October is generally considered to be the first full month of fall/autumn, which always signifies the year is beginning to come to a close. In the Northern Hemisphere, the weather starts to become colder, the days are shorter, and people tend to spend more time indoors than outside.
If you are a baseball fan, October is a month that you look forward to all year. Yes, it does, unfortunately, signify the end of the MLB season for many teams, as the regular season comes to a close. However, for the teams who have performed well throughout the year, it also means the playoffs are about to begin, which is the most exciting time of the year for any baseball fanatic.
There were a few big names who didn’t make it to the playoffs this season, none more so than the New York Yankees. The Yankees are easily the most famous and successful side in major league baseball history, having won the World Series a record 27 times. However, they have been suffering a drought over the last few years, having not picked up a title since 2009. Despite this, they have still made it to the playoffs consistently. This year they only made it to the American League Wild Card fixture, instead of straight into the playoffs, as they weren’t one of the top six sides competing. There, they faced off against their old foes the Boston Red Sox. It was the Red Sox who came out on top, leaving the millions of Yankees fans around the world ruing their poor performances in the regular season.
We have seen the first few sets of fixtures play out in this year’s playoffs, in both the American League Division Series and the National League Division Series, so we have a clearer idea of who might make it into the League Championship Series games. This means fans will have been searching for MLB picks on their sports betting apps, looking for all the latest odds on their team’s chances. Let’s review these first few results, and see who looks like they could go all the way to World Series glory.
Table of Contents
Red Sox march on
Given that they only made it into the Division Series games at the last minute, beating the Yankees in the Wild Card game, you would expect that the Red Sox might be one of the poorest teams left in the playoffs. They were also drawn against the Tampa Bay Rays, who had made it to the World Series final last year, so would have been expected to make it past the Red Sox with relative ease.
That is not how it played out at all. While the Rays did win game one 5-0, their good form and luck quickly started to fall away. They were hammered in game two 14-6, went down 6-4 in game three, and then couldn’t match the Red Sox’s intensity in game four, losing 6-5. It’s safe to say that confidence will be high in Boston right now. The Red Sox will now be optimistic of going all the way and repeating their recent World Series victories of 2007, 2013, and 2018.
The Astros have an early advantage over the White Sox
In the other American League Division Series game, the Houston Astros hold a 2-1 advantage over the Chicago White Sox. The Astros won game one (6-1) and game two (9-4) but the White Sox fought back in game three, winning 12-6. There has been controversy in this series as White Sox pitcher Ryan Tepera made the claim that the Astros were stealing signs, which was helping their performances in an unfair way. We’ll soon find out which of these teams will be facing off against the Red Sox in the ALCS games.
Dodgers have it all to do in games four and five
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the current World Series champions, but they also only made it through to the playoffs via the Wild Card game, where they beat the St. Louis Cardinals. They were drawn against the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS, and are currently 2-1 down. They of course know how to win, so will be confident of finding form at the right time, but even so, they will need to be firing on all cylinders to make it past the Giants and into the NLCS games.
Braves or Brewers?
On the other side of the National League, we have the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves. The Brewers won game one 2-1, with the Braves fighting back in games two and three, winning both 3-0. It is incredibly close between these two sides, with both having a great chance of making it into the NLCS. We can’t wait to see how this one turns out in games four and five (if it goes the distance).