Depending on which side of the ballpark you sit, there’s good news and bad news for MLB fans. The MLB postseason has already found a couple of teams that will advance to conference finals, and one of them is a team many baseball fans would have preferred to see come unglued this year. However, there’s no turning back now, and those who oppose cheating in sports will just have to hope that the team doesn’t advance past the Atlantic League Championship Series (ALCS).
The Houston Astros took the Oakland A’s in the Atlantic League Division Series 3-1, advancing to the ALCS competition. Baseball fans have no problem recalling the scandal that emerged last season after the Astros were found to have been cheating to gain an edge. Some felt the franchise got off light and wasn’t punished severely enough for its actions, which is part of the reason players on other teams may have decided to take measures into their own hands this season. Given the fact that the Astros finished the regular season with a losing 29-31 record, their appearance in two consecutive postseason competitions doesn’t seem justified.
Who the Astros meet in the ALCS still hasn’t been decided, but oddsmakers know who they expect to win. The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees are tied at two games apiece after the Yankees added their second victory yesterday, and the winner will be decided in Game 5 today. The Yankees are the favorite to win, getting around -150 at most sportsbooks. The Rays have +130.
On the other side of MLB is the National League Division Series, which is completely wrapped up. Although the San Diego Padres put up a valiant effort to get as far as they did this year, they ultimately were swept by the heavily-favored LA Dodgers. The last time the Padres won a division title was in 2006, and they haven’t picked up a league pennant since 1998. Many thought that this might be their year, but a powerful Dodger lineup proved to be a little too much.
The Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves finished their best-of-five series quickly, as well. The Braves didn’t have any difficulty overcoming the Marlins bench, taking Game 3 with a 7-0 shutout. That makes four shutouts in the postseason for Atlanta, a feat not seen since 2016 when the Cleveland Indians set a record with five.
The NLCS best-of-five series begins on Oct 12. It will run quickly, with all five games being played on consecutive days. If the Braves can pull off an upset win against the Dodgers, it will be the first time they’ve taken the NL pennant since 1999. That is not going to be an easy task, and the Dodgers are getting the advantage with sportsbooks. However, this has been a strange sports year all around, so picking up an upset win isn’t an unrealistic fantasy.
