Divisional Series Matchups Set to Begin

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The Wild Card Series has come and gone, and it is now time for the Divisional Rounds for the MLB Playoffs. All four divisional rounds will begin on Saturday and here are how the matchups will look.

 

            Texas Rangers vs. Baltimore Orioles: Texas is coming off a fairly easy two game sweep over the Tampa Bay Rays. Baltimore is coming off one of its best years in franchise history in which they won 101 games. They are led by their young superstars, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. They will be without All-Star close Felix Bautista who recently underwent Tommy John surgery. Games 1 and 2 of this series will be played on Saturday and Sunday. Texas will have Andrew Heaney (10-6, 4.15 ERA) on the mound in Game One. Baltimore will have their ace, Kyle Bradish (12-7, 2.83 ERA) on the mound in what should be an exciting matchup.

            Minnesota Twins vs. Houston Astros: Minnesota is coming off their first playoff series victory in 21 years. What’s their reward for that? They get to face the reigning World Series champion, Houston Astros. The Astros are coming off a down year of sorts for their standards in which they only won 90 games, but that was still good enough to win the AL West. They went out and got their ace Justin Verlander at the trade deadline and Verlander (13-8, 3.22 ERA) will be on the mound for Houston. Minnesota will give the ball to Bailey Ober (8-6, 3.43 ERA)

            Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves: The reigning NL champion Phillies, will travel to Atlanta to take on the best team in baseball, the Atlanta Braves. The Braves have the NL MVP favorite, Ronald Acuna Jr. and the MLB homerun leader, Matt Olson. Philly is led by its high-powered offense with guys like Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Byce Harper. This matchup took place in the divisional round last year and Philadelphia took the series in four games. These two division rivals played 13 times this season with the Braves winning eight out of the thirteen matchups. Philadelphia will have left-hander Ranger Suarez (4-6, 4.18 ERA) on the mound in Game One. Atlanta will trot out their flame-throwing righty Spencer Strider (20-5, 3.86 ERA) in what is probably the most anticipated playoff matchup in the last couple of years.

            Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: Arizona is coming off their wild card series sweep in which they won both games in comeback fashion. They will be going up against their division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers took the season series 8-5 over the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers are led by their two MVP hopefuls, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. There are injury concerns surrounding the Dodgers, as they do not have very much healthy and experienced pitching for this playoff run. Arizona will give the ball to Merrill Kelly (12-8, 3.29 ERA) and he will be opposed by the future first ballot hall-of-famer, Clayton Kershaw (13-5, 2.46 ERA) One thing to note is that Kershaw has notoriously been bad in the postseason. His career postseason numbers are 13-12, 4.22 ERA. It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers pitching holds up.

Sources

image (1080×606) (clutchpoints.com)


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