Starting tomorrow, the Houston Astros will host the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees will host the Cleveland Guardians.
Both series will be 3-of-5 and the winners will be eligible to play each other in the Championship Series.
Who will be most likely to surrender? After all, it will be very tight and all four teams are in the divisional series for a reason.
Here is the state of the forces of the different teams still alive.
Pitching staff
Houston : Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez are among the favorites for the Cy Young and they have guided a very good rotation which is notably completed by Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy, to name a few.
The Astros’ bullpen was the only bullpen to pitch fewer than 500 innings due to quality starters…and the Houston relievers had the best collective average in MLB. Mariners hitters better get up early because Astros pitchers love their bullpen.
Seattle : On the Seattle side, Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert are able to rub shoulders with any rotation – or any hitters.
The relief meanwhile posted the lowest collective earned run average of the four teams still alive in the American, but it ranked sixth in the MLB. They have an excellent paddock, we’ll tell each other.
New York : Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Luis Severino will serve for the first three games and they will be fresh and ready after a week off. Aaron Boone will therefore have a choice.
That said, even if the enclosure has been successful in the season, it is weakened in view of the playoffs … and Aroldis Chapman will not be there either.
Cleveland : In Cleveland, it will be the festival of the big pitchers. Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie are supported by Zach Plesac and Cal Quantrill in the rotation, which is dangerous.
And the enclosure? In addition to being dominant in all situations, he is complemented by the best reliever still alive in the playoffs, Emmanuel Clase. He is simply untouchable.
Position players
Houston : Will the club’s experienced players (Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel) be able to make the difference? Otherwise, Trey Mancini, Kyle Tucker or Jeremy Pena can contribute.
Seattle : The attack is not the club’s strength, but we saw it against the Blue Jays: Eugenio Suarez, Ty France, Julio Rodriguez and Mitch Haniger can stand up.
New York : Aaron Judge has to be the best offensive player in the series to make it go well for the Yankees, but guys like Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres and Matt Carpenter, to name a few, have to contribute.
Cleveland : We are talking about the team of Jose Ramirez, clearly. That said, Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan and Oscar Gonzalez are all there to support the third baseman. But on paper, the Yankees obviously have an advantage.
imponderables
Houston : The Astros won the World Series in 2017, they lost in the World Series in 2019 and 2021 and in 2018 and 2020 they paid the price of a championship series. Experience, they have it in spades.
Seattle : The fact that the Mariners are in the playoffs for the first time since 2001 will help this team. Will this be enough?
New York : The Yankees want to win their first World Series since 2009. Will the club be motivated by its fans?
Cleveland : Will being the underdogs work in favor of the Guardians?
