To say that the National League has been far superior to the American League this season wouldn't be revealing some big secret. It has been the case since the start of the season. We've lamented at times that as many as two AL teams -- and as late as August -- were holding playoff positions with a losing record.
Right now, the top non-playoff team in the NL would have a shot at the fourth-best record and even the two seed in the AL. Let's not focus on the AL, though. Instead, let's concentrate on what this likely means in October for the NL.
This thing looks absolutely stacked and there are all kinds of fun matchups possible. We don't need to review how good the Dodgers can be, nor does anyone need a reminder of how big every single series against the two-time defending champions/resident MLB Big Bad Wolf will be. Whether it's one, two, three or four Dodgers' series, they'll all be huge.
The Cubs have had stretches of 20-3 and 41-17 over the course of the season. There's a lot of talent, and they're on pace to top 90 wins. Right now, they'd be the five seed.
After a disaster of a start, the Phillies fired their manager and have gone 72-44 since, which is a full-season pace of 100 wins. Right now, they'd be the four. The Braves are on pace for 96 wins, and they'd have to play in the Wild Card Series as the three seed as things stand.
The Brewers remain the best team in baseball and in the Golden Era of Brewers baseball: they're on pace to set the franchise record in single-season wins for the second consecutive year. You're talking about a league possibly with three 96+ win division winners and two wild cards with at least 91 victories. You cannot find such a dominant league in this current playoff format.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
