After 2,430 games, we’ve finally made it to baseball’s postseason. We witnessed Shohei Ohtani, a rising Angels superstar and future Most Valuable Player award winner, throw 100 mph pitches from the mound and smack homers from the left side of the plate. We saw the San Francisco Giants prove that the NL West is not owned by the Dodgers, despite L.A.’s payroll. And we watched the New York Mets implode just like, well, the Mets would do.
But now it’s time for the games that matter. Here’s my take on what will happen in this season’s playoffs:
Right now, you might be wondering: Who even plays for the Rays? That’s a great question. They don’t have the stardom in their rotation with Tyler Glasnow or Blake Snell from 2020, but the Rays can hit. Heading into the final day of the regular season, the Rays tallied the most runs in baseball, before being passed by the Houston Astros. Prior to the trade deadline, they acquired slugger Nelson Cruz, a player with deep postseason experience on the Texas Rangers and other teams throughout his career.
Despite their No. 14-ranked batting average, they found ways to score runs via the long ball and tallied the second most triples in baseball. If the Rays do win, Brandon Lowe is a name to watch. The versatile player hit .410 with five home runs and 14 RBI in the final two weeks of the season. Their pitching staff may not go deep into games, but they get outs and manager Kevin Cash is not afraid to use a plethora of arms out of the bullpen in a single game.
In the American League Division Series, they will match up against a familiar division foe in either the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, depending on which of those teams makes it out of Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game (results came after the News + Record’s print deadline). The Rays won the season-series against both in the regular season and there’s no reason to think they won’t outmatch them again in the playoffs. The White Sox still seem like they are a year away and the Astros rotation isn’t scaring anyone at the moment, despite their playoff experience throughout their lineup. The Rays looked outmatched by the Dodgers in 2020. Don’t expect that to be the case this October.
In 2020’s wild 60-game season, Fried was superb for the Atlanta Braves. In his 11 starts, he didn’t record a loss and finished with a 2.25 earned run average. While he did not have that same success at the start of 2021, he’s been rolling the past month. In the last 30 days, he’s posted a 1.29 ERA and 0.74 WHIP, including a complete-game shutout on 98 pitches against the San Diego Padres. After three postseason starts last year, Fried proved he could pitch on the biggest stage. Look for him to deliver a nice outing against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Throughout the season, most people wondered when the San Francisco Giants would finally give in. Their talent and budget are nowhere near the likes of their division rivals. But the Giants just kept winning and won the NL West on the final day of the regular season, despite the Dodgers having lost just 13 games since acquiring Trea Turner and Max Scherzer on July 30. Even a matchup against the Dodgers or Cardinals in the first round seems like a giant test, but count out the Giants at your own risk. They’ve been proving the doubters wrong all year.
The Chicago White Sox 24-year-old rising star has pop. But for much of the season, he was out with a hip injury. Now, fully healthy, he’s back and in the final game of the regular season, he blasted a home run. He finished the season by posting a .338 batting average with 13 homers. The one issue is that he only walked 14 times all season. The White Sox have dangerous hitters up and down their lineup, but Robert is a candidate to be a breakout star in the first round against the Astros.
CN+R Intern Max Baker can be reached at max@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Maxbaker_15.