Keep your ears open for the crunching of fallen leaves and the crack of baseballs soaring through the air, because October has arrived!
The World Series is an extremely competitive championship played by the world’s best baseball players (just keep in mind that only American teams and one Canadian team — who didn’t even make the playoffs this year — compete for the Commissioner’s Trophy).
October is full of things to look forward to, whether it may be the transition from summer to fall or the segue from regular to postseason baseball; this month is bound to be eventful.
I mean, let’s not forget Halloween. But the biggest scare of the season? Twelve teams enter… and only one comes out victorious.
The pick of the patch
Major League Baseball (MLB) kicked off its first round of games on the very first day of this month. In the span of the two weeks since then, twelve total teams have been dwindled down to just four.
Let me explain how we got there.
Firstly, the MLB is divided into the American and National Leagues, eaching holding three divisions. The teams that hold the best record within their division advance to the postseason. Next, the three teams with the best records in each league — after the division winners — secure what are called the Wild Card spots.
For the 2024 MLB season, the division winners of the American League were the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Guardians, and the Houston Astros. For the National League, the division winners were the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Wild Card teams of the American League were the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, and the Detroit Tigers; the Wild Card teams of the National League were the Atlanta Braves, the New York Mets, and the San Diego Padres.
Finally, the postseason begins with the Wild Card Series. The top two seeded teams of each league bypass these games and automatically advance to the Division Series.
The Wild Card Series are each a best-of-three format. The Tigers, Royals, Mets, and Padres advanced from the Wild Card Series to meet the awaiting teams in the American League Division Series and National League Division Series for a total of eight teams left.
After the Division Series, four teams advance to the American League Championship Series and the National League Championship Series.
The Frightening final four
Finally, we’ve caught up to the present, because just as the leaves begin to fall, so do defeated teams. In the American League, we are left with the New York Yankees battling it out with the Cleveland Guardians, and in the National League, the New York Mets face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cleveland Guardians are definitely the underdogs matched up against these higher pay-rolled teams. But if money can’t buy happiness, then it maybe it can’t buy championships either.
Largely regarded as a rebuilding club with promising prospects, their newer stars are both the strengths and weaknesses of their roster, especially their bullpen. Even while the New York Yankees are twiddling their thumbs, waiting for big shot Aaron Judge to finally shine in the playoffs— oh, he’s just hit a home run. With a star-studded team with hot bats, most of their worries stem from a weaker bullpen.
Not to be regarded as New York’s second team, but simply the second one mentioned, are the New York Mets (sorry, Mets fans). Veteran batters boost the offensive power of this team, but the troublesome pitching rotation creates weakness in their defensive lineup.
Lastly, the last team to touch on: the Los Angeles Dodgers. As an unbiased Dodger fan (an extremely rare feat or possibly an impossible status), the Dodgers are definitely a team to keep an eye out for.
However, October is not too fond of this team, no matter how marvelous they play during the regular season. Similar to the Yankees, they wield a stacked roster with players like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández, and Freddie Freeman. But most of their games ultimately boil down to their pitching power… just like every other team aforementioned.
And, the two teams that advance from these Championship Series will finally make it to the ever so sought-after World Series. The winner of that best-of-seven matchup will be the concluding winner to the 2024 MLB season.
Boo Bracket
Boo baskets are very cute, seasonal, and trendy. However, if you’re looking for alternatives, you can turn to what I like to refer to as “boo brackets”. The MLB offers baseball fans the opportunity to interact with the postseason through the MLB Bracket Challenge.
If you’re not familiar with how these bracket challenges tend to work, you start off with the twelve starting teams and then proceed to make your predictions on who you believe will move onto the next round, and then the next, until you choose a final winning team. If your predictions are correct, you could be a big winner alongside the winning baseball teams!
Unfortunately, it’s too far into the playoffs to start out your own bracket, but there’s always next year! It’s a fun and free way to stay involved and possibly win cash prizes.
Hopefully by now you understand just a bit more about how postseason baseball works. You can watch the last four teams fight for their way to the World Series on MLB.TV, ABC, ESPN, YouTube TV, or FOX.
Even if fall isn’t your favorite, how can you resist a season that combines pumpkin spice, Halloween, and baseball all in one? It really makes me want to give thanks— sure wish we had a fall holiday for that occasion.