If you're a fan of upsets in the NCAA March Madness, you should be a fan of the Division round of the 2022 MLB Playoffs. In the National League, we had the 115 win Los Angeles Dodgers vs the San Diego Padres, and the Philadelphia Phillies vs defending World Series Champs Atlanta Braves. Over in the American League it was the Houston Astros vs Seattle Mariners, and the New York Yankees vs the Cleveland Guardians or whatever the fuck you want to call them.
The Padres were able to show that their trade deadline moves were able to pay off. Saturday night, punctuated by the 5-3 victory that eliminated the mighty Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Division Series Juan Soto who struggled for the first months he was in San Diego, became quite possibly the biggest midseason acquisition in baseball history, produced the game-tying hit and later came around to score in the five-run seventh inning that produced an epic comeback. Josh Hader, who also struggled at first coming over to San Diego, was able to close out the 9th in the deciding game to send the Padres to their first NLCS since 1998. It must be tough to be a Dogders fan, experience so much success throughout the regular season, acquire big name players at the trade deadline throughout the last few season, to only fall short in the playoffs again. I am not counting the Mickey Mouse Covid World Series, thats just an LA thing (talking to you Lebron).
Phillies vs the Braves was electric. No lead is truly comfortable against the Atlanta Braves, but the Philadelphia Phillies are just like the Padres, making quick work of the Braves like I make quick work out of a 12 pack of Miller Lite. Bryce Harper playing with a torn UCL and having a supporting cast of Kyle Schwarber J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, and Jean Seguara who has excelled in his first post season series.
Houston took down the Mariners in 3 games, but Seattle has a bright future led by their young superstar Julio Rodriguez. The Astros enter their 6th ALCS in 10 seasons since joining the American League, but they cheat so its whatever. With that being said, Yordan Alavrez is extremely fun to watch.
Yankees vs Cleveland has been the only series to go the full 5 games and it has been a great series. The Yankees offense has struggled from their big sluggers Judge and Stanton, but they finally got to see their big money pitcher Gerrit Cole shove in his two starts in games 1 & 4. Nestor Cortes locked up game 5 on 3 days rest as Stanton and Judge both go deep. Yanks take game 5 with a score of 5-1 and move on to face the Astros.
Championship Series Predictions:
Phillies beat the Padres 4-2
Yankees beat the Astros 4-3
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