This Year's MLB Playoffs Are As Wide Open As Any I Can Remember

I don’t know if it’s playoff expansion. I don’t know if the new rules have something to do with us, but there is no Goliath in Major League Baseball this year. I know most people would point to the Braves. The Braves have as good an offense as I can remember in my lifetime. Do I think the Braves win the World Series? Yeah, they’d be my pick. But I don’t think they’re invincible. I do have my question marks about their pitching. From a numbers standpoint, it’s very good, but they’ll be facing some really good lineups in October. They still deserve to be the favorite, but I feel like over the last six or seven years, there have been one or two teams that we can look at going into October and say, “Yeah, if they don’t make it to the World Series, it’ll be a huge disappointment. “ I don’t know if I feel that way this year. 

Twelve teams are in the postseason, and I could see 11 legitimately winning the whole thing. The only team I don’t see making a run through October is the Marlins. Them making it to October is an incredible story. Kim Ng and Skip Schumaker have done an excellent job, but I don’t think they have the horses. Other than that, I could see any of these teams getting hot at the right time and any of these favorites getting cold at the wrong time. 

There are certain teams that I have trouble buying into. I find the Toronto Blue Jays to be annoying as shit, and while they played great baseball in the second half, I still think the Minnesota Twins are the Twins. But with that comes the caveat of knowing that I don’t think they’ve played their best baseball yet. Last year, the Phillies proved that you can make magic happen if you get into October and get hot at the right time. I could see a team like the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, or Twins going through a similar stretch. 

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What makes this particular postseason different is that I think every team, even the most dominant ones, has one glaring weakness. The Rangers have inconsistent pitching; the Astros don’t play well at home; the Orioles are without their all-star closer. Usually, we go into October with a few complete teams. The Braves are the best team, but I don’t know if they are as complete as last year’s Astros or the 2018 Red Sox were. Every team has an Achilles heel. I think that’s going to make things awesome. This October could play out like a March Madness bracket, with upsets and unpredictability galore. It is the most wonderful time of the year. I can’t wait.