MLB Postseason

Cameron Goz
Sports Editor
       After a grueling 162-game season, ten teams, five from each league, have ascended over their rivals to advance into the playoffs. With both new faces and storied franchises standing tallest in the major leagues this year, baseball fans are in store for another thrilling October.  For the first time in the history of the sport, there will not be a repeat champion for fifteen straight years, as the 2014 victors, the San Francisco Giants, were officially eliminated at the hands of ace Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday night. The Giants were one of many tournament hopefuls who fell just short of the finish line, as the Twins and Angels were eliminated over the weekend. With each team remaining clawing toward the Commissioner’s Trophy, weaknesses will be exposed and a true champion will be crowned, and it all kicks off Oct. 6.

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American League
Toronto Blue Jays

• ​Led by offseason gem and MVP candidate (let’s be real, the award is in the bag) Josh Donaldson, the Blue Jays snapped their twenty-two year postseason drought with their first American League East title in the same amount of time. With the game’s most prolific offense (leads league in runs, RBI’s, HR’s  TB, OBP, SLG, and OPS) and an underrated pitching staff, (5th in A.L. in ERA and BAA), the Jays certainly have the pieces to get them to the promise land. Toronto is the only team in the league with three players with over thirty home runs (Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion), and GM Alex Anthopoulos found the needle in the haystack at the trade deadline when he reeled in Cy Young candidate David Price, who sports a 2.30 ERA since moving north of the border. Along with the miraculous healing of their preseason number one starter Marcus Stroman’s ACL tear, Canada’s only team is looking primed for a deep October run.Kansas City Royals
• Coming off a surprise run to the World Series in 2014, the Royals again were picked against and again proved their nay-sayers wrong. The team was honored with four players on the A.L. All-Star starting roster, and it was that group of homegrown talent that has propelled Kansas City to an A.L. Central title. Led by Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, and Kendrys Morales, the team finished second in the A.L. in batting average. With the help of one of the top defenses in baseball, the team is fourth in the A.L. in ERA, despite a leaky starting staff. While the Royals have their holes, their weaknesses didn’t stop them from coming a swing away from a World Series win last year.

Texas Rangers

• Easily the most surprising team on this list if you looked at the standings at the All-Star break, Texas has skyrocketed up the ranks with an 18-10 month of Sept. Since a key 4-game sweep versus their in-state rival, the Houston Astros, in mid-September, the team hasn’t looked back. Comeback Player of the Year candidate Prince Fielder has led the assault, and with strong seasons out of key players in Shin-Soo Choo and Mitch Moreland, the Rangers have successfully gone from worst-to-first in the A.L. West. While mid-season acquisition Cole Hamels hasn’t had a great start in the lone star state, the team has other serviceable options for October in Yovani Gallardo and Nick Martinez. Texas may be one of the weakest teams talent-wise in the postseason, but they have been one of the hottest teams in the sport recently, and momentum can prove crucial when making a bid at the best.

New York Yankees

• Another overachieving team, another Comeback Player of the Year candidate. While falling out of the division lead wasn’t ideal, Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees are still guaranteed a single home playoff game, which is more than most believed was probable throughout the preseason. With bounce back years from Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, coupled with healthy campaigns from fairly new faces Chase Headley and Didi Gregorious, the Bronx Bombers are back in the playoffs. First Baseman Mark Teixeira was having a career year at the dish before his season was cut short with a stress fracture in his leg, and his absence in October, along with a terribly slumping offense, could end up being kryptonite to New York’s championship chances.

Houston Astros

• If you claim you predicted the Astros to make the postseason this year, you’re lying. Houston hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2005 when a title run fell short with a sweep at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. Coming into the year, they hadn’t even gotten their head above water since 2008, tied for the longest drought in the majors with the Mets. Led by a Cy Young caliber season from Dallas Keuchel, another stellar year at second from Jose Altuve, and a Rookie of the Year campaign from Carlos Correa, Houston led the A.L. West for about three-fourths of the year. The team finished only behind Toronto for the league lead in HR’s, and finished behind Colorado as well for the TB lead. While a late season swoon, most likely from fatigue, allowed the Rangers to dethrone the Astros for the West title, Houston is more than ready for a one game heavyweight matchup in the Bronx on Tuesday.

