The Washington Nationals locked down the best record in the NL, so they will host the wild card Giants this evening. I have to say, without Madison Bumgarner available to start game 1, I'm liking the Nats' chances. We all know the impressive feats that Stephen Strasburg is capable of, Jordan Zimmermann has some major momentum coming off a game 162 no-hitter, Doug Fister actually had the highest points-per-game average on the team (in part due to the smaller sample size after missing the first month of the season with a lat strain), and Tanner Roark has been a revelation since joining the big league club last year. The only inconsistent part of this team has been the back end of the bullpen, as Rafael Soriano lost the closer job to Drew Storen in September. But Tyler Clippard and Aaron Barret have been solid and Matt Thornton was brought in to take care of lefties given the struggles of Jerry Blevins, so in short, the pitchers are looking fine.
The offense, however, is also looking fine. Anthony Rendon has broken out in a big way after once again being asked to fill in at his unnatural position of second base (before the acquisition of Asdrubal Cabrera), Denard Span set a new club record for hits, shortstop Ian Desmond continues to provide power and speed out of a typically light-hitting position on the field, and Adam LaRoche is making a strong case for the team to pick up it's side of his mutual option for 2015. The only disappointments have been injury related: Bryce Harper has been serviceable, despite missing May and June with a thumb injury, just not the offensive force we expected him to be when he broke on the scene at age 19. Ryan Zimmerman, who added a hamstring strain to a similar thumb injury, has basically played himself off third base and is settling in to the next step of his career as a left fielder. The only problem is that Washington has Harper and Jayson Werth at the corners for the foreseeable future, so they might have to get creative in order to get Zimmerman his at bats. But that's a challenge for next year and beyond.
Hosting the other DS is YOUR LOS ANGELES DODGERS! The first thing you notice when looking at this starting lineup is its incredible offensive consistency: the first five hitters have all averaged between 12 and 13 points per game. As you can imagine, it's better to have this kind of batting order than one that's built around one particular big hitter because it's much harder to pitch around people in this situation. The next thing to notice is the incredible financial commitment this team has made to its star players/inherited from the Red Sox: $20 million each to Adrian Gonzalez (who did lead the league in RBI), Matt Kemp, and Carl Crawford (who did heat up at just the right times). But hey at least there's breakout second baseman Dee Gordon making the league minimum.
Things don't look any cheaper on the pitching side with Zack Greinke also making $20 mil and Clayton Kershaw slated to earn a whopping $30 million next year and for the next five years after that. Whether or not the best 1-2 pitching punch in the NL (or possibly all of baseball) is worth that kind of cash is irrelevant: all that matters is that these two take the team on their back and lead them deep into October. Dan Haren has been wildly inconsistent this year and Hyun-jin Ryu is coming off a bout of shoulder inflammation, so it's going to fall squarely on the top two guys to shoulder the load (pun only retroactively intended). I'll bet no one saw veteran Jamey Wright being the most effective right handed reliever in a Dodgers bullpen full of former closers (Brian Wilson, Chris Perez, Brandon League), but that just goes to show the volatility of relief pitchers in this game of ours.
Which brings us to the Cardinals who always seem to show up in the playoffs and who always seem to find new ways to be boringly consistent. This particular St. Louis team did it with solid pitching and just enough offensive contributions to get by. Adam Wainwright might be the best right handed pitcher in the NL (despite the pitch he "grooved" to Cap'n Jeets in the All-Star Game), Lance Lynn has blossomed into a real life #2 starter, the trade for John Lackey worked out very well (or at least better than the trade for Justin Masterson), and Michael Wacha should be mostly back to full strength... mostly. On the back end, Trevor Rosenthal's 45 saves played a meaningful part in helping me win my fantasy championship this year, and All-Star Pat Neshek leads a very versatile setup staff: Carlos Martinez, Marco Gonzales, and Tyler Lyons all started at least 4 games while also coming out of the bullpen.
On the offensive side, Matt Holliday is the only performer who really stands out. Matt Carpenter has regressed HARD to the mean (remember when he racked up like 2,300 fantasy points last year?), Matt Adams has looked awful against lefties (.318 AVG vs. RHP, .190 vs. LHP), Yadier Molina was slowed by injuries, and the trade of Allen Craig has forced guys like Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk to be regular contributors in the outfield while we all wait for Oscar Taveras to develop. Offseason acquisition Jhonny Peralta led the team with 21 home runs. This is definitely a scrappy, small-ball, run-manufacturing team (much like the other baseball team from Missouri), and we'll see if they can keep the "best fans in baseball" happy throughout the postseason.
So those are all 10 teams that either participated or are currently participating in the 2014 MLB Postseason. One of these teams will be your next world champion. The others will spend the winter crying into their pillows/golf bags/millions of dollars. Who will it be? The only way to find out is to watch!
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