A few weeks ago I wrote about the MLB playoffs and Wild Card picks, who gets in, who gets a bye were all big questions. In this article, I want to name all the teams that get to move on to the NLCS, and ALCS. These are my second round playoff predictions.
First, in the Dodgers vs Phillies series, I have the Dodgers winning the series in 3. This season the Dodgers have been without a doubt one of the best teams in baseball.
Whenever the Dodgers play a team who has an above .500 winning percentage the team goes 34-31 showing that even when the team gets a tough opponent the Dodgers can power through to win.
We can also use the last time the Dodgers and Phillies played in the regular season the Dodgers won the series 2-1, and with the pickup in Tarik Skubal. However if the Dodgers want to sweep the series they have to get Edwin Diaz under control, right now Diaz has an ERA of 11.00 in 10 innings letting up 12 earned runs (ER) to put that in perspective Diaz last year let up 12 runs in 66.1 innings.
Next, the Braves vs Brewers series, this series is going to be the one you want to watch, I believe the Braves will win the series in 5 games.
Both of these teams have been dominant this season when the Braves play teams over .500 they go 33-23 and for the Brewers 38-17 proving that both teams can still win efficiently even when they go up against a team that is amazing, but the reason that I have the Braves winning this series is because the last time the Braves and Brewers played the Braves won the series 2-1 even with Misorowski on the mound for game one.
The Braves secret to success is keeping everyone healthy, they have battled injuries this season but have stayed strong, and right now the Braves have not had to deal with as many injuries right now.
Next, the Guardians vs White Sox series, in this series I believe the White Sox will win this series in 4 games.
The White Sox have been a very solid team this season with both Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami shining out this season. Even though the White Sox are not the best when they play teams that are .500 and above with them going 20-28 in those games, they are much better at home than they are on the road, going 36-22 at home and 25-34 on the road which makes this home field advantage so important for the White Sox and will propel them to a win.
If we look back to the last time these two teams played in the regular season the White Sox won the series 2-1.
The White Sox key to winning this series is keeping their stars healthy, when Murakami was out the Sox went from good to mid, and when he returned they became great again.
Finally, the Red Sox vs Rays, in this series I believe the Red Sox will win in 3 games. To start the season the Red Sox were one of the worst teams in MLB, now after a few historic months of baseball the Red Sox are now one of the best teams in baseball.
The Rays are really good at home and ok on the road which means home field advantage would help them a ton in most series, however the Red Sox are actually better when they play on the road going 35-22 when they play on the road.
The Red Sox key to victory is to stay hot, the Red Sox were a bottom 5 team in the American League (AL) and they have turned it around because of their historic win streaks.
In conclusion, the MLB Playoffs are soon and some teams have surprised us and been good when they were horrible in the first month of the season or last year. Some teams have been a dynasty and great for several years at a time, while others have one great season followed up by some of the worst seasons ever. This is in my opinion who will win the Divisional Series in MLB.
