Adrian Gonzalez to carry an extremely weakened staff. The NL West champs will need Clayton Kershaw to finally put his postseason demons to bed if they want to keep the dream of their first World Series title since 1988 alive. The Nationals, on the other hand, also have a superstar who has not been himself, in right fielder Bryce Harper. The 2015 MVP has put up one of the worst defenses of that title in MLB history, batting .243 with 24 homers, as compared to .330 with 42 home runs the year before. If Harper can find his footing, and Daniel Murphy can play as well as he did in his breakout 2015 Postseason and 2016 regular season, Washington will be the superior team in every facet this series. Prediction: Washington wins the series, three games to one.
NLCS: Chicago Cubs vs Washington Nationals
The Cubs will finally have the opportunity to advance to their first World Series appearance since 1945 and end their 108 year search for a title (the longest drought in the history of all professional sports) if they can defeat the Nationals. The last time they were on this stage, in 2003, unimaginable circumstances such as the Steve Bartman incident led the Cubs to somehow choke away game six and seven at Wrigley. The 2016 iteration is built to handle the world of pressure that will inevitably be heaped upon their shoulders this October as all of baseball rears its head toward the Windy City this October, never getting ahead of themselves all regular season despite their incredible division lead and +252 run differential. If the Nationals want to kill the Chicago's dream prematurely, they will need ace Max Scherzer to outplay Lester and Arrieta and hope that back-end starters Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark can do the same against the emerging Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel. They will need a nearly perfect performance and a little luck to pull off the upset, and they will be hoping that Curse of the Billy Goat will strike again. Prediction: Chicago wins the series, four games to three.
World Series: Cleveland Indians vs Chicago Cubs
In what could be one of the best World Series in recent memory, two of baseball's newest powerhouses will meet on the diamond for a battle of the ages. Chicago is not the only team looking to make history this October; Cleveland has not won the Fall Classic since 1948, and will look to exorcise years of Postseason heartbreak. This potential series will go back and forth as Lester duels Kluber and Jason Kipnis and Lindor battle Bryant, Rizzo, and Addison Russell. The battle between Chapman and Miller, two former teammates on the New York Yankees before being dealt at the deadline, will prove to be a tantalizing late-inning war. Even though the Cubs are superior on paper, there has been a fighting spirit about the Tribe this year, refusing to give in when superstar left fielder Michael Brantley's shoulder issue ended up being season-ending or when their deadline push for Jonathan Lucroy fell through and he moved on to Texas. No matter the adversity, Cleveland has proved themselves capable of handling it, and Chicago has endured the largest media frenzy and hype train of any team in recent memory. Both of these teams have come full circle in their journey to baseball greatness, and the only real way to settle it is out on that field. Prediction: Cubs win the World Series, four games to two, and celebrate at Wrigley for the first time in over a century.
