Sport Thoughts

The MLB 2023 playoffs have progressed into the league championship series. The final four tesms could be considered a shock to many baseball fans. The 2 Seed Houston Astros will take on the 5 Seed Texas Rangers and the 4 Seed Philadalphia Phillies will take on the 6 Seed Arizona Diamondbacks. All four teams finished the regular season with 90 wins or less. The defending champion Houston Astros will be the favorites over the Texas Rangers. Both teams finished with 90 total Wins but the Astros won the AL West Division through a tie breaker. The Astros won many games in 2023 against the Rangers, recently sweeping them in early September. The Rangers will enter the match up with the hottest offense and have gone undefeated thus far into the playoffs. The Rangers have the better offense but the Astros have the better pitching staff. The Rangers will need Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia to lead the way to victory. The Astros will fight fire with fire as Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker...

The MLB second round has come to a close. The Division Series could be summed up with two words: multiple upsets. For the first time in MLB playoff history, two teams who won 100 or more games were swept at the same time. The 90 win Texas Rangers upset the 101 win Baltimore Orioles and the 84 win Diamondbacks upset the 100 win LA Dodgers. Both series felt like total mismatches. The Rangers offense dominated with clutch home runs from Corey Seager, Mitch Garver and Adolis Garcia. The starting pitching from Nathan Eovaldi was at an elite level. The Orioles starting pitching struggled deeply and their offense went cold in games one and three. The Texas Rangers Vs Baltimore Orioles series could be best described as a veteran caliber team out-slugging and out-pitching a young team on the rise. The Arizona Diamondbacks Vs LA Dodgers series could be described as the complete opposite. The Dodgers were the veteran team, who were competely out-played and out-hustled by the up and coming Dbacks....

The playoff format of the MLB has evolved drastically over last the three years. In 2020, the MLB playoffs saw the introduction of the of best of three Wild Card series. All playoff teams played a first round series at the time. A year later, MLB brought back the one game Wild Card matchup. It was a matchup that saw the most negative criticism. The best of three Wild Card series was brought back last year but with a major difference. A change was made where the best two division winners receive a first round bye. The first round bye would negativily impact both National League 1 and 2 Seeds. The 111 win LA Dodgers were upset by the 89 win San Diego Padres and the 101 win Atlanta Braves were upset by the Philadelphia Phillies. Fast forward to 2023 and it appears to be a deja vu scenario. The 101 win Baltimore Orioles and 100 win LA Dodgers are currently down 0-2 in their respective Division Series. The underdog 90 win Texas Rangers and 84 win Arizona Diamondbacks have a chance to sweep ...

The Wild Card round of the MLB playoff has come and gone. There were four total Wild Card series sweeps. Each series had its moments of interest and concern. The Texas Rangers pulled off a series upset against the 99 win Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers outscored the Rays 11-1 in the two games combined. The Rays were outmatched and outplayed on every level of the game. Their offense missed key players including All-Star shortstop Wander Franco, outfielder Luke Raley and former All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe. The loss of these three hitters played a major role in the Rays complete lack of offense. The Rays have now lost 7 straight playoff games dating back to the 2021 Division Series. The Toronto Blue Jays were very similar to their rival Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays were eliminated by the Minnesota Twins in surprising fashion. The Twins broke an 18 playoff game losing streak and won their first playoff series since 2002. Both Wild Card games were close but ended in the same result fo...