Playoff baseball is right around the corner. Teams are starting to clinch playoff spots while others aren’t far behind. Both New York teams have had amazing seasons and are on pace to make it far in the postseason. The Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers have surprised everyone this year by leading the division in their respective divisions. There are many teams that can win it all this year. I’m going to talk about each contender and what I think about them as a team and if they can win it all.
The Baltimore Orioles clinched a wild card spot on the 24th, they’re coming off an 101 win season where they got bounced in the first round by the eventual world series winning Texas Rangers. Baltimore is young and hungry for a championship, and now that the core players have playoff experience, I can see them going far this year. But I do not see them winning the world series just yet, I believe they’re still too young and scrappy of a squad to beat teams like the Dodgers and Yankees whose players have had playoff experience for the last decade. But I’m excited to see what the Orioles do this postseason.
The Cleveland Guardians have officially clinched the American League Central, but by the time May hit, everyone knew that they were the team to beat. The Guardians are coming off of a disappointing 76-86 season which saw them get 3rd place in the division and miss the place, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they lost their best pitcher Shane Bieber to Tommy John Surgery. He was declared out for the entire 2024 season. The Guardians have been led by the most underrated player in baseball, Jose Ramirez and AL CY Young candidate Emmanuel Clase. They aren’t the only players contributing to this squad, just the most notable. Everybody has been contributing to this squad. It’s amazing to see the Guardians recover so quickly after losing their franchise shortstop Francisco Lindor only 3 years ago. The Guardians could go far, but I don’t believe that they have enough. I think teams like the Yankees and Astros will make quick work of them. But you never know.
The New York Yankees are back to doing what they do best, making the postseason. After missing the postseason last year, the Yankees are back and they are out for blood. Led by future AL MVP Aaron Judge and future AL MVP runner up Juan Soto. The New York Yankees are such a scary team and have every possible chance to win the World Series this year. But unlike years prior, they’re offense has to be able to produce in the postseason and they’re pitching has to perform to the standard they set during the regular season. On paper, they are the clear World Series winners, but the Yankees have to perform well in the postseason and not lose their momentum.
Like the Yankees, the Dodgers have been postseason staples since 2012. But have only won once in that time. The Dodgers offense is unbelievably good, but their pitching is lackluster. They are the second best team in the playoffs behind the Yankees and could also make the World Series, the only problem is their pitching. But if superstar Shohei Ohtani pitches in the postseason like he is rumored to, then the Dodgers have a good chance to win it all. It all comes down to the pitching.
The Brewers have clinched the NL Central for the second year in a row. They were swept in the first round of the playoffs last year and look to bounce back this year. The Brewers are an interesting team to say the least. Their best pitcher Corbin Burnes was traded before the season started and their best position player Christian Yelich was declared out for the season on August 16th. But even with those setbacks, Milwaukee just kept winning. Led by rookie outfielder Jackson Chourio and superstar shortstop Willy Adames, this Brewers team could see themselves in the World Series in the near future, and if they keep up this momentum, it could be this year.
The Houston Astros just never go away, they are back in the postseason for the 8th straight year and look to bring the state of Texas their 3rd world series championship in a row. Led by veteran superstar Jose Altuve, outfielders Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez, and breakout star pitcher Ronel Blanco. The Astros have a lot of good pieces this year, but not as much as they had in 2022 and 2017 when they won the world series, which is why I do not see them winning the World Series this year. But I still believe it’s a great feat to make the playoffs with a team that was below 500 in June.
The San Diego Padres are in the midst of repeating their amazing 2022 season where they made it to the NLCS but got eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Padres are an amazing squad on paper, superstars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr are the helm of the offense, and their pitching is superb, easily the best pitching squad in baseball. Starting pitchers Joe Musgrove, Dylan Cease, and Yu Darvish have been amazing this year when they are on the field, and the Padres bullpen is unhittable. This is San Diego’s year in my opinion, I have them winning the World Series.
Now the Philadelphia Phillies are another team that can win the World Series this year, led by superstars Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos, and Kyle Schwarber on the hitting side, and Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez on the pitching side. The only achilles heel of this team is their bottom half of the lineup, the first 5 guys on this lineup are extremely talented and scary to face, but 6-9, not as talented and are usually easy outs. That’s why I believe the Phillies will either make it to the NLCS or the World Series, but ultimately not win. They have very limited holes on their team, but the holes that they have can cost them scoring runs in important situations.
The New York Mets are baseball’s surprise story this season. From Grimace to OMG, the Mets seemed to have used the power of friendship to achieve the best record since June 12th of any MLB team and clinch a wildcard spot, all while not having that great of a team statistically. Led by MVP candidate Francsico Lindor and a surprisingly elite pitching staff, the Mets could surprise us. But I’m a Mets fan, a realistic Mets fan so I know they probably won’t win the world series let alone past the first round. But I am a firm believer that this was a successful season and a great stepping stone for future years of playoff pushes.
Now the Detroit Tigers are an extremely interesting team, after being one of the worst teams in the MLB for the last couple years, and coming close to 500 last year, the Tigers clinched a wild card spot after having one of the best months of September I have ever seen. As of September 28th, the Tigers have a 17-6 record, a .727 winning percentage. With an offense led by an underrated Kerry Carpenter and a pitching staff led by future 2024 AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, the Tigers have a chance to go far in the postseason with the momentum they have built up these last couple weeks. Detroit is hungry for a championship.
With a Twins loss on the 27th, The Kansas City Royals have made the playoffs for the first time since 2015. After a very worrying month of September, where the offense seemed to be non-existent, the previous excellent months were able to help the Royals slip into the last wild card spot. They are led by superstar shortstop and MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr and the dynamic pitching duo of Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans. Unlike the Tigers, the Royals are going to have to find some momentum either in the playoffs or directly before if they want any chance of making it far. As a Mets fan, I do not like the Royals, but I’m not going to lie and say that they’ve had an awful season, because they haven’t. The Royals have had an amazing season, way better than anyone expected especially after finishing with 100 losses last year, I just don’t think they have enough momentum to make it far in the playoffs.
The Atlanta Braves have had a very long and hard fought season, and even after a bunch of injuries in the beginning of the season, they were still able to clinch a wild card spot. Losing 2023 MVP Ronald Acuna Jr and star pitcher Spencer Strider for the whole season made many fans believe that the Braves would finally not make the playoffs, but of course that was not the case. The resurgence of pitcher Chris Sale and the help of players stepping up in roles lost by star players due to injury have helped the Braves stay in the contention race. The Braves are always going to be a threat. As a Mets fan, I have learned to not count them out even when they are at their worst. Is Atlanta going to make or win the World Series? Probably not. But will they be a threat in the postseason? Absolutely.
The 2024 MLB season has officially come to an end, they always go by so fast. This years’ MLB Playoffs are going to be interesting, there are a lot of new teams in the mix this year and just like every year, you have absolutely no idea who is going to come out on top.
