Projecting the Postseason Winners

 

After winning two straight AL Central Division titles, the Minnesota Twins flopped and failed a three-peat before things got off the ground. They’ll watch this Postseason from home, but there’s still plenty of exciting talent worth tuning into.

Running from the Wild Card round through the World Series, here’s who I’ve got and why:

AL Wild Card

Yankees over Red Sox

In a one game, winner take all, I don’t think you can bet against Gerrit Cole, and the lineup New York currently has clicking. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have carried this team for weeks. The club nearly gave it away on the final day, but I think they beat their biggest rival at home. Boston owned a 10-9 record with a +1 run differential over the Yankees this season. New York will attempt to even that out.

AL Division Series

Rays over Yankees

There’s no denying that New York has the better ace, but Tampa has owned this matchup all year. While New York is just 8-11 against the Rays in 2021, they have a -48 run differential. The Yankees do have some veteran leadership on their side, but I don’t know that Corey Kluber is a guy I want to hang my Postseason hopes on. The lineup is peaking, but it may have come a bit too soon. I think a very big X-factor here for Tampa Bay could be the usage of highly-touted prospect Shane Baz.

Astros over White Sox

A very small sample, sure, but Chicago was just 2-5 with a -12 run differential against Houston this season. Although the White Sox may have the better rotation, I’m not sure it’s that much of a discrepancy. Houston has largely flown under the radar this season, and the entire lineup is full of star power. Alex Bregman on a big stage always is must-see television.

AL Championship Series

Astros over Rays

These two clubs played each other just six times in 2021, and they nearly split the action with just three runs separating the contests. Both forward-thinking approaches to the game, this should be a fun series. Tampa Bay is looking for a return trip to the World Series, but Houston gets an opportunity to distance themselves from the cheating scandal.

NL Wild Card

Dodgers over Cardinals

Welcome to a year in which a team that won 106 games is playing in a one-game, winner-take-all, affair. The Dodgers have any number of arms to piece this one together, and their lineup should be expected to cause fits for whoever St. Louis puts on the bump. It’s a tough spot, but this is where’d you’d like to believe the best team shines.

NL Division Series

Dodgers over Giants

San Francisco has been the best story of the season in my mind. A team expected to do so little comes out and wins 107 games. These two clubs nearly split their 19 contests and Los Angeles held a +2 run differential. It’s a lot tighter of a matchup than it may seem, but I think this is a spot where the higher tiered talent rises to the occasion. Clayton Kershaw being out hurts Los Angeles, but if there’s an organization with starting arms to make up for it, they are it.

Braves over Brewers

Initially I wanted to ride with Milwaukee’s pitchers, but Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff can’t do it all. Behind them is a rotation leaving plenty to be desired, and the lineup is more name than it is substance. Atlanta will have to prove that they’re more than an 88-win team coming out of a very mediocre decision, but Freddie Freeman can carry this club. Atlanta seems like a strong flier team, and one worth taking a shot on.

NL Championship Series

Dodgers over Braves

If Los Angeles can get past the test that is their first two rounds, they should be looking at a trip to the World Series. Regardless of who comes out of the bottom half of the National League bracket, they should be facing an uphill battle. This is where Atlanta wears down and the Dodgers go back to seek a second-straight World Series.

World Series

The National League has won each of the past two World Series. No team has won back-to-back World Series since the New York Yankees ended their last three-peat in 2000. Houston and Los Angeles faced off during the 2017 World Series, which the Astros won over Dave Roberts. Dusty Baker is at the helm in Houston now and is looking for just the second pennant of his career, and first ring. Again, Houston’s ability has been overlooked much of the season and I think we see a replicated result from 2017. Your 2021 Major League Baseball Champions are the Houston Astros.

Astros over Dodgers

No, Thank You David Ortiz

It's been widely known since the beginning of the 2016 Major League Baseball season that this would be David Ortiz's last. No, not because he went on a city tour a la Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter. Instead, simply because Ortiz suggested he'd hand them up. Recently, he wrote a piece on The Player's Tribune thanking Minnesota, where it all began. Really though, it's Minnesota that should be thanking him.

You see, without David Ortiz, the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball would look vastly different. And for the most part, the argument should be for the worse.

David Ortiz played 455 games in a Twins uniform. He owned an uninspiring .266/.348/.461 slash line and totaled just 58 homers in that time span. To summarize, Ortiz's time with the Twins was about as lackluster as the stadium the ball club played in.

Then it happened, Terry Ryan's worst mistake as General Manager of the Twins. He let David Ortiz go.

Ortiz went on to finish 5th in the MVP voting the next season for the Boston Red Sox. To date, he owns a .290/.386/.571 line with Boston. He's amassed 469 homers, over 2,000 hits, nearly 1,500 RBI, and he's currently leading the league in doubles, slugging, and OPS at the age of 40. Everything David Ortiz has done for the Red Sox has trumped his time in Minnesota.

But then there's this. David Ortiz provided more to the Twins, and baseball as a whole, than can be quantified in a stat column. For Minnesota, he became the black eye that some franchises need. After Terry Ryan had made that grave mistake, it was allowed to haunt Minnesota for years to come. Even now in 2016, Ortiz's name is brought up nearly every time a young player is DFA'd. Most recently, Oswaldo Arcia was given this treatment. Something along the lines of not wanting a guy to become "the next David Ortiz" is normally muttered around Twins Territory, and it no doubt causes pause within the front office as well. If it takes a massive mistake to make a group of people think twice, well then that's what Ortiz did for the collection of Twins front office personnel.

Then there's what he did for baseball. When he came to Minnesota, he was known as David Arias. Eventually becoming David Ortiz, and more importantly Big Papi, Ortiz had a flair for the dramatic. Creator of majestic long balls and booming home runs, he was everything the sport needed. Whether or not you want to tie PEDs to Ortiz, the fact remains that baseball necessarily welcomed the era. Post lockout and needing a revitalizing, Bud Selig saw his sport drew in fans because well, everyone digs the long ball. We'll never know definitively one way or another if Big Papi used PEDs, but it doesn't really matter. Baseball needed drugs to reclaim its relevance among the sports culture, and Ortiz's ability to make ballparks look small only helped to accelerate the movement. He was the Giancarlo Stanton, before the Marlins slugger was even Mike.

Finally, there's what David Ortiz did for latin players, and this country as a whole. In Boston, Big Papi found a home. He had a city that embraced him, and in turn, he embraced the city. Not only does Ortiz love Boston though, he loves this country. Working tirelessly from his time in Minnesota up until where he is today to speak the language and understand the culture, it's apparent Ortiz is proud of this country, and has adopted it as his own. In the wake of the Boston Bombing's, it was Ortiz who took the mic. He uttered a few choice words, and declared that this in fact was "our" city, and that he was as much a part of it, as it was him.

As David Arias became David Ortiz, and eventually Big Papi, the trio will all ride off into the sunset. Bitterness for what could have been in a Twins uniform has grown tired long ago. It's Ortiz that has given everything of himself to the sport, and this country, and at the end of the day is deserving of that thanks. For as much as the sport has done for you David Ortiz, thank you for doing equally as much for it.

Now, please take it easy on the Twins for the rest of the year.