The dramatics brought by the opening rounds of Major League Baseball's postseason are a necessary appetizer, but nothing compares to the League Championship Series round.
Four teams remain, and each of them has the opportunity to punch its ticket to the World Series by stringing together four wins. Considering the long-suffering clubs still left standing at this point in October, we're guaranteed to have a special conclusion.
Before thoughts of the World Series can even begin to pop up, though, two magnificent series in the ALCS and NLCS await that will truly tell how this postseason will be remembered. But there's no need to wait, so let's jump right into predictions after we glance at the relevant odds.
2015 MLB Playoff Bracket and Odds
Full postseason schedule available at MLB.com.
Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.
World Series Predictions
When looking into the ALCS picture, it's almost difficult to figure out how these two teams ended up eight wins away from a world title.
While nobody would have been surprised two weeks ago to hear the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals would be squaring off, the same couldn't be said about five days ago. Instead, it seemed like we'd have an all-Texas showdown between the Rangers and Houston Astros.
Alas, the Rangers blew a 2-0 series lead and allowed the Blue Jays to find their mojo late in the series. And Houston folded its series with Kansas City away with a four-run lead late in Game 4, going on to drop the decider.
So, which AL squad has the edge in a still-young series? Considering the ALDS, there's no question it's the Blue Jays.
Toronto's offense, which ranked as the best in baseball by a wide margin during the regular season (891 runs), truly got going late in the divisional round after starting out slow. The Jays amassed 19 runs in a three-game span to clinch the series.
Even if it comes down to pitching, Toronto has the edge with David Price and Marco Estrada. Price is getting the ball next, as MLB noted:
With Price getting his outing out of the way Saturday, he'll be well in line to turn around and be fresh to pitch in a potential Game 5 or 6. It's just hard to see the Royals offense generating enough to outscore Toronto in those situations, leading to a Blue Jays series win in six.
Out in the NL, a long-awaited title run is coming for a rabid fanbase. But unfortunately for the folks in the Windy City, it's not the one that's lasted over 100 years.
The Chicago Cubs' bats are on fire coming out of their series win over the St. Louis Cardinals, the only divisional series that didn't go the full five games. Even more impressive is that it was against the best team in baseball.
But they face a New York Mets squad that will be able to answer the Cubs' X-factor of pitching. Even with Jacob deGrom not immediately available after a Thursday start, the Mets will have the advantage on the mound.
Jake Arrieta is good for a win, as is perhaps Jon Lester, but the Cubs bats won't be able to carry them against hot pitching like they did last round.
That brings us to the World Series that so few could have predicted before the season—Mets and Blue Jays.
In a battle of incredible aces versus an unstoppable offense, who wins? Conventional wisdom would suggest the pitching, but not with these Blue Jays raking at a historic rate. According to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, Toronto is in great company with its 2015 numbers:
The Blue Jays finished with an astounding plus-221 run differential. No one else in the AL was within 110 of them. According to Elias, they're the fifth team in the division-play era with that large a gap over the next-closest team in their league. The other four all reached the World Series. Just the 1995 Indians failed to win it.
With power at multiple levels of their lineup and consistency across the board, there's no reason to believe the Blue Jays can't join that list and keep the offense rolling. I went with the Blue Jays over the Mets at the beginning of October, and neither has shown anything to make me waver from that.
Prediction: Blue Jays over Mets in six games.
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