Dodgers, Rays Move On To Championship Series

Thursday and Friday were deciding days in playoff baseball, which saw the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays move on to the Championship Series round. For Los Angeles, it was a three-game sweep of the young Miami Marlins team, while Tampa Bay went to a decisive Game 5 to continue their Postseason Run. The Dodgers has some great contributions from their star right fielder Mookie Betts, and shortstop Corey Seager, as they went a combined 8 for 23 in the three-game sweep. Though their pitching wasn’t exactly superb, rookie Dustin May threw 3 scoreless innings over two games, and Julio Urias tossed 5 innings of scoreless ball, and struck out 6 in the clinching Game 3.

For Tampa Bay, rookie Mike Brosseau was the hero, as he hit a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the 8th inning off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. This home run would prove to be the deciding factor, as Tampa Bay would stun the Yankees, winning 2-1. The biggest contributor in this Series was an unexpected name, in young outfielder Randy Arozarena. Over the five games he went 8 for 19, which translates to a terrific .421 batting average.

Although the Dodgers have had a 5-0 record thus far in Postseason play this year, and are the clear favorites to move on to the World Series, I believe they will lose to the Braves in the NLCS. With the lack of dominant pitching we saw Los Angeles put up in the NLDS, I foresee this hurting them against the strong Atlanta offense. I trust the Braves starting pitching in Max Fried, Ian Anderson, and Kyle Wright enough to move past this tough Dodgers offense. In the three-game sweep over the Padres, the three aforementioned Atlanta starters had a combined 2.30 ERA, which is incredible considering how young they all are. Atlanta has a formidable offense too, with top NL MVP candidates Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna leading the charge. Their veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been red hot, as he hit .600 in the NLDS, with 3 home runs, and 7 RBIs.

The ALCS will feature two terrific teams, the Houston Astros and the Tampa Bay Rays. I believe that Houston’s unexpected run will end against the scrappy Rays offense. The Astros are terrific offensively with stars like Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Jose Altuve, but I don’t believe in their pitching. The Rays have a solid starting pitching core in Blake Snell, Charlie Morton, and Tyler Glasnow, to go along with a top-level bullpen. These Championship Series matchups will prove to be exciting, as all four squads have clawed their way to get to where they are this season.