It was a long few days in baseball as the final seeds for the 2024 MLB postseason were laid. The Yankees, Dodgers, Guardians and Phillies could all sit back and relax, knowing they didn’t have to worry about games that mattered until Saturday, thanks to their first-round bye.

But even the comfortably clinched Astros, Orioles, Brewers and Padres had no idea who they were playing. The Tigers and Royals knew they were in, although they weren’t able to secure the final American League Wild Card seeds until Sunday afternoon. Thanks to a hurricane and poor contingency planning, the National League Wild Card race lasted even longer than the scheduled final day of the regular season. The Braves and Mets were scheduled to meet in Atlanta for a crazy doubleheader on Monday, with one team winning the opener to advance and then having minimal motivation to play regulars as the first playoff game is just over 24 hour would take place. The Diamondbacks carried the burden as their rivals split and the MLB bracket was finally set.

Given the devastation that has occurred in recent days, you’ll forgive some hasty playoff predictions. We enjoy putting this annual post together before the postseason, but we were working on tight deadlines and understandably some people didn’t have time to participate. As such, defending champion Sam is doing like the Rangers and taking a pass in October (though personally he had a much better season than Texas). But sixteen of us dared to be wrong!

So just in time with Game 1 of the four Wild Card Series on deck today, here are our postseason predictions.

Don’t ask me how I personally ended up on most of these. The staff as a whole put the ‘Pass’ sign pretty firmly on the Astros and Padres dispatching the Tigers and Braves. With Detroit, I can at least be optimistic about Tarik Skubal in Game 1, while hoping against hope for some chaos to positively affect the Gritty Tigs in Game 2 or 3. But hey, they’ll probably actually get trampled in their first playoff trip in a decade by those dream-killer Astros. As for the Atlanta pick, I have no real defense. The Padres are clearly a better team in 2024.

The other two series had far fewer votes: only 9-7 in favor of Baltimore and Milwaukee. The O’s have serious questions about their pitching staff and the Brewers just haven’t shown their best in many Octobers, with only 2018 standing out. They’re both understandably favorites, but I don’t think many would raise an eyebrow if they saw KC or the Amazins getting upset.

I have no faith in the Guardians at all. If the Astros don’t shut them down, the Tigers will. I don’t care! The rest of the staff is also unaware of Cleveland, as the consensus expectation is the fourth Yankees vs. Astros ALCS over the past decade is. God help us all.

However, it’s nice to feel good about the Yankees in the first round. Some of that may have to do with the fact that both Baltimore and Kansas City may have to burn the much better parts of their rotation to reach the Division Series. Still, we trust Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and company. For the record, I’ll put this out there now: an embarrassing exit from the Division Series is the only possible way I don’t see Aaron Boone returning as manager in 2025. (As boring as I find him, I would of course rather they win with him than not at all.)

As for the NLCS, we’re going with a rematch of the 2008-09 Dodgers vs. Phillies. Although I must honestly say that this is far from unanimous. On that note, I had to adjust Josh’s exact word for space, because he wrote “SD Dodgers Frauds SZN.” And you know what? It could happen! The Padres’ characters have largely changed since 2022, and yet…

Look, if this isn’t the time of year to dream big about the Yankees’ return to the World Series, then what’s the point of being a fan? This may not be the 114-win juggernaut of ’98 or even the 103-win league leaders of ’09, but they’re still the top seed! Maybe the Rangers broke the Astros’ invincibility last year! I can’t make it! Pick your favorite Yankee for ALCS MVP, although the guy with the most votes on staff was that Soto guy.

Speaking of ’09, the Phillies are our slight favorite in the NLCS. Funnily enough, no one got any semblance of a plurality in NLCS MVP. Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Zack Wheeler each received two votes. Outside of the Phils, Shohei Ohtani and longtime friend Michael King also got a few nods.

Bohm/Harper/King/Ohtani/Schwarber/Wheeler

Yes, we dream of number 28. Let’s go Yankees. (And let’s go to Soto.)

Make your choice below and see if you can beat us!