Correa vs. Astros? Phils-Braves rematch? That's just the start
Will Leitch
@williamfleitchAs fun as the first two days of postseason baseball were, it’s fair to say: It would have been nice if the Wild Card Series hadn’t all ended in sweeps. Not only would we have a win-or-go-home game on Thursday, well, jeez, we would have a game on Thursday. Instead, we have two days with no baseball at all. That’s a bummer.
But that also allows us to look forward to this weekend’s start of the four Division Series, all of which will commence on Saturday. Those matchups may be known more quickly than we might have anticipated, but that doesn’t mean we can’t already be thinking about them. Here are five Division Series storylines that immediately jump out. Memorize these: They’ll be all you’re thinking about until Saturday.
1) Carlos Correa returns to Houston in October
There may be no player more synonymous with the Astros’ postseason successes from 2015-21 than Correa, who has a tendency to keep coming up, and coming through, at the biggest moments. The man who was arguably the best player on the Astros’ first World Series championship team will be back at Minute Maid Park in the postseason, this time as a member of the Minnesota Twins, who, apparently, are capable of winning postseason games again.
Correa didn’t have the best regular season, to say the least, but he was hot down the stretch (September was his best month by OPS) and has already been at the center of a few huge plays this October. He made an acrobatic throw to nail Bo Bichette at home in Game 1 against Toronto, drove in the first run in Game 2 and pulled off a deft tag of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a timing play pickoff at second that may have ended Toronto’s hopes once and for all.
If you had forgotten what this player was capable of in October, you have now been reminded. This was the Astro for so many postseasons. Now he has a chance to break Astros fans hearts.
2) The Phillies aren’t going to do this to the Braves again, are they?
The Braves had one of the best regular seasons in their history and have felt like MLB’s juggernaut pretty much since May, finishing with an MLB-best 104 wins. But they were one of the best teams in baseball last year too, and it didn’t matter once the buzzsaw that was the Philadelphia Phillies showed up. Once the Phillies got going last October, Atlanta’s 101 wins didn’t mean much of anything, with sixth-seeded Philadelphia knocking out the Braves in four games in the NLDS. Can the Phillies pull off the same trick again?
It’s fair to suspect that the Braves were cheering for the Marlins in their Wild Card Series, because seeing Bryce Harper and company is going to bring back a lot of bad memories. The Braves were 14 games better than the Phillies in the regular season in 2023. That’s the exact same number of games they were better than the Phillies in 2022 as well. It meant nothing last year. It could mean nothing again this year. Look out for Game 1 here: If the Phillies can steal it in Atlanta, you’re going to see a whole bunch of Braves fans feeling all sorts of unpleasant déjà vu.
3) The D-backs are the next NL West team to shoot their shot against the Dodgers
The Dodgers have won 10 out of the last 11 NL West titles, and that one they didn’t win, they avenged in the NLDS shortly after the season ended. (That would be in 2021, when they won 106 games and took out the 107-game-winning Giants in the playoffs.) Everyone is always aiming at the Dodgers in this division, and usually … they miss.
That is, until last year, when the Padres, in glorious fashion, took down the Dodgers in the NLDS, seemingly serving notice that the days of Dodgers dominance were over. Well: They weren’t. But now the D-backs get their chance to erase the regular-season standings in a short series. The D-backs actually faced the Dodgers the last time they were in the playoffs, in 2017, a series in which they were resoundingly swept. There are only two D-backs (Christian Walker and Ketel Marte) still around from that year, but the roster is full of players who have watched the Dodgers eat their lunch for years now … just like they’ve eaten everybody else’s lunch in the NL West.
The Dodgers have been as wobbly this year as they’ve been in a decade, and they still won the division with ease. Will that dominance continue for one more series? Another fun question: If the Dodgers win, will they jump in the Diamondbacks’ pool again? (For you younger fans out there, this was a big deal 10 years ago.)
4) Can the Orioles take advantage of this opportunity?
There is a sense, because the Orioles are so stacked with young talent, that this is just the start for the team, that this year isn’t that important because they’re surely going to have a lot more bites of the apple. But it doesn’t always work out that way: Teams you think have a clear runway ahead of them for years to come take unexpected steps back all the time. (Ask the Padres last year, or the Blue Jays over the last half-decade, for that matter.)
Considering how tough the AL East is, it’s certainly possible that this is the best opportunity the Orioles will have. After all, they have the top overall seed in the AL and home-field advantage in a year when a pair of the usual AL juggernauts (Boston and New York) didn’t even make the playoffs. The O’s have all that young talent healthy at the same time. They have a Camden Yards crowd that, after years of suffering, is going to be roaring (and splashing) with every pitch of every game. And they are facing a Rangers team with a terrific lineup but an extremely thin pitching staff, both in the rotation and the bullpen. The Orioles don’t have to look to the future for a great chance to win the World Series: They have a great chance to win one right now. They best not let this opportunity elude them.
5) Will we see the same old same old in the LCS and World Series? Or will we see new blood?
There is a non-zero possibility that the World Series this year will be a very familiar matchup. The Astros have been in three of the last four World Series, and four of the last six; they’re still around. The Dodgers have been in three of the last six; they’re still around. The Braves just won the World Series two years ago; they’re still around. The Phillies were there last year; still around. No one will be stunned if we see any of those teams again. But on the other hand … look at all the opportunities we have to see teams that haven’t been in the World Series in a long, long time.
The D-backs haven’t been there since 2001 (or the NLCS since 2007); they’re here. The Twins haven’t been to the World Series since 1991 (or ALCS since 2002); they’re here. The Orioles haven’t been to the World Series since 1983 (or the ALCS since 2014); they’re here. And the Rangers have never won a World Series and haven’t been to the Fall Classic (or ALCS) since 2011.
Will the World Series be a thrilling matchup? Will it be something we have never seen before? The next week will begin to tell us. Starting Saturday. We can’t wait, even though we have to.