What to watch during MLB's best-of-5 Division Series

Audio By Carbonatix

Major League Baseball’s playoffs now move into the Division Series, which will include Shohei Ohtani's postseason pitching debut, an unwelcome reunion in Milwaukee, a matchup of teams that tied for the most wins in the American League, and a switch-hitting catcher who finished the season with 60 home runs.

All four series begin Saturday, when two-way star Ohtani — already with two home runs this postseason after hitting a career-high 55 in the regular season — starts on the mound for the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 at Philadelphia. He was recovering from elbow surgery while appearing only as a designated hitter last season, but has a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts since returning to pitching in mid-June.

In the other National League series, the 97-win Brewers open at home against former manager Craig Counsell and the Chicago Cubs. Counsell has been booed lustily in Milwaukee ever since he left two years ago for the NL Central rival Cubs.

AL East rivals Toronto and the New York Yankees both won 94 regular-season games. Star slugger Cal Raleigh and Seattle take on Detroit in the other American League series.

The Dodgers were the only team to sweep its best-of-three Wild Card Series, winning at home against Cincinnati. The rest were decided Thursday, the first time MLB had three postseason elimination games on the same day: the Cubs beat San Diego; Detroit knocked out Cleveland; and the Yankees eliminated Boston.

1. The Blue Jays and Yankees finished tied atop their division, but Toronto got the AL's top seed and a first-round bye because of its 8-5 edge in the season series. New York had to play a Wild Card Series against another division foe but beat Boston to advance. Toronto could still be without shortstop Bo Bichette, out since spraining his left knee Sept. 6, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk boost a solid lineup. Aaron Judge, who went 4 for 11 with one RBI against Boston, had a major league-leading .331 batting average with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in the regular season.

2. Ohtani’s 55 homers were second in the NL and one behind Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies DH he will face in the first inning after NL batting champion Trea Turner leads off for them. Ohtani pitched only 47 innings while building up his arm, but threw five no-hit innings against Philadelphia on Sept. 16. The Dodgers, who went 2-4 against Philadelphia this year, are in the NLDS for the 13th season in a row. During the 96-win Phillies’ five-day layoff between games, more than 30,000 fans paid $10 to attend an intrasquad scrimmage at Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia last won the World Series in 2008, after beating the Dodgers in a five-game National League Championship Series — just like the following year in their last postseason meeting.

3. The Cubs advanced with their first postseason series victory since 2017, the year after winning the World Series. Milwaukee led the majors with 97 wins and won its second NL Central title in a row since Pat Murphy, who was on Counsell’s staff, succeeded him as manager. The Brewers won the division by five games over Chicago, but the Cubs took the season series 7-6. Counsell is Milwaukee’s winningest manager with 707 wins and three division titles from 2015-23. The Brewers had an NL-best 3.58 ERA with a staff led by All-Star pitchers Freddy Peralta, the NL leader with 17 wins, and closer Trevor Megill (6-3, 30 saves). The lineup with 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich scored 806 runs, their most since 1999.

4. Detroit blew a 15 1/2-game lead and lost the AL Central title to Cleveland last weekend, but the Tigers are still playing after beating the Guardians in the Wild Card Series. Tigers ace lefty Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner who could win that prize again, was picked by Detroit in the ninth round of the 2018 amateur draft out of Seattle University, which is only a couple of miles from the Mariners' ballpark. AL West champion Seattle had some extra time off, but the status of All-Star right-hander Bryan Woo (15-7, 2.94 ERA) was still uncertain since he exited his last start Sept. 19 because of pectoral tightness.

There were 12 teams that qualified for MLB’s postseason, six teams from both the AL and NL. That is down to eight still alive.

The two teams with the best records in both the AL and NL advanced directly to the Division Series with home-field advantage. Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle and Toronto haven't played since Sept. 28, the last day of the regular season.

Division Series winners move on to the best-of-seven League Championship Series, with the AL and NL pennant winners then playing in the best-of-seven World Series.

Division Series: Oct. 4-11 (NL on TBS, AL on FOX/FS1)

Championship Series: Oct. 12-21 (NL on TBS, AL on FOX/FS1)

World Series: Oct. 24-Nov. 1 (FOX)

The Dodgers (+360) are the favorite to win the World Series, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. After that, it’s the Yankees (+475), Phillies (+500), Mariners (+550), Cubs (+750), Brewers (+750), Blue Jays (+800) and Tigers (+1000).

The Blue Jays opened the season at +6000 odds.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB