MLB Playoffs: Which Teams Have the Edge in Each Division Series?
After a thrilling wild-card round, the American and National League Division Series are ready. Eight teams will be vying to become the new World Series champions. We will thoroughly analyze every matchup and point out the favorites and underdogs.
The Guardians have a decent starting rotation, but not as good as the Yankees. The Yankees have three potential aces in Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino.
Cleveland's bullpen is overpowering, deep and trustworthy. The Yankees lost Michael King, Chad Green, Ron Marinaccio and Aroldis Chapman for disciplinary reasons. Yankees still have Jonathan Loaisiga, Lucas Luetge, Clarke Schmidt and Lou Trivino.
The Guardians scored three runs in 24 innings against Tampa to win the Wild Card Series. The team has a good offense, but it's not as good as the Yankees'. Aaron Judge is the best player in the lineup.
The Guardians ranked 18th in overall RV. The Yankees finished fourth in the league.
The Astros have too much firepower in their rotation for the Mariners bats to handle. Justin Verlander will start Game 1. The Mariners' rotation is probably better than its rank (18th) in RV- during the regular season indicates.
The Astros' bullpen is very good. The Mariners' relief corps is also very effective. They won the wild-card round. The Astros won Game 2.
Houston has the best offense in baseball. Yordan Álvarez is a top-five hitter in MLB. Seattle's offense is good, but not great. Houston did a nice job against Julio Rodriguez, Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh.
The Astros won 12 of the 19 meetings with Seattle in the regular season. Houston is better all-around.
Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright and Ranger Suárez are the Braves' starters. The Phillies have Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, who will start for them in Game 1. They will have to use their group starters for Games 2 and 3. The team with the better starting staff has the advantage in the NLDS.
The Phillies' relief corps is solid, but they can't compete with the Braves' best-ranked bullpen. The Braves have a lot of players, including Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, Collin McHugh, Tyler Matzek, A.J. Minter, Jackson Stephens, Dylan Lee, Jesse Chavez, Bryce Elder and Jake Odorizzi.
Philadelphia's offense ranked sixth in baseball in RV+ and is very good. Atlanta's is fifth in the league in that category. The Braves have a lot of homegrown talent, including Austin Riley, William Contreras, Vaughn Grissom and Dansby Swanson.
The Braves have the edge in the season series. The bullpen is the difference between the Phillies and Braves.
The Padres' rotation is ranked sixth in RV- and features aces Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. Mike Clevinger will start Game 1 for the Padres. Julio Urías will get the ball in Game 2. The Dodgers have the top-ranked rotation in the RV and have quality names to match or exceed the San Diego rotation.
The Padres' bullpen ranked seventh in RV- during the regular season. The Dodgers' relievers ranked fourth in the league. Dodgers have names like Gonsolin, May, Brusdar Graterol, Chris Martin, Alex Vesia, David Price, Tommy Kahnle, Evan Phillips and Craig Kimbrel.
San Diego's offense is ranked 16th in the MLB. Los Angeles has MLB's third-best offense. Dodgers have Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Trea Turner, Justin Turner and Will Smith.
The Dodgers rank No. 1 in RV+. The Padres are ninth. Los Angeles won the regular season matchup 14-5.
The MLB playoffs are about to begin.
