Monday is Labor Day, and that’s all the time an indication that baseball’s stretch run is in complete swing.
Just 4 weeks from as of late, the 2023 steady season might be entire. The 12-team playoff box — which already is starting to take form — might be settled. The postseason will get underway Tuesday, Oct. 3, with 4 Wild Card Series contests.
Any October matchup has the potential to provide exciting drama and indelible moments, however some indubitably stand out extra, no less than on paper. So we tasked seven MLB.com writers with drafting the juiciest imaginable AL or NL pairings, choosing from a number of the checklist of golf equipment with affordable hopes of achieving the postseason. (In different phrases, no World Series matchups simply but.) To make issues a little bit extra attention-grabbing, we added this rule: Each workforce may just handiest be decided on as soon as.
1. Braves vs. Dodgers
Season collection: ATL gained, 4-3
Who doesn’t wish to see this occur (instead of enthusiasts of the opposite NL postseason groups)? We have been simply handled to an electrifying four-game collection between those behemoths, who’ve the 2 maximum explosive lineups within the league. The Braves took 3 of the 4 video games at Dodger Stadium, however there used to be historical past made and two MVP frontrunners whose race handiest intensified. It all left us short of extra.
With celebrity energy galore, it could be a disgrace if those two golf equipment didn’t meet in October.
Ronald Acuña Jr., who become the primary participant in AL/NL historical past to achieve the 30-homer/60-steal milestone in one season on Thursday, is the definition of “superstar”. He homered in every of the primary 3 video games of the collection, together with a 454-foot blast to heart box Saturday that got here off his bat with an go out pace of 121.2 mph.
The guy who appears to be neck-and-neck with Acuña within the NL MVP race, Mookie Betts, homered two times in Game 1 of the collection, together with a shot that Acuña Jr. just about robbed. If this pair isn’t sufficient, we haven’t even discussed Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman, Max Fried and lots of different distinguished names. What an NL Championship Series matchup this is able to be.
2. Astros vs. Mariners
Season collection: SEA leads 8-2 (3 video games final)
This matchup has a made-for-primetime narrative.
From 2019-22, the Astros had the Mariners beneath their cowboy boot, successful greater than 70% in their regular-season conferences. The younger upstart were given a possibility to fell goliath in ultimate season’s ALDS, and even though the Mariners proved to be a particularly tricky out, they have been only a velocity bump within the Astros’ street to their fourth pennant and 2d World Series name in six years.
But in 2023, the Mariners is also primed to in any case triumph over their rival. They gave the Astros “a wakeup call” with a three-game sweep in Houston ultimate month. They have ruled the season collection due to the hot-hitting Julio Rodríguez and a beginning rotation that owns a 1.80 ERA over 60 innings in opposition to Houston. Seattle enters Monday atop the AL West, one recreation in entrance of the reigning champs.
But its redemption is a long way from confident. The Astros, whilst most likely now not as indomitable as in years previous, stay stocked with massive stars and big-game enjoy. These two squads seem calmly matched for the primary time in a very long time. And the truth that they’ve had a couple of tiffs lately provides a splash of spice to an October rematch between acquainted foes.
3. Orioles vs. Rays
Season collection: BAL leads 6-3 (4 video games final)
It is increasingly more doubtless that the tip two groups within the AL — when it comes to file and now not playoff seeds — will pop out of the AL East. The upstart Orioles had been probably the most thrilling groups within the Majors, sparked by way of an inflow of serious younger ability in gamers like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez. Even with the unlucky UCL damage news for Félix Bautista — arguably essentially the most dominant reliever in baseball this yr — so much goes proper for a Baltimore workforce having a look to guide the AL in wins for the primary time since 1997.
The Rays began the yr 13-0 and have been obviously the most productive workforce within the early going. After a mediocre stretch in the midst of the season, Tampa Bay has surged with an 18-10 file since Aug. 1, doing so with out Shane McClanahan (season-ending Tommy John surgical operation). Trailing Baltimore by way of simply 2.5 video games, the department remains to be very a lot up for grabs. If the 2 join up within the playoffs, it’d be a heck of a struggle between the tip groups within the league.
4. Brewers vs. Cubs
Season collection: Tied 5-5 (3 final)
It’s laborious to get extra even than the Brewers and Cubs had been in 2023 — when taking part in every different, no less than. Milwaukee nonetheless holds a three.5-game lead within the NL Central, however the two golf equipment have break up the ten video games they’ve performed to this point; 4 of the ones contests (all Cubs victories) had been made up our minds by way of a unmarried run. The Brewers have a slender 43-38 edge in run differential in the ones video games with 3 left to play with the North Siders; the 2 groups will wrap up the steady season from Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Milwaukee.
