MLB Division Winners and Playoff Picture

Larry Rooney

With about two months left to the MLB season, the playoffs and October baseball are right around the corner. Teams have just finished completing blockbuster trades and other moves here and there at the trade deadline to help position themselves for success down the stretch. Most notably, the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets were the consensus “winners” of this year’s trade deadline frenzy, but did these two teams do enough to make a playoff appearance this year? So really, with the non-waiver trade deadline behind us, which teams are positioned for a playoff berth? Some of my division and Wild Card winners may surprise you.


The National League:

NL West→The Los Angeles Dodgers

SP Clayton Kershaw and SP Zack Greinke will be able to pitch their team to success. Kershaw, who struggled early in the season, is back to his old self and absolutely dominating the competition, while Greinke has arguably been even better than Kershaw this season. Most notably, the Dodgers acquired SP Mat Latos and P Jim Johnson at this year’s deadline to bolster the rotation and the bullpen. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, pitching is absolutely crucial to playoff success. I do, however, feel that this division will ultimately come down to the last series of the season when the Dodgers face off against the San Francisco Giants, who are a strong competitor for this division as well.

NL Central→St. Louis Cardinals

While this is considered the “easy” choice, the next two months of baseball will not be easy for the Cardinals as the Pittsburgh Pirates geared up at this year’s trade deadline. The Cardinals, however, did indeed make countermoves acquiring once reliable bullpen arms in pitchers Steve Cishek and Jonathan Broxton. The two pitchers are veterans with histories of success. This Cardinals team will be leaning on these two arms to help bolster an already strong bullpen. PITCHING. PITCHING. PITCHING. Pitching wins playoff games and series. The Cardinals are aware through experiences of recent success in the playoffs with help from a strong bullpen and an even stronger starting rotation. The Cardinals also added to their offense by acquiring slugger Brandon Moss from the Cleveland Indians. St. Louis has positioned themselves not only for a playoff berth but also playoff success.

NL East→New York Mets

If you have been paying attention to the league, then you are aware of the gritty series that went on in New York this past weekend. The New York Mets have run into a Washington Nationals team that has finally gotten healthy, but the Mets have edged out their opponents with three very emotional and extremely impressive victories. One might even say that Wilmer Flores’s walk-off home run in the 12th inning of a 1-1 game could turn out to be the turning point of the season. In addition to their strong pitching, the Mets have recently acquired OF Yoenis Cespedes, 3B Juan Uribe, RP Tyler Clippard, and utility man Kelly Johnson to help bolster the team’s offense and bullpen. The New York Mets will continue to rely on their strong pitching to help secure the NL East Division title.

NL Wild Card Game→San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates

These two teams are the fallouts of two very tight divisions. Ultimately, I see the Giants falling a game or two short of their division leader, which pushes them to this one-game playoff. Similarly, I feel the Pirates will be in the same situation due to the red hot St. Louis Cardinals, perhaps more than just a game or two out though. Both teams sport good pitching,which will be crucial in this one-game playoff. The Pirates would likely start ace Gerrit Cole who has dominated the league this year. The Giants would counter by starting their ace Madison Bumgarner, who hasn’t quite dominated the league, but has still pitched well this season. It’s easy to say that Cole has been the better pitcher this season, but if you recall anything from last year’s playoffs it should be how dominant Madison Bumgarner was last October. In fact, Bumgarner pitched in last year’s Wild Card playoff and threw a complete game, 4 hit shutout. I pick the Giants to again make it to the first official round of the 2015 MLB Playoffs by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The American League:

AL West→Houston Astros

The Angels will not make it easy on the Astros to take the division over the next two months. The Astros, however, are too much to handle with the recent acquisitions of OF Carlos Gomez, SP Scott Kazmir, and SP Mike Fiers. That’s right! The long-time cellar dwellers are now too much to handle for Mike Trout and Albert Pujols!

AL Central→Kansas City Royals

Again, the anticipated and “easy” pick is Kansas City. However, unlike the others I can say the Royals will run away with their division due to their key trade deadline acquisitions and the lack thereof by the Twins. The small market team did not do enough to keep up with the likes of Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. These two join an already impressive cast of players on the Kansas City roster. The Royals should be one of the few teams walking into this year’s MLB playoffs and again running through them thanks to their stellar and unmatched bullpen.

AL East→New York Yankees

Despite major blockbuster trades made by the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees will hold onto first place in this tight division. While the Yankees stayed pretty quiet through the deadline, the team is still sporting a high-powered offense led by catalysts DH Alex Rodriguez and 1B Mark Teixeira. The team is preparing to call up prospect SP Luis Severino due to an injury to SP Michael Pineda, which will likely sideline the pitcher for about a month. Severino has been very impressive in the minors this season, and he is highly anticipated by both the league and Yankees fans. The team will need continued success from OF Brett Gardner, DH Alex Rodriguez, and 1B Mark Teixeira in order to reach October baseball.

AL Wild Card Game→Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays

That’s right. Three teams from the AL East will make the playoffs this year. While those three teams could easily flip-flop any which way, I do believe this is how the cards will be dealt. Ultimately, these two teams will meet in a one-game playoff to move onto the next round. Freshly acquired TOR SP David Price will match up against Baltimore’s SP Wei Yin Chen who will have a very short leash in this game. I do feel Price will out duel Chen in this game should it happen. Also, it helps that Toronto will be combining the league’s best offense with one of its best pitchers. This is a very hard combination to beat; however, should this happen and Toronto advances, I have a hard time believing they will proceed any further due to a lack of pitching depth behind Price.

With this being said, here’s a look at how I think the 2015 MLB Playoffs will shape up:

National League						American League
	St. Louis Cardinals 1						Kansas City Royals 1
San Francisco Giants 4		St. Louis Cardinals 1				Kansas City Royals 1		Toronto Blue Jays 4
	San Francisco Giants 4						Toronto Blue Jays 4
Pittsburgh Pirates 5			St. Louis Cardinals 1		Houston Astros 2			Baltimore Orioles 5
	Los Angeles Dodgers 2						Houston Astros 2
		New York Mets 3				Houston Astros 2
	New York Mets 3						New York Yankees 3

                                                             St. Louis Cardinals

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