It’s October which means playoff baseball is upon us! To kick off the madness is the AL Wild Card game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians. Other games are as follows: Philadelphia  Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners @ Toronto Blue Jays, and wrapping up the day’s festivities will be the San Diego Padres @ New York Mets. 

Now that the slate of games have been set; let’s dive into some analysis. 

The Wild Card round begins with the Rays and Guardians game. The AL Central Division champions, the Cleveland Guardians, capped off the regular season with a two-game win streak. They also won seven of their last ten games. The Guardians are the number three seed coming into the postseason. The Guardians and Rays both have a deep bullpen to their names. The Rays come in as the number six seed. This isn’t one of the better Rays’ teams of the past but they aren’t a cakewalk either.  

Next game sees the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the St. Louis Cardinals. Let’s start with the Cardinals. They have a very versatile lineup with depth at most positions. Another thing that the Cardinals do well is power-hitting. Having said that, when they’re on fire, they are electric. However, when they aren’t hitting well, they struggle mightily. Another major key for the Redbirds revolves around the veteran play and how effective they are. Everyone knows how good they are; Pujols and Yadi are easily first-ballot Hall of Famers. The question remains: Do they have gas left in the tank? For the Phillies, they have big time names up and down the roster, but they are wildly inconsistent.  Just like the Cardinals, they have big bats that are always a threat. 

Moving down the list; the next matchup is the Seattle Mariners @ Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners snapped their 21 year playoff drought and now come into the postseason ready to turn their fortunes around. The Mariners’ also bring in their X-factor to the playoffs, pitcher Luis Castillo. Castillo was acquired via trader to bolster bullpen depth. All around, the Mariners have a strong pitching rotation. The Blue Jays bring in very strong power-hittwers, but outside of thst they lack key pieces in a rotation. Their pitching rotation is lackluster at best so is the bats aren’t heating up the Toronto based organization could be in trouble. 

The final game on the opening slate is the San Diego Padres @ New York Mets. The Padres go into this postseason without young superstar Fernando Tatis Jr after his suspension for PED’s. Hope is not lost as Josh Hader was basically unstoppable in the last month of the season. The resurgence of Juan Soto who is playing like the generational talent they’ve expected is also a huge boost to San Diego. New York comes into the 2022 postseason with a very unique set of skills and a unique roster. Frankly, the Mets are much more well-suited for a short series due to the lack of options and depth that this team sorely lacks. A major red flag coming into this October is that they were swept by the Braves to end season and lost the Division crown. 

First round bye teams:

Yankees

Astros

Braves

Dodgers

World Series Odds for every team:

Phillies (+3500)

Guardians (+2800)

Rays (+2800)

Padres (+2800)

Mariners (+2500)

Cardinals (+1800)

Blue Jays (+1500)

Mets (+700)

Yankess (+500)

Braves (+500)

Astros (+400)

Dodgers (+300)   

Games are on ABC and ESPN