11 bold predictions for the MLB Playoffs

Here it is. After seven grueling months, only ten teams remain with everything to play for and only a month (or a game) to do it.

The favorites are clear, but if we’ve learned anything about baseball in the two Wild Card era, it’s that anything can happen come October.

Every game matters, every at-bat matters, every pitch matters, and because of that, every moment can be a defining one.

It’s going to be a wild postseason, and here are 11 bold predictions for what will go down.  Photo: Jonathan Daniel

Toronto is in the postseason for the second straight year, but the Blue Jays will have to start either J.A. Happ or Marcus Stroman in the American League Wild Card Game Tuesday because they burned their No. 1 starter, Aaron Sanchez, Sunday in the final game of the regular season.

The Baltimore Orioles might look unsuspecting — Ubaldo Jimenez is the likely Wild Card starter — but their bats are popping and anything less than spectacular is going to get hit.

Happ and Stroman both have the ability to be spectacular, but it won’t come through in a winner-take-all game — Baltimore will advance to play the Rangers.  Photo: Tom Szczerbowski

There’s no one you’d rather have on the mound in a postseason elimination game than Madison Bumgarner, so the Giants are in good hands for Wednesday’s National League Wild Card Game.

The Mets are worthy opponents, but Bumgarner is going to be too much and the scrappy Giants are going to find a way (like they always seem to do) to win the game.  Photo: Thearon W. Henderson

It’s unlikely that Strasburg pitches in the NLDS series against the Dodgers, but seeing as that will be the only series that the Nationals play this October, he won’t be throwing a pitch in this postseason.

Why are the Dodgers going to advance? Simple:  Photo: Dylan Buell

The Dodgers’ ace is the best pitcher in baseball, but his reputation as an underperformer in the playoffs precedes him.

Kershaw will pitch in Games 1 and 5 and lead the Dodgers to a series win over the tough-out Nationals.

Everyone in the nation will know Trea Turner’s name by the end of the series, but ultimately he and Max Scherzer won’t be enough to get Washington over the hump.   Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea

The Giants will come into the NLDS with confidence and, frankly, nothing to lose. The Cubs have all the pressure in the world and a starting rotation that has been great on the macro but not so stellar down the stretch.

Jake Arrieta and John Lackey will both get hit hard as the Giants force a Game 5 in Chicago, but Jon Lester will shut the door at Wrigley and keep the Cubs’ magical season rolling.  Photo: David Banks

Cole Hamels, Yu Darvish, and Derek Holland have WHIPs of 5.80, 5.16, and 6.23 over the last month, and while Baltimore’s rotation is cobbled together with sticks and gum, the Orioles’ bats will do damage against Texas’ subpar (as of late) starting pitching.

Baltimore will take Game 1 in Texas and then steal both contests in Camden Yards to close out an improbable four-game series win over the American League’s top seed.   Photo: Mike Stobe

The Red Sox will win their ALDS series against the starting pitching-poor Indians in five games, but the process will be excruciating.

Cleveland might not have the horses at the front-end of the rotation, but they’re a tough out.

Ultimately it will be a big Game 5 from Hanley Ramirez — who else did you think it would be? — that will get Boston over the top.     Photo: Jason Miller

For all the deserved talk about Corey Seager, the Dodgers have another young star in Joc Pederson, who has fallen off the radar a bit.

He was just waiting for a bigger stage.

Pederson is going to make the Cubs’ life hell in the NLCS, winning Game 1 of the series nearly singlehandedly with his bat and glove.

He’ll never really go away, but…  Photo: Lisa Blumenfeld

…Pederson’s heroics for the Dodgers won’t be nearly enough, as the Cubs’ lineup, sparked by a rejuvenated Jason Heyward, will smash Dodgers’ pitching as the Cubs win the NLCS in five games.   Photo: Justin K. Aller

Price came to Boston to be The Man, and he too will exorcise his playoff demons and have a postseason to remember.

The 31-year-old lefty will be lights out in the ALDS and particularly effective in his start against Baltimore in the ALCS, whose bats will go silent — the Red Sox will win the pennant in four games.     Photo: Maddie Meyer

It’ll be hard-fought — a World Series to remember for generations to come for more than Cubs fans — but Chicago, led by first baseman Anthony Rizzo, a rock-solid bullpen, and Lester, will win the World Series in six games over the Red Sox.

You won’t want to miss that party.  Photo: Jonathan Daniel