Look, maybe I'm biased because my team is one of the four, my team that is going for back-to-back titles, something no one has done since the Yankees in 1998-2000. My team is also a 103-win juggernaut that is somehow favored against a 108-win juggernaut. But even if I took my Astros cap off, I would have to say that this is the most fun Final 4 baseball has had in a long, long time.
You have my team, the defending champs, the team that is the most talented in baseball, with the best underlying numbers in baseball, with a throwback in having starters that actually can dominate. A defending champion that got better the next year.
You have the Red Sox, who are Boston-enough to play the villain, but young and likable and good enough to be so much more. The last team to win this many games was the 2001 Mariners - the 116-win juggernaut that lost in the ALCS (a fate I selfishly hope will befall the Red Sox as well). They are not as good as their record (by pythagoreon wins, they are a 103 win team - the Astros, ironically, are a 109 win team). The Red Sox have a gumby at pitcher, a stud at right field, so many great young players, and Fenway, a perfect traditional foil to the madness that is Minute Maid Park.
But what really makes me love the Final 4 of 2018, is while two 103+ win behemoths battle it out in the AL, two great teams are in teh NL as well. Maybe they aren't as good (though 96 wins in baseball's best division is quite good for Milwaukee), maybe they aren't as dominant, but man are they fun.
The Dodgers were a 100+ win juggernaut last year, and while they aren't as good this year, and don't have their young stud Corey Seager at shorstop, they replaced him with a slightly-older-but-still-stud Manny Machado. They still have the best 'all-time' player playing in these playoffs in Clayton Kershaw, a man battling his own legacy of being so incredible in the regular season that being merely good in the playoffs is a big disappointment.
And of course, you have the Brewers, the best story of them all. They never bottomed out, deciding to rebuild on the fly, winning a surprising 87 games last year. When everyone else decided to sit pat this winter, the Brewers went on the attack, trading for NL MVP-to-be Christian Yelich and signing Lorenzo Cain. It all worked. They were great. The team is great. The stadium is great. The crowds are great. The Brewers might be the most fun atmosphere in baseball, taking over from their old NL Central pals the Astros from last year.
Aside from my normal anti-Boston feelings (I'm slowly starting to dislike the Red Sox after not really caring about them when the 'Stros were in the NL), I really don't care who wins. The Dodgers winning would be a great story, be it Kershaw finally getting a ring (always maintained every all time great - as Kershaw is - should win a title at least once), or that team finally winning after six straight division titles. The Brewers winning would be a better story, a title for a middle-market team in a world now run by Superteams. Coming into the year, people saw the Astros, Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, Nationals, Cubs and Dodgers as Super Teams. In the end, the Nationals truly disappointed and the Cubs cratered late. It would be amazing for a team not among those seven winning a title.
And of course, it would be a great story for the Astros to win: fortifying their case as a dynasty (again, they would be the first team to go back-to-back since the 1998-2000 Yankees), giving more proof to the result of the 'Process' of their 2011-2013 tank, staking a claim that starters still matter in this bullpenning world, giving another title to that madhouse in Houston.
Whatever the result, this will be a great three weeks of baseball, from two fascinating, fun CSes, with a mixture of styles, home crowds, stadiums (two retractable roofs vs. two storied cathedrals of baseball) and players. It will be great, and a perfect culmination to what has already been a great baseball season in 2018.
You have my team, the defending champs, the team that is the most talented in baseball, with the best underlying numbers in baseball, with a throwback in having starters that actually can dominate. A defending champion that got better the next year.
You have the Red Sox, who are Boston-enough to play the villain, but young and likable and good enough to be so much more. The last team to win this many games was the 2001 Mariners - the 116-win juggernaut that lost in the ALCS (a fate I selfishly hope will befall the Red Sox as well). They are not as good as their record (by pythagoreon wins, they are a 103 win team - the Astros, ironically, are a 109 win team). The Red Sox have a gumby at pitcher, a stud at right field, so many great young players, and Fenway, a perfect traditional foil to the madness that is Minute Maid Park.
But what really makes me love the Final 4 of 2018, is while two 103+ win behemoths battle it out in the AL, two great teams are in teh NL as well. Maybe they aren't as good (though 96 wins in baseball's best division is quite good for Milwaukee), maybe they aren't as dominant, but man are they fun.
The Dodgers were a 100+ win juggernaut last year, and while they aren't as good this year, and don't have their young stud Corey Seager at shorstop, they replaced him with a slightly-older-but-still-stud Manny Machado. They still have the best 'all-time' player playing in these playoffs in Clayton Kershaw, a man battling his own legacy of being so incredible in the regular season that being merely good in the playoffs is a big disappointment.
And of course, you have the Brewers, the best story of them all. They never bottomed out, deciding to rebuild on the fly, winning a surprising 87 games last year. When everyone else decided to sit pat this winter, the Brewers went on the attack, trading for NL MVP-to-be Christian Yelich and signing Lorenzo Cain. It all worked. They were great. The team is great. The stadium is great. The crowds are great. The Brewers might be the most fun atmosphere in baseball, taking over from their old NL Central pals the Astros from last year.
Aside from my normal anti-Boston feelings (I'm slowly starting to dislike the Red Sox after not really caring about them when the 'Stros were in the NL), I really don't care who wins. The Dodgers winning would be a great story, be it Kershaw finally getting a ring (always maintained every all time great - as Kershaw is - should win a title at least once), or that team finally winning after six straight division titles. The Brewers winning would be a better story, a title for a middle-market team in a world now run by Superteams. Coming into the year, people saw the Astros, Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, Nationals, Cubs and Dodgers as Super Teams. In the end, the Nationals truly disappointed and the Cubs cratered late. It would be amazing for a team not among those seven winning a title.
And of course, it would be a great story for the Astros to win: fortifying their case as a dynasty (again, they would be the first team to go back-to-back since the 1998-2000 Yankees), giving more proof to the result of the 'Process' of their 2011-2013 tank, staking a claim that starters still matter in this bullpenning world, giving another title to that madhouse in Houston.
Whatever the result, this will be a great three weeks of baseball, from two fascinating, fun CSes, with a mixture of styles, home crowds, stadiums (two retractable roofs vs. two storied cathedrals of baseball) and players. It will be great, and a perfect culmination to what has already been a great baseball season in 2018.
