To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Los Angeles Dodgers were the first team to punch their ticket to the Championship Series, taking out the Atlanta Braves in four games in the NLDS. While each of the games was close, the story of the series was the Dodgers' pitching, which held Atlanta's offense to just eight runs in the four games. That's two runs per game, for those who don't want to do the math.
Even with Shohei Ohtani not looking like his usual MVP self, the Dodgers look like a team poised to win yet another World Series title. A victory in the NLCS and then the World Series would give them a World Series three-peat. With four other teams still alive at the time of publishing, let's rank each of them by how likely they are to stop a Dodgers' three-peat.
4. Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians were able to keep their season alive on Wednesday in Chicago, but they still trail the White Sox two games to one in the best-of-five affair. The Guardians will need to win two more games without losing one to advance to the ALCS, which isn't impossible, but they'll have to overcome a lot. Even without their current deficit, though, it's hard to feel too confident in this Guardians team.
Yes, the rotation duo of Parker Messick and Gavin Williams is outstanding, and Cleveland's bullpen is criminally underrated, but it's hard to fully believe in this lineup. Jose Ramirez has had a down year, and who are their best run producers otherwise? Steven Kwan? Chase DeLauter? Jo Adell? There's a reason that even in a weak AL, the Guardians only won 85 games.
3. Chicago White Sox
If this were a ranking of teams we want to beat the Dodgers in the World Series, the Chicago White Sox would be at the very top. How cool would it be to watch a team fresh off three straight 100-loss seasons be the team to beat the mighty Dodgers? Would there be a bigger David vs. Goliath kind of outcome? Would I actually pick the White Sox to beat the Dodgers? Unfortunately, no.
I'm a believer in what the White Sox are building, but it's hard to trust this pitching staff over the course of a seven-game series. I mean, they've played five postseason games, and only two pitchers have completed four innings in an outing, and one of them is Grant Taylor, a full-time reliever. At a certain point, this bullpen that has been brilliant, but overworked, is bound to tire out, no?
Even if not, are we sure this boom-or-bust White Sox team that relies so heavily on the home run ball can beat this Dodgers rotation? I have my doubts there. Home runs matter, but there's reason to believe the likes of Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow would have their way with this inexperienced White Sox lineup.
2. Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are not a flawless baseball team. Their lineup is top-heavy; they don't do much slugging beyond Junior Caminero, and I don't fully trust any of their starters to go deep into a game other than Drew Rasmussen. However, it's hard to ignore what they've done. The Rays were the best team in the AL virtually all year long, and they just dismantled the Yankees in the ALDS, holding them to five runs in three games.
It's fair to wonder how many runs the Rays can score, but it's not like the Dodgers' lineup has been clicking on all cylinders either. How many runs can L.A. score against the Rays' staff? And while sure, I'd take the Dodgers' rotation over Tampa Bay's, the Rays' bullpen is pretty stellar. The Rays have the easiest path to getting to the World Series, and if they do get there, they should make life difficult for L.A.
1. Milwaukee Brewers
On one hand, having the Milwaukee Brewers as the toughest remaining challenge for the Dodgers doesn't make much sense, given what happened in last year's NLCS. Not only did the Dodgers sweep the Brewers, but they held Milwaukee to just four runs in four games. While they no longer have Shohei Ohtani pitching, they do have Tarik Skubal, and a rejuvenated Edwin Diaz in their bullpen. The Dodgers are just as tough to beat, if not tougher.
With that being said, the Brewers are a very good team. They just won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season, and they just beat a red-hot Padres team in the NLDS. The Brewers don't hit for much power, which has bitten them hard in the past, but they're elite everywhere else you turn.
They run the bases as well as anyone, are sound defensively, have a solid bullpen, and Jacob Misiorowski might be the best pitcher on the planet. The Brewers did not have this version of Misiorowski in last year's NLCS. They'll have to prove they can hit the Dodgers' pitching when the lights are brightest, but they're certainly capable. If they can play their brand of baseball, they can beat anybody - even the Dodgers.
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