THE Kansas City Royals are in the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2015, the Tigers are ending a playoff drought that started that same year, and the Baltimore Orioles have an eight-game postseason losing streak that began after beating Detroit in a 2014 series.
At least one of those three teams will be playing in the American League (AL) Division Series this weekend.
Baseball’s playoffs start Tuesday with four wild-card games — two in the AL and two in the National League (NL) — in a best-of-three round.
The sixth-seeded Tigers will visit the third-seeded Houston Astros, a playoff regular, in the day’s first game. The fifth-seeded Royals meet the fourth-seeded Orioles, a talented squad due for a postseason breakout, in the second game.
In the NL, the third-seeded Milwaukee Brewers host the sixth-seeded New York Mets, and the fourth-seeded Padres clash with the fifth-seeded Atlanta Braves in Southern California in the last game of the day. San Diego is the hottest team since the All-Star break with a 43-20 record.
The Braves and Mets both got into the field by splitting a doubleheader on Monday. That left the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks as the odd team out.
Four teams get the first round off: The top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers and second-seeded Philadelphia Phillies in the NL, and the top-seeded New York Yankees and second-seeded Cleveland Guardians in the AL.
Here is a look at the pairings:
TIGERS (86-76) AT ASTROS (88-73)
Detroit traded away right-hander Jack Flaherty, outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha and left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin at the trade deadline, then released infielder Gio Urshela a few weeks later due to its season seemingly going nowhere. But a stunning 31-11 run, combined with the collapse of the Minnesota Twins, led to the Tigers ending their long playoff drought.
Detroit has the probable AL Cy Young Award winner in left-hander Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA), but the rest of the rotation is shaky. Outfielder Riley Greene (.262 average, 24 homers, 74 RBIs) is the top position player, and manager A.J. Hinch has expertly mixed and matched his roster all season to find timely production.
The Astros are the seasoned postseason squad and are part of the playoffs for the eighth season in a row. They won the World Series in 2017 (the sign-stealing group) and 2022 and finished this regular season strong with 11 wins in 16 games. Left-hander Framber Valdez (15-7, 2.91) is the ace, while legendary right-hander Justin Verlander might not make the playoff roster against his former club.
Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez (.308-35-86) is one of the most powerful hitters in the sport, and infielders Jose Altuve (.295-20-65) and Alex Bregman (.260-26-75) have been the core of the franchise’s dynasty. The Astros failed to reach the 90-win mark over the course of a 162-game season for the first time since 2016. Houston went 4-2 against Detroit this season.
The winner faces… the Guardians (92-69), who were surprisingly potent in Stephen Vogt’s first season as manager. Jose Ramirez (.279-39-118) might be the most unsung six-time All-Star in the history of the sport, but he has just two homers in 32 postseason games.
ROYALS (86-76) AT ORIOLES (91-71)
One of the top players on Kansas City’s back-to-back World Series teams in 2014-15 is one of the top performers for this club. Catcher Salvador Perez (.271-27-104) was MVP of the 2015 Fall Classic and is the backbone of the organization. However, the club has a big-time star in shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (.332-32-109 plus 31 steals), the AL batting champion who will finish near the top of AL MVP voting.
The Royals hadn’t even had a winning campaign since 2015 prior to this season. The free agent signing of right-hander Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00), the possible Cy Young Award runner-up to Skubal, provided a big boost, as did the development of left-hander Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14). Both pitchers made the AL All-Star team. — Reuters
