Louis an ace to start in front of Adam Wainwright and a quality arm behind the year-old veteran. With a stabilized rotation complemented by an above-average lineup and a strong bullpen, the Cardinals should be in the thick of the MLB playoffs race all year. The Chicago White Sox roster already looks great entering the offseason. The only real question is, can Tony La Russa make the right in-game decisions during the postseason. Whereas the AL East is a battle between four playoff-caliber rosters.
Houston faces its own questions this offseason, namely how it fills the void left when Carlos Correa departs, but the remaining talent and presence of Dusty Baker in a thin AL West division push the Astros into the postseason.
The Blue Jays will return a majority of their lineup and rotation next season, with at least one of Robbie Ray or Marcus Semien likely re-signing. A young roster with more experience can win the AL East. Instead, the Rays will hope a few All-Star and elite talents, paired with mixing and matching lead them to success. The Detroit Tigers have the young pitching and the right manager to at least be competitive.
The Atlanta Braves are World Series champions for the first time in 26 years. MLB used a team postseason format during the pandemic-shortened game season a year ago. This season they went back to the usual team format. As a reminder, the three division winners in each league advanced directly to the League Division Series. The non-division winners with the two best records met in the Wild Card Game, with the winner advancing to face the team with the league's best record in the LDS.
TB 5, BOS 0. BOS 14, TB 6. SF 4, LAD 0. LAD 9, SF 2. BOS 6, TB 4 BOS 6, TB 5. Not bad for a team that wasn't even above. In the American League, the drama was high in the wild-card chase, coming down to the final day of the season.
Ultimately, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees got in, setting the stage for a wild-card matchup between two bitter rivals.
More than a few folks at MLB headquarters were salivating over the potential ratings for that showdown. All Rise to the Occasion. The favorites, however, figured to be the Tampa Bay Rays, who were looking to return to the World Series after coming up short against the Dodgers last season.
Not bad for a team with the fifth-lowest payroll in baseball. But the Rays have become one of the best-run franchises in baseball, if not all of professional sports.
They were still unable to replicate last year's run, as the Red Sox eliminated them in four games in the Division Series.
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