The Major League Baseball regular season was as unpredictable as ever, and made any preseason predictions – especially mine – look bad. Really bad.
But the postseason has arrived, and I'm going to give it another whirl. The top seeds are the Baltimore Orioles in the American League and the Atlanta Braves in the National League. There are other teams worth monitoring closely, as the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are among the teams that possess the traits to make a deep postseason run.
It would not be a surprise if any of those six teams made the World Series. But I believe that the Orioles square off against the Braves, with Atlanta winning the World Series in six games.
MLB insider: Why the Atlanta Braves will win the World Series
Ultimately, I believe that the Braves are in a class of their own.
On offense, they possess stars Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies. They have an emerging young star in Michael Harris II and veteran players such as Marcell Ozuna, Eddie Rosario, Sean Murphy and Orlando Arcia. On the pitching side, they are led by young right-handed star Spencer Strider and have veterans Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright and Bryce Elder, among others.
While Fried and Morton are both on the Injured List, both are expected to return this postseason. Fried is dealing with a lingering blister issue on his left index finger and has a chance to return during the National League Divisional Series. Morton, meanwhile, is out until at least the NLCS with a sprained right index finger.
But the Braves should be able to overcome those injuries, especially with one of the best offenses in baseball, and have positioned themselves to once again represent the NL in the World Series.
Any potential matchup in the World Series, however, would surely be a test for the Braves. The Houston Astros are in the middle of a dynasty and have the postseason experience and talent to beat anyone. The Texas Rangers are talented across the board, with a mix of young and veteran talent, though the injuries to Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom sorely hurt their World Series aspirations.
But it's the Baltimore Orioles, arguably baseball's most talented young team, that the Braves should worry about.
They won 101 games this season. They are good both on the road and at home – they actually won three more games (52) on the road than at home (49). And they are led by young stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, who has positioned himself to be the favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year.
The Orioles were knocked at the trade deadline for not acquiring more starting pitchers or relievers than just Jack Flaherty and Shintaro Fujinami, but their rotation and bullpen held up relatively well throughout the regular season. Their rotation ranked 11th in baseball with a 4.11 ERA while their bullpen ranked fifth in baseball with a 3.55 ERA.
How the Orioles overcome the season-ending injury to All-Star closer Felix Bautista will be critical in getting to the World Series. But I believe that the Braves are too talented, and too deep, and will ultimately win the title in six games.
