2016 MLB Postseason Bracket Prediction
Meaningful October baseball is finally here and the chaos is about to begin. While the end of the regular season didn't leave us with as much drama as it has in previous years, the postseason is sure to not be a bust. From the ending of the David Ortiz era in Boston to the beginning of a promising run for the Chicago Cubs, this postseason is sure to be one of the most entertaining we've seen in a long time.
Before the fun begins tomorrow with the AL Wild Card game though, I thought it would be fun to agitate 9 different cities fan bases by telling them their team will not be walking away wearing World Series rings this year. Thus here are my predictions series by series for the entire MLB postseason.
AL Wild Card (Baltimore Orioles @ Toronto Blue Jays)
This game is definitely a must watch for all baseball fans. Both these teams have gone at it with one another on multiple occasions over the course of the past 2 seasons and now the fate of both their seasons is being put into this one game. Neither team has really dominated the other this year, with the Blue Jays winning 10 of the 19 contests between the two. Both sport some of the best offenses in baseball with a ton of power. In the end though, often times these games come down to three factors: hitting, pitching, and home crowd effect. Remember how the Pirate's fan base got the best of Johnny Cueto in 2013? Home crowds can have a huge influence on the game and Toronto has proven their fan base is ready for a World Series title.
In the end though, both teams have great offenses so they're even in regards to hitting, but the Blue Jays pitching has simply been better than the Orioles, especially in terms of starting pitching. That plus the home crowd in Toronto leads me to believe the Blue Jays will win this Wild Card match-up, better luck next year O's.
NL Wild Card (San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets)
The Mets made the playoffs after what seemed sure to be a season destined for mediocrity. The baseball world appears to be amazed of their accomplishment to just get into the playoffs after what appeared to be a lost cause, especially with all their injuries. As it turns out though everyone appears to be forgetting the main reason the Mets are in this situation, they're September schedule. A schedule which featured the likes of the Braves, Marlins and Phillies practically for the entire month. 3 teams which simply did not play good baseball all season and allowed the Mets to sneak into the playoffs. The Giants meanwhile have had their own troubles, but have been playing actual competitive teams and are coming off a strong series against the Dodgers.
Sorry Mets fans as great as Thor may pitch on Wednesday, experience and skill will win out as the Giants will come away with the Wild Card win behind possibly one of the best postseason pitchers of our time, Madison Bumgarner. The Giants will move on.
ALDS (Boston Red Sox #3 vs. Cleveland Indians #2)
This series is one of those that really will be a toss up. Pure skill wise, the Red Sox have the Indians beat offensively. But even with injuries, the Indians will be sporting a better rotation than the Red Sox throughout the series. Despite all their injuries, the Indians will benefit from this being a best of 5 instead of a best of 7, as they can throw the same guys on short rest twice in the series. For the Red Sox there are many question marks around their postseason pitchers such as David Price and Craig Kimbrel. This being said, the offense the Red Sox sport can not be ignored and shouldn't as it is by far the most lethal in all of baseball, scoring the most runs in the American League this year.
Again, this series really can go either way and momentum will more than likely have a large effect on who is able to pull off the series win. No matter what happens though, we should all expect to see at least a 4, if not 5 game series between these two teams. I wouldn't be surprised to see the teams split the sets of two in Cleveland and Boston for it all to come down to a winner take all game 5. And while the Indians story has been great this year, the Red Sox simply have too strong of an offense to be overlooked and that is why by the hair on their chins they will beat the Indians 3-2 in the series.
ALDS (Toronto Blue Jays #4 vs. Texas Rangers #1)
Get ready for some offense in this one. There are no two greater places for hitters to mash than in Toronto and Texas. Both teams will be sure to score a lot of runs, but the Blue Jays may have a harder time at it than the Rangers will. For awhile now the Rangers have had a dynamic duo atop their rotation in Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels and now this is the postseason that everything is about to click. Expect Hamels and Darvish to dominate in their two starts at home in front of the always rowdy Rangers crowd to send the Rangers to an early 2-0 series lead. The Blue Jays will probably scratch a win out in game 3, but by the end of the 4th game of the series the Rangers will be celebrating as they will be heading to the ALCS.
NLDS (San Francisco Giants #5 vs. Chicago Cubs #1)
This truly has been the year of the Cubs. Everything has gone perfectly for them, especially when they were able to clinch their division well ahead of game 162. Possibly too far ahead? The Cubs have been playing essentially meaningless baseball games for awhile now and when the time comes for them to fight off the Giants in the NLDS they may get caught off guard. The Cubs are a young team which has helped them greatly this year, but may lead to one major flaw of an overall lack of experience. Remember last year when their bats went cold against the Mets? Well between the Giants rotation and the Cubs youth that may be about to happen again. Plus, as an annual thing the Wild Card team always comes in with momentum from their win to get into the NLDS, which will allow the Giants to catch the Cubs off guard. While many may not believe the immortal Cubs can be defeated I hate to break it to you, but the curse of the Billy Goat shall survive yet another year.
