Baseball-Five things to watch out for in the MLB playoffs


LOS ANGELES: For the first time in Major League Baseball’s extended playoffs, 12 teams will be battling it out for World Series glory, including the favored Los Angeles Dodgers, defending champions Atlanta Braves and the surprise Cleveland Guardians.

Here are five things to watch out for when the post-season kicks off on Friday:

Can Judge cap the historic season with the championship?

Aaron Judge’s home run chase, in which every at-bat was an appointment visit and culminating in his 62nd long ball breaking Roger Mari’s 61-year single-season AL record on Tuesday, captivated fans everywhere.

Now he will look to top it off by bringing a championship to the Bronx for the first time since 2009.

Judge is all but certain of winning the AL MVP award after having a .311 batting average, a .425 on-base percentage and 131 RBIs.

But the individual honors shouldn’t mean as much to the team-oriented judge as a master parade through New York.

The Yankees have had a rollercoaster season. They started red hot, winning 44 of their first 60 games before cooling off dramatically in the second half and righting the ship in September to conquer the AL East.

To consistently win in the playoffs, the Yankees need Judge to continue being the dominant player he has been all season.

The Yankees are expecting the winner of the best-of-three Cleveland Guardians-Tampa Bay Rays wildcard series.

Dodgers dynasty?

The dominant Dodgers won a club-record 111 games behind a lineup that includes many of the game’s best players, including outfielder Mookie Betts, first baseman Freddie Freeman and shortstop Trea Turner.

But despite their spectacular regular-season success over the past decade, the team has only one World Series title to their credit, which came at the end of the 2020 season curtailed by the pandemic.

Now they are trying to add one more to silence the doubters and argue that they are indeed a dynasty.

“2020 was an incredible thing, but we’re getting some criticism for the shortened season,” Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias told MLB.com.

“But to win another one in Los Angeles would be amazing. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.”

The Dodgers meet the San Diego Padres-New York Mets wildcard series winner.

Astros on a collision course with Dodgers?

Given the bad blood between the clubs, extra security could be needed when the Dodgers take on the Houston Astros in the World Series.

Despite Judge’s exploits in New York, the Astros are the favorites to represent the AL in the Classic case after winning 106 games and walking away with their division.

When baseball’s top two teams meet during the regular season in the World Series, you can expect passions to flare up both on the field and in the stands.

The Astros won their lone title by defeating the Dodgers in a seven-game dogfight in 2017.

That win was disputed when an MLB investigation found that the Astros had illegally used technology throughout the season to steal signs and relay which pitch was coming next to their bats, sometimes by hitting a trash can.

MLB allowed the Astros to retain their title, but Dodger fans have never forgotten it, and every meeting between the teams since has been tense. The bright lights of the World Series will only fuel the passions on both sides.

subway series?

The Mets led the NL East for most of the season but were swept up by their division rivals, the Braves, in a three-game streak last weekend to enter the wildcard round.

Though it was a disappointing end to the regular season, the Mets are able to handle the busy schedule as they boast one of the deepest rotations in baseball with the likes of Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Chris Bassitt.

The Mets and Yankees, both in the postseason, raise the prospect of an all-New York City subway series. The teams faced off in a riveting World Series in 2000, won by the Yankees in five games, and baseball fans from the Bronx to Queens are hoping for an encore.

Happy ending to a season that almost didn’t happen

The 2022 MLB season was in danger of being severely curtailed or possibly not happening at all when team owners locked out players in a labor dispute in early December.

Commissioner Robert Manfred went so far as to announce the cancellation of games which he said would not be rescheduled before an agreement was reached in March.

In the end, the 162-game season was played out in its entirety, much to the relief of fans who were treated to one of the most entertaining seasons in recent memory.

The extended playoffs beginning Friday with wild card rounds promise an exciting conclusion to the season that almost didn’t happen.