Certainly there are smiles everywhere around the MLB offices. Two New York teams, one from Los Angeles and another to represent the midwest. A ratings dream come true.
Throw in sure to win MVP sluggers Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Other fan favourites, Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso and you have the makings of something special in the league championship series.
With Ohtani and Judge still alive, there’s unfinished business for both. Neither distinguished themselves in the league division series despite both moving on with their teams to the next round.
Ohtani went just 4-20 with one home run, though the blast was a key to the series in game one, a 3 run shot in game one after the Dodgers had fallen behind 3-0.
Judge meanwhile is still waiting to show his other worldly hitting talents in any post season. He went 2-13 without a homer or an RBI against Kansas City in the ALDS. In 13 series since 2017, Judge has hit just 207 but has smacked 13 Home runs.
It’s a 4th visit to the ALCS for Judge as baseball’s winningest team ever awaits another trip to the fall classic. The last one back in 2009 and that’s the only one in the past 24 seasons for thr pin stripers.
New Yorkers of course are caught in a daydream of a second Mets/Yankees subway series with the last one occuring in 2020. New York in general will be in a sports frenzy Monday as both the Yanks and Mets along with the NFL’s New York Jets all play that day.
Three hundred million buys a lot
The Dodgers join the Mets and Yankees as the only teams in the $300 Million club. Baseball’s top 3 payrolls have all made it this time around. If you happen to not like that sort of thing, There’s the outsider, the Cleveland Guardians.
A team everyone else can cheer for, kind of an everyman in the final four. They carry perhaps the most under-rated Superstar in the game in third baseman Jose Ramirez. They have also easily waited the longest of the four for a title, last winning in 1948.
They’ll also be Canada’s team with four players from there. The Brothers Naylor from Miissisauga, Ontario. Josh (1B) and Bo (C). Plus pitchers Cade Smith of Abbotsford British Columbia and Erik Sabrowski from Edmonton Alberta.
MLB with a post season recipe for something extra special. Mets/Dodgers, Guardians/Yankees. Should be a ton of a fun, let the games begin!
