MLB Playoff Predictions 2019: Early Projections for World Series Bracket

Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals are the only two teams in the 2019 MLB postseason with a championship in last 10 years. Eight of the 10 teams entered into the postseason have a title drought of longer than a decade or have never won the World Series. Los Angeles Dodgers are viewed as the favorite to advance out of NL. The New York Yankees are looking to end a 10-year absence at the top of baseball. Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and Washington are searching for their first MLB championship.

Tampa Bay will play Oakland in the wild-card game.

Houston will play Tampa Bay in the Divisional Series. New York Yankees will face Minnesota in a Championship Series in 2019.

Tampa Bay will play in the AL Wild Card Game. Tampa Bay is 7-3 in its last 10 games. The A's are 6-4 in that period. Houston will face New York in a best-of-five series. Houston has the better pitching combination. New Yorkers have lost their last three road series to Toronto, Tampa and Texas. They have the fourth-most strikeouts among the 10 playoff participants. Texas has a better team with more pitchers. Minnesota has more hitters. Yankees have more strikeouts.

Washington will play Milwaukee in Tuesday's Wild Card Game. St. Louis will face Los Angeles in the NLCS. Jack Flaherty and Mike Foltynewicz could be the difference-maker in a potential Game 2.  St.Louis has a better record against Atlanta than against Los Angles. The Cardinals could make their first World Series appearance since 2011. They have a 2-4 record versus Atlanta. Dakota Hudson could help them to win the series. He has given up more than three earned runs twice in 89 innings. In 23 road innings in September, he let only one opponent cross the plate.

Cole, Verlander and Greinke are the stars of the Houston Astros. The team has a solid bullpen and a lot of power hitters. It was the only franchise to record 60 home wins and it was 13 games over .500 on its travels.