NLDS (Los Angeles Dodgers #3 vs. Washington Nationals #2)
Every year for awhile now everyone always looks at the Nationals as the team that simply has to be the best in baseball. With a rotation as dominant as theirs why shouldn't they be? But when it comes time for the playoffs if there's a team you can always count on to choke, it's probably the Nationals. While their pitching is pretty good, their offense has the tendencies to be streaky and against a Dodgers team tired of mediocrity in the playoffs, expect the Nationals to struggle mightily. The Dodgers have a young group of position players and a bullpen which has been surprisingly good all year. So without further adieu, sorry Nationals fans but here is to another year of high potential, but no follow through.
ALCS (Boston Red Sox #3 vs. Texas Rangers #1)
So now we have the ALCS. The Red Sox will be coming off a narrow victory over the Indians, while the Rangers will have fairly breezed past the Blue Jays and more of the same looks to happen during this ALCS. The duo of Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels are simply more talented and have better playoff track records than the Red Sox top two, Rick Porcello and David Price. In terms of offense, both teams are once again very well rounded with the Red Sox being the better of the two. This year though, the Red Sox have struggled when it has come to facing big time pitchers and with Hamels and Darvish both in vintage form, they will prove to be a tough task against the Red Sox.
So how will the series go? I'd expect Texas to be able to breeze to a game 1 victory, followed by a close loss in game 2. This is mostly due to the resilience of the Red Sox this season. Then the series would head to Boston tied at 1 a piece. Game 3 would feature what would probably be a favorable match-up for the Red Sox, as Darvish and Hamels will be used in the first two games. This should allow the Sox to take game 3 on their homecoming. As the series moved to a game 4, the Red Sox would most likely opt to throw a Clay Buchholz or Eduardo Rodriguez which have both been wild at times this year leading to an eventual Rangers win, which would tie the series at 2. Then in game 5 most would expect the Red Sox to win with it being their final home game, but the Rangers will sneak away with a victory as their aces will return to the hill. Then back in Texas more of the same will happen as the momentum shift would be in Texas' favor allowing the Rangers to win the series 4-2 and head back to another World Series.
NLCS (San Francisco Giants #5 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers #3)
Let's be honest, who wouldn't want to see this NLCS match-up happen? This is one of the best rivalries in all of the game and would prove to be not only a heated series but a fun one too. Without a doubt this series would go 7 games. Clayton Kershaw would put to rest the idea he can't pitch in the postseason and most likely post gems in games 2 and 6. This automatically gives the Dodgers 2 wins in the series. The problem is that they have to win when Kershaw doesn't pitch and despite being able to do so in the regular season, the playoffs are whole different animal.
The series would start in Los Angeles and the Dodger blue would quickly be quieted by the Giants ace Madison Bumgarner as he would be sure to get the game 1 start. This would put the Giants up 1-0 for the series, but not for long as the Dodgers will have Kershaw go in game 2, which would even the series at 1. Then comes the games in San Francisco. Remember what I said earlier about the home crowd effect? Well that will be at full throttle against the hated Dodgers in games 3-5, which in combination with the clutch ability of the Giants in general and the capable managing skills of Bruce Bochy will lead the Giants to take 2 of 3 in San Francisco. This would put the series at 3-2 in Giants favor heading back to Los Angeles. Again though, Kershaw will come to the rescue of the Dodgers and send the series to a game 7. Sadly though for Dodgers fans this one just wouln't be in the cards for the Dodgers to win this year and the Giants will head back to the World Series.
World Series (San Francisco Giants vs. Texas Rangers)
Throwback to 2010. Last time these two teams faced off we watched one of the more one sided fall classics in awhile. This time it wouln't be the same. Especially with the Rangers getting home field advantage due to the All-Star Game victory by the American League. Expect this series to last 6 games. The Rangers will blast off to an early 2-0 series lead as they should have both Hamels and Darvish rested enough for games 1 and 2, respectively. It wouln't only be their starting pitching that will put them over the top, but also the Rangers offense is simply more capable than the Giants, especially at home.
I'll stop here cause you're all thinking I'm a biased Rangers fan with how much respect I'm giving to Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish throughout this postseason. In reality, I'm actually a Red Sox fan, a team I have these two guys beating. I believe Hamels has the World Series experience and the overall skill level to lead the way and Darvish may finally be healthy enough to show his true form in the postseason.
With that said, the series will go back to San Francisco with the Rangers up 2-0 and the Giants in desperate need of a victory. Luckily for them, they'll get one and not only one, they'll get all 3 in San Francisco as their overall starting pitching depth will shine through, plus the Giants ability to win National League style baseball will show through as the Rangers will struggle fairly without their designated hitter slot. The series will then be 3-2 in favor of the Giants heading back to Texas and by that point there will be too much momentum to stop them and the Giants will roll to another World Series title by winning an extra inning game in game 6. Like it or not the Giants are going to be your World Series champs, hey it's an even year so it's practically bound to happen.
I'm sure many of you have many many opinions and disagreements with my picks here and I'd love to hear who you think will win and everything that's wrong with these picks, because I'm sure many to all of them are definitely flawed, depending on who your favorite team is of course. Nevertheless, here's a recap of my picks and to everyone rooting for teams this October, I wish your team the best of luck and lets remember while passion is a great thing to have, baseball is a game and respect for fellow human beings should always come first to anything in baseball. With that said, enjoy a fun month of baseball!
