The leaves are changing colors, and the calendar has flipped to October, signaling the start of the "Fall Frenzy" and the MLB postseason. The reformat created a heap of urgency towards the end of the regular season, captivating baseball, and has galvanized us with enrapturing playoff tilts ahead.
THE FORMAT:
Instead of 10, we now have 12 teams playing beyond the regular season, six from each league. Of the three division winners in each pennant race, the top two receive first-round byes, while the latter falls to the Wild Card round, joining three others yearning for a spot in the LDS. The lone division winner battles the third wildcard (#6 seed), while the other two wildcard teams fight it out in the best of 3 stanzas, with all games at the higher seeds park. The rest of the playoffs will proceed as usual, and there are no off days in the LDS or wild card rounds.
Noteworthy, there will be no game 163 to break ties, but rather a head-head record.
Now that you're all up to speed, we can move forward if you weren't already. However, before we got to the matchups, there were blizzard regular season moments that changed baseball history.
BEST OF THE REGULAR SEASON:
Yes, we will remember the 2022 Major League Baseball regular season for watching Albert Pujols of the ST Louis Cardinals become the fourth player to surpass 700 homers and become second all-time in RBIs. We will also remember the season for the connection between Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina, who set the battery mate record of 330 starts and counting, and Aaron Judge of the Yankees broke the AL single-season home run record with 62 round-trippers. Miguel Cabrera reached 3,000 hits.
The 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers won more regular-season games than any National League team in the past century(1909 Pirates were the last NL team to win 110 games).
Bleier BALKS THRICE:
Richard Bleier, a 35 year-old veteran
Reliever on the Miami Marlins had never balked in his seven-year career but did so three times in the same inning in a Sept. 28 game against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Up 6-3, facing Jeff McNeil and a man on first, Bleier "Balked" on two straight pitches sending the runner to third before doing so for the third time moments later, forcing home a run leaving outgoing Miami manager Don Mattingly and Richard,,, were both ejected from the contest. Per MLB.com, "It was the first time since 1988 that a pitcher balked thrice in the same inning. It happened twice that year, first by Tigers right-hander Don Heinkel on May 3, against the A's, then by Pirates right-hander Jim Gott on Aug. 6, against the Mets. The last pitcher to have three balks at any point in a game was Mets right-hander Mike Pelfrey on May 17, 2009, vs. the Giants."
TWO IMMACULATE INNINGS IN ONE GAME AGAINST THE SAME THREE BATTERS.
An immaculate inning is when a pitcher has nine straight strikes, retiring all three hitters in that span. From 1880-2009, it happened only 48 times in MLB history. Then the strikeout era came along, and from 2010-2022, it immaculately transpired 46 times. However, two Astros pitchers made history on Jun. 15 this season as pitchers.
Luis Garcia and Phil Maton did it in the same game against the identical three batters. Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran, and Brad Miller were victimized twice as Houston defeated Texas 9-2.
INTENTIONAL WALKS ISSUED BY WHITE SOX MANAGER TONY LA RUSSA BEHIND IN COUNT:
I sympathize with Tony because he stepped away from the team and eventually had to retire from his job due to medical issues, but that's not going to change the fact that he bridled the Chicago White Sox from repeating as AL Central champs, let alone qualifying for the playoffs. To sum it up, on Jun. 9, down 7-5 in the sixth against the Dodgers, La Russa signaled for the intentional walk of Trea Turner before Max Muncy made him pay with a three-run bomb to put the game on ice essentially.
On Aug. 19, Tony opted to intentionally walk Cleveland Guardians rookie Oscar González with two outs on a 1-2 count, with runners on second and third and left-hander Jake Diekman on the bump, as Cleveland won it 5-2.
REDS TWIRL NO-HITTER, STILL LOSE:
On May 15, 2022, Cincinnati Reds pitchers combined for a no-hitter, yet still fell 1-0 as three walks and a fielders choice in the bottom of the eighth led to the Pittsburg Pirates' lone run, while the Reds went down meekly in the ninth and lost.
