Bless You Boys 2021 postseason predictions

While we didn’t get the crazy four-team-tie scenario many of us were hoping for, postseason baseball is upon us. The two Wild Card games will take place Tuesday for the American League, and Wednesday in the National League. The divisional series will begin immediately afterwards, kicking off on Thursday night with both American League series getting underway.

And so, it is predictions time once again.

Fortunately, the possibilities are a lot more narrow than preseason predictions, which are always difficult. No doubt the league is excited to see the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees matched up in a winner-take-all game to advance into the regular playoff rounds. The rest of us may disagree. Meanwhile, despite winning 106 games, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have to put it all on the line against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card game in order to move on.

As a result, the National League seems a lot trickier on the surface. One of the two best teams in the NL could be eliminated in one game, and if they win through, the big matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the Dodgers will take place in a five-game series in the divisional round. Not ideal, as a five-game set has even more potential for chaos, but a function of the value placed on winning your respective division.

As the league is considering an expansion to 32 teams, with four divisions per league, it’s anyone’s guess how much longer we’ll have the current format. The Wild Card round has only been in place since 2012 to begin with, so we’re not exactly fighting the deep roots of a long-held tradition here anyway. The Dodgers aren’t the first team to lose their division while being the second best team in their respective league either, so we’ve seen it play out like this before.

For now, let’s take our best crack at predicting how it all shakes out. While we’ll be missing the 2021 Detroit Tigers within days, postseason baseball is just the best, so we encourage you all to take it all the drama with us over the coming weeks. You can find the complete postseason schedule here, starting with an 8:08 p.m. EDT start on Wednesday night between the Red Sox and Yankees from Fenway Park, and broadcast on ESPN as the main platform.

Give us your thoughts in the comments with your own predictions, and let’s hope that the complete lack of respect for the Chicago White Sox indicated below proves out.