MLB teams ready to battle for a championship

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Tim Gouw-Pexels

An overview of Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, one of the 2020 playoff teams.

The MLB postseason bracket is finalized and teams are ready to compete for a championship starting Sept. 29.

The American League wild card series will begin on Tuesday and will be a three game battle between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays in Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay is expected to win the series due to the amount of depth in their pitching staff. They finished the season with a team ERA of 3.56, good for third best in all of baseball.

The Blue Jays were not expected to make the postseason in 2020 and will be the underdogs in the series. They have decent pitching and offense, but it will not be enough to get past the Rays.

The second AL wild card series will be in Minneapolis on Tuesday night where the Houston Astros will take on the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins are an all-around power house with both pitching and offense to carry them to victory against the Astros.

Houston is lacking in pitching, especially after losing their ace Justin Verlander to Tommy John surgery. Teams will be looking to destroy them after their discovered cheating scandal in 2017.

The Oakland Athletics are looking to win their first playoff series since 2006 and have a decent shot at doing so against a very young, but talented Chicago White Sox team.

The A’s have been fantastic the last three seasons, but have failed to win a playoff series. The White Sox made the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and are one of the most exciting and youngest teams in baseball.

The A’s will end their drought and beat the White Sox led by their strong pitching staff that finished the season with a 3.77 ERA, good for fifth in all of baseball.

The NL wild card series starts on Sept. 30 where the St. Louis Cardinals will face off against the San Diego Padres.

The Cardinals are competitive every season having made the playoffs 13 times since 2000, winning two World Series titles.

The San Diego Padres made the postseason for the first time since 2006 and have the most exciting team in their franchise history being led by two MVP candidates in Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.

They also made crucial trades at the trade deadline which will help them tremendously in the postseason.

The Padres will beat the Cardinals led by their powerful offense who finished fourth in home runs (95) and third in runs scored (325).

The Cincinnati Reds are taking the field against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta.

The Reds pitching staff did great this season finishing seventh in baseball with a 3.84 ERA. They were led by starting pitchers Trevor Bauer and Sonny Gray who are both in consideration for the NL Cy Young award.

The Atlanta Braves have been competitive for most of the past three decades and own the record for most consecutive division titles winning 14 in a row from 1991-2005.

They are one of the best offensive teams in the sport finishing second in batting average (.268), second in home runs (103) and first in runs batted in (338).

It is going to be a great battle between a great pitching staff and an elite offense.

The Atlanta Braves will beat the Cincinnati Reds led by MVP candidate Freddie Freeman who has been one of the best players in baseball for the past five seasons.

The Miami Marlins are taking on the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. They barely missed out on the postseason last year after being competitive the five years prior, winning the World Series in 2016 for the first time in 111 years.

The Marlins just made the postseason for the first time since they won the World Series in 2003. They were not expected to even come close to making the playoffs, but were led terrifically by manager Don Mattingly.

Mattingly is a great manager, but the Marlins will not beat the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are not unbeatable, but they are better than the Marlins in every major category and have players with successful postseason experience in Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez.

Finally, the Los Angeles Dodgers will take the field against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It’s simple. The Dodgers are the best team in baseball finishing with a whopping 42 wins and 17 losses, good for a .717 winning percentage.

The Brewers barely snuck into the postseason finishing with a 29-31 record to finish eighth in the NL seeding.

The Dodgers will destroy the Brewers and will make it look easy doing so. They are better than the Brewers in every aspect of the game, dominating in both pitching and hitting.

They have a team ERA of 3.02, the best in baseball. They also have a fantastic line up finishing first in home runs (118), second in RBI’s (327) and first in runs scored (349).

A shortened season does not change the legitimacy of winning the World Series. Every team is working hard to bring a championship back to their respected fans.

Nick Despotakis can be reached at orionmanagingeditor.com or @nick__despo on Twitter.