After 4,860 regular season MLB games played this year, the top 12 teams—6 from each League—advanced to postseason play. In a season of firsts, we witnessed a model rebuild, an incredibly fast post-surgery recovery, a homerun-stolen base record, and the Venezuelan Ted Williams all in one remarkable year.
Led by a young and rebuilt squad, and headed by long-time manager and Most Patient Man of the Year, Brandon Hyde, the Baltimore Orioles won the AL East for the first time since 2014. The Tampa Bay Rays, after a record-shattering 13-0 start to the season, finished two games behind them and claimed the first wild card slot, despite fielding a hospital waiting room disguised as a pitching staff. The Blue Jays claimed the third wild card spot, barely beating out the Seattle Mariners, who saw their season vanish before their eyes in their last game of the season. After a rollercoaster of events in August that sent hearts racing and screens shattering, the Houston Astros managed to grab a hold of the top spot in the AL West, with the Texas Rangers claiming the second wild card position, bringing the dreams of a 250 million dollar investment into fruition. The Minnesota Twins came out on top of the head-nodding race against the Cleveland Guardians for the division win in the AL Central.
The National League had the usual titans, with Ronald Acuña Jr’s historic 40 home run and 70 stolen base season leading the Braves to the No. 1 seed. That’s not to ignore the other five players on the team with over 30 home runs, or the astounding 54 that Matt Olson muscled out to claim the NL lead. The Dodgers surprised those unacquainted with “Dodger Supremacy” (a term I just made up) and won the AL West to enter the postseason for the eleventh consecutive season. The team was led by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, an MVP-caliber duo that is proving to be almost as deadly as the Manny Ramirez-David Ortiz era that dominated Boston for so long. The Brew Crew topped the NL Central, winning 92 games and holding a nine-game lead over the Chicago Cubs. These were the same Cubs who were just barely ousted of a wild card spot by the surging Arizona Diamondbacks, who at one point were looking like they were going to run away with the NL West, won a respectable 84 games thanks to the soon-to-be rookie of the year Corbin Carrol. Led by the NL batting champion Luis Arraez, who was hitting a Ted Williams-like .400 in July, and the exuberant, though slightly overrated, Jazz Chisholm, the Marlins battled and pitched well enough to make up for their -57 run differential to claim the second wild card spot. Taking the first wild card spot in the National League was the Philadelphia Phillies, led by the indestructible Bryce Harper who rejoined the team after a mere 160 days following a serious elbow surgery.
The postseason looks to envelop fans into a wild ride, with virtually any team looking more than capable of taking home the coveted World Series trophy.
This article also appears in our October 2023 print edition.
