Baseball's final four is set. We've got the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, and the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
Who ya got?
I've got the Brewers in six in the NL. Milwaukee reminds me of the 2015 Kansas City Royals, and not just because they have Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain in their starting lineup.
Much like that Kansas City team, it's hard to match the Brewers' bullpen depth. Milwaukee basically is playing a six-inning game with relievers such as Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader, Corey Knebel and even our old friend Joakim Soria pitching effectively out of the bullpen.
The Brewers have the one piece that nobody else has -- a dominant left-handed reliever who can get six outs if needed. That's Hader, and I expect him to be a difference-maker in this series, as he has been all season.
Hey, it's finally getting interesting in the AL! We've got the 108-win Red Sox and the 103-win Astros ready to do battle. There was almost no pennant race in the AL this season, with the five playoff positions basically secured by Sept. 1, and five teams in the league losing 95 or more games.
It just wasn't interesting, until now. We've got two super-teams going head-to-head here, and I'll take the defending champion Astros in 7.
I like Houston's pitching depth. As much as I like the Boston ace, Chris Sale, Houston ace Justin Verlander is just as good. And I'm not much of a fan of Boston's No. 2 pitcher, David Price, who always seems to struggle in the playoffs.
I question the Red Sox bullpen, too, especially after Craig Kimbrel had so much trouble closing out the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.
It would be a huge disappointment in Boston if the Red Sox don't win the World Series after going 108-54, but I really think they are the underdogs in this series.
Houston, to me, looks poised to repeat.
Now that I've posted this, we'll probably end up with a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series. If I know anything about baseball, it's that I know nothing about baseball.
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