MLB Playoffs Bracket + Our Monthly Routine

Edition #173

Happy October and Welcome to Postseason Baseball!!!

Our Monthly Routine:

It’s October people!

The Wild Card Round begins today.

The First NBA Preseason Game: 4 Days

The First NBA Regular Season Game: 22 Days

The First NFL Playoff Game: 103 Days

The First NHL Season Game: 4 Days

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Intro:

It’s time to party people! The MLB postseason is here!!! We begin with the wild card round today, and we have a cool slate of matchups. Let’s talk about the bracket, predict the champions, and more, all on Sports Square’s latest edition!

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Hey all! With October here, almost every sport will be in action from baseball to football to basketball to hockey to soccer, etc.

But, it’s October, and you know what’s also starting? Not the holi-days, but busy-days.

I’m going to be putting priority into the MLB postseason and the NBA this month. Outcome Oracle’s will still be coming out and I’m planning to publish one NFL feature. One NHL article may also be coming out, and if it does, it’ll be a special one.

This month, the NFL Recaps will be discontinued (unless…), and ranking articles will also be gone. The main thing is that the weekends may be hectic for your inbox with multiple articles from just me. I’m incredibly sorry for this.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to this newsletter. I put loads of effort into it and I try my best. All feedback is appreciated, although I would like the DMs feature on Substack to be used for that, instead of the comments (I want it to be related to the topic. Friendly fire and constructive criticism that is not about writing is accepted.)

Thanks!

-Smayan

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MLB Postseason Bracket Predictions:

First off, let’s talk about the bracket.

Pretty interesting huh? All these matchups in the wild-card round are surely going to be a blast. Let’s start predicting on the AL side with the Orioles and the Royals.

We already have some young guns (including one named after that) in this matchup. Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, and Adley Rutschman will lead the way for O’s, whereas we have Witt Jr, Salvador Perez, and Vinnie Pasquantino. I like the O’s winning here because they have the experience and experienced players like Corbin Burnes. I wish we had a dream run with the Royals, but getting to the playoffs with Witt’s mega extension is definitely the first step to a dynasty like the Dodgers have.

Now to the Astros and the Tigers. I love this Tigers team and what a step they’ve took to get to this winning stage. Unfortunately, just like the Royals, this is the end for them. The Astros have struggled all year, and I get that, but I think that the experience in the big moments and plays like Altuve and Alvarez will step up their game. It’s the postseason after all.

Yankees vs O’s now and what a matchup this would be. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge taking on Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday. I’m going to take experience here and go with the Yankees. They know how it is in big moments. Heck, Juan Soto has even won a World Series! Tough series for the Yanks, but the #1 seed will break out of it. They will move on to the ALCS.

Guardians vs Astros. Jose Ramirez, who’s coming off a 40-40-40 bid (that didn’t happen because of a stupid cancellation. Or? Is it fixed?), and Steven Kwan, is playing the Houston Astros (who I already introduced). I love this matchup, and this is going to the last game, in the last inning, and more specifically, in the last pitch.

The Astros are winning it.

As I said before, experience matters in the postseason and the Astros have that. They played one of the hardest teams in the league, like the Phillies (at that time). They beat them in 6 games. The Guardians have a great core and team, but I just don’t see them making it any further than what they have. Plus, the long break from baseball will kill them, just as it has this season.

Astros vs Yankees time.

The Yankees are 6-1 this season when playing the Astros. I think that’s a great recipe for success. In this series, I think it’ll come down to the bullpen. The Astros have a bad bullpen and this is a huge worry. I didn’t think it was going to affect the other games because every other team has a weakness that refutes this bullpen. (Comment your thoughts below.) The Yankees don’t have an amazing bullpen either, but it’s better than the Astros and I’m certain about that. Yanks to the World Series.

Now to the NL (and please note there is no bias in any of this).

Padres vs Braves time. The Braves, like I’ve posted multiple times, are a walking dead body. They lost Chris Sale as well. On the other hand, the Padres have an okay team. That’s still good for a good series. Not a shock here though, I have the Padres winning this one, even if they played Not Like Us and bathed in beers.

Mets vs Brewers. Now my dream is for the Mets to win this, but even with Francisco Lindor performing at a high level, the Brewers have been dominant this whole season and they’ll continue to be dominant. Good start for Cohen’s team though. I did not expect them to make it to the playoffs, especially after they literally gave all their players away.

Dodgers vs Padres. This is going to be a repeat of last year when the Dodgers were knocked out because of the Padres. With Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, an okay pitching staff, and a good bullpen, I think the Dodgers should be able to handle the Padres, even if it does go to 5 games. The addition of Ohtani has saved the Dodgers down the stretch, and let’s hope the curse of postseason play doesn’t impact him as well. Dodgers win and move on.

Phillies versus Brewers. I’m sorry, but I have to take the Phils here. Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Stott, and Castellanos? Are you kidding me? This Brewers team is amazing, but they don’t even have Christian Yelich! Jackson Chourio is good, but he’s a rookie. The Phillies are coming back to the postseason for the 2nd straight time after the World Series loss, and they’ve learned what they need and needn’t do. The Phillies take it.

Phillies vs Dodgers. This is an OMG series. Trea Turner playing his former team that didn’t do him right. Bryce Harper tryna gets some revenge for Ohtani not choosing the Phillies; the perfect matchup. The Dodgers are 1-5 against the Phillies this year, but that’s not going to matter. You must understand that the Phillies pitching situation is even worse and they’re hitting a downtrend in September. The Dodgers are taking it in 7. We have lots of Phillies fans subscribed (our Pennsylvania subscriber numbers are up), so comment below or DM me what y’all think. I know all of you will be angry.

Now to the World Series.

Yankees vs Dodgers

This is a dream-world series for me. I can’t imagine if this happens. Who knows? If Soto loses, he might join the Dodgers. I had to make this the final outcome because it feels too scripted for me and I’m trying to predict it, not create a dream bracket. Aaron Judge is constantly being compared to Shohei for the equivalent 50/50 season. Juan Soto is killing the ball. Pitching has been both of these teams’ weaknesses. The offenses are going to win this game, which is the only reason I give this to the Dodgers.

Aside from play, this is just way too scripted. Of course, Shohei breaks multiple records in his first season as a Dodger. Of course, Shohei wins the division and clinches the #1 seed. Of course, the Angels finish with their worst record in franchise history. Just like that, add of course he wins the World Series.

Here is the complete bracket:

Dream Bracket:

Here’s my dream bracket.

Here’s a dream bracket:

Conclusion:

And that’s it for this one. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon!