Plenty of Intrigue Heading Into Division Series Matchups

With ALDS and NLDS field set for October after the AL and NL Wildcard games, it’s prediction time!

On the NL side The Colorado Rockies will try to continue their upset trail by knocking out the NL’s top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers. That’ll be a tough task going up against NL MVP candidate Christian Yelich and soaring Brewers team.

The Los Angeles Dodgers getting to the postseason wasn’t a pretty adventure but the team got it done in 2018 and now get a young but hungry Braves team ready to make their mark.

On the AL side, familiar faces. Each of these four teams were in the ALDS last season but the matchups have changed.

The Houston Astros will try to stave off a Cleveland Indians team who’s built for success with their rotation and has one of the scariest offensive lineups in baseball.

The Boston Red Sox, meanwhile, have a date with the New York Yankees in the ALDS as it’s the first postseason matchup between the two stories franchises since 2004.

So who’s going to the advance to the Championship Series? Only one way to find out.

Let’s begin!

NLDS

Colorado Rockies vs Milwaukee Brewers

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

The Colorado Rockies got to the postseason on the strength of a high-scoring offense that finished second in the NL this past season, but they won for an entirely different reason in the NL Wildcard game.

Playing in third different time zone for a third consecutive day, the Colorado Rockies were led by a strong outing by left-hander Kyle Freeland and a shutdown effort by Scott Oberg and the bullpen.

Colorado Rockies’ catcher Tony Wolters played the role of unlikely hero as his RBI single with two outs in the 13th inning was the game-winning hit in a 2-1 victory.

The Rockies face a much more different challenge in the Milwaukee Brewers, who have won 24 out their past 32 games and won eight consecutive games.

Milwaukee went 51-30 at Miller Park this season, the best home mark in the NL this season. Milwaukee has a significant edge over Colorado if it comes down to the bullpens as evident by their 33-19 record in one-run games in 2018.

Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story are a formidable trio of hitters capable of carrying an offense for extended stretches. With that said, they’ll be facing a team with the depth in arms as well as the depth in hitting to offset their impact in a short series.

Prediction: Milwaukee Brewers in 3

Atlanta Braves vs Los Angeles Dodgers

Photo by Dale Zanine/USA TODAY Sports

Brian Snitker’s Atlanta Braves were one of the highlights of the 2018 season. The Braves won the NL East this season, but enter as a team with the deck stacked against them.

Not only are the Braves the youngest team in the MLB playoffs, they also are going up against a Dodgers team that had the highest scoring offense in the NL this season.

While that offense is capable of disappearing due to their propensity to strikeout (8th in MLB), the Braves aren’t a team that relies on the strikeout to get hitters out.

The starting pitching matchups favor the Los Angeles Dodgers and so does the fact that Los Angeles has far more scoring prowess than the Braves, who went 21-26 vs LHP and will have to face three of them in the NLDS to begin the series.

Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers in 4

ALDS

Cleveland Indians vs Houston Astros

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The Houston Astros title defense begins with a team that unlike the other two teams in the ALDS have the starting pitching to match the Astros in the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians will throw Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco at Houston. The problem for the Indians, however, is their bullpen.

No longer are the 1-2 punch of Cody Allen and Andrew Miller a dominant pairing late in games. Miller finished the season with a 4.24 ERA while former closer Cody Allen finished with a 4.70 ERA this season and lost his job to left-hander Brad Hand.

The problems extend beyond Miller and Allen. Against a team that has a flare for the dramatic late in games. The Houston Astros finished 4th in the MLB in runs scored from the eighth inning on (190).

The Cleveland Indians finished 26th in the MLB in runs allowed from the eighth inning on (171). This is all to say that when we get past the great pitching matchups, this may be the key factor in a close series.

The Cleveland Indians offense that finished 3rd in the MLB in runs scored (818) is potent and scary, that alone makes this series worth the price of admission.

Prediction: Houston Astros in 5

New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

We see them on our television screens for what seems like 95% of the nationally televised games each season, and now we get quite a treat in what is likely to be remembered as the premier matchup of the MLB postseason.

The Boston Red Sox are statistically the best offensive team in the MLB as they led the MLB in runs with 876 during the regular-season. They led the MLB in batting average (.268), extra base-hits (594), SLG (.453) and OPS (.792).

Those are a enough reasons as to why Boston will hand their bitter rivals a bitter ALDS series defeat, but why should we be pessimistic?

The Boston Red Sox rotation for a third consecutive postseason is question mark. Now arguably the best left-hander in all of baseball, Chris Sale, is apart of those question marks that include a rotation that finished as Sale looked unlike himself mechanically in a playoff tuneup vs the Baltimore Orioles last week.

Sale’s fastball velocity was noticeably low, sitting at 90 MPH for four plus innings vs the Orioles. That’s a worrying concern for Boston as the Game 1 starter for this series and the undisputed ace of the staff has mechanical issues ahead of facing the Bombers.

The New York Yankees shattered the 2001 Seattle Mariners home run record in 2018 with 267 and there’s the very realistic possibility that New York’s offense can make Fenway Park look smaller than other teams can.

Also in their favor is a decided edge over Boston when it comes to the bullpens. New York’s reliability and dependability in its bullpen has provided them with a winning formula that can mask its deficiencies in starting pitching.

The question becomes for New York, can your starting rotation produce enough to not burn through the bullpen? Considering it’s a short series, the answer is yes.

Prediction: New York Yankees in 5

What are your thoughts on the Division Series matchups this postseason? Leave your comments below!