And who wouldn’t wish to see any other set between those two groups within the postseason? There’s numerous celebrity energy on either side, from Brewers aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff to Cubs freshmen Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger. The distinction is apparent: The Brewers are tied for MLB’s eighth-best ERA; the Cubs have MLB’s Eleventh-best offense by way of OPS. Although Chicago trails within the standings (for now), its plus-87 run differential is the third-best within the NL at the back of handiest the Dodgers and Braves. The Brewers and Cubs have produced numerous classics already this season. Sign me as much as see some extra within the playoffs.
5. Rangers vs. Blue Jays
Season collection: TEX leads 2-1 (4 final)
The gamers is also other, however you’ll be able to be certain either one of those fan bases be mindful the hotly contested postseason battles between those groups in 2015-16. The Blue Jays gained the primary of those matchups, 3 recreation to 2, after José Bautista memorably slugged a tiebreaking three-run homer — punctuated by way of an emphatic bat turn — in Game 5. The dangerous blood between the 2 aspects lingered into the next season, resulting in an notorious melee involving Bautista and then-Rangers 2d baseman Rougned Odor. Toronto swept Texas when the groups met once more within the 2016 ALDS, despite the fact that two of the 3 video games have been shut.
The Rangers haven’t been to the playoffs since, however they’ve returned to rivalry this season with a roster constructed thru a success free-agent signings equivalent to Corey Seager and Marcus Semien and supplemented by way of industry acquisitions equivalent to Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery.
Texas has pale in recent times, however the membership nonetheless ranks first within the AL in runs scored. Toronto suits up neatly, despite the fact that, with certainly one of baseball’s stingiest pitching staffs. The Blue Jays’ offense has been rather disappointing, nevertheless it’s now not for a loss of ability. Assuming Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman go back from the IL and rejoin Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer in Toronto’s lineup, the membership could have the potential for a postseason eruption.
6. Phillies vs. Giants
Season collection: Giants gained 4-2
Three phrases: Gabe Kapler Series. Maybe it doesn’t roll off the tongue as properly because the “Subway Series” between the Yankees and Mets within the 2000 Fall Classic, however the reality of the topic is that Kapler, the present Giants supervisor who had the similar position in Philadelphia from 2018-19, has now not been gained neatly by way of the notoriously rowdy Philly enthusiasts in his fresh returns to Citizens Bank Park. Imagine that Phillies crowd riled up much more in a playoff environment, and you’ve got your self a wild setting.
But placing all Kapler historical past apart, those groups additionally fit up extraordinarily neatly at the box. While the Giants gained the season collection, they gained the run differential by way of a slender 32-30 margin in the ones video games, and the ultimate two showdowns have been in particular thrilling – a 4-3 Phillies win powered by way of a Trea Turner walk-off unmarried, adopted by way of an exciting 8-6 Giants win in additional innings. Factor within the proficient fingers each groups can deliver – Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Logan Webb, Alex Cobb – and this might be an immediate vintage.
7. D-backs vs. Reds
Season collection: CIN gained 4-3
Of the entire potential matchups between playoff hopefuls, that is the low-floor, high-ceiling choice. Both groups had been exceptionally streaky, spending many of the summer season taking part in themselves into and out of rivalry. That stated, each additionally boast a few of baseball’s most enjoyable younger gamers, which, as redeeming qualities move, is lovely cast.
The D-backs would deliver likely-NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll, who got here into September having already banked a 20 HR-40 SB season. They’ve additionally seamlessly built-in 23-year-old catcher Gabriel Moreno and heart fielder Alek Thomas, lately graduated from his place because the top-ranked prospect in Arizona’s machine. The Reds, for his or her section, have the electrical Elly De La Cruz, flamethrower Hunter Greene and rookie left-hander Andrew Abbott, who has held down their rotation since his debut in June. And, whilst he might or might not be an choice by way of October, Matt McLain, recently sidelined with an indirect damage, has been as stable as they arrive in his personal rookie marketing campaign.
Regardless of the numerous kinks those groups are nonetheless ironing out, a exhibit of younger ability at the greatest level could be a great addition to an NL slate differently full of polished veterans.
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