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6 vs 11
Boston (6) vs Philadelphia (11), with Philly taking the season series 4-2. Based on the rotation and where it currently stands, I have to give a strong advantage to Philadelphia, as Boston will not have a Stud pitcher available until game 3. Boston has a solid lineup led by their outfield of Betts, Morrison and Benintendi who all average over .265/.800. SS Bogaerts and 1B Smoak also provide additional thump for a lineup that is only hitting .245 as a team compared to .260 for Philadelphia. Philly has the bats and on base guys, such as 1B Barksdale, CF Wentz and 3B Schultz leading up to slugger OF Williams, who has 45 HR's and 130 RBIs for the season. SP Moore and Nola headline a very strong duo who will go games 1,3 and 4. The one area of concern for Philadelphia is the injury to C Kendrick Cloud who will miss 4 games due to injury. Will Boston be able to take advantage of running on the weaker option behind the plate and how will that affect the Pitching staff who lost 3 out of the last 4 games with Dyer behind the plate. Prediction: Due to the current state of Boston rotation, I am going with the Phillies taking this series in 4 games. Watch out for Game 2 of this series, as the winner of this (3rd/4th SP) battle will take the series. 5 vs 12 This is not your typical 5 vs 12 Series, with the Yankees taking 4 of 6 regular season games. With New York having 2 stud pitchers in Severino and Montgomery I would have given them the edge in a 5 game series, but due to bad management SP Severino is out for 3 days, meaning he will only get 1 start during this series. New York will also be without the services of OF Judge for 5 days. Miami is led by their strong OF of Stanton, Blackmon and Yelich who all average over .290/.830 and account for 96 of their team 156 Home Runs. They also have 2 strong pitchers in Mikolas and Fulmer. They have the option of Blackburn or Hummel for their 3rd or 4th game depending on how they want to play it out. Both teams have dominant closers in Bradley (MIA) and Green (NYY) who will both need to do their jobs, because the back end of both staffs are weak. Prediction: Miami should take this series in 5 games since Severino will only get Game 3 start. IF the Yankees pull out Game 2, where they will have a DUD starter, then Miami could be in trouble! 7 vs 10 OSA (7) vs SDP (10) When you compare team stats, these 2 teams are pretty much equal. San Diego won the season series 2-1. Injuries will play a big role with San Diego having SP Odorizzi and RP Donald out for the playoffs and Osaka being without 1B Magill for the first 4 games. San Diego has 4 big bats in OF Martinez, OF Jackson, 3B Phillips and MVP Candidate OF Margot. Osaka counters with OF Yoshida, OF Takeda and RF Lawton, the only 3 bats that hit over .250. The series could hinge on these bats and how the other Big Boppers (Hedges (SDP) and Lewis (OSA)) play out in the series. In this series, you will only see 3 Starting Pitchers with records over .500 and 2 of them will meet in Game 1 and probably 4. Osaka has one of the best bull-pens in the league with the special K's of Kondo, Kuroki and Kobayashi all averaging over 1 strikeout per inning while allowing less than 5 hits per 9 innings. Based strictly on the bullpen, I am going with Osaka taking this series in 5 games. 8 vs 9 The final WC Series is between Detroit and the defending Champions - Los Angeles Angels. The Angels are led by OF Mike Trout and OF Almora, the only players hitting over .280/.800. 2B Schoop, OF Smith and SS Polanco are other solid hitters. Detroit only has 3 players hitting over .230, OF Chisenhall, 3B Boone and 2B Neumann will have to perform at a high level to give Detroit a shot at advancing. Detroit does have the better staff, being led by SP Ohtani and SP Valerio who are among the leagues best. The Angels counter with a contingent of SP Snell and SP Walker. The bullpens are both above average and should be able to hold any lead that is given. Prediction: We have the defending Champion vs one of the best GM's on Pennant Chase in this match-up. Not often would I pick against one of Pence's teams, but based on the lack of hitting in the Detroit lineup and the overall strength of the Angels staff, I will pick LAA in 4 games. Caveat - Detroit will dominate the North division going forward and be playing for the Title in 2 years. Thanks for allowing me to post my thoughts on the Wild Card round of playoffs... Sidebar - Washington was 15-23 against these 8 teams, with only a winning record against the Tigers. Good luck to all...
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December 2019
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