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Monday was a bittersweet day for baseball fans.
The bitter part was the death of Pete Rose at the age of 83. For all his flaws and transgressions (and God knows there were many), the Cincinnati legend remains the sport’s all-time Hit King and a hero to millions who watched Charlie Hustle will himself into one of the greatest players in history during his 24 big-league seasons — including a brief stint with the Montreal Expos in 1984.
The sweet part was a dramatic end to the regular season. With one National League wild-card spot up for grabs, Atlanta and the New York Mets split their makeup doubleheader to both qualify for the playoffs and knock out reigning NL champion Arizona. Mets star Francisco Lindor hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to give New York an 8-7 win in Game 1 before Atlanta overcame the loss of ace pitcher Chris Sale (back spasms) from his scheduled Game 2 start to take the nightcap 3-0 and grab the last available post-season berth. However, fifth-seeded Atlanta could be without the NL leader in wins, ERA and strikeouts for its first-round matchup against No. 4 seed San Diego.
That series begins today, along with the other three first-round matchups. In the NL, the sixth-seeded Mets take on No. 3 Milwaukee, while in the American League it’s No. 3 Houston vs. No. 6 Detroit and No. 4 Baltimore vs. No. 5 Kansas City.
The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. In the AL, that’s the No. 1-seeded New York Yankees and No. 2 Cleveland. In the NL it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers, who went an MLB-best 98-64 in the regular season, and Philadelphia.
All first-round series are best of three, with the better-seeded team hosting each game. The second round is best of five, while the two League Championship Series and the World Series are all best of seven. Here’s the full bracket and schedule.
And here are some other things to know for the baseball playoffs:
There will be a new champion (again).
The Texas Rangers looked unstoppable last year, going 13-4 in the post-season to capture the first championship in the 62-year history of the franchise. But they stumbled to a 78-84 record this year and missed a wild-card berth by eight games. That means there will be no repeat champion for the 24th consecutive year.
Speaking of droughts, it’s now been eight years since the Toronto Blue Jays won a post-season game. The Jays, who got swept in the opening round in 2020, 2022 and 2023 and didn’t qualify in ’21, finished a disappointing 74-88 despite a fantastic season by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He finished second in the majors in batting average at .323 while hitting 30 home runs with 103 RBIs. Here are some of the questions facing Canada’s only MLB team this off-season.
The Tigers turned into a beast.
Two months ago, Detroit was not behaving like a playoff team in any way. They traded away players at the July 30 deadline, and on Aug. 2 they were 52-59 — 9½ games out of a wild card. But, from Aug. 11 on, the Tigers reeled off the best record in all of baseball to earn their first playoff berth in a decade.
Detroit is anchored by ace lefty Tarik Skubal, the presumptive Cy Young Award winner after leading the AL in wins (18-4), earned run average (2.39) and strikeouts (228).
Another surprise playoff team is Kansas City. The Royals improved by an incredible 30 games from last year, when they went 56-106 to finish second-last overall. K.C. is led by star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who topped the majors in batting (.332) while hitting 32 homers and driving in 109 runs.
Shohei Ohtani is set for his long-awaited post-season debut.
After leaving the moribund Los Angeles Angels for a stunning 10-year, $700-million US offer from the cross-town Dodgers, and then finding out that his interpreter stole nearly $17M from him, the Japanese Babe Ruth put together one of the greatest seasons of all time. Able to focus solely on hitting after an elbow injury forced him off the mound for the year, Ohtani crushed 54 home runs and stole 59 bases (both second in the majors) to become the first member of the 50/50 club. In fact, no other player in baseball history has even had 50 homers and 50 steals in different seasons, let alone the same one.
Ohtani will almost surely win his third MVP award and become just the second player ever (after Frank Robinson) to capture the trophy in both leagues. Now he can add to his incredible year by helping the MLB-best Dodgers to a championship after his six playoff-less years with the Angels.
A marquee World Series matchup could happen — but don’t bet on it.
Unless you’re a fan of another playoff team, a Dodgers-Yankees showdown seems ideal. That matchup, between two of baseball’s most storied franchises, would pit Ohtani against AL MVP front-runner Aaron Judge.
Two years after hitting 62 homers to break Roger Maris’ long-standing AL record, the New York giant clubbed an MLB-high 58 dingers and also led the majors in RBIs with 144. Judge came close to winning the Triple Crown, finishing third in the AL batting race at .322.
Meanwhile, Juan Soto’s first year in the Bronx was a smashing success. He smacked 41 homers as Soto and Judge joined Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris as the only Yankee tandems to reach 40 in the same season.
However, this is baseball. Which means anything can (and often does) happen in the post-season. Nobody saw last year’s Texas-Arizona World Series coming, so don’t be surprised if we end up with Milwaukee-Detroit or something.
In fact, the “favourites” to win the pennant in each league can hardly even be called that. The Yankees and Dodgers each have only a bit better than a 1-in-3 chance of reaching the World Series, according to the current betting lines. So, odds are we’re in for another unpredictable post-season.