A tattoo shelved a relief pitcher for nearly a month(Aroldis Chapman):
No words here; this was an atrocity. Lesson to everyone: DONT GET TATTOOS!
MLB PLAYERS FIGHT OVER FANTASY FOOTBALL:
The bout was between the Cincinnati Reds' Tommy Pham and the San Francisco Giants' Joc Pederson on May 27.
Per Joc, Pham hit him in the face during batting practice before the game, all because they'd had words about Pham's accusation that Pederson broke the rules of their fantasy football league.
"We were in a fantasy league together," Pederson said. "I put a player on injured reserve when they were listed as out and then added another player. And then there was a text message in the group saying that I was cheating because I was stashing players on my bench. Then I looked up the rules and sent a screenshot of the protocols when a player is ruled out. You're allowed to put him on the IR. That's all I was doing. It just so happened that he had a player, [49ers running back] Jeff Wilson, who was out. He had him on the IR. I said, 'You have the same thing on your team, on your bench.' Then I guess he was in two leagues, and one of them he was on the IR, and one of them he wasn't, so maybe that was the confusion, but in the ESPN league we were in, he was listed as out, so it feels very similar to what I did. And that was all of it. There's not much more to it."
Indeed, this is not a comprehensive list of 2022's weird baseball occurrences, but these were some of the primary viral stories that kept things interesting.
Let's get to our 12 playoff teams, starting with the fearsome foursome who get to rest for a week and have successfully avoided the best of three Wild Card series.
AL:
1. HOUSTON ASTROS(106-56)
The reigning AL champs plowed through a weak division and acclaimed the one seed on the back of galactic pitching and a potent offense.
For starters, Justin Verlander returned from Tommy John surgery, and the 39-year-old
hall of Famer articulated a career year, posting an 18-4 record with a staggering 1.74 ERA, 185 strikeouts, and a 0.83 WHIP, and is likely to win a third CY Young award.
Framber Valdez is a NO2 starter who would be an ace on both teams, as the hurler went 17-6 with a 2.82 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, and a Major League-best 26 quality starts over 31 outings. He had an MLB-record 25 consecutive quality starts from April 25-Sept. 18 and surrendered 11 homers all year(0.49 per nine innings).
As for the bullpen, Astros reliever Ryne Stanek finished the season with a 1.15 ERA and set a franchise single-season record for the lowest ERA by a relief pitcher. The previous mark was 1.50, set by Will Harris in 2019, per MLB.com.
Rafael Montero was dreadful in Seattle back in 2021. However, like most big league pitchers resurrected himself after arriving in Houston. This season, the 31-year-old had a career-best 2.37 ERA out of the pen, with 73 strikeouts and a 1.02 WHIP.
At the backend, closer Ryan Pressly nailed down his 33rd save of the season, extending his career high and giving him 76 saves in an Astros uniform. That ties Fred Gladding for fourth place on Houston's all-time saves list, trailing only Billy Wagner (225), Dave Smith (199), and Brad Lidge (123).
As a staff member, Houston posted a 2.90 team ERA for the 2022 season, a franchise record for an entire season. The only other sub-3.00 ERA in franchise history was 2.66 in 1981, a split season because of a players' strike. Houston played 110 games in the regular season that year. This year's team also had an MLB-leading 2.80 ERA out of the bullpen.
Per MLBMetrics, 99.4% of innings pitched by Houston were tossed by a pitcher sporting an ERA below 4.00.
The offense, spearheaded by Yordan Alvarez(37 HR, 97 RBI, .306 BA), Jose Altuve (.300 BA, 28 HR, 57 RBI, 18 stolen bases), and CO will electrify television sets as they do every October.
2. NEW YORK YANKEES (99-63)
They were 52-18 on Jun 14 and an MLB-best 64-28 at the all-star break. They were pacing the majors, projecting a 126-36 record, and were compared to the best team of all time, the 1998 Yankees.
