The MLB playoffs are heating up with just the Championship Series of each league left, and the remaining teams have a lot to offer.
The MLB playoffs are heating up as the World Series gets closer and closer. There are just four teams left competing for the Championship Series title of each league and a spot in the World Series, and some teams are certainly making more surprising appearances than others.
The National League competitors, the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres, are both underdogs that hardly anybody saw as contenders for the title.
The American League is quite the opposite with the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees fighting for the title. Nearly everyone predicted they’d both make it this far, so the World Series will inevitably be a matchup with an ‘elite’ team and an underdog.
There are unique reasons to get excited about each remaining team, and this will be a playoff year for MLB fans to remember.
Reason to root for the Philadelphia Phillies
It’s hard to not love the Phillies this season. They had a pretty difficult road to the NL Championship Series, having to take out the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card series and the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.
The Cardinals against the Phillies was a pretty even match, but the Phillies against the Braves seemed like an inevitable loss for Philadelphia.
During the regular season, it seemed to be a battle between the Mets and the Braves. The Mets held the first-place spot of the NL East until the last week of the season when the Braves just barely clinched it, and the Phillies didn’t come close to placing first.
The odds seemed to be that the Braves would make it one step closer to the World Series yet again, but the Phillies shot that down.
The Phillies rose out of nowhere to ultimately dethrone the defending World Series champions, and they did so after not having been to the playoffs since 2011. Everyone loves a good underdog story, and they have quite possibly the best one of the playoffs.
Reason to root for the San Diego Padres
The Padres have a very similar playoff story to the Phillies. They had quite possibly the most difficult road to the Championship Series. Their Wild Card matchup was a little bit more difficult having to take down the New York Mets. They did so in three games, but their journey seemed to be over when they had to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.
The Dodgers had the best record of the 2022 regular season and had historically one of the best seasons of all time. The Padres finished 22 games behind and failed to win a series against them all season. It almost seemed guaranteed that the Dodgers would be in the World Series, and it definitely didn’t seem likely for the Padres to take them out.
The Padres hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2006 (excluding 2020) and hadn’t been to the NLCS since 1998. They’re another team that’s hard to not love as successful underdogs.
Reason to root for the Houston Astros
The Astros are far from underdogs this season. They finished 16 games above the Seattle Mariners in the AL West division standings and had a great 106-56 record, the second-best in the league.
They were considered a strong World Series contender coming into the postseason, so there’s no surprise that they’ve made it as far as they did. They’re also not quite a favorite team in the league considering their cheating scandal from their last World Series win back in 2017, but there are several players on the team worth celebrating.
Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez are all great players to root for in the postseason. Verlander had a Cy Young-worthy season, producing an ERA of 1.75, batting average against of .186 and WHIP of 0.83.
Altuve and Alvarez are both incredible sluggers who helped the Astros immensely this season. Altuve hit .300/.387/.533 for an OPS of .920 and Alvarez hit even better at .306/.406/.613 for an OPS of 1.019. Though the Astros may not be a fan favorite, several players have worked incredibly hard and deserve to be rooted for as they chase a World Series.
Reason to root for the New York Yankees
The Yankees aren’t underdogs either, but they had quite an interesting season. They faced a little bit of inconsistency throughout with a few injuries, most notably Giancarlo Stanton. Luckily, they stayed seven games ahead to win the AL East.
They nearly lost the ALDS, but they were able to pull it together in Game 5 and bring the team to the Championship Series. They’re a team that most people either absolutely love or hate, but they have some pretty admirable players on the team this season, most notably Aaron Judge.
Judge beat the AL single-season home run record set in 1961 by Roger Maris, and he’s been extremely humble through it all. He’s gotten a lot of hype from MLB fans across many fanbases, and what better way to watch him end his season with a World Series win? He certainly deserves it.