The postseason discipline has been narrowed all the way down to 4 groups, in principally chalk vogue. Every member of the ultimate 4 is a division winner, and three of the golf equipment acquired first-round byes. The Dodgers have been the one membership who needed to advance by means of the wild card spherical, and the reigning World Sequence champs aren’t precisely underdogs. In truth, the entire Brewers, Mariners, and Blue Jays had much more inquiries to reply about their playoff readiness given a current lack of postseason success, but all three groups have been as much as the duty in successful their League Championship Sequence matchups.
Solely the Yankees have reached the World Sequence extra instances than the Dodgers, who’re vying for the franchise’s twenty third journey to the Fall Basic. Los Angeles is the defending champion aiming for its third ring in six seasons, in opposition to three groups with a lot much less of a postseason resume. The Blue Jays are an ideal 2-0 within the membership’s solely two World Sequence appearances, however they final reached the Sequence in 1993. The Brewers’ lone Sequence look was so way back (in 1982) that the membership was nonetheless within the American League, and Milwaukee fell to the Cardinals in a seven-game nail-biter. The Mariners can get an enormous albatross off their backs simply by successful the AL pennant, as Seattle is the one group in Main League Baseball to have by no means reached a World Sequence.
The ALCS between the Mariners and Blue Jays carries some added historic import because the two groups each joined MLB in 1977. The one earlier playoff sequence between the 2 growth cousins occurred in 2022, when Seattle swept Toronto in two video games within the best-of-three wild card sequence, and made an epic comeback from an 8-1 run deficit to seize a 10-9 win in Recreation 2. That crushing loss was a part of the 0-6 playoff report the Jays carried through the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. period, earlier than Toronto broke out with a dominant win over the Yankees on this 12 months’s ALDS.
Blue Jays hitters erupted for 34 runs and a collective .338/.373/.601 slash line over the 4 video games in opposition to New York. Whereas that stage of an explosion got here as a shock, Toronto led the league in each batting common and OBP this season, whereas additionally ending close to the highest of the desk in runs and OPS. Seattle’s season-long numbers weren’t as spectacular, but the membership has been one in all baseball’s finest offensive groups since Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez have been acquired on the commerce deadline. Led by these two huge bats, Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco, and the all-around brilliance of MVP candidate Cal Raleigh, the Mariners’ robust lineup will present the Jays’ pitching workers with an enormous problem.
When it comes to run prevention, the Blue Jays have a major edge on protection. Toronto had a collective +51 Defensive Runs Saves and +14 Outs Above Common within the common season, compared to Seattle’s +9 DRS and -30 OAA. This might probably assist the Jays counter the Mariners’ deeper rotation, as with Bryan Woo anticipated to return from harm within the ALCS, all 5 of the M’s common starters might be out there in some capability. How precisely these starters might be deployed remains to be a matter of debate, as George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Luis Castillo all needed to pitch throughout Seattle’s 15-inning marathon with the Tigers in Recreation 5 of the ALDS.
The Blue Jays held a 4-2 edge within the season sequence with the Mariners this 12 months, and have the homefield benefit because the AL’s prime seed. That could be a vital level for a Jays group that’s 56-27 at Rogers Centre through the common season and playoffs, plus the Mariners’ highway report is barely 40-43. Turning to the Nationwide League, the Brewers and Dodgers every had similar 52-29 residence data within the common season, and Milwaukee was a formidable 45-36 away from residence, whereas the Dodgers have been solely 41-40 on the highway.
The opposite eye-opening statistic is Milwaukee’s excellent 6-0 report in head-to-head play in opposition to Los Angeles this season. As daunting because the Dodgers’ star-studded roster could also be, the Brewers have had their quantity in 2025, and can now need to try to do it once more within the postseason. L.A. has received the one two prior postseason sequence between the 2 franchises, together with a seven-game win within the 2018 NLCS.
That 2018 season marked the final time the Brew Crew received a playoff sequence till their five-game win over the Cubs on this 12 months’s NLDS. The sequence as an entire was an indication of the type of high quality pitching and well timed hitting that the Brewers have loved all season. A relative lack of energy is principally the one flaw for a lineup that posted great numbers, however Andrew Vaughn’s profession turn-around since being acquired by the Brewers in June has added a brand new dimension to the offense.
A pair of shaky begins from Freddy Peralta and Quinn Priester at Wrigley Discipline might be crimson flags for the Brewers in opposition to L.A. Peralta pitched effectively sufficient in Recreation 1 that his Recreation 4 efficiency would possibly simply be a hiccup, but if Priester can’t get on observe, the Brewers must lean even more durable on a bullpen that has already logged numerous innings within the NLDS. Milwaukee is as inventive as any group in getting probably the most out of its pitching workers, so anticipate loads of unconventional pitcher utilization because the Brewers will attempt to maintain the Dodgers at bay.
After a considerably underwhelming common season by their excessive requirements, the Dodgers might have flipped the swap for October, sweeping the Reds within the wild card sequence after which dispatching the Phillies in a four-game NLDS. Even with a number of stars (Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and an injury-diminished Will Smith) but to get rolling on the plate, the Dodgers have been aided by a red-hot Mookie Betts and contributions from up and down their seasoned lineup.
Roki Sasaki’s emergence because the membership’s seeming first selection at nearer has been large for Los Angeles, and maybe addresses the group’s largest weak spot. If Sasaki is now a high-leverage possibility late in video games and the superb L.A. beginning rotation stays in type, the Brewers have a fairly slim window to strike in opposition to the remainder of the struggling Dodger bullpen.
