Did anyone have the Diamondbacks and Phillies advancing?

[True Dough]

Philly over Atlanta???

Arizona over the Dodgers???


Wow!

[Ziggysmom]

1. Nope! Didn't see this coming at all.

To see the Dodgers Kershaw fall apart was especially painful.

[True Dough]

2. Yeah, gotta feel for Kershaw

He'll never outlive that reputation. One of the premiere regular season pitchers but then in the playoffs, he almost always falls apart.

[DeeDeeNY]

3. You can't predict baseball

The teams with the 3 best records in baseball -- Orioles, Braves and Dodgers-- all quickly eliminated.

[RussBLib]

5. Top 4 including Tampa Bay

Rangers cut thru them both TB and Bawlamore like a buzzsaw.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. I Think The Wild Card Round....

....is actually a disadvantage to the best teams.
They spend all season being ready game to game, then they sit for a week.
The stats show that, now, 9 or the last 11 teams to win 100 or more games did not get to the LCS. Did not get to the LCS! Not the World Series, but the league championship.
There's something there, even with a small sample of 11.

[RussBLib]

4. No, but I love it

Hopefully the Astros and Phillies can have a World Series rematch, with the same result.

[usonian]

6. I don't bet, even informally, but when we saw Arizona

Run all over SF like the Road Runner, everyone in NorCal figured them to be the most athletic team in baseball, and on a tear. One thing matters most in post-season, and that’s momentum.

I’m actually fascinated by Bruce Bochy going head to head against Dusty Baker.

Bochy saw what was coming in SF … nobody playing the same position two days in a row, and I don’t blame him for leaving and taking a year off. You want “Angels in the Outfield”? Farhan and the now-banished Gabe Kapler had a catcher in the outfield twice that I noticed, with very predictable results.

[elleng]

7. Had no idea, of course.

WTF happened to Orioles?

[True Dough]

9. The Orioles had not been swept all season

And then hit the wall in the ALDS, which is a five-game series. Some poor starting pitching. Some hot hitters on the opposing team, particularly Corey Seager, who gets on base at a crazy pace, even if it's via walks.

But most of all, Baltimore is a team loaded with young stars. Many of them were experiencing the playoffs for the first time. The good news is that the future looks promising for the Orioles. If they continue on this path and retain most of their blossoming talent, they have a good shot at going farther, and maybe winning it all, in the next few years.

[True Dough]

8. The Dodgers in the last two seasons:

211 regular season wins 1 postseason win

[El Supremo]

11. What is the point of playing 162 regular season games?

When this happens. The season winners should be rewarded more. Or I just think there are too many teams in the postseason. When I was a kid there were only 2 out of 16 teams. Now there are 12 out of 30 teams. The math just doesn't make sense.

[True Dough]

12. It's not about the math

It's about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$.