by Lucas Garrison, Sports Editor

October has fallen upon us, and yes that means the most important time of the month is here: Halloween? NOPE, it’s postseason baseball. The usual teams are atop their divisions, with the Dodgers of the National League, and the Astros, and Yankees, of the American League. Of course, these teams would be the obvious favorites, but there are several sleeper teams that are viable contenders.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The National League now is a completely different story when comparing the National League to the American League. The Dodgers enter into October, as the heavy favorite to represent the National League. Now yes, the National League has other teams that will be able to provide a tough time against their other opponents, but in my opinion, there is no other team that will be able to take the National League away from the Dodgers.

Now to move to the Dodgers, the team in my opinion, who has the best young core in Baseball will represent the National League for the World Series, in my opinion, this season. Let us start off with the Dodgers who have a strong rotation, not the best, but very strong. Obviously they will be lead by probable Cy Young winner Hyun-Jin Ryu, as well as Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Rich Hill. The Dodgers this Postseason, are attempting to strengthen a pretty weak Bullpen by moving young player Dustin May who started several games, and more than likely will be a future starter. They also move Tony Goslin to the bullpen who has taken reps as both a starter and a bullpen pitcher. He will provide another solid arm coming out of the bullpen. Not only do these Dodgers have these young future stars coming out of the bullpen, but they have their usual bullpen guys with Joe Kelly, Julio Urias, Kenley Jansen, and Ross Stripling.

The Dodgers on the offensive side of the ball continue will look to not only rip balls left, right, and center, but will also look to play some small ball. In my opinion, this is one of the several advantages the Dodgers have this season. They have guys that go deep basically every at-bat, Joc Pederson, Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy. Then you have your guys that hit the ball shallow and get on base, Russel Martin, Justin Turner, Will Smith, and Kike Hernandez. The Dodgers will look to move onto the NLCS, and hopefully will be joined by Alex Verdugo who will add yet another solid bat to the lineup. The one question that needs to be asked though is, who will be left off the roster. Will it be rookie sensation Gavin Lux, or will it be a veteran guy like David Freeze, or will it the solution be to leave Alex Verdugo off the roster, and keep with this hot roster. Whatever the solution is, the Dodgers will still have a great postseason roster. That’s why they will be in the World Series for a third straight year, and hopefully win the ‘ship.

The Nationals and the Braves are the two teams that will give the Dodgers trouble, but they will be unable to take down the Dodgers. The Nationals yes, in my opinion, have the second-best rotation in baseball. The Nationals have a rotation that features, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin. However, the Nationals who threw Max Scherzer in the Wild Card game more than likely will not be available until game 4 or 5. The Nationals are also being lead offensively by, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Rendon this season has made an MVP case for himself this season. Rendon this season is batting, .319, with 34 home runs, and 126 RBI. Rendon will look to lead this team on the offensive side of the ball. Soto will add a solid second bat for the team, and they will form a solid tandem as we have already seen this Postseason.

To look at Atlanta, they started off this season solid than just got much better by adding Star pitcher Dallas Keuchel. Atlanta probably has a top 3 young core in baseball, behind the Dodgers, and the Nationals. Atlanta this Postseason will more than likely be lead by Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, and Freddie Freeman on the offensive side. On the Pitching staff, they are being led by Ace, Dallas Keuchel, Mike Soroka, and Mike Foltynewicz. These Pitchers together this season have been able to keep the run count short against them allowing for the perfect complement to an already outstanding offensive team.

Atlanta plays the Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs. The Cardinals are being lead by Paul “Goldy” Goldschmidt on the offensive side of the ball. They look solid, but they just don’t have the star power that Atlanta or the Dodgers do. They do have the veteran presence, however. Matt Carpenter, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright being the Veterans of this team. This team will provide so solid competition to the Braves, but I do not expect anything special from them.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

The American League once again looks like the powerhouse in the MLB. They feature the number 1 team in baseball, the Houston Astros, who finished the regular season with, 107 wins. The Yankees however, are the team that I believe will meet the Astros in the ALCS, and move on to the World Series. Now, this is not to say that the American League will only have these two teams sweeping on through. Other teams to keep an eye out for include the Twins, and the Rays. The Rays who currently take on Houston, are the winners of the Wild Card and have a very solid all-around team. The sad fact of the matter is that they will be unable to defeat the Astros, for the soul fact, they have the stronger starting pitching staff, and just much more star power.

The Yankees and Astros have so much star power from the pitching staff to the offensive side of the ball. Let’s start off by looking at the Yankees. The Yankees are the power-hitting powerhouse of the MLB this season. Those power hitters include Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, and Luke Voit. These 4 guys are the guys you don’t wanna see if you are a pitcher for the soul fact that they can, and most likely go yard every single at-bat. Now yes the Yankees Pitching staff is very weak in the Bullpen, and in their starters. However, they will out-hit you, and out muscle you on the offensive side of the ball.

The Astros will have their hands full the entire postseason. They face the Rays in the first round, who, no will not be able to take down the Astros, but the Rays will train your starters, and take on every pitcher in your bullpen. But with all that the Astros finished the regular season with the best record in baseball with 107 wins and 55 losses. Those 107 wins have to be credited to an excellent starting pitching staff. They started off in the offseason by adding Wade Miley to their already strong pitching staff. They made sure to add a solid number 3 guy behind Justin Verlander, and Gerrit Cole, who by the way is having a Cy-Young worthy season. But the Astros were not done yet, at the trade deadline they went and traded for Diamondbacks Ace Zack Grenkie. So now the Astros have a 2 excellent pitchers, 1 great pitcher, and 1 good pitcher. Look out for the Astros.They will be a solid team in the AL Postseason, but I do not think they will be able to outweigh the power hitting beast known as the New York Yankees.

The World Series this season will no matter what feature the Los Angeles Dodgers for the third straight year. However, whether it is the Houston Astros, or the New York Yankees representing the American League. It will lead to an exciting World Series.

ALDS

Houston Astros Vs.  Rays

WINNER: Astros

Yankees Vs. Twins

WINNER: Yankees

ALCS

Yankees Vs. Astros

WINNER: Yankees

NLDS

Dodgers Vs. Nationals

WINNER: Dodgers

Braves Vs. Cardinals

WINNER: Braves

NLCS

Dodgers Vs. Braves

WINNER: Dodgers

WORLD SERIES

Dodgers Vs. Yankees

WINNER: Dodgers