When the Tampa Bay Rays started 20-3, who would have thought their season was destined to end in the American League wild card round?
The Texas Rangers swept Tampa Bay in the best-of-three series this week, winning 4-0 on Tuesday and 7-1 on Wednesday.
It was one of four sweeps during the wild card round, but the Rays were probably the most disappointing quick exit of the four teams that lost.
Tampa Bay didn't really blow the AL East -- it won 99 games. You have to give credit to the Baltimore Orioles, who won 101 games and came from behind to take the division.
That left the Rays matched up with the Rangers in the No. 4-vs.-No. 5 series. Granted, this is a very different Tampa Bay team than the one we saw in April. Starting pitchers Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs are all out for the season. The Rays were also missing their starting middle infield -- Wander Franco (administrative leave) and Brandon Lowe (leg injury).
However, it's still has to be considered a face-plant when a 99-win team gets outscored 11-1 on its home field during a playoff series.
I'm envious of the Texas lineup -- Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia -- these are star-level players, and I think you win with stars in the playoffs. I'm not sure the Rangers have enough pitching depth, starters or relievers, to beat the Orioles in the next round. However, that lineup gives them a chance.
The Rays weren't the only AL East wild card to exit early, as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by scores of 3-1 and 2-0.
Minnesota has two good starting pitchers in Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, but the Toronto lineup was absolutely terrible with runners in scoring position in this series. The Blue Jays stranded 18 runners in the series, nine in each game.
For the Twins, this is their first playoff series win since 2002. They had lost 18 consecutive postseason games before they won Tuesday. Now, they've won two in a row. I guess they were due. Minnesota faces AL West champ Houston in the next round.
National League
No National League Central Division team has won a postseason series since 2019. In fact, Central Division clubs have lost 20 of their last 22 playoff games.
The 92-win Milwaukee Brewers added to that misery by getting swept in two games by the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks. The Brewers had an early 3-0 lead Tuesday. They lost 6-3. The Brewers had an early 2-0 lead Wednesday. They lost 5-2.
The Diamondbacks are an athletic team, good defensively, and they showed some power in this series. Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno all homered off Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes in Game 1. Alek Thomas started the Arizona comeback with a homer in Game 2.
Now the Diamondbacks will try their luck against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
On the other side of the bracket, defending NL champion Philadelphia overwhelmed the Miami Marlins, defeating them 4-1 on Tuesday and 7-1 on Wednesday.
That sets up a rematch between the Phillies and the NL East champion Atlanta Braves. Atlanta won a MLB-best 104 wins in the regular season, but Philadelphia upset the Braves in this same round last season.
Without a doubt, Braves-Phillies is the series to watch in the days ahead. The general wisdom says the NL champion will be either the Braves or Dodgers, but the Phillies are the team best positioned to upset that line of thinking.
As I mentioned before, you win with stars in the playoffs, and Philadelphia has some great players -- Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, heck, you gotta throw Kyle Schwarber in there given the way he raises his level of play in the postseason. The Phillies have the stars to match the Braves' guys -- Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, etc.
That series is going to come down to which stars on which team step forward. It should be better theater than this anticlimatic wild card round.
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