Ah, the best time of the year, playoff baseball. The good teams become great, and the great teams become elite. Every team’s dream at the beginning of the year is to win the World Series. To reach the pinnacle. Here are five bold predictions for this postseason.
1. The Indians won’t win the pennant
If you’re a baseball fan, even casually, you know the story of the Cleveland Indians. They blew three games to one lead in the World Series last year against the Cubs, which the internet went crazy for, as expected. The Indians currently have the longest Championship drought in baseball, at 69 years.
They set the American League record for consecutive wins in a row, with 23, and you get the idea. The scary thing is that this Indians’ team, in 2017, may be better equipped than the one in 2016 was. Edwin Encarnacion was a key signing in the offseason, Jay Bruce was added midseason, and the Indians have had a full season of Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.
They have run through the American League, but as we’ve seen in the past, the playoffs are a whole different animal. The Red Sox, Astros, and even the Yankees can give this team a series. It’s all about who gets hot, at the right time. It’s because of their run, and the randomness of baseball, that we are going to guess they get bumped out early.