I love baseball. Over the past few years, I've watched mostly just my team (the née Indians), which is closer to how I watch college sports as opposed to pro sports. But since the Indians fell out of contention fairly early this season, I turned to looking for matches between playoff-ish teams. So I got to watch a lot more of the good teams than I've seen in a while. I love baseball.
AL
Good: Rays (they're just good, man, at all phases, not overpowering just better day in day out than most everyone else), Blue Jays (don't know how they missed the post-season, that lineup is murderous!), Astros (starting to fade but still a lot of talent), White Sox (a solid squad in a floundering division, not bad but perhaps the little brother in this post-season lineup), Yankees (felt like they were overrated and bloated, then suddenly they weren't and now they're dangerous again)
Pretty good: Red Sox (overachieved, this team is the poster for how every game matters, because they somehow finished ahead of two better teams in their division), Mariners (I feel like they overachieved this season, but they may be able to stay ahead of the Astros going forward)
Not bad: A's (still got the good eye for youth, but probably quick to pull the trigger on shipping them out), Guardians (still got pretty good pitching, I think the youth should be better next season; also, they were w/out their coach for most of the season), Angels (well, they got Ohtani and Trout, that's something)
Not good: Tigers (dangerously moving in the wrong direction, feels like they're going to overpay for aging stars rather than actually build for the future), Royals (fun fan base, not much else--dude, these guys won back to back AL pennants not that long ago), Twins (moving in the wrong direction after a few years of moving in the right direction), Rangers (floundering, used to have an eye for youth which seems to be gone now), Orioles (stuck in the wrong division)
NL
Good: Dodgers (they're on the free agent treadmill and for the last few years it's worked out for them but also they've always had a great farm system, this is a good organization and when they have the money they can always make some magic), Giants (well, honestly, I don't know what happened here, they just keep winning even though they have completely overhauled the winning sides they had earlier in the century, not sure what they're doing but it's working)
Solid above average: Brewers (good not great but they've become reliably good over the years), Braves (Cards-lite: good front offices over the years have kept the success ongoing), Cardinals (arguably the best organization in all of sports?)
Moving in the right direction: Reds (nice batch of youngsters, enough front office savvy to get the right free agents, they could be good next year)
Unpredictable big market squads: Padres, Phillies, Mets (bought into the notion that the only way to win is with buzz-y free agent signings, which will work every once in a while but not with any consistency)
Moving in the wrong direction: Nationals (they won it all, cut bait, only a matter of time before they get back into the stupid money treadmill the big market teams are on), Cubs (man, wtf? Wasn't that long ago that they were young and deep at every position with the right coach and the wonderboy GM, now they're just awful)
Bad: Marlins (no idea what they're doing), Pirates (flailing for decades with brief moments of pleasantness, but not enough), Diamondbacks (stuck in the wrong division)
AL
Yanks @ Red Sox
Well, I mean, the Yankees are the better team, probably playing better right now, too. But the Red Sox have overachieved their way to this point, why can't they just keep overachieving? Meh, I'll take the Yankees.
White Sox @ Astros
The White Sox are on the way up (but aren't really there yet) while the Astros are on the way down (but are still top tier for now). So do the savvy vets take it or the spunky upstarts? I think the Astros have been honed by their recent troubles whereas the White Sox still feel like they're playing with house money. I'll take the Astros in 4.
(Yankees) @ Rays
These two just played and they were fairly evenly matched. But the Rays have the better pitching, which I think goes further in the post-season. I'll take the Rays in 5.
(Astros) @ (Rays)
The Rays are the better team, I think the Astro run ends when going against the Tampa machine. Rays in 6.
NL
Cardinals @ Dodgers
Braves @ Brewers
Coin flip series, two solid squads pretty good at every phase. I'll take the home team. Brewers in 5.
(Dodgers) @ Giants
I'm kinda shocked that MLB doesn't re-rank the teams, because Dodgers-Giants is the match you want in the NL Finals, not the semis. The Dodgers have been dominating lately and stayed dominant all year long but the Giants just win, man, they just win every time they hit the field. The idea that one of these teams isn't gonna make the final is puzzling. I understand why the Dodgers are good and I don't understand why the Giants are good, so my gut is to go with the stars (but I am probably wrong). I'll say Dodgers in 5.
(Dodgers) @ (Brewers)
Not only do the Dodgers need a play-in game, then they'd have to play the #1 team in the Majors, then they still have to go on the road against a team that 11 fewer games (weird system you got there, MLB). I like the Brewers, they're one of those teams that have done it right over the years and I'd love to see them move on. But the Dodgers have done well, too, and they got the bigger stars, which I think will make the difference in the long run. I gotta go Dodgers in 6.
World Series (hmmmm...would the Dodgers be back to home field advantage in the World Series?)
I got a rematch of the 2020 World Series and I'll take the same result. Dodgers in 6. I'm looking forward to all of it. I love baseball. (You know I've generally taken the better team in each series but in baseball the better team is only a 50/50 shot as opposed to most other sports--hey, man, I love baseball)
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