American League Divison Series

Boston Red Sox(93-69) Vs. Cleveland Indians(94-67)

I’m picking the Red Sox to win this series.The biggest reason why is because of the comparison in pitching and hitting between both teams. The Indians have a great offensive team with guys like Mike Napoli, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, and Carlos Santana. Also, they had one of the great pitching staffs in baseball which was 7th in earned run average. The starting trio of Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber, and C.J Carrasco with one of the best relievers in baseball in Andrew Miller in the bullpen. However, they lost two members of that trio in Carrasco and Salazar due to injury and now, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin will replace them in the rotation. Although, they had a good season with double digit wins for both Tomlin, and Baur, the ERA for both is above 4. What makes that a problem for the Indians is that their opponent, the Red Sox, are the best hitting team in Baseball. Red Sox led baseball in batting average, runs batted in, on base percentage, slugging, total hits, and doubles. They also have good starting pitching in David Price who is one of the best lefties in baseball and the American League Cy Young favorite in Rick Porcello. I think the loss of Salazar and Carrasco will loom big for the Indians because with those 2, they have a better pitching rotation then the Red Sox bu,t without those 2 against the best offensive team baseball, it will be tough for the Indians to keep the Red Sox bats quiet in a series.

American League Division Series

Toronto Blue Jays Vs. Texas Rangers (95-67)

This is one of the more interesting series because these two teams don’t like each other based on everything that’s happened in the past year. The infamous Jose Bautista bat flip to help the Blue Jays win game 5 of the 2105 division series, and the brawl between Bautista and Rougned Odor earlier this season. Blue Jays beat the Rangers in 5 games last year, but this year, the Rangers will win this series. The Rangers are a better team than last year, and the Blue Jays aren’t as good as last year. The Rangers have Yu Darvish back, they still have Cole Hamels, and now they have more hitters this time with the additions of Carlos Beltran and Jonathan Lucroy. Along with Lucroy and Beltran, the Rangers are top 10 in most of the offensive categories including home runs, runs batted in, batting average, and stolen bases. Even though the pitching hasn’t been great, their offense has backed it up, which shows what really propelled them to 95 wins. Yes, the Blue Jays have Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, and Bautista to provide the offense with JA Happ and Aaron Sanchez having stellar years, but they just aren’t as deep as the Rangers. Rangers have more hitters, more reliable hitters, and they are pitching against a team that all around wasn’t as good as year.

National League Divison Series

Los Angeles Dodgers(91-71) Vs. Washington Nationals(95-67)

This series was tough one to pick, because statistically both teams are close to each other in some categories but I got the Washington Nationals beating the Dodgers. Despite the Nationals not having Stephen Strasburg and Wilson Ramos, they still have a lineup that brings more fire power with Daniel Murphy - assuming he’s healthy. Bryce Harper who although has had a tough year, he's still a force. Also players that could do a bit of everything like Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner. Also, the Nationals’ pitching staff is deeper with the addition of Mark Melancon, Max Scherzer, a workhorse who is one of the best strikeout guys in baseball, and veterans pitchers like Tanner Roark and Gio Gonzalez. This is a pitching staff that ranks second in earned run average. The Dodgers have some question marks. With the rotation, you obviously have Kershaw who has missed a lot of time with a bad back and the playoffs haven’t been kind to Kershaw. Rich Hill who has a lot potential in being a great pitcher, and Kenta Maeda who's had his up and down moments this year. You don’t really know what you are going to get from them in their first taste of playoff baseball. As for the lineup, they have one of the worst offensive teams against left handers, and their lineup just isn’t reliable enough against this Nationals pitching staff. Dodgers are 22nd in batting average, and the Nationals are better in terms of producing runs as well. For this series I think the key factor for the Nationals is their batting, if Harper and Murphy get it going and the pitching staff preserve runs like they did all regular season, they’ll win this series.

National League Division Series

San Francisco Giants Vs. Chicago Cubs

I’m picking the Cubs to win the series, but it won’t be a steamroll- I think. I think these games will all be close games. The Giants are gritty teams that you don’t know where they’ll hit you from and they find a way to win. In the end it will be to no avail because the Cubs are a loaded team. They probably have the best rotation among the playoff teams. They have two of the best players in baseball in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, and their utility players are striving under the system of Joe Maddon. The Giants obviously have Madison Bumgarner, arguably the greatest postseason pitcher ever, Johnny Cueto who had a great regular season, and you got a lineup of guys who know what it takes to win it all. Their biggest problem in which I think the cubs will take advantage, is the bullpen. The Giants have arguably one of the worst bullpens in baseball. 29 blown save opportunities and they have multiple relievers who didn’t do their job in terms of holding onto a lead. If there bullpen was better, the NL West race with the Dodgers would’ve been much closer. I believe that some of these games will come down to who has the better bullpen. I believe the Cubs will take advantage of the Giants bullpen along with their stellar postseason rotation and go on to the next round.