MLB LDS Preview and Predictions

I will start out by saying that Baseball is almost impossible to predict but with that said I will try my best. The Toronto Blue Jays are heavy favorites in the American League and in the National League you really have no clear cut favorite, I think the St. Louis Cardinals would have been if they weren't so injured.  I will start with the American League and then move to the National League.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers kick off the LDS matchups on Thursday afternoon.  The Blue Jays were on fire the last 45 games or so of the regular season and I don't really see that changing now.  The Texas Rangers also got hot at the end of the season but it was really in September and not as hot as the Blue Jays.  I see the Blue Jays winning this series behind David Price and great offense in four games.  I wouldn't be shocked though if the Blue Jays swept them. 

The other matchup has the young and energetic Houston Astros against the young Kansas City Royals who are now experienced going through it last year in their run to the World Series.  I think the Astros are good especially behind Dallas Keuchel but he pitched the one game playoff against the Yankees and will only be able to start once in this series and later in the series so that is a disadvantage.  The Astros probably have a little better hitters and definitely more power but I will say the Royals will win this series in four games. 

The National League has a great Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets matchup.  This series will feature tons of pitching and I think the Mets are very good but they just won't be able to get past Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke plus the Dodgers have been here every year for the last couple of years and the Mets are new to this whole thing called the postseason.  I will say the Dodgers win this series in four or five. 

The St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Chicago Cubs is also an intriguing matchup.  I would have picked the Cardinals but with them being so banged up I am not sure.  I am going to go with the Chicago Cubs who could make a run and make the city of Chicago really go crazy plus Back to the Future II picked the Cubs to win the World Series this year.  Have fun and enjoy the baseball that all kicks off on Thursday afternoon.   

The New York Yankees season ends quietly with a shutout loss in the Wild Card game

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York and the final score was 3-0 Houston.  Masahiro Tanaka started and he pitched ok but gave up two homeruns.  The Yankees bullpen was good but the offense only managed three singles. 

Tanaka pitched five innings giving up two runs on four hits.  He walked three and struck out three.  Justin Wilson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk, Dellin Betances pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a walk and four strikeouts and Andrew Miller pitched an inning striking out two batters. 

Dallas Keuchel pitched six innings giving up three hits and no runs.  He walked one and struck out seven.  Tony Sipp pitched an inning with a walk and a strikeout, Will Harris pitched a perfect inning and Luke Gregerson pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. 

Chris Young drew a walk, Carlos Beltran had a hit and Chase Headley drew a walk.  Greg Bird had a hit, Didi Gregorius had a hit and the Yankees were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. 

Jose Altuve had a hit and an RBI, George Springer had a hit and Colby Rasmus had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Carlos Gomez had a hit and an RBI, Luis Valbuena had a hit and Chris Carter drew three walks.  Jason Castro drew a walk, Springer hit a double and Rasmus and Gomez each hit a homerun.  The Astros were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Villar and Altuve each had a stolen base. 

In the second Rasmus hit a solo homerun to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Gomez hit a solo homerun to extend the lead to 2-0 Astros.  The Astros completed the scoring in the seventh on an RBI single from Altuve.  The final score was 3-0 and the Astros will head to Kansas City to face the Royals in the ALDS beginning on Thursday night.  The Yankees season comes to an end as they lick their wounds and try to find out what went wrong in a season that was so good for so long but ended bad and culminated with this loss. 

New York Mets win their final game of the regular season

The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.  The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York and the final score was 1-0.  Jacob deGrom started for the Mets and pitched four strong innings and the bullpen used six guys to get some work in and they were all good.  Curtis Granderson led the offense with three hits. 

deGrom pitched four innings giving up two walks and he struck out seven.  Bartolo Colon pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Logan Verrett pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts and Jon Niese pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit.  Addison Reed pitched to one batter and struck him out, Tyler Clippard won his fifth game of the season pitching a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts and Jeurys Familia saved his 43rd game of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit with a strikeout. 

Tanner Roark pitched six innings giving up three hits and no runs with a walk and six strikeouts.  Sammy Solis pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one and Blake Treinen lost his fifth game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit, a run and a walk. 

Granderson had three hits and an RBI, David Wright drew a walk and Yoenis Cespedes had a hit.  Travis d'Arnaud drew a walk, Michael Conforto had a hit and Granderson and Cespedes each hit a double.  Granderson hit a homerun and the Mets were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. 

Bryce Harper had a hit, Clint Robinson had a hit and Ian Desmond drew a walk.  Michael Taylor drew a walk, Harper hit a double and the Nationals were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Desmond had a stolen base. 

In the eighth inning Granderson hit a solo homerun for the only run of the game as the Mets held on for a 1-0 victory.  The Mets will be heading to the postseason and taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers in L.A. beginning on Friday night.  It will be a best of five NLDS series as the Washington Nationals head home after a very disappointing season.   

The New York Yankees lose regular season finale but still secure home field for wild card game

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.  The game took place at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland and the final score was 9-4 Orioles.  Michael Pineda started and didn't pitch great, the bullpen used a lot of guys and wasn't good either.  Carlos Beltran led the offense with three hits and three other players had two hits each. 

Pineda pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up six hits and four runs with no walks and five strikeouts.  He lost his 10th game of the season.  Chris Capuano pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk, Bryan Mitchell pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and two runs with two walks and James Pazos pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts.  Andrew Bailey pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk, Branden Pinder pitched an inning giving up a hit and Justin Wilson pitched to one batter and struck him out.  Andrew Miller pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a run and a walk and Caleb Cotham pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run. 

Chris Tillman pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and two runs with four walks and five strikeouts.  Tillman won his 11th game of the season.  T.J. McFarland pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs, Brad Brach pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and Darren O'Day pitched an inning with a strikeout.  Zach Britton pitched an inning striking out one. 

Alex Rodriguez drew two walks, Beltran had three hits and drew a walk and Brian McCann had a hit.  Greg Bird had two hits and an RBI, Chase Headley drew a walk and Dustin Ackley had two hits and two RBI.  Didi Gregorius had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Bird and Gregorius each hit a double and Ackley and Gregorius each hit a triple.  The Yankees were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.  Ellsbury had an outfield assist. 

Nick Reimold had a hit and drew two walks, Gerardo Parra had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Manny Machado drew a walk.  Chris Davis had three hits, four RBI and drew a walk, Matt Wieters had two hits and two RBI and Steve Pearce drew a walk.  Steve Clevenger had a hit, J.J. Hardy had two hits and an RBI and Ryan Flaherty had a hit.  Davis, Wieters, Flaherty and Hardy each hit a double.  Davis hit two homeruns and the Orioles were 4-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. 

In the first Wieters hit a two run single to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.  In the second Ackley hit an RBI ground out to cut the lead to 2-1 Orioles.  In the fourth Hardy hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 and a Parra two run single made it 5-1.  In the fifth Davis hit a two run homerun to extend the lead to 7-1 Orioles.  Gregorius hit an RBI triple in the sixth to cut the lead to 6-2 and Bird hit an RBI single to make it 7-3.  Ackley hit into a force out to score a run and get the Yankees to 7-4 but that was as close as they would come.  In the eighth Davis hit another two run homerun to make it 9-4 Orioles and that was the final score.  The Orioles swept the three game series and the Yankees finished the regular season losing six out of seven games.  They will have off on Monday and play at home on Tuesday night in the AL wild card game against the Houston Astros.  It will be Masahiro Tanaka on the mound against Dallas Keuchel.  The winner of that game will move on to the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals starting on Thursday night in K.C.