In the AL Wild Card game, The Houston Astros will match up against the New York Yankees.
In the NL Wild Card game, the Chicago Cubs travel to Pittsburgh to take on their NL Central rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Predictions: Yankees and Cubs will win these games.
The Cubs have their ace Jake Arrieta on the mound against Pittsburgh, and Arrietta then had the lowest second half ERA in MLB History, culminating in his no hitter against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The Cubs may comprise a lineup almost full of lefties to counter Pittsburgh's Gerrit Cole. If the Cubs can keep Andrew McCutcheon off the bases and Pedro Alvarez in the ballpark, then they should be moving on to play the Cardinals in the NLDS.
The Astros and Yankees are both bringing their aces to the mound. Dallas Keuchel goes for the Astros against Masahiro Tanaka for the Yankees. The Astros faltered late in the AL West Race, but this team has a legit superstar at Shortstop in Carlos Correa. Correa batted .279 with 22 homeruns and 68 runs batted in.
This is New York's first postseason series without Derek Jeter in the lineup. Alex Rodriguez had a huge postseason in 2009. He will need to come through again if the Yankees are to win. Yankees have a big bat in Carlos Beltran in the lineup, and Brian McCann is still one of the best catchers in baseball.
