prettyemmy / CC
It’s my Parting Shot for the first of three days worth of The Fearless Predictor – prognosticating on three different sports…..
Today it’s baseball and the Major League playoffs. Let me say, first off, this isn’t a prediction – but something that I would like to see happen! That would be an all-Chicago World Series between the Cubs and the White Sox! That would be so cool, in my humble opinion. Two franchises that don’t have great winning traditions and histories, but both in the same post-season. This is only the fourth time that’s happened, but it will be a massive upset for them to meet in the World Series as they did in 1906 – when the ChiSox won – because both are wild-card teams and need to win nine games to get to the Fall Classic!
Who will get there? T-F-P starts by looking at the wild-card best-of-threes starting today.
In the American League, I can’t even pick Chicago to beat Houston. The Astros will win in two straight games – led by potential M-V-P Yordan Alvarez. The second A-L wild-card will go the way of the Yankees in three games – even though I would really like to see Boston knock them off in the best rivalry match-up of the opening round. In my mind, the Yanks have the pitching advantage!
In the National League, I’m taking Philadelphia to oust Atlanta in three games. The Phillies have a dangerous line-up that, if they get hot at the plate, can overcome whatever pitching deficiencies they may have. In the other series, I’m going against the Chicago team again as I think San Diego has the better all-around group than the Cubs. The Padres will advance with two straight victories!
From there, the baseball post-season utilizes a bracket that doesn’t shuffle match-ups based on end of regular-season seeding. For instance, should sixth seeded Philly beat Atlanta in the wild-card round, they don’t go up against top-seeded Milwaukee in the L-D-S round, but face the second-seeded L-A Dodgers. That will be an advantage for the Phillies, who I see advancing to the N-L Championship Series against Milwaukee where their run will end against the Brewers. In the American League, Houston will get past Cleveland and Tampa Bay will eliminate the Yankees – leading to the Rays topping the Astros in the American League Championship Series.
In the end, The Fearless Predictor is predicting the Brewers will bring a World Series title to Milwaukee for the first time since Hank Aaron and the Braves defeated the Yankees in 1957. This time, it’ll be the Brewers in five games over Tampa Bay!
We’ll see!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
