2018 League Championship Series Perview

We're now down to four teams left standing. Winners of the two remaining League Championship series will battle for the biggest prize in professional baseball, a World Series title. Two teams left have over 100 wins, one is the defending World Champions, another is the defending NL Pennant winners, while three of the four clubs left have at least one World Title to their credit. One team is considered a small market club going up against one of the big boys. There's a lot riding on the games that will be taking place over the next two weeks. Lets not waste any more time and dive right into it. here's how both the National and American League Championship Series stack up.

First up, its the National League Championship Series we have the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the NL Central Champion Milwaukee Brewers. This marks the 3rd time ever that the Brewers have reached the League Championship Series. They did it in 182 in the ALCS and then again in the NLCS in 2011. Milwaukee won a one game playoff to be crowned Central Division Champions and then swept the Rockies in the Divisional Round. Milwaukee is coming in riding an 11 game winning streak at the start of the series. Los Angeles won the National League West in a tie-breaker game, defeating Colorado for their sixth straight division title. The Dodgers then beat the Atlanta Braves in four games in the NLDS. This is the Dodgers’ third straight appearance in the NLCS, and their fourth appearance in the past six seasons. Overall, this is their 13th NLCS trip, tying the Cardinals for most appearances by a team. This marks the first ever playoff matchup between the Brewers and Dodgers. The two cities did meet with the pennant on the line in 1959 when the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves (now the Atlanta Braves) in a best-of-three playoff. However, MLB counts the tie-breaker series as regular season games. This is also the first ever League Championship Series between two teams that won tiebreakers, and only the third postseason meeting of any sort between two MLB teams involved in tiebreakers. Los Angeles won four of the seven games against Milwaukee during the regular season.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
Fri., Oct. 12 8:09 p.m. ET L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee
Sat., Oct. 13 4:09 p.m. ET L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee
Mon., Oct. 15 7:39 p.m. ET Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers
Tue., Oct. 16 9:09 p.m. ET Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers
Wed., Oct. 17* 5:05 p.m. ET Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers
Fri., Oct. 19* 8:39 p.m. ET L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee
Sat., Oct. 20* 9:09 p.m. ET L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee

Oh this is going to be a good series to watch, as nobody's hotter then the Brewers right now. They closed out the regular season on an eight game winning streak and have won all four playoff games they've played in these playoffs. At this time of year, you need contributions from everybody and that's what the Brewers have been getting. Sure, Christian Yelich and Mike Moustakas have driven in two runs each in the playoffs but so too has Erik Kratz, who's the backup catcher. Milwaukee hasn't quite had the power surge in the first round of the playoffs that they got during the regular season, but the post season is a totally different animal. Lorenzo Cain has been a fine table setter all year for this Brewers team, allowing their big hitters like Yelich, Moustakas, Braun, Travis Saw and Jesus Aguliar. Over the length of a series, the big boppers could play a factor, but again, playoffs is a totally different animal then regular season.

Pitching is going to be big for this series for the Brewers. Starting has been maybe average at best. Gio Gonzales, Wade Miley and Jhoulys Chacin have been OK at best. The strength for this Brewers club as been the Pen, they've been dominating all season long, including the playoffs. If the Starters for the Brewers can get five good innings out on the hill, and the offense can get a lead, then these games could be over quick with how good the pen is. Don't be surprised though if Craig Counsell might get creative with how he uses the pen in this series.

They're going up against a potent and dangerous Dodgers offense, a team that had nine guys belt over 20 home runs during the regular season. Justin Turner and Joc Peterson were the most consistent Dodgers hitters in the Divisional Round, while Max Muncy and Manny Machado each had big hits when they were needed the most in the win over the Braves. Hell, in the win over the Braves, as a team, the Dodgers didn't hit for average, but they drew 27 walks, hit eight homers and averaged five runs scored per game. They don't rely on big boppers as much but they get the job done.

What's really going to get the edge for the Dodgers is the starting pitching, which is better both on paper and on the mound then what the Brewers have to offer. The Dodgers depth in rotation make up for the fact that they don't have as effective a bridge between starter and closer then what the Brewers have to offer. Kenta Maeda, Scott Alexander, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Madson will probably get the most use in this series.