When the sport paused for its midterms, Jose Trevino was the best defensive catcher in the AL, starter Nestor Cortes and reliever Clay Holmes had become revelations, Gerrit Cole was racking up strikeouts on his way to team history, while Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were mashing baseballs deep into Bronx nights. With the midsummer classic in his backyard, Stanton took home all-star
game MVP honors, and at that moment in time, the Yankees looked unbeatable. But as soon as the second half began, they sank into a swoon of epic proportions, being swept by their nemesis in the Astros(Who went 5-2 against New York, including a no-hitter on Jun. 25 in the Bronx), Cardinals, and a week later, the New York Mets. Holmes regressed, Aroldis Chapman decided to get a tattoo and went to the IL with an infection for two weeks. Trade deadline acquisitions in Andrew Benintendi and Frankie Montas struggled to produce or stay on the field, as both went to the IL in September. The Yankees went 10-18 in August, with only Judge's torrid production single handily carrying the offense, saving them from an apocalypse that would've likely stung the franchise more than the ALCS collapse in 2004.
Alas, September came; the team swept the Mets, fended off the Blue Jays, trimmed their 15.5-game lead down to 3.5 at one point, and clinched the division with eight games to spare so they could watch individuals make history before the season ended. Nestor Cortes portrayed a 2.44 ERA, the lowest in a regular season by any Yankee starter. Gerrit Cole set the franchise record for strikeouts with 257. Aaron Judge captivated sports fans with his chase for AL(And non-PED) Home run supremacy, mashing number 62 in game 161 against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, passing Roger Maris, who walloped 61 in 1961. Judge, a free agent to be, has put together an MVP season and will be expected to deliver when called upon in the postseason. However, this team has question marks, such as how their shaky bullpen will pan out. Who will be closing the games? Can Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks, and DJ LeMahieu deliver after subpar regular seasons? How will Matt Carpenter respond coming off a foot injury that sidelined him for two months? What's the health status of Andrew Benintendi? Will Harrison Bader hit as well as he did in St. Louis? The brilliance and versatility of rookie sensation Oswaldo Cabrera have been a welcome sight, but can he handle the postseason pressure?
How will Gerrit Cole rebound in the playoffs after his implosion in Boston in last year's wildcard game? These questions are what makes Yankees fans like me skeptical. Yes, they're as good as anyone on paper and at full strength, but can they put it all together for title NO28? Will this be the last postseason run the Bronx gets with Judge?
NL:
1. LOS ANGELES DODGERS (111-51)
They've never broke stride despite stalwarts like Walker Buhler being shelved. Free agent acquisition Freddie Freeman and superstars Trea Turner and Mookie Betts are the best trio in baseball. Below them? All-stars such as Justin Turner, Max Muncy, and Cody Bellinger. Trace Thomson(Klay's brother) has even joined in on the fun with his spectacular Summer play. On the pitching side, coach Mark Prior has crafted a "super stable," led by CY Young runner-up Julio's Urias(Sandy Alexandra of the Marlins will win it with his six complete games), Clayton Kershaw, revelations Tyler Anderson/Andrew Heaney, and Tony Gonsilin. The bullpen has flamethrowers such as Evan Phillips, Tommy Kahlene, Alex Vesia, Caleb Ferguson, and Brusador Gaterol.
