MLB Playoff Preview

Today was they final day of the 2015 Major League Baseball regular season.
Today we found out exactly who was going to make the postseason,
Some teams we already knew,  the teams that have clinched over the last couple of weeks.

National League Division Series match ups include the NL East winning Mets versus the NL West winning Dodgers.  The Central winning Cardinals will face the winner of the Wild Card game, either the Pirates or the Cubs.

Over in the American League, we have the Toronto Blue Jays, making their first postseason appearance since 1993,versus the Texas Rangers who made a hard charge in the second half of the season to win the AL West,  Defending AL champs, The Royals will face the winner of the AL Wild card game, either the Yankees or the Astros, who are making their first postseason appearance since 2005.

These series should make for some exciting baseball.

There are some teams who haven't played a lot of postseason baseball lately (Mets, Blue Jays, Astros).
Even the Yankees are making their first playoff appearance, if playing in the Wild Card game is considered making the playoffs, since 2012.

You have teams like the Cardinals and the Royals, who were basically in control of their division the vast majority of the season.  The Cardinals are the team that is always in contention and always seem to win year in and year out.  The Royals made a tremendous run to the AL Pennant last year and lost to the Giants in the seventh game of the World Series.

There are teams like the Mets, Rangers, and Blue Jays, who all made significant deals at the trade deadline to improve their teams.  The Mets were a borderline Wild Card contender, in a good spot because the division favorite Nationals were having a down year.  Then in late July, they called up top hitting prospect Michael Conforto, and traded for Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and of course the blockbuster, Yoenis Cespedes.  They got hot in August and September and won their first division crown in almost a decade.
In late July, the Rangers weren't even thought of as a playoff team.  When they traded for ace Cole Hammels of the Phillies, many baseball people saw it as a move for the future.  Turns out that that trade combined with guys like Prince Fielder having a bounce back year, propelled them to an unlikely division title.
The Blue Jays, a team that always seems to be filled with talent, found their missing piece when they traded for certified ace David Price.  They also swapped All Star shortstops with the Colorado Rockies, acquiring Troy Tulowitzki for Jose Reyes.

The Yankees, who lost the division lead to the Blue Jays, were having a pretty impressive year.
Injuries to Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi late in the year hurt the club.  Injuries throughout the season to Jacoby Elsbury and Masahiro Tanaka definitely affected their season as well.  But for the Yankees, it was the old veterans, like A-Rod, Carlos Beltran, and Teixeira, and the bullpen combo of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller that carried them to the one game playoff.  Boy I would love to see another postseason run for guys like Beltran and Alex Rodriguez.

The Yankees' opponent, the Houston Astros, are the young guns of the playoffs.  Not far removed from 3 consecutive 100 loss seasons, The Astros were in first place most of the year.  They are stocked with young talent, like Carlos Correia, and they have potential Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel along with 19 game winner Colin McHugh.

The NL Central is the best division in baseball.  They are sending 3 teams to the postseason.
The perennial winning Cardinals, the Pirates and their recent success, and the Cubs backed by a much improved roster and every player's favorite manager, Joe Maddon, will all play playoff baseball.

There is a lot of excitement and a lot of cool story-lines for this year's edition of the MLB playoffs.
I hope it turns into a great postseason for America's past time.  Should be fun to watch.


Stay tuned later in the week.  Should the Yankees win on Tuesday, I will do a preview of their Division Series matchup and I will also do a Mets-Dodgers preview.

-BNolan