The Major League Baseball playoffs are in the League Championship Series round, so at this point we have a pretty good feel for all the teams and how their games have been played.
There have been plenty of home runs but also plenty of great pitching performances. All in all, the last round and a half of the playoffs are shaping up to be extremely exciting.
The American League Division Series has been dominated by sweeps, with the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays sweeping the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers. On the National League side, the Chicago Cubs broke the even-year streak and beat the San Francisco Giants in four high intensity games, while the Los Angeles Dodgers took the Washington Nationals to the distance.
It would take a Herculean effort from Clayton Kershaw, who came in to close out game five on just one day of rest, for the Dodgers to ultimately prevail.
In the American League Championship Series, the Indians have continued their dominance, shutting down the potent Blue Jay lineup even with their depleted pitching staff. Even without their two best starters from the regular season, they managed to hold the Blue Jays to just three runs total over the first three games of the series.
Andrew Miller has been even more unhittable in the postseason than he was in the regular season, which many did not believe was possible. He has faced 17 batters so far in the series, and he has 13 strikeouts.
In game four, however, the roles reversed, as Aaron Sanchez shut down the Indians, and the Blue Jays bats came alive for the 5-1 victory.
The Blue Jays dream ended Wednesday night, though, after a fourth lose in the seven game series.The Indians are now officially moving on to the World Series.
In the National League, the Cubs are in danger of extending their 108 year World Series Championship drought. The first game of the series went well for them, as they outhit the Dodgers thanks in part to a pinch-hit grand slam by Miguel Montero to seal the deal. The next two games were completely different stories.
In game two, Clayton Kershaw took the mound for the Dodgers against ERA king Kyle Hendricks, and the matchup lived up to the hype. The only run of the entire game came on a second inning home run by Adrian Gonzalez. The Cubs hitters were off balance all night and managed only two hits, which both came in the fifth inning.
Their offensive woes carried into game three, as Rich Hill also shutout the Cubs in six innings of work. Home runs are still king in the playoffs, as there has still been at least one in every game.
The Cubs found redemption in last night’s game four, though, with a landslide 10-2 victory. The teams are now even with two victories a piece. They will face off again on Thursday.
One of the lessons of the playoffs so far, however, is just how dominant the Cleveland Indians are. Similar to the New York Mets last year and the Kansas City Royals two years ago, they were a dark horse that has just gotten hot at the right time, and they rode it to a six game winning streak to start the playoffs.
They are in a great spot to make it to the World Series, and if they do make it they must be considered serious contenders against whichever team they face.
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