By Steven Luker
It is now round two of the MLB playoffs. We are now in the Divisional Series two more series until the World Series and the end of the MLB Season. Let’s go over the matchups and see who will be trying to punch their ticket to the Championship Series games this year and inch closer to the World Series.
Divisional Series Round Preview
The first matchup we are talking about is the Number one seed of the AL Baltimore Orioles facing off the Number five seed of the AL. People can call it the Battle of Will Clark Series since both teams had Will Clark as a player. The Orioles players to watch out for Gunnar Henderson who had 28 home runs in the regular season Anthony Santander is another player that has 28 home runs in the regular season.
The pitching for the Orioles to watch out for is Kyle Bradish who pitched in 30 games and had a 12 and seven record and two point 83. Dean Kramer is another pitcher to watchout for 32 games played with a 13 and five record. The Texas Rangers are coming to Baltimore after they swept the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa Bay’s house. Texas Rangers to keep an eye out for are a couple hitters Corey Seager who hit .327 and 33 home runs.
Another hitter to watch out for is Marcus Semien .276 hitter with 29 home runs. The pitchers of the Rangers to look out for are Nathan Eovaldi who was 12 and five with ERA of three point 63. The last time these two teams matchup is in 2012 in the American League Wild Card.
The umpires for this series will be Lance Barrett who is entering his third division series. John Libka will be doing his first division series. The crew chef of this series will be Alfonso Márquez who will be doing his 12th division series. Cory Blaser is doing his fifth division series. Quinn Wolcott is doing his fourth division series and rounds out the crew Nic Lentz who is doing his second division series.
The second matchup we are looking at will be the Number two seed of the AL Houston Astros will be facing the Minnesota Twins. The Minnesota Twins swept the Blue Jays at home and threw out Vlad Guerrero Jr. at second to seal the deal for the Blue Jays. Some of the players to watch out for this series for the Houston Astros will be first the hitters is Yordan Alvarez who had 31 home runs in the regular season.
Some of the pitchers to look out for are the Houston Astros. We have Justin Verlander who came from the Mets before the deadline and he has a record 13 and eight record with a three point 22 ERA. Framber Valdez is another pitcher to watch; he is a 12-11 record pitcher with a three point 45 ERA. The Twins players to watch for are Sonny Gray who is eight and eight with a two point 79 ERA for the Twins. The umpires for this series will be Brian Knight who is doing his fifth division series.
DJ Reyburn is doing his fourth division series. The crew chef for this series will be Bill Miller who is doing his 11th division series. Jansen Visconti is going to be making his second division series. John Tumpane is also going to be in his fourth division series. The last umpire of this crew is Roberto Ortiz who is entering his first Division Series.
The third matchup we are going to take a look at is the number one seed in the NL Atlanta Braves who had the best record in MLB this season with a 104-58 record and they are taking on the number four Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies swept the number five seed Miami Marlins in Philadelphia. Some of the Phillies hitters to watch for is Bryce Harper who hit .293 with 21 home runs. Another hitter for the Phillies is Kyle Schwarber who has 47 home runs.
A fact about Kyle Schwaber is that he only batted .197 in the regular season. Some of the key pitchers to watch out for are Zach Wheeler who has a 13 and six record with an ERA of three point 61. Another key pitcher to watch out for is Taijuan Walker who has a 15 and six record and an ERA of four point 38. The last key pitcher to watch is Aaron Nola who has a record of 12-nine with an ERA of four point 46.
The Braves player to watch out for is Ronald Acuna Jr. who is a .337 hitter with 41 home runs and 73 stolen bases for the 25 year old player. Another dangerous hitter the Braves have is Matt Olsen, a former Oakland A’s product who hit .283 with a record 54 home runs this season. The Braves have three pitchers to watch out for and they are Charlie Mortan, Bryce Elder and Spencer Strider. Charlie Mortan, a veteran player who is 39 years old, has played 30 games this season having a win-loss record of 14-12 with an ERA of 3.64.
The second pitcher we are taking a look at is Bryce Elder, a young 24 year old who made his debut last season and this is his first postseason he is having for the young career. His record in the regular season in 31 games is 12 and four win-loss with an ERA of three point 81. The last player we are looking at is Spencer Strider, another young 24 year old pitcher who made his debut at the end of the 2021 season. His record was 20-five with an era of three point 86 with 32 games played. The umpires for this series will be Brian O’Nora who is doing his seventh division series.
Ben May is doing his first division series. Mark Carlson is the crew chef of this crew and he is doing his 7th division series. David Rackley who is doing his third divisional series. Chris Guccione who is working his eighth divisional series. Last but not least is first timer Ramon De Jesus who is doing his first ever divisional series.
The last matchup we are going out west to the Los Angeles Dodgers who are the number two seed of the National League and they are taking on the number six seed of the National League and their conference rival the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks pulled an upset beating the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee two games to zero. Some of the key players for the Diamondbacks to watch out for are Corban Carroll, a 23 year old who has 25 home runs and 70 stolen bases.
The Pitchers to watch out for the Diamondbacks are Merrill Kelly with a record of 12-eight and ERA of 3.29. Another pitcher to watchout for is Zac Gallen with a 17 and nine record and a 3.47 ERA For the Los Angeles Dodgers the four hitters to watch out for is Freedie Freeman who is a .331 hitter with 29 home runs this season. The second hitter to watch out for is Mookie Betts who is a .307 hitter with a total of 39 home runs this season.
The third hitter to watch out for is Max Muncy who is batting average of .212 with 36 home runs. The last hitter to watch out for the Los Angeles Dodgers is J.D. Martinez has a batting average of .271 with 33 home runs this season. These are some of the dangerous hitters the Dodgers have to offer. There only one pitcher to look out for the Dodgers is Clayton Kershaw who had a record of 13 and five record in the regular season with an ERA of two point 46. The umps for this series is Vic Carapazza who is working his sixth divisional series. Gabe Morales who is in his second divisional series.
The Crew Chef of this series is Todd Tichenor who has his sixth divisional series. Will Little is the next umpire who is in his fifth divisional series. The second to last umpire is Jim Wolf who is related to former Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf. Jim Wolf is going to be doing his sixth divisional series game. The last but not least umpire making his postseason debut this season is Ryan Additon this is his first postseason game and he is in right field.
The winners of these games are inching closer to the World Series and will move on to the Championship series games. The Replay room umpires for this set will be Nestor Ceja, Bruce Dreckman, Junior Valentine, Chad Whitson.