National League
New York Mets

• For the first time since 2006, the Mets and Yankees will both play in the postseason, and the city is understandably abuzz. While the Mets young crop of fire-ballers will get most of the praise for capturing the team’s first N.L. East Championship (4th in N.L. in ERA, 3rd in BAA, 2nd in fewest BB allowed), it’s actually been the offense that has made this a fairy tale one for New York. The offense was abysmal in the first half, on pace for franchise worsts, but since a flurry of trades made by GM Sandy Alderson, capped off by the team’s acquisition of stud OF Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets have run away with the East (leads N.L. in HR and OBP, 3rd in BA). Aces Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom will have to lead the way, though, if a Commissioner’s Trophy is in this team’s future.

St. Louis Cardinals

• Year in and year out the postseason is blessed with new and upcoming teams, but the one common denominator is St. Louis. They’ve been to the playoffs five of the past six years and have played for the league pennant in four straight playoffs. Regardless of the players in uniform, the organization is full of winners, often compared to the New England Patriots of the NFL. The team lost its ace before they got a month into the season as longtime Redbird Adam Wainwright went out with a ruptured Achilles in April. Not long after, slugging first baseman Matt Adams went down with a quad tear. Both of these men were told their seasons were over, and both of them are back on the field now. All-star left fielder Matt Holliday caught a similar injury bug, suffering a quad strain that has nagged him all year, forcing him to sit. Former role-player Randal Grichuk stepped up in his place before a sore arm greatly reduced his ability to throw from the outfield. They’re now at the backup to the backup, in Stephen Piscotty, who obviously put together a wonderful start for his Cardinals before he suffered a gruesome head injury in a collision in the outfield. Before that, franchise catcher Yadier Molina suffered a ligament tear in his thumb, and he’s attempting to come back for October. The Cardinals are playing with a bunch of no-names, yet it’s the will of a team-first effort that has them standing alone as the best team in baseball. That’s without mentioning above average years from the likes of Matt Carpenter, Jason Heyward, and Jhonny Peralta, and a rotation that has put up the lowest ERA in the majors anchored by Lance Lynn. However, individual stats don’t matter. The Cardinals are the Cardinals, and while people continue to count them out, they’ll more than likely be there waiting when the LCS kicks off.

Los Angeles Dodgers

• With two of the best starting pitchers in the sport as their 1-2 punch, the Dodgers won the N.L. West for the third consecutive year, something they have never done up to this point. It’s that same duo who will have to lead the charge if this team wants to go deep into October, as the team is only .500 when those two aren’t starting. The teams rank at fifth lowest ERA in baseball more reflects the two aces, rather than the mess that has been 3-5 in their rotation recently. The offense has also faltered throughout the year, despite strong performances from Justin Turner, Howie Kendrick, and Adrian Gonzalez. The team falls in the back of the N.L. in AVG, RBI, and hits, but has had a long ball approach from the start, leading the pack in HR’s. The team is stellar at home, with a 55-26 record in Chavez Ravine, and home field in the NLDS could prove vastly important to L.A.’s title hopes.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• With the second best record in all of baseball, Pittsburgh shouldn’t have to participate in a do-or-die one game playoff against the Cubs, but that’s the situation they’re in, and they’re more than prepared for it. With Gerrit Cole leading the way, the team has the second best ERA in baseball, and has one of, if not the, most solid 1-4 rotation’s in the sport. Perennial MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen continues to do magical things in Center Field, though Pedro Alvarez’s fielding woes haven’t halted despite an impressive twenty-seven home runs this year. Rookie Jung-Ho Kang put up an award winning caliber season before it came to an abrupt end when he was spiked attempting to turn a double play, suffering a torn ACL. With Mark Melancon closing games out as a part of the best bullpen in the game, the Pirates are poised for a deep postseason run, if they can get past the…

Chicago Cubs

• The Cubs have the third best record in baseball, and are third in their division.  That has not ever happened in the divisional era, which speaks volumes to the dominance of the N.L. Central at this point and time and the near future. The emergence of staff ace Jake Arietta and resilience of Jon Lester had put the team at the third best ERA in baseball. Yes, the top three teams in baseball in terms of record and ERA come from the same division; that’s scary. The team is flooded with young positional talent, with baseball’s next big thing in Kris Bryant and a franchise first baseman in Anthony Rizzo. Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez are players that haven’t fully grown into themselves yet, but they have serious potential.  It’s been over one hundred years since their last World Championship, but the team is simply set up to contend for World Series’ for the next decade.

      With fresh faces abound, another thrilling October is underway. While one of the top three teams in the sport will be sent packing on Wednesday, there is still history to be made. All of these teams will go down in the record books, but only one will have the privilege to stare down at the rest of the playing field for all of time. ​