Previously, Chronicle reporter Drew Zeman offered predictions as to how the teams playing in the divisional series round in the MLB playoffs would fare; now, he examines the teams facing off in the championship series.
After a weird and unexpected playoff so far, the Championship Series kicked off in Houston as the Astros faced off against the Rangers at 7:15 p.m. CT on Sunday, October, 15.
A Look at Last Week’s Playoffs
In the division series, on the National League side, the Phillies faced off against the Braves, and the Diamondbacks went up against the Dodgers. The Phillies came out on top in a hard-fought series in which they won 3-1.
The Diamondbacks traveled to Los Angeles and faced the Dodgers as heavy underdogs, but swept them 3-0. They now go on to face the Phillies in the Championship Series to punch a ticket to the World Series.
The American League Division Series started out in Houston where the Twins took on the Astros. Things then kicked off in Baltimore where the Rangers played the Orioles. No surprise the Astros were able to defeat the Twins 3-1 in their series, but the Rangers stayed hot and beat the Orioles who were the best team in the American League with a 101-61 record.
Diamondbacks vs. Phillies
The Arizona Diamondbacks are in a spot to win the National League Championship, and no one thought they were going to be here. In the first round they faced a tough Brewers team who had a very good second half of the season where they had a top 10 offense. Their pitching was consistently good all season long, although it was not good enough when it needed to be. The DBacks knocked out the Brewers and went on to face the second-best team in the NL, the Dodgers. Shockingly Arizona swept them 3-0 and advanced to face the Phillies.
The Phillies have been a solid team since the beginning, and that started when star shortstop Trea Turner “turned” things around. The Phillies beat the Marlins with ease, where they then faced the Braves which were the best team in baseball. The Phillies played amazing and with taking a 3-1 series win, they blew a 4-0 lead in game two and lost 5-4. That still was not enough to bring the Phillies down. Although the DBacks have played really well, the Phillies are still favored to win this series.
Rangers vs. Astros
The huge matchup between the Rangers and Astros kicks things off in Houston. Both teams are 90-72 and have earned their spot here. The Rangers took care of business and took down the AL best Orioles in a surprising 3-0 series sweep. On the other hand, the Astros beat the Twins 3-1 in their series, and star Yordan Alverez hit four homeruns in those four games (with all four coming in the first three games).
On paper the Astros have the better team, but with the way the Rangers have been playing, it is going to be hard to stop them. The Rangers will take this series in seven games, and face the Phillies in the World Series.
Up Next
The first round with a best-of-7 series is the championship round in which the winners of each series will win their respective league.
The winner from each league will face each other in the World Series which starts on Friday October 27.