The bottom line is they're as tough as they come and looking to cement themselves as. a dynasty, fulfilling the preseason guarantee of Dave Robert's they would win the World Series.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES(101-61)
It seemed as if the reigning champs were suffering from a World Series hangover at 23-27 on Jun. 1, staring at a 10.5-game deficit in the NL East. But after a rousing speech from manager Brian Snitker, the team ripped off 14 straight wins and never looked back, finding themselves a game back of the Mets with six games remaining in the regular season. Entering last weekend's season in Atlanta, the Mets led the season series 9-7. They needed one win to control their NL East destiny as they faced the basement-dwelling Nationals rounding out the calendar. Both teams sent their best out to the bumps each night, as the new format enticed the clubs to go for it all like it was a postseason tilt. New York sent Jacob Degrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassist to the hill, while the Braves countered with Max Fried, MLB wins leader Kyle Wright(21), and Charlie Morton. But the story of the series was the bats' impact, as, despite the Mets racking up more hits, Atlanta put charge Into homers, notably Danny Swanson and Matt Olson, who took the Mets' big three-yard, while Austin Riley took Degrom and Scherzer deep too. Not even MLB's NO1 overall prospect 20, year-old Franciso Alvarez, who New York called up for this series, could put a dent in Atlanta express. In the ninth, Kenley Jansen worked three straight days and recorded all three saves as the Braves swept the series 5-2, 4-2, 5-3, winning the season series 10-9, going 6-1 in the past seven contests with their rivals. It paid dividends, as the two would finish with 101 victories, with the Mets sweeping the Nats and Atlanta dropping two of three to the hapless Marlins. But it didn't matter because the Braves toasted a division title following Tuesday's 2-1 win in Miami. They were in first place for eight days and won the division.
This ballclub filled the void left by Freddie Freeman's departure to the Dodgers with the acquisition of Matt Olson. It bolstered their pitching with Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, and Collin McHugh, bolstering the bullpen. Add in the emergence of rookie starter Spencer Strider, rookie outfielder Micheal Harris, both are up for ROY, and 21-year-old Vaughn Grissom, as well as the returns of Ronald Acuna JR and Marcell Ozuna, and this team is ready to rumble for a repeat. They were an 89-win team, and despite being shorthanded, won the World Series, so imagine what they can do fully healthy as they stand right now? It's scary if you're the opposition.
WILD CARD MATCHUPS:
AL:
6. TAMPA BAY RAYS(86-76) Vs. 3. CLEVELAND GUARDIANS(92-70)
Tampa Bay rode their prolific pitching and analytical genius to overcome offensive inefficiencies and several injury storms that plagued them throughout the season. The young Guardians were mediocre for much of the season before stomping on rivals in the White Sox and Twins to win the AL Central in their first year with ten new team names. Former CY Young winner Shane Bieber and studs Tristan McKenzie and Cal Quantrill should provide enough support from the starting rotation for Cleveland, and AL reliever of the year Emmanuel Clase(42 saves) has been nails at closing games. This series will be decided by timely hitting, and which ones will rise to the moment? Will Randy Arozerena power his way to another legendary postseason for Tampa? How about the bat speed of Isaac Paredes? Will Cleveland rule the day with the likes of Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, and rookie Steven Kwon? October has been notorious for rewarding the hot hand, so I'm going with Cleveland, who finished the season 7-3 compared to the Rays' 2-8 slide, to advance in a two-game sweep.
4. TORONTO BLUE JAYS(92-70) VS 5. SEATTLE MARINERS(90-72)
I found it funny how the teams barely missed the playoffs and are battling in the Wild Card round this year.
No matter what happens, it's Seattle's first voyage since 2001, so let's go easy on them. For the Jays, it's been a rollercoaster season of ups and downs, but they're here and are through. It's a tilt filled with star power, starting with Vlad Guerrero JR, George Springer, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Jacky Bradley JR, Matt Chapman, and Teosccar Hernandez leading the Toronto offensive side. But Seattle will rally behind ROY Julio Rodriguez, young stars Mitch Haniger, Eugene Suarez, and Cal Raleigh(Who hit a walk-off HR to break the drought), and Ty France is bringing the lumber for the M's. About pitching, Seattle has the edge in pen with an assorted mix led by closer Paul Sewald and setup men Andre Munoz, Erik Swanson, and Chris Flexen. But the Mariners pride themselves on their starting pitching, led by Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, and Robbie Ray. The Jays will trot out Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman with confidence. Still, they must pray that Jose Berrios, coming off a season with a career-worst 5.23 ERA, fixes himself if it gets to a game three, or Ross Stripling and Yusei Kikuchi eat up innings and save the core pieces in the bullpen, like Jordan Romano(36 saves), Tim Mayza, Adam Cimber and Yimi Garcia for crunch time. The rowdy Rogers centre, though, will undoubtedly reflect Toronto at its best, and the moment may be too big for this young group of Mariners to handle. So while I want Seattle, I'm leaning toward Toronto.
