October is Here, and so is the MLB Postseason
Written By: Alexander Lawson
10/08/18
The 2018 Regular Season has finally ended, the reigning champion Astros took the second seed in the American League Bracket and hosted the Cleveland Indians for the first two game of American Division League Series (ALDS) and after taking both they travel to Cleveland for game 3 of the series with the hopes to sweep the Tribe and advance the American League Championship Series (ALCS) for a back to back attempt at the World Series. Game 1 was all Astros after the first three innings when Alex Bregman picked up where he left off last season when he took reigning AL Cy Young deep in the bottom of the fourth, and when 2017 World Series MVP went back to back with AL MVP candidate Jose Altuve. The Indians were stymied by veteran pitcher Justin Verlander. Game two was a closer battle and started when franchise face, Francisco Lindor took corner painter Gerrit Cole for a solo shot in the third. However, that would be the only blemish on Cole’s line for the whole night. Cole struckout 12 and allowed a total of three hits to the Indians, but gained a lot of supports from the postseason hero himself, Alex Bregman, and from super utility man, Marwin Gonzalez, who went 4 for 4 with the go-ahead two run double in the seventh inning. Game three heads to the Land on Monday night and features a pitching duel between former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel for the ‘stros, and former bullpen prodigy Mike Clevinger for the tribe.
After a close race towards the end of September for the Wild Card in the American League, the New York Yankees took the first card and bested the Oakland Athletics 7-2 and advanced to the ALDS against the first place seed team and long time rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
The Yankees lost Game 1 to the masterful pitching by Cy Young candidate Chris Sale. but evened it up for Game 2 against David Price behind the power of reigning AL Rookie of the Year Aaron Judge and young slugger Gary Sanchez and head back to the Bronx for a matchup between Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino.
The AL sounds intense enough, but the National League (NL) ended with two regular season tiebreakers on the 163rd game of the season. The first of two was for the NL West crown and featured a battle between the reigning National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the comeback kid Colorado Rockies. The Rockies took the loss on day 163 but don’t fret they returned later on. The second wildcard was for the 1st seed in the National League between the power heavy Milwaukee Brewers and the all around deep Chicago Cubs. The Brewers came out on top and sent the Cubs to the Wild Card game on the Chicago soil. The Dodgers took their NL West crown and headed right back to Cally and awaited the Braves who were well rested and ready for Game 1 against the South Korean Southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu. The Braves arrived to Dodger stadium and apparently forgot their bats as Ryu bested the Braves for seven three hit innings while walking none, striking out eight and allowing no Brave to cross home plate. The Dodgers of course needed offense to make Ryu’s start worthwhile and the former NL champs brought it with an early three run blast from their breakout infielder Max Muncy. Game two was a lot of the same, the heavily awarded lefty blanked the Braves and ended the night with a line of eight innings, no runs, two hits, three strikeouts and threw 63 of his 85 pitches for strikes. The Dodgers mustered three runs between a homer from Trade Deadline acquisition Manny Machado and switch hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal. The Braves returned home Sunday night and started off like a team wanting to win, the rookie prodigy Walker Buehler hurled for the Dodgers and was escorted out of the building after the Braves exploded for five runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Braves weren’t able to hold onto the lead and the Dodgers brought it back in the third and fifth and left the score at five a piece, NL MVP candidate and Brave’s tenured first baseman Freddie Freeman didn’t like that, so he took the Dodger’s deep in the bottom of fifth which allowed the Braves to win 6-5 and force a fourth game at Suntrust Park.
The Final set of contenders are between the Rockies and the Brewers. The Brewers won their tiebreaker against the cubbies and headed back to Miller Park awaiting the winner of the Wild Card game. The Wild Card was played between the losers of the 163 day tiebreakers-the Cubs and Rockies. The Cubs held onto the NL Central lead for a the better part of the season but lost ahold of it on the last day of the season and ended up in the Wild Card 1 slot. The Chi-Town club awaitied the game between the Rockies and Dodgers for the NL West title, for they would play the loser in the best of one game to decide the fourth place seed in the National League. The Rockies took the loss against the Dodgers and traveled to Wrigley with a mission to continue their season. The stage was set for a duel of southpaws in young lefty Kyle Freeland, and veteran ride armer Jon Lester. The Rockies struk first when the leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon started off with a walk, then second baseman DJ LeMahieu bounced one into the famous Wrigley ivy for a ground rule double and set the stage for the Rockies best hitter in Nolan Arenado. Arenado launched a fly ball into the outfield and drove in Blackmon for the rox first run. Chicago wouldn’t answer against Kyle Freeland and didn’t conjure any offense until the eighth when hot hitting Javy Baez tied the score at one run a piece with a double into left field. The score carried into extras until Tony Wolters, a waiver claim from Cleveland got a plate appearance after entering the game as a part of a double switch. Wolters drove in Trevor Story on a two strike hit in the top of the thirteenth giving the Rockies the lead. The cubby story came to an end in the bottom of the inning when Scott Oberg struck out the side and gave the Rockies the win in the longest win-or-go-home game in MLB history.
The Rockies excitement was short lived after they exited the NLDS with their heads below their shoulders due to the weight of the 0-3 series sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Rox put up a solid effort against the National League’s best team, they took the Brew Crew into the tenth inning before losing from a walk off. Game two was worse as the Denver reps took an embarrassing 0-4 loss and forfeited the luxury of comfort. Game three was the final nail in the coffin and it had to happen at Coors field. The Brewers tagged the Rockies hottest starter-German Marquez and company for three long balls at the mile high stadium and secured the win behind the shutout effore of Wade Miley, Corey Knebel, Joakim Soria, Corbin Burnes, Jeremy Jeffress, and Josh Hader and secured a trip to the NLCS for the first time since 2011.