MLB Playoffs 2020!!

[Number1ChanseyFan]

It's that time of the year again, baseball fans, its that time of the year again, time for the playoffs!! I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect with everything going on this year with the virus, empty stadiums, I didn't know if we were gonna have any games, or if we did, would it even matter? Would it feel the same? I think it's safe to say that, yeah it's different... but the butterflies are still there, I'm soooooo excited to get another shot at breaking our 72 year old curse. It's gonna be harder for sure with the extra round thrown in, but it's still gonna be awesome for whoever comes out on top in this crazy season!! So... who are you rooting for to win it all this year? Who do you think is going to win? And... who do you wish October misery (*cough* Astros *cough* Cubs) on? I gotta think that the Dodgers are probably the favorites... I am hopeful for the Indians, but we are only gonna go as far as our fickle offense will let us. We have the starting rotation to do it, and a bullpen with potential. (and some inconsistencies) Our bottom 3-4 spots in the lineup have been somewhat of a black hole the entire year though... they are either gonna have to run into some luck, or else the top half will have to continue to do the heavy lifting... hard to believe in this crazy new format, by the time we are going to bed tomorrow night, some of us may already be on to the next round, and others will have already had their dreams crushed...

My 1st round picks to win are: Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Minnesota, Oakland, LA, San Diego, Miami, and Cincinnati.

Happy October!!

~American League Wild Card Series~

#8 Blue Jays (0-2)

#1 Rays (2-0)

#5 Yankees (2-0)

#4 Indians (0-2)

#6 Astros (2-0)

#3 Twins (0-2)

#7 White Sox (1-2)

#2 Athletics (2-1)

~National League Wild Card Series~

#8 Brewers (0-2)

#1 Dodgers (2-0)

#5 Cardinals (1-2)

#4 Padres (2-1)

#6 Marlins (2-0)

#3 Cubs (0-2)

#7 Reds (0-2)

#2 Braves (2-0)

~American League Division Series~

Yankees (2-3)

Rays (3-2)

Astros (3-1)

Athletics (1-3)

~National League Division Series~

Padres (0-3)

Dodgers (3-0)

Marlins (0-3)

Braves (3-0)

~American League Championship Series~

Astros (3-4)

Rays (4-3)

~National League Championship Series~

Braves (3-4)

Dodgers (4-3)

~World Series~

Rays (2-4)

Dodgers (4-2)

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Good pitching was mostly the story for day 1, except for the implosion by likely Cy Young winner Shane Bieber against New York... Tampa Bay and Chicago White Sox took no hitters into the late innings and won their games... and a bullpen meltdown extended Minnesota's MLB record postseason losing streak to 17, which is apparently a record for any professional sports team... Cleveland has now upped their streak to 7 in a row... Everyone plays tomorrow, and Toronto, Cleveland, Oakland, and Minnesota already find themselves with their backs to the wall.

[Drago]

Just happy for the Jays to have even made the postseason this year, really. Expectations weren't that high.

Good progress for this young core.

[Fett One]

My team (Phillies) didn't make it, so I don't care who goes on to win.

[Knight of Time]

Well, even though I'm surprised the Blue Jays are in, I can imagine they're gonna be the only lower seeded AL team that will not pull off an upset (I'm going for the Yankees in their series with Cleveland, sorry Christen! I'm also predicting Houston and Chicago will advance as well). They need more work to make a deep playoff run, which I doubt will happen this year, so sorry Drago and any other Blue Jays fans here.

Other than that, I'm honestly unsure how the NL playoffs will go, but I'd be surprised if the Dodgers end up falling short of a championship once again. This could be their year to win it all, though.

Edit: Bye bye Blue Jays and Twins.

[Drago]

Thought maybe they could steal one with Ryu considering game 1 was fairly close, but a quick playoff appearance is better than none at all.

[Knight of Time]

Thought maybe they could steal one with Ryu considering game 1 was fairly close, but a quick playoff appearance is better than none at all.

Yeah, I had a strong feeling they would be out this quickly.

And now Cleveland's out too...sorry Christen! Better luck next year.

Edit: The Atlanta Braves have eliminated the Cincinnati Reds, winning game 2 by a score of 5-0. The Braves now await either the Miami Marlins or Chicago Cubs.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Well... that was another gut-wrenching October that ended far too early for Cleveland... That one really hurt... I thought things were looking up in that last game when we jumped out 4-0... but it just wasn't meant to be... not gonna win games walking 12 batters, and the 9 runs was an impressive output for our anemic offense... I thought we had a better chance, but New York exploited our pitching with a perfect approach... It's definitely disappointing, as the rebuild is likely around the corner... Minnesota and Chicago both look like better bets in the near future... we never came close after that magical run in 2016...it still hurts thinking about 2016... and just like 2016, Aroldis Chapman was the winning pitcher when our season ended, and he also got the save against us in our 2017 elimination... So, Cleveland now has an 8 game postseason losing streak, they have lost the last 10 postseason games in which they faced elimination, and even if they had somehow survived Game 2, they would have had to conquer a 1-7 record (including losing the last 7 in a row) in sudden death Postseason games. I really wonder if I will ever get to see them win it all...

Other things:

6 out of 8 series ended with 2 game sweeps, most of which weren't very competitive... Minnesota now has a professional sports record 18 consecutive postseason losses... even though they are a divisional rival, I was hoping they would shut up the cheating Astros... Tampa Bay quickly disposed of the Toronto/Buffalo Blue Jays... and the Yankees will probably find them much more challenging than Cleveland... Cincinnati not only got swept in 2 games, they failed to score a run their entire postseason, even though they got 4 extra inning in Game 1!! Nice outing by former Indian Trevor Bauer though... that outing sure would have looked nice in Cleveland... Clayton Kershaw finally didn't choke in a playoff game, still plenty of time though!! The Marlins played the Cubs, ironically a matchup of the last 2 teams to defeat the Cleveland Indians in extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series... it was still nice to see the Cubs eliminated quickly. Miami, even though they have never finished a season in 1st place, have still never lost a postseason series, taking all 7 so far.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I like playing Pesäpallo, it's the Finnish version of Baseball. One of the differences is that in Pesäpallo the pitcher is closer to the batter. Too bad my perceiving skills are pathetic so I never manage to hit the ball.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Well, we have our 2020 World Series set... I'm just happy that the Astros and Cubs are gone, as well as the Yankees... I don't really have much preference for who wins this series, kinda just hoping for really good games and hopefully a full 7 game series!!

[Drago]

I have nothing but apathy for both of these teams. Real disappointed with this matchup, just as I was for the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals.

Hopefully the Super Bowl will yield an underdog darling to root for.