Toronto to Win the Big Prize

Our Tips:

3.5 Pts on Toronto Blue Jays to win the World Series (7/2 Paddy Power)

1.5 Pts Chicago Cubs to win the National League (7/1 Coral)

Well it is October, which means that it is the business end of the MLB season! It’s been an extremely tight & eventful season with a number of teams still having a chance up to the final week. This was summed up by seeing the year’s final sets of series still meaning everything to all playoff contenders bar the St Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals have had a dominant season but still only managed to lock up their division & the best record for home field advantage when they beat Pittsburgh during their series around a week ago.

There have been some huge trades throughout the year & many teams have made big 2nd half runs since the All-Star weekend & trade deadline passed. With 5 teams from each league technically passing into the postseason games, it is tough to talk about all possibilities in 1 piece, so this is split into 3 parts: AL Champion, NL Champion & World Series predictions.

American League

The American League Wildcard 1-game playoff will be held on Tuesday 6th October (today), with the New York Yankees (hosting) the Houston Astros in what should be a close matchup. Although on any given night one team can catch fire, don’t count out either team until that 27th out (if it doesn’t go to extra innings of course). In almost a 50/50 decision we predict the Astros to come out on top.

This will push them into a series against Kansas as the holder of the best record, while Toronto will hold home field against the Texas Rangers. We expect all of the series to run close, but we expect the combined pitching rotation & form of Toronto & Kansas to push them into the AL League finals.

Should things go as suggested & those teams move into the finals, we would suggest that Toronto have the strongest chance having potentially the best pitcher (with playoff experience) left in the AL, David Price. Having Marcus Stroman as number 2 also helps, having had a brilliant run since returning from injury. Should they get the 2-0 lead that looks very possible even away from home, we would imagine that they would reach another 2 wins before their opponents can win 4 to take the series. This is bearing in mind that the worst case scenario would see Price & Stroman come around again in the rotation to try & get them wins 3 & 4 to take the series.

National League

We have known for a while who the 5 teams are to enter the NL playoffs, with the LA Dodgers confirming the final spot with around a week left when they defeated their big rivals, the San Francisco Giants to clinch their division. This, however, hasn’t stopped the teams from scrapping to the end of the regular season trying to secure home field advantage. Ultimately St Louis hold that honour over all the other teams involved. Despite their sometimes unreal knack of winning & their seemingly endless farm system that produces replacement players that fit into the MLB side with no issues, this could prove a really difficult postseason for the Cardinals. They will battle numerous injuries to key players & a host of teams that can potentially match their strong pitching rotation.

We think a few upsets could be on the cards in the NL playoffs, with the least fancied Chicago Cubs proving to be a match for anyone. Their ace, Jake Arrieta has just made history, with the lowest ever 2nd half ERA posted after the All-Star break. He had the most wins of any pitcher in the regular season & looks to be going on perfect rest into the 1-game wildcard playoff to face the Pittsburgh Pirates ace Gerrit Cole. We believe this gives them the perfect chance to beat the Pirates, as they have on the season’s series. This will lead them to one of baseball’s biggest rivalries against the Cards. This could well see a shock as the Cubs would challenge the Cardinals unlike anything they have experienced from them for the best part of 10 years or so. With a rotation strong enough to challenge a depleted Cards and a line-up arguably more dangerous with the bat than St Louis now hold.

While the Cards will host the Cubs, the Dodgers will host the Mets. With probably the best 1-2 combination in the MLB (maybe in MLB history) coming out of the Dodgers pitching rotation, it seems impossible to see them losing with a 2-0 lead. However, we have an interesting take on this one and believe that the Mets’ young guns of DeGrom & Syndergaard will be strong enough to rock the boat.

If that is the case, we could well see a National League Championship that contains none of the top 4/5 favoured teams from the start of the season. It could contain a young Mets team that could prove to be the unexpected representatives of New York in the World Series. A series between the Mets & Cubs would be sensational as both rosters contain a mix of youth & experience that are exciting to watch and play the game without fear. The Mets rotation could prove the tipping point in this one should their 4 hold their nerves against the likes of Jon Lester. Lester was specifically brought in for this type of scenario given his “Ace” status as a pitcher & his postseason experience with successful Boston Red Sox teams. We think that the experience of Lester will help calm the Cubs pitching staff while their bats will turn loose & outscore the Mets, especially given home field advantage at Wrigley.

World Series Winner

To us, a number of the postseason series appear to be very much 50/50 & one bad outing from a usually solid pitcher could be the beginning of the end of the season for any of these teams. We believe the World Series matchup could be the high flying Blue Jays against the young Cubs. This would likely end in one way with the Toronto bats proving too powerful for the Cubs rotation.

Toronto, the most active team around the trade deadline saw boosts to their power in the line-up. Their defensive ability in the infield & outfield improved; also they get the much fancied Ace on the mound for Game 1 of such an occasion. This turns a dangerous team into a quite deadly one.

They’ve had the best run differential by some way over the course of the season, with Josh Donaldson leading the way in an MVP calibre year. There is lots of backup talent with Russell Martin, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista & their all-star trades of David Price on the mound and Troy Tulowitzki at Shortstop. Even players like Kevin Pillar, Justin Smoak and Chris Colabello have been showing just how deep the talent in this team runs. It is because of this that we fancy the Blue Jays to go all the way