Although football has rapidly become the most popular sport in the United States, baseball is America’s pastime and will forever hold a special place in each and every American’s heart.
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“For me, I would take the Toronto Blue Jays”, Fox Sports analyst C.J. Nitkowski said.
Yes, the Toronto Blue Jays, led by the trio of Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion bashed their way to the top of these rankings. It would certainly bring something special to the city of New York to see these two teams when the lights are brightest.
In terms of plate discipline, it’s the Blue Jays and then everybody else. Again and again, the playoff system is flawed and needs to be changed.
LC: Bracing for the onslaught of sudden, long-suffering Cubs fans who were not Cubs fans the week before. And Mets fans think they have it bad. Through solid pitching, lethal hitting, and an impressive hot streak, Toronto finished the year atop the AL East with a final regular-season record of 93-69. They argue the drama and despair actually highlights the beauty of baseball’s long, slow, freight train of a season. He has been a force for the Cubs in the second half of the 2015 season. This will be an old-school battle of epic proportions.
Following Kershaw will be Zack Greinke, the man who will probably will take the Cy Young Award from his teammate this year. A 2009 analysis from Baseball Prospectus found basically no correlation between how well teams played in the run-up to the postseason, and whether or not they made it past the first round of the playoffs.
In the West division, the Houston Astros were baseball’s darling of 2015. Cardinals, 2. Pirates, 3. It would appear to be a low-scoring, nail-biting affair in the single-elimination matchup in Pittsburgh.
Reggie Jackson used to be called Mr. October because his bat came alive in the World Series, and the World Series would be starting right about now.
Mets vs. DodgersBy Michael Thompson, Deputy Sports EditorCall it hometown bias, but no series captures my attention more than the NLDS between the Mets and Dodgers. Can the Royals handle the burden of great expectations and make it back to the World Series? Few left-side infield combos have more fun that Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre (here’s your reminder). The Rangers will rely on the play of third baseman Adrian Beltre to lead them at bat.
Upping the Camera ComplementESPN’s 34-camera complement will include four Sony HDC-4300 4K/high-speed cameras (two running at 360 fps, two at 240 fps), which were standard on Sunday Night Baseball shows this season, as well as an NAC/Ikegami Hi-Motion II unit added specifically for the Wild Card Game.
The National league will be represented by division champions Los Angeles Dodgers, the Saint Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets, while the wild-card game will feature the Chicago Cubs taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates. This year, they surprised absolutely no one by being the best team in the American League all season long.
With several tough teams in this year’s postseason, it will be interesting to see which will prevail. The only team to top them was the team that beat them in the NL Central Division, the St. Louis Cardinals. And it’s not like the Chicago National League entry hasn’t been there before, having participated in seven playoff series over the last 31 seasons following a near 40-year postseason drought. The Cardinals will advance to their third World Series since 2011.
Two teams with divergent styles. Well, perhaps it isn’t possible but I am going to take a crack at it (no pun intended). If you want to go with Felipe’s numbers, then it’s definitely the Cubs and Astros, with the Cubs finally winning their first title since 1908.
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Granted, we can’t get anything to that extent, but the Astros lost 111 games just two seasons ago. Remember, the Royals hadn’t previously seen the postseason since 1985.
