From Albert Pujols to Aaron Judge, bold MLB postseason predictions for 2022

The 2022 MLB regular season has been decided. We have been fortunate to witness some historic milestones this year. Not to mention his thrilling NL East races, including his 3,000 hits for Miguel Cabrera and his 700 home runs for Albert Pujols.

The postseason kicks off on Friday with a new wildcard series. The MLB and MLBPA have agreed to a 12-team postseason format as part of a new collective bargaining agreement, giving each club the chance to play his October baseball the way it has always been. Here are the postseason pairings:

american league

Goodbye: No. 1 Astros and No. 2 Yankees
toilet: No. 6 Rays vs. No. 3 Guardians (winner will face Yankees)
toilet: No. 5 Mariners vs No. 4 Blue Jays (winner will face Astros)

national league

Goodbye: No.1 Dodgers and No.2 Braves
toilet: No. 6 Phillies vs. No. 3 Cardinals (Winner faces Braves)
toilet: No. 5 Padres at No. 4 Mets (Winner faces Dodgers)

The Mariners (since 2001) and the Phillies (since 2011) have recorded the two longest postseason droughts in baseball. Angels and Tigers now own longest postseason drought in baseball historyboth absent from October baseball since 2014.

Bold preseason predictions weren’t good (If anything, Juan Soto’s predictions weren’t bold enough), but my motto is that if many bold predictions come true, they weren’t bold enough. Or at least I’m telling myself to feel better. Anyway, let’s make some bold predictions for the postseason. let’s start.

There’s a walk-off for the Wildcard series

Last year, Chris Taylor hit a walk-off home run in the Wild Card Game. Wild his card is no more in his game, but in ten years he’s brought three goodbyes. Salvador Perez’s double in 2014, Edwin in 2016 he’s a homer for Encarnacion, Taylor’s in 2022. The wild card game is over. Long live the wild card game.

There’s no better way to enter the Wildcard Series era than with a goodbye. I’m talking goodbye to win the series, game 3 goodbye sending the winner to his LDS and the loser home.It has not been that Ever since the postseason series ended with a goodbye (Boston’s Enrique Hernández won the ALDS last year with a walk-off fly. vs Rays) but they’re still cool and we boldly predict we’ll see it this year.

Specifically, the Blue Jays-Mariners matchup seems ripe for a walk-off. The series takes place in Toronto. Sorry Mariners fans, your team is headed in the wrong direction for the predicted walkoff. It can be said that he took the honor of completing a Jose Bautista-class batflip. it is prophesied.

Judge sets postseason series record in walks

Yankees slugger and AL MVP favorite Aaron Judge had a historically great regular season. In the meantime, he was triple playing in his crown (but just a few points short of batting average). Roger Maris, of course, had the record before that: 61 years ago, with the Yankees in 1961, he hit 61 home runs.

Judge hit 62 home runs despite barely hitting the stretch. In his last 13 games he walked 17 times and in his last 59 games he walked 62 times, but that’s the Yankees’ last seven with a non-postseason team, and he’s played six of his series. It was time This is what the pitcher looks like when he doesn’t want to give up number 61 or 62 and become a trivia answer.

It happened in a nonsensical game. What do you think will happen when the postseason starts and the games matter? I showed grabbing. There is no reason to think that will change in October. The stakes are too high.

So for this audacious prediction, I’m saying judges set a record for walks in one postseason series. The current record (who else?) is held by Barry Bonds, and the 2022 Judge is the closest he’s come to Bonds’ peak since Bonds’ peak, so it’s fitting for Judges to beat that record. He is the only player in history to tie 10 walks in a postseason series five times.

Barry Bonds, Giants	2002 World Series vs. Angels	7	30	13	7
Babe Ruth, Yankees	1926 World Series vs Cardinals	7	31	11	1
Barry Bonds, Giants	2002 NLCS vs Cardinals	Five	twenty two	Ten	3
Frank Thomas, White Sox	1993 ALCS vs Blue Jays	6	27	Ten	2
Gene Tenus, Athletics	1973 World Series vs Mets	7	30	Ten	1

The Yankees have a Wild Card Series bye and advance directly to the ALDS. Breaking a record and tying his 14 walks in a best-of-5 series is very difficult, so the bold prediction here is that the Yankees will advance to his ALCS and the judges will walk a record number in that series. I think it’s to draw. It is prophesied.

