MLB Postseason
November 9, 2022
By: Nathan Steinagel and Tanner Christie
With several new teams in the playoffs this year including the Mariners, Blue Jays, Phillies and Padres. The Mariners have not seen the playoffs since 2001. Blue Jays, Phillies, and Padres saw themselves in the early 2010’s playoffs.
Wild Card round:
There were a total of 12 teams in the playoffs at this point, there are 8.
The Mets and Cardinals were both eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. The Padres beat the Mets in a 3 games series. The Cardinals lost 2 games in a row to be eliminated. The Cardinals in game 1 were up 2-0 in the 8th inning and the Phillies put up a 6 spot in the final 2 innings. The Phillies went on to win that game 6-2. The next day, the Phillies won a Friday night game 2-0. The Padres/Mets series went to three games. The Padres ended up winning the series. All 3 games were pitching battles and low scoring games.
The Rays lost to the Guardians in the wild card series with both games ending in a close finish. Game 1 was won by the Guardians 2-1. The next day, the Guardians won on a walk off home run in the 15th inning and won by 1-0. The Mariners also beat the Blue Jays 2 games in a row. Winning the first game 4-0. The next day they came back from being down 4 runs and then winning the game 10-9.
Courtesy Of Fox News
Courtesy of Fox News
Courtesy of MLB
Courtesy of ESPN
Divisional Rounds:
The Padres surprisingly beat the Dodgers in the best of 5 series. After losing Game 1 and winning the last 3, the Padres punched their ticket into the National League Championship Series (NLCS).
The Phillies beat the Braves in 4 games winning one in Atlanta and losing one. They went home and won the last 2 games of the series. Atlanta had high hopes coming into the playoffs, hoping to repeat, but Bryce Harper single handedly ruined that.
The Astros swept the Mariners 3-0. Yordan Alvarez hit a huge 3 run walk off home run for the Astros to take game 1. The Mariners lost all the games by 2 runs or less. The Astros are a Home run team. With 11 home-runs in the postseason. Mariner dominated the wild card round but didn’t put enough runs on the board to beat the Astros.
The Yankees beat the Guardians in 5 games. That series went back and forth, the Yankees ended up winning that series.
Championship series:
What looked to be a competitive series for both leagues, surprisingly it was not that close. The Astros ended up sweeping the Yankees, which put an end to Aaron Judge’s historic MVP season. The Phillies beat the Padres 4-1 led by Bryce Harper.
The Yankees choked playing the Astros yet again in the postseason.The astros have not lost a series to the Yankees ever and remain undefeated in this postseason. They won games 1 and 2 on a couple of nail biters.Then, they won game 3 in Yankee stadium which wasn’t very close with a 5-0 score. In Game 4, they were trailing, but eventually found the lead with an Alex Bregman go ahead single in the 8th.
The Phillies, who were not expected to make it out of the first round, made it to Baseball’s highest achievement, the World Series. The Padres, who were also a surprise after beating the MLB best 111 win Dodgers, fell short in just 5 games. The NLCS was against the Padres and Phillies, the Phillies won that series in 5 games winning 3 games on the road then clinching it at home. The series started out at 1 to 1, but the Phillies eventually won the next game which was close, and then broke out offensively for 10 runs to move from 1 game to the world series. The Phillies were down the whole game until the 8th inning. Down 3-2, Bryce Harper stood at the plate against the dominant Robert Suarez. On a 2-2 count, Harper demolished a 99 MPH fastball on the outer edge of the plate into left field. He could not have hit a bigger Home Run in his life! This solidified The Phillies spot into the world series when starter Ranger Suarez came out to close the game. Austin Nola popped out on the first pitch he saw, and the celebrations started.
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Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
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Courtesy of Reuters
Courtesy of The New York Times
World Series:
With two teams that were extremely hot in the postseason coming in, who was gonna stand as the last team remaining. The Phillies beat the Division winning Cardinals in the wild card, The 101 win team in the Braves, and then the Padres who just beat the 107 Win Dodgers. But, the Astros had not lost a game in this postseason, beating the electric Mariners and the high and mighty New York Yankees. This was a battle of the offenses, and this was just the beginning of the series.
Game 1: Starting in Minute Maid Park, Astros Home Field, the Astros came in with high hopes. For the first 3 innings, the Astros started the scoring off with 5 runs. They were confident at this point. The Phillies stormed back in the next two innings. They eventually won in the 10th inning, with J.T Realmuto’s clutch Home Run. The Phillies were the first team in 20 years to come back from a 5 run deficit in the World Series.
Game 2: The Astros were angry after they lost in game 1. They opened the floodgates early in the first inning with 3 runs on the board. They never looked back after this. They got another two runs after Alex Bregman shot a 2 run home run to left field.The Phightin Phils’ came back with two in the 7th and 8th, but this time their comeback fell short.
Game 3: The Phillies won 7-0. The Astros struggled with hitting the ball. They hit the ball 5 times and the Phillies hit the long ball 4 times in game 3. The Astros kept on looking at strike 3 calls the whole game.
Game 4 This game is where the fun started for the Astros. They threw just the second World Series no hitter ever and first since Don Larsen’s in 1956. The Astros broke out for 5 in the 5th, but that was it. The series was tied 2-2. It could go in either direction
Game 5: Astros had a great Defense and Offense. The Phillies would hit the ball hard, but were practically robbed several times by the Astros great outfield Defense. The Astros scored the game winning run in the 8th on a Rhys Hoskins error. The Astros won this game 3-2.
Game 6: After game 4 the Phillies bats went silent. They scored 1 run and it is near impossible to win a ballgame with a lone run. When they scored it on a Kyle Schwarber bomb in the 5th, things were looking good for the offense. But in the bottom of the same inning, with runners on 1st and 3rd, Yordan Alvarez (Aka the New Mr. October) obliterated a Jose Alvarado 99 MPH Fastball 450 feet to Right-Center field. What a way to crush another team's hopes, literally. The Astros were not going to fall again in the World Series after we know what happened last year when they lost to The Braves in 6 Games (We all know Soler’s Home Run in game 6 went more than 500 feet). Anyway, Ryan Pressly got Nick Castellanos to pop out in foul territory to win the Astros their first title since the cheating scandal. This shows the world that the Astros don’t need a trash can to win a world series.
The Phillies’ Cinderella story is over, but huge props to them for having the worst record out of all the playoff teams, and still overcoming it all to go to the world series. There are lots of questions for teams on how they will improve their team. Now, it’s time for the offseason and we can move on from a great postseason and year where lots of milestones were reached. But for now, Where will Aaron Judge go? How will certain teams push for the World series title next year? Where are some of the biggest free agents signing?