Monday, October 2, 2017

2017 MLB Playoffs

All photos of Brewers Final Homestand available on Flickr.

I'm still reeling from the Brewers coming up 1 game short of a potential playoff run.  If you would have told me at the beginning of the year we'd be finish at 86-76 I would take that any day of the week and be damn proud of it for the team with the lowest payroll in baseball.  But after going through a good chunk of the season leading or 2nd place in the division race I reluctantly started to get my hopes up.  Losing a 6-run lead on Saturday for the first time all season was the only thing standing between the Brewers and a Game 163 with the Rockies today.  Looking back on the season I think we can all say that the Brewers overachieved being this soon into a rebuild process, but it still hurts.  The good news is that there are not very many guaranteed contracts for next year and a lot of young players still under control for cheap, so this could lead to a big spending spree and an even better year in 2018.

If you weren't a Brewers or Cubs fan, the other division races were probably a little anticlimactic for you.  5 of the 6 teams that won their division last year won again this year, and 3 of the races have been pretty much decided two months ago.  No team other than the Twins was really a shocker.  The more exciting races this year are for the individual awards.  There are a legit 5 or 6 candidates for the MVP in each league for a change.  We saw a 60-homerun season from Giancarlo Stanton, the first 200-20-30 season in the history of baseball, from Jose Altuve, and a guy who has the potential to be only the 4th MVP-ROY in the same season of all time in Aaron Judge.  The era of the pitcher definitely took a backseat this year, even despite Chris Sale's ridiculous season.  On a personal level I made it to 36 ballgames this year in 13 different ballparks, 7 of which were new to my list.  Seeing as how I bought a house and knocked up my wife during this season, I'd say that's still pretty good.  I can't wait to take my daughter to her first ballgame next summer.

I managed to successfully predict 7 of the 10 playoff teams this year.  My outliers this year were the Marlins and the perennially disappointing Mariners.

PLAYOFFS START 10/3/17
NL Wild Card - #4 Diamondbacks v. #5 Rockies
NLDS - #1 Dodgers v. WC winner
#2 Nationals v. #3 Cubs

AL Wild Card - #4 Yankees v. #5 Twins
ALDS - #1 Indians v. WC winner
#2 Astros v. #3 Red Sox

World Series Prediction: Nationals defeat Indians in 7
Rooting for: Nationals v. Twins

Preseason Predictions
#1 Nationals
#2 Cubs
#3 Dodgers
#4 Mets
#5 Marlins

#1 Red Sox
#2 Indians
#3 Mariners
#4 Yankees
#5 Astros

World Series - Nationals defeat Indians in 7


FINAL STANDINGS:
Brewers 86-76, -6.0, 2nd NL Central, -1.0 WC
Reds 68-94, -24.0, last NL Central
Twins 85-77, -17.0, 2nd NL Central, #2 Wild Card

FINAL 2017 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 14 (+33 worked)
Peter - 36

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