Pujols has one of the best postseason series ever

500/. The man who recorded 563/1.000. Moreover. What a legend.

So let’s scale it down a bit. Bold, but not. that Bold – and Pujols says he just has 1 of his best postseason series of the year. His timeless marvel has led baseball in home runs (!) since Aug. 14 and has clearly rejuvenated by playing again in St. Louis. There is something to be said for him knowing he is retiring and enjoying being out there.

Here are Pujols’ greatest ever postseason series by OPS (playing at least 3 games):

1. 2004 NLCS vs Astros: 1.563 OPS
2. 2005 NLDS vs. Padres: 1.470 OPS
3. 2011 NLCS vs Brewers: 1.469 OPS
4. 2004 NLDS vs Dodgers: 1.178 OPS
5. 2011 World Series vs. Rangers: 1.064 OPS

Pujols appeared in at least three games in the postseason series 17 times, had an OPS of .900 or higher nine times, and had an OPS of .885 or higher two times. 581 hitter in his career, with 19 home runs and more walks (50) than strikeouts (45) in 86 games in his postseason. It’s when the lights are brightest and the game is at its best on the mound. can’t believe it.

It’s not terribly bold to predict Pujols hitting 1,000 OPS in the postseason series given how his bat has been swinging in recent weeks, but it is. It doesn’t happen very often for a 42-year-old hitter. Isn’t there a better way for him to go out than one of his best October shows?

Guardians End Drought in AL Central

The past few postseasons have been a tough sleigh for the AL Central team. The last postseason series win by an AL Central team was in the 2016 ALCS when Cleveland defeated the Blue Jays, all going downhill since Cleveland led the Cubs to his 3–1 lead in that year’s World Series. It was a slope.

Here is how the AL Central teams have performed in the postseason since 2017:

2021 ALDS	white socks	Astros	Astros win 3-1
2020 Wildcard Series	white socks	Athletics	A win 2-1
2020 Wildcard Series	cleveland	Yankees	Yankees win 2-0
2020 Wildcard Series	twins	Astros	Yankees win 2-0
2019 ALDS	twins	Yankees	Yankees win 3-0
2018 ALDS	cleveland	Astros	Astros win 3-0
2017 ALDS	cleveland	Yankees	Yankees win 3-2
2017 Wild Card Game	twins	Yankees	Yankees win

That’s sketchy, and it doesn’t help to note that Cleveland had a 2-0 series lead in the 2017 ALDS but blew it. 4-19, 4-22 since Cleveland led 3-1 in the 2016 World Series. In those 26 games they have won 165-90. That is an average of 2.88 runs per match. The department wasted in October.

That will change this season. My next bold prediction calls for the only AL Central team in the postseason, the Guardians, to win the Wild Card Series and put the division back on the series winning streak. It’s a way. We can’t be sure of AL Central, but Cleveland’s power pitching and high-he-contact lineup seems specifically designed to piss off other teams in October. This year has gone well and the rest of AL Central will be able to live a surrogate life through the Guardian.

NL World Series winning streak continues

The National League has been doing well over the last few years. NL teams have won the last three World Series, and he has won eight of the last 12 World Series. Two of his four losses were to the Astros in 2017 and he to the Red Sox in 2018. The Senior Circuit has lived up to its name over the years. They bullied his AL.

It was the fifth time in history that the NL won three consecutive World Series titles (the Yankees and their pre-free agency dominance had long dominated the championship) and the fourth consecutive World Series the NL won. He has won only once, from 1979-82. , Pirates, Phillies, Dodgers, and Cardinals, in that order, when they were honored.

He picked the Brewers to win the World Series before the season, and that’s it. Picking the juggernaut Dodgers is the safe route, but well, it’s boring. The Braves as repeat champions would be cool, MLB hasn’t won a World Series again since 1998. He’s the Yankees in 2000. The Mets completing the “offseason champion becomes World Series champion” cycle would be great. I love seeing the teams that invest in their roster get rewarded.

I love the farewell story of the Cardinals winning the World Series with Pujols and Yadier Molina (and Adam Wainwright?) in their final season. Yeah, it’s cheesy, but it’s okay to be cheesy sometimes. I am free to make this bold prediction. The NL team will win the World Series, but I won’t say which one. A Cardinals win would be pretty cool. But whoever it is, his NL team will win the title this year. Also.