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In the American League the 2 seeded Chicago White Sox would play against the 3 seeded Houston Astros. Early in the season, the White Sox were hit with a lot of injuries.The White Sox were able to overcome all of these injuries and have shown everyone what they’re capable of. Jose Abreu who is Chicago’s franchise player has 26 Home Runs with 97 RBI’s, which is 1st in the American League, a .824 OPS and a .257 batting Average. Star Shortstop for the White Sox Tim Anderson has 14 HR, 51 RBI’s, 17 Stolen Bases and a Batting average of .303. Anderson is a very exciting two way player to watch. Chicago also has a really good bullpen that got even better at the trade deadline with the pickup of All Star closer Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel joins Ryan Tepera and Michael Kopech in one of the best bullpens in baseball. The Houston Astros lead the AL West this year at a record of 74-52 5.5 games ahead of the 2nd place Oakland A’s. Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve are leading the charge for the Astros again this year with Correa batting .278 with 19 Home Runs and 68 RBI’s, and Altuve with 25 Home Runs, 67 RBI’s and a .277 batting average. Unfortunately for the Astros this might be Correa’s last year with the team because he is a free agent at the end of the year. I think this will be a really fun series to watch that I think will go the distance. Ultimately, I think the White Sox will win the series because of their pitching and Bullpen.
If the season ended today the Wild card game would be between two teams who have the biggest rivalry in sports with the Yankees and the Red Sox. At one point, Boston was in first place and had a 9.5 game lead on the Yankees. Since then the Yankees have gone on a tear and the Red Sox haven’t been the same team in the second half even though they still are 73-56 and sit in the second wild card spot right now. For Boston Rafael Devers has lead the charge and is batting .276 with 30 Home Runs, 94 RBI’s and a .902 OPS. Devers is a really special hitter that can hit to all fields. A couple of other players that have carried Boston are Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo, who they got from the Dodgers in the Mookie Betts blockbuster trade. After a trade deadline where New York traded for two power hitting left handed bats in Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo, that’s when the Yankees really started to turn it around. I think this wild card game will be one for the ages and I can’t wait to tune in to watch it. These playoffs are going to be so much fun to watch because there are so many teams that have very few holes on their roster.
