2020 American League First Round Playoff Preview

Shane Bieber (Google Images)

The 2020 Major League Baseball Playoffs begin on Tuesday with four American League matchups, with the National League starting on Wednesday. In a unique year, there are eight teams from each league that have qualified for the postseason, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has already stated we could have more teams than 10 from each league that make the playoffs next year, but would not state they would repeat the format being used in 2020 in subsequent seasons.

In the American League, the Oakland Athletics host the Chicago White Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays host the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees play the Cleveland Indians in Ohio, and the Minnesota Twins host the Houston Astros. The Rays had the best record at 40 wins and 20 losses, and get the number one seed in the A.L. The Twins and Athletics had identical records of 36 wins and 24 losses. The Rays were led this season by second baseman Brandon Lowe and starting pitcher Blake Snell. Lowe led Tampa Bay with 14 home runs and 37 runs batted in, while Snell had a record of four wins, two losses, and an earned run average of 3.24. It should be noted that Tyler Glasnow had a record of five wins, one loss and led the Rays with 91 strikeouts, but had a rather high earned run average of 4.08.

In the Oakland/Chicago series, the White Sox only won two of 10 times to end the season, but it should be noted they were playing in the tougher division, and had a better runs for and against. Chicago was a +60, while Oakland was a +42. The Athletics only lost 10 times at home this season.

Speaking of home field advantage, the Twins only lost seven times at home all year, while the Astros only won nine games on the road. Like the Astros, the New York Yankees are significantly worse on the road than at home. They were 11 and 18 away from Yankee Stadium, and will face an Indians squad that had a great year from Jose Ramirez and ace Shane Bieber. Ramirez batted .292 with 17 home runs and 46 runs batted in, while Bieber was 8-1 with a stingy earned run average of 1.63. There is no doubt Bieber was the best pitcher in all of baseball this year and is the overwhelming favourite to win the American League Cy Young Award.

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