By: Cam Chambers
The Major League Baseball playoffs are shaping up to be very compelling, as four teams remain in the two League Championship match-ups.
In the American League, the Boston Red Sox face the Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox, who had the best record in the American League, first beat the wild card winner from the AL, the Tampa Bay Rays, in a five game series.
The tough Rays did battle the Red Sox, and were able to come away with one victory, thanks to the heroics of backup catcher Jose Lobaton. Lobaton hit a walk off home run to win game three of the series, a shot that landed in the team’s devil ray tank in deep center field.
The Tigers finished a hotly contested divisional series with the Oakland Athletics, whom they beat in five games. Detroit’s talented pitching staff was able to propel the team to victory.
The two teams opened the series this past Saturday, and it was a difficult outing for Boston. The Tigers’ pitching staff combined to allow only one hit the entire night on the way to a 1-0 win.
On the National League side, the Los Angeles Dodgers are battling a tough and experienced St. Louis Cardinals squad in the NLCS.
The Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had a winning record for the first time since 1992, in game five of the divisional series. The Pirates reached the postseason by way of winning the opening wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers got to the championship series by beating the Atlanta Braves in the divisional series, where they took three out of the four games to advance.
Always with a flair for the dramatic, the Cardinals have come away with two victories in the best of seven series with Los Angeles. In one of the contests, Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran threw out the go-ahead runner at home plate, only to hit the walk off, game winning double only a few innings later.
Both series are shaping up to be exciting, down to the wire match-ups with anyone of the remaining four teams capable of winning the World Series.
