The Official MLB Playoff Wild Card Round Up Blog

Patrick Smith. Getty Images.

This is a blog about the MLB playoffs and the Wild Card round. 

Today has 1 game between the Mets & Brewers at 6:08pm central after 3 teams completed Wild Card round sweeps yesterday. 

Winner between Mets & Brewers moves on, obviously. So let's start there briefly: 

- Jose Quintana vs. Tobias Myers is such a boring pitching matchup which should make for EXCELLENT baseball today. Both of them pitch to contact effectively. The ball should be in play and we could get bullpen match ups rolling as early as the 5th inning. By all measures this smells like another 1-run, late-inning baseball game that's flying under. 

- The only reason we're talking about a game 3 is because Jackson Chourio homered twice in an elimination game. 

- Chourio is very good and not far away from bonafide superstar status. Reminder: he's under contract until 2033 at an average of $10.25M per season. That's an insane reminder. 

- I have to set aside my NL Central division bias right now and talk for a minute about Pat Murphy. I know people consider him unknown, generally. But inside the baseball community he holds this borderline legendary-active status that I think is misunderstood outside. Many say/think/know that Murph could have managed in the big leagues long before this but it's supposed to be some personal decision. Or something like that… where the Brewers opportunity lined up perfectly and the time was right. So while he's a fresh manager, he's definitely this old and well-known presence across every dugout. Like without exaggeration, everyone has a Pat Murphy story. I think that's pretty cool. 

- The Mets have the best player on the field in Francisco Lindor and the much more experienced pitcher in Quintana. 

I think Milwaukee is a very hard place to play, but I really like the Mets tonight. The destiny is overwhelming and I think they actually like the fact that it's an elimination game. They play their best baseball at their worst moments and I think this is one of those moments. 

Take that for what it is. 

Yesterday was an outstanding day of baseball. 

All these winners move on to the ALDS: 

- Yankees vs. Royals

- Padres vs. Dodgers 

- Tigers vs. Guardians

The games start on SATURDAY this weekend. 

This is the schedule for the Division Series. Some observations about how we got here: 

- Tarik Skubal is the best pitcher in the postseason. We don't need to spend a ton of time on this point. But worthy pointing out because he should be able to start twice in the Division Series which is a huge fucking problem for the Cleveland Guardians. 

- The Tigers are at they're best when it is impossible. They looked like complete asshole yesterday running Jackson Jobe out to poop his pants. He didn't get typical big league support with the bases loaded but same time he loaded the bases. So that's you're fault kid. Anyways, the point I'm making is that everyone thought the Tigers blew their wad in that moment and everyone was wrong. They rallied and rolled and now they're going to a familiar place for another stop on their historical journey.

I don't know if there's been a bigger or better textbook underdog since Dontrelle Willis beat my Cubs. 

- What's up with the Orioles?

The Orioles remind me of being in a fraternity. Like it's cool if you're inside the clubhouse and one of the boys. But to most outsiders, it's kinda douchey. Kinda lame. Like sure there's tons of benefits but just outside looking in - no thanks Orioles. Too many inside jokes for me to keep up with. Too many guys looking the same with the cool hair and the hardo names. 

I might be overreacting to a dead body, just saying the Orioles got their souls crushed and sucked at home. I've been on the Royals bandwaggon for a minute now and I honestly think it's just a special team. 

I think they have enough superstar power in Bobby and Vinnie and Salvy. I think that Massey is just getting started and that RJ Melendez could be a huge problem for the Yankee Stadium short porch. There's so many reason to think the Royals can shock the world and that's before we go full Yankee Scouting report. Let me have my moment. I know quite well that they have Hall of Famers everywhere. 

So before we look ahead, let's look back just for a minute on the Royals pitchers in two games against the Orioles 

-  1 ER, 11 hits, 20 strikeouts, 6 walks, 3 extra base hits with a 66% strike rate. That's incredible stuff against a lineup we've been hearing about 

- Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo should make 3 of 5 potential starts for the Royals while touting an electric bullpen. I know the Yankees have the best players ever and the best team and blah blah blah. But this is more of a problem than I can explain until it actually happens. 

Fuck you Carl

- I know for a fact that not a lot of you care about the Padres so I won't drag this one out much longer. Obviously the Braves struggled all year to reach their potential and I don't think that fanbase is too surprised compared to being just straight up pissed. And they have every right to be pissed. That was not a very good baseball team relative to their potential. 

So let's focus more on the club that outperformed in the Padres. 

Maybe the most frustrating roster the first half of the season turning into one of baseball's best in the 2nd half. That's because Jackson Merrill is a phenom and there's balance across the lineup. Machado and Tatis are still superstars in their own right, even if a down-year to their standards. But Profar and Arraez and Ha-Seong and Xander all fill out a steady lineup. On their best day, it's a nightmare. On the worst day, it's still a hell of a lineup to munch through as we saw yesterday. Giving the Padres infield singles will kill your chances. 

- Michael King will get 2 starts against the Dodgers but the Padres have basically nothing after that with no disrespect to Joe Musgrove. He's a nice guy. But we're talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers and they eat nice guys for brunch. 

So let's get some predictions out there even though we have multiple days off before the DS starts: 

- Mets over Brewers then Phillies over Mets

- Dodgers over Padres

- Yankees/Royals goes 5 games and extra innings

- Tigers over Guardians

These are your predictions. 

Try to ignore the fact that the AL Central has 3 teams left standing.