People say the baseball postseason can be boring some years, especially for non–baseball fans. But this year was different, since we saw BOTH New York teams in the playoffs, and they both were really good. The postseason is when the best of the best Major League Baseball (MLB) teams across the American and National Leagues compete to win the World Series. Teams are slowly eliminated each round until there is one winner.
The playoffs begin with a wild card round of the teams who barely made it to the postseason. This is a best of three series. The ALDS (American League Division Series) and NLDS (National League Division Series) are essentially the quarterfinals. They’re the best out of 5 games. The semifinals are the ALCS and NLCS (CS stands for Championship Series). These games are the best out of 7 games. Although these two teams who win the semifinals are the best teams from each league, they may not be the best two teams in baseball since each league can only have one winner.
The 7-game World Series holds the overall finalists for the two best teams in baseball. Here is some quick background before we get into the teams: Batting average refers to how often the player gets a hit when they come up to bat. For example, a .250 batting average means a player, on average, gets a hit 25% of the time. When I reference homers, power, or home runs, I’m talking about the number of hits that they have hit so far traveling out of the stadium. Anything above 20 homers is very impressive. ERA, or earned run average, is a pitching stat that measures the average runs a pitcher gives up every 9 innings. An ERA of 4.60 means a pitcher typically allows between 4 and 5 earned runs per 9 innings. A lower ERA, especially below 3.50, is considered pretty good, but not amazing. Stolen bases are the number of bases stolen. Most players get less than 10.
Let’s look at the teams and how they performed, starting with the losing wild card teams. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles were a fantastic team with many young players performing well. The MVP for the Orioles has got to be Gunnar Henderson: With a whopping 37 homers and a .281 batting average, he was unstoppable throughout the year. The reason they lost so early is because their team was young and lacked postseason experience. They did not function as well in a playoff environment as the other teams and struggled where others did not.
The Houston Astros, another team eliminated in the Wild Cards, have been a good team for over 5 years. After effortlessly making it as far as the ALCS in most recent years, this season was underwhelming. Their MVP has to be Yordan Alvarez. He is a massive power hitter, but this year, he also hit more often with a high batting average, hitting .308 with 35 homers.
In the national league, the The Atlanta Braves had a good season, but they were expected to do much better. They still did very well due to arguably the best pitching staff in baseball, boasting a team 3.49 ERA. Spencer Shwellenbach was their best player this year. Although his 3.35 ERA is decent but not mindblowing, he was a rookie, and his pitching career is only going up!
The Milwaukee Brewers had an above-average season as expected and have frequently made it to the playoffs. Their MVP was William Contreras, with a .281 average and 23 homers. He was not the greatest of all time but he regularly had game-winning hits. They lost the wild card round simply because they weren’t as good of a team as the Mets, who outhit and outplayed them.
The teams that lost the ALCS and ALDS performed better than the Wild Card teams, but not by much.
In the American League, The Kansas City Royals are a developing team. After a long time without success, they finally made it to the postseason. The key to their great season was a dominant pitching staff, boosting a 3.76 team ERA—meaning many players performed even better than that. Their best player was absolutely Bobby Witt Jr., with the highest batting average this year, a whopping .332 avg! He also boasts 32 homers, and he hit for power and average. They fell short because they gave up too many big hits to Giancarlo Stanton, a huge power hitter for the Yankees.
Also in the American League, The Detroit Tigers had a subpar season this year, ranking low in all category standards for success in baseball with low batting averages and high team ERA. But thanks to a key rally towards the end of the year, they squeezed into the postseason. Their MVP was pitcher Tarik Skubal, who was incredibly talented, posting a 2.39 ERA with an 18-4 record! They eventually lost due to their low stats catching back up to them in the postseason.
In the National League, the Phillies have been a powerful clubhouse for the past 5 years and have dominated their league. They had a great season due to star players like Bryce Harper, and their lower-level players played well too. Their most notable player was veteran Zach Wheeler, who had a 2.57 ERA with a 16-7 record. They lost because they underestimated the Mets’ hot streak and gave up hits to the Mets left and right almost every game.
Also, in the National League, the Padres, who looked like they would win it all, fell short in 5 out of 5 games against the Dodgers, but that’s understandable since the Dodgers won the World Series. The key to the success of the Padres was that every hitter in their lineup was fantastic. Their MVP was Manny Machado, who hit .275 with 29 home runs: not the flashiest, but a good and consistent player.
The ALCS and NLCS losing teams made it very far. Both New York teams made it up to their championship series, causing some debate about whether this year there might be a Subway Series—a World Series with the Mets vs. Yankees in which fans can get to every game by subway. It hasn’t happened since 2000! But sadly, the Mets lost in 5 games to the Dodgers, ending their comeback streak. After Grimace threw the first pitch on June 12, the Mets rebounded from their average season with a fantastic comeback year. They came through when necessary, and blasted player Jose Iglesias’s song “OMG” at every turn until they faced the Dodgers, and their path was cut short. The key to their season was that all of their players overperformed compared to expectations. Francisco Lindor was their MVP, boasting a .273 average with 33 home runs. Fans chanted “MVP” at almost every game; he was a favorite.
The Guardians lost to the Yankees, who had outperformed them in the regular season as well. They were expected to perform mediocrely, but greatly exceeded those expectations. Because of a very strong starting pitching staff and a great lineup, the Guardians soared above and beyond this year. They had two great players worthy of being their team’s MVP, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan. Ramirez had a .279 average with 39 homers, while Kwan had a .292 average with 16 home runs.
The World Series arrived, and New Yorkers were still excited. The Yankees had a chance to win it all! The Yankees had won the World Series more than any other team—an astounding 27 times—and Yankees fans were looking for their team to do it again. But those dreams all fell flat due to the menace and MVP of the series: a player named Freddie Friedman who hit a home run in each of the first 4 games of the 5 game series! Soon enough, the Dodgers had taken a 3-game lead, and the Yankees felt no hope. But they rallied and attacked back with 1 win, and it all came to a 5th game. The Yankees pulled ahead with a massive lead but dropped, fumbled, and froze some routine plays. This allowed the Dodgers to score some valuable runs, winning them the game.
This outrageous performance enraged many people, including some of the students at HSMSE. “When Aaron Judge missed the catch of game five of the World Series, it became a nightmare for his team and all Yankees fans around the world because of what this led to,” said Cyrus Schwartz (‘28). “Originally, it seemed like the Yankees were easily going to bring the World Series to game six with a 5-0 lead. [But] Judge’s error led to [him] missing a crucial out [and] runners advancing on base. With the following series of plays, the Dodgers made a comeback. This play was extremely important because if Judge made the catch, the Yankees would’ve most likely won.”
During the regular season, the Dodgers had Shohei Ohtani, the MVP of the entire league! He had an insane 52 home runs and a huge .310 batting average. He also surpassed 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season, being the first player to do so. Aaron Judge hit an even better .322 average for the Yankees with a shocking 58 home runs, 4 shy of his own record. He’s definitely the MVP of his league. But in game 5, in the most critical moment, he dropped an easy pop-out, as mentioned by Cyrus, leading to a season-losing game for the Yankees.
How did the Dodgers manage to win this World Series? Money. The Dodgers spent more than one billion dollars alone on Shohei Ohani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. No wonder they won! Overall, there was clearly fierce competition between the teams, especially in the rivalry between the Yankees and the Dodgers. Congrats to all the Dodgers fans, and if your favorite team was cut from the trophy, we’ll get them next year! And that, alllllll of that, is the postseason in a nutshell.