It's going to go the distance and could be a possible slugfest between two good offenses. At the end of the day, the pitching could win out. i know the Brewers swept, but the Dodgers pitching staff did a better job shutting down the Atlanta offense in their series. Both teams have that special feeling going into this series, but the advantage here is that the Dodgers know how to handle themselves in this kind of scenario. Milwaukee is hot, but experience wins out here.

Prediction: Dodgers in 7!

Next, in the American League Championship Series, we have the AL West Champion Houston Astros taking on the AL East Champion Boston Red Sox. Houston won the American League West winning 103 games. They started the playoffs with a swept the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. This is the Astros' sixth League Championship Series and second in the American League, their prior AL appearance being a 2017 ALCS win over the New York Yankees in seven games. Houston also appeared in four NLCS, winning once and losing thrice, before joining the American League in 2013. Boston won the East division with 108 wins, the most in baseball. then Boston opened the playoffs by beating the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series in four games. This is Boston's 11th ALCS, with a record of 5–5. Most recent pennant for the Sox was 2013. Boston and Houston have met once before in the postseason, with the Astros winning the 2017 ALDS, 3–1. Houston won four in their seven games against Boston during this year's regular season.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:

Sat., Oct. 13 8:09 p.m. ET Houston at Boston
Sun., Oct. 14 7:09 p.m. ET Houston at Boston
Tue., Oct. 16 5:09 p.m. ET Boston at Houston
Wed., Oct. 17 8:39 p.m. ET Boston at Houston
Thurs., Oct. 18* 8:09 p.m. ET Boston at Houston
Sat., Oct. 20* 5:09 p.m. ET Houston at Boston
Sun., Oct. 21* 7:39 p.m. ET Houston at Boston

This series is going to be a battle of wills. Houston had the lowest runs against total in baseball, allowing 534 runs during the regular season. Stopping the opposition isn't just the defense, its also the outstanding pitching. When you have Justin Verlander, Garrett Cole, Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton slated to start the first four games of this series. Its a tough task for any team to try and go up against. And if the starters get in trouble, AJ Hinch has a solid pen he can rely on. He's leaned on Ryan Pressly, McCullers and Osuna as his lead relievers, with Collin McHugh, Josh James and Tony Sipp also at his disposal. Oh and Houston's offense is no slouch. The Astros had Marwin Gonzalez drive in five runs in the divisional round against the Tribe. Alex Bregman and George Springer were both major contributors in that series as well. Houston can swing the bats with the best of them. they may not be the best power hitting team in the game, but they know how to get runs across the plate.

Boston can score just as well as the Astros, if not better. JD Martinez and Sxander Bogarts went off in the divisional round against New York. The entire Boston offense did too, which made for a dominating win in the series..Boston feasted off right handed pitching this year, with an .819 OPS against right handers, which was the best mark in the American League this year. During the year, Boston led the majors in runs scored scored, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and they even ranked an uncharacteristic third in MLB in stolen base. So the Red Sox could do a little bit of everything. They kept that up in the last round against the Yanks. It's clear that Boston can hit. Pitching is a slightly different story, as the starting staff seems to be a step behind the Houston staff. Sale, Price, Porcello and Evaldi are slated to be the four starters in this series and, on paper, this seems like a disadvantage compared to what Houston is going with. You know that Boston is having a little trouble with their pen if Chris Sale had to come into a game and hold the 8th inning down in the deciding game against New York.

This series is going to be a close, hard fought series. At the end of the day its the pitching that's going to win out and Houston has the edge in that. No doubt Boston can put runs on the board, they did win 108 regular season games and did score 16 runs on the Yankees in game three of that series. But Houston went on a romp over the Indians and that series wasn't even remotely close. Boston has good starting pitchers but I just don't have that feeling in this series for the Red Sox like I did at the start of the playoffs. Looks like we gonna have ourselves a World Series rematch.

Prediction: Houston in 6!