2018 MLB Playoffs

The Oakland Athletics had a great season, defying expectations to take a close second place in a division dominated by the Houston Astros. They clinched a postseason berth Sep. 24 by beating the Seattle Mariners 7-3, while the Yankees eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-1 win in Tampa. A’s left fielder Khris Davis hit his 46th home run, the most in MLB, adding to his 100+ RBIs and .249 batting ...

The National League was a horse race. It was a near tie between the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies managed to overcome and take the playoffs with a 5-2 win over Washington. This is their second postseason appearance in a row after losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-8 in last year’s Wild Card Game. There is a lot of hope...

No one was surprised when the Cleveland Indians clinched the AL Central division Sep. 15 with a 15-0 win over the Detroit Tigers. Their division is generally weaker than others, and the Tribe was able to easily clinch despite the weakest record of the top three teams in the American League. This is the Indian’s third straight division title, having lost the World Series to the Chicago Cubs in 2016 and...

The Atlanta Braves really came out of nowhere this year. They are a young team who used that to their advantage to edge out the Washington Nationals and clinch the NL East for the first time since 2013 with a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies Sep. 22. 2013 was also their last playoff appearance, lasting only one round against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their youth and exceptional pitching is wha...

Ah, the Boston Red Sox. They have been good for pretty much this whole century. After winning the World Series in 2004, 2007 and 2013 they clinched the AL East for the third time in a row by beating the New York Yankees 11-6 Sep. 20. But now the Sox are even better than before. This season has been the best ever for the Bosox, winning 108 games out of 162 and easily taking the division title. Taki...

How about those Brewers? They are probably the most improved team from last year, giving the Chicago Cubs a run for their money in the NL Central race and beating them 3-1 in the tiebreaker game Oct. 1 for their first division title since 2011. Milwaukee made all the right moves to get to the postseason, including, but not limited to: signing center fielder Lorenzo Cain from the Kansas City Royals, se...

Sweeping the Cleveland Indians in three games could not have been easy, yet the Astros did it. Game one was started by Justin Verlander, who no-hit the Indians through five innings. Home runs by center fielder George Springer, second baseman Jose Altuve, third baseman Alex Bregman and catcher Martin Maldonado powered up the offense for a 7-2 win. Three days later, in game three, the ‘Stros hammer...

The Dodgers-Brewers National League Championship Series was extremely memorable and exciting. There were plenty of tensions and nail-biting moments throughout the seven games. The Dodgers lost game one 6-5 due to a home run off Clayton Kershaw by pitcher Brandon Woodruff, but won game two 4-3 thanks to a two-run homer by third baseman Justin Turner. The Brewers shut out LA 4-0 in game three, and t...

The Dodgers did extremely well in the NLDS. They shut out the Braves in the first two games at Dodger Stadium, then had a few clutch hits in game four to overcome a game three Braves win. Shortstop Manny Machado hit a three-run home run and an RBI double in that game, batting in four of the six runs. Game two, however, was carried by Clayton Kershaw, who pitched for eight innings and gave up only ...