NL:
6. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES(87-75) Vs. 3. ST LOUIS CARDINAL(93-69)
It's a swan song for Cardinals legends Albert Pujos and Yadir Molina, who are both Cooperstown bound in 2027 after they retire this year. Elsewhere, the Phillies are playoff bound for the first time since 2011, as Bryce Harper will make his playoff appearance in a Phillies uniform. ST Louis has announced they will go with trade deadline acquisition Jose Quintana in game one, Miles Mikolas in game two, and, if needed, Adam Wainwright in the finale. Available out of the bullpen will be trade-deadline acquisitions Jordan Montgomery, Giovanny Gallegos, Jack Flaherty, and flamethrower Ryan Helsley. Offensively, the Cardinals possess sluggers in MVP favorite Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, who finally gets a taste of postseason ball, and speedsters Tyler O Neill and Tommy Edman. The Phillies will rely on Kyle Schwarber to carry power from his 45-homer campaign into the playoffs, the production of JT Realmuto, and their potent starting pitching corps led by Aaron Nola, Zach Wheeler, rookie stud Ranger Suarez(3.65 ER1, 129 strikeouts, astonishing 0.33 WHIP in 29 stars this year). The questions for Philly arise in the bullpen, which has the pieces on paper; David Robertson, Corey Knebel, Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez, and Brad Hand but have struggled to stay healthy and consistent this year. The discrepancies in depth for me and experience are why I'm picking the Cardinals to advance. If we're behind, honest, Philly is here because of the expanded format, and the Milwaukee Brewers got in their way and lost to bottom-feeders down the stretch. But I will give them credit for turning things around after firing Joe Girardi following their 22-29 start, and they also went 32-20 without Harper, particularly 17-13 when both he and Jean Segura were shelved.
4. NEW YORK METS(101-61) VS 5. SAN DIEGO PADRES(89-73)
The Buck stops here for one rollercoaster. From a Mets perspective, their spending spree in the offseason paid off, and they recorded a 101-win campaign, a rarity for the franchise. We've touched on their stellar pitching, but it's their hitting led by MLB batting champ Jeff Mcneil(.326 Batting average ), Pete Alonso(40 HR, 131 RBIs, tied with Judge for the most in baseball), Brandon Nimmo has been a prominent center fielder with his .274 batting average, and Francisco Lindor set a precedent for Mets shortstops, driving in 107 runs that will be the key in the playoffs.
Bullpen-wise, Edwin Diaz, trumpets and all, put together one of the greatest regular seasons in recent Mets memory with 32 saves and a 1.31 ERA. San Diego had a dream in mind with Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis JR uplifting them to new heights, but Tatis was suspended for taking PED, and their season went into a spiral. Luckily, a rotation anchored by Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove and a bullpen spearheaded by trade deadline acquisition Josh Hader saved them from embarrassment and earned them a playoff spot. The Mets are the superior squad, and Citi Field will be rocking for its first playoff game since 2016. This one has players who sport a flare for the dramatic, but the Amazins will move on.
LDS PREDICTIONS:
AL:
Astros over Blue Jays in four
Yankees over Guardians in 3
NL:
Dodgers over Mets in 4
Braves over Cardinals 5.
LCS:
Astros over Yankees in 6
Dodgers over Braves in 7
World Series:
Dodgers over Astros in 7
World Series MVP: Mookie Betts
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