MLB Playoffs

The dramatics from the previous round seem to be missing from the MLB championship series.

The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets have leaped out to dominant leads and find themselves a win away from capturing a pennant and securing a trip to the World Series. It is a long way from the division series round when three of the four series went to a deciding fifth game.

With the Wild Card Games and division series fading in the rearview and the American and National League Championship Series churning toward completion, we've reached roughly the halfway point of the 2015 MLB playoffs.

Let's take this opportunity to pause, exhale and appreciate the best personal performances we've witnessed thus far—specifically by creating a mid-postseason All-Star team.

After spotting the Kansas City Royals two games in the American League Championship Series, the Toronto Blue Jays returned home for a three-game set at Rogers Centre. The two American League finalists are in the middle of a three-games-in-three-days set that could ultimately decide which team represents the AL in the World Series.

Replay in baseball will make everything better, they said. It will help eliminate controversy, they said.

Well, Major League Baseball has had expanded replay for two years now. And though the system has indeed done its share of good, what we're seeing this postseason is baseball going through its own "tuck rule" moment.

You remember the tuck rule, right? You know. 2002 NFL divisional playoff game. Oakland Raiders vs. New England Patriots. Tom Brady. Charles Woodson. Snow-globe setting. Anything?

The New York Mets started off the National League Championship Series with a bang, riding dominant pitching in Games 1 and 2 at Citi Field to a 2-0 series lead. 

The series shifted to Chicago and Wrigley Field Tuesday night, but the hometown Cubs had their hands full with Mets ace Jacob deGrom. After giving up a home run in the first inning, deGrom morphed back into his normal self—the one who's nearly impossible to hit.

The New York Mets are one win away from advancing to World Series for the first time since 2000, and in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series the squad will be calling on yet another rising ace.

After the trio of Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom hammered the Chicago Cubs in the first three games of the set, Steven Matz will be looking to slam the door on the NL wild-card winners.

With the season on the line, the Cubs will call on Jason Hammel, who didn't even make it through the fourth frame in his lone outing during the NL Division Series.

The New York Mets took a 3-0 National League Championship Series lead and moved to within one win of their first World Series appearance since 2000 with Tuesday night's 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

You can't be any more locked in than Daniel Murphy is right now. 

In the top of the third inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday night, the New York Mets second baseman hit his fifth home run in as many games, which tied an MLB record, according to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi.

The American League Championship Series, as advertised, has showcased a potent, high-scoring offense. The surprise? It's been the Kansas City Royals, not the Toronto Blue Jays, who've done the bulk of the mashing.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals combined for 19 runs in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday. The Royals did all the slugging on their own in Tuesday's Game 4, a dominant 14-2 victory that gave them a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Kansas City is now one win away from its second consecutive World Series appearance.