MLB Divisional Round Takeaways

Photo by Ashley Landis from the Associated Press

We’re down to the final four teams in the MLB postseason.

Two were expected to be here.

Two were not.

Let’s find out what we learned.

Astros defeat Mariners 3-0

This was simply a series of one team being better in the moment than the other.

Games 1, 2 and 3 were all completely up for grabs.

So much so that the Astros only led 4 of the 36 innings played in this series.

But they got the sweep, because when it came to runners on base, the Astros took advantage and the Mariners left men on.

That’s not unexpected, considering the Astros have made 6 straight American League Championship Series and the Mariners were in the postseason for the first time in 21 years, but it still has to leave a sour taste in the Mariners clubhouse.

Yankees defeat Guardians 3-2

Terry Francona is a smart manager.

He left Shane Bieber off the mound for the winner take all game 5, while the Yankees used Nestor Cortes on 3 days rest in order to make sure they had the best chance to win.

The reason? Francona didn’t want to risk the future of a very young team in order for one extra win.

Will it make a difference? Maybe.

But it sure feels like the Guardians, considering how good their end of the season was, left a good chance at a World Series run on the table.

Phillies defeat Braves 3-1

Pitching and hitting.

The Phillies bats went red hot, and their pitching shut down a great Braves lineup just enough to advance.

Another NL East team with an average record making a run in October.

It’s becoming quite the trend.

Padres defeat Dodgers 3-1

When the Padres made the move for Juan Soto, everyone expected them to become one of the premier teams in Major League Baseball and it just never happened.

It sure has now.

The Dodgers won 111 games and the Padres pretty handily took care of business to advance to the NLCS.

It took a while, but it’s all starting to finally click.

And I do wonder if there’s something to be said about one team succeeding when they were fighting for their playoff lives, while the other clinched a spot essentially in early September and had no meaningful baseball to play since then.

And for anyone upset the best team in baseball lost in the playoffs, welcome to American sports.

Get over it.