We're on the cusp of October and that's easily the most fun time of the year as a sports fan (no, sorry, you don't get to argue with me here). A large part of that equation would be the Major League Baseball playoffs, culminating with the Fall Classic. Who might win the World Series this season?
Well, we've been able to eliminate more than half the league from that discussion thanks to a long regular season. With just three days left in the regular season, however, there's some jockeying to be done with the seedings and we even have a few races up for grabs. With that in mind, we'll once again run through some predictions that are subject to change based upon what we see on the field, in addition to any forthcoming injuries.
Given the tiebreaker and the fact that they now get three games at home against the Rockies, I'm taking the White Sox in the AL Central. In the West, I'll go with the Astros, mostly just because they have the tiebreaker and also the A's aren't exactly steep competition: 1. Guardians Over on the National League side, the Cubs have the tiebreaker over both the Phillies and Padres, so we'll just stick them in the four spot.
Plus, my expectation is that the Rays (facing the Phillies this weekend) and Diamondbacks (facing the Padres) will be playing harder than the Red Sox against the Cubs. The rationale there is that the Red Sox are gearing up to play in the Wild Card Series starting on Tuesday, while the Rays are waiting around until the ALDS and would like to remain sharp through the regular season. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks would love nothing more than to hurt the Padres.
I'll go with the Padres for the five seed, but this is a really tough call. 1. Phillies As a reminder, the Wild Card Series is a three-game series with all three in the same venue, hosted by the better seed. The AL East battle is a toss-up, but since the Yankees won't have a 100% Aaron Judge (if they have him at all), we'll swing this one Boston's way.
In the other matchup, I'm refusing to acknowledge any chance for an AL West team. The Cubs and Padres series will be a hotly contested matchup that provides us with plenty of fun. The Cubs have a well-rounded batting order that can beat you from any spot and their pitching has very quietly started to round into shape.
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