October can be a time full of hope and devastation for many fans as the MLB playoffs begin with 12 teams but in the end, only one team will be awarded the title of World Series Champions. Who was eliminated? What two teams are going to compete in the World Series? Let’s take a look back at the postseason so far. 

Wild Card 

The Mariners quickly eliminated the Blue Jays; as the Guardians did the same to the Rays in the American League Wild Card. In the National League, the Phillies did not struggle to secure a spot in the NLDS by beating the Cardinals. The Padres and New York Mets fought hard to stay in the playoffs, but only the Padres moved on; beating the Mets in a tiebreaker third game 6-0. 

Division Series

The Mariners went up against the Astros while the Guardians took on the Yankees; all fighting for a spot in the American League Championship. The Astros sure did deserve their spot after sweeping the Mariners! In game one, they came back from being 5 runs behind, thanks to Alex Bregman who had a 2-run home run in the 8th inning, and Yordan Alvarez launching a ball into deep right field ending the game with a 3-run walk-off homerun beating the Mariners 8-7. The Astros won the second game 4-2, and were victorious in clinching a spot in the ALCS when they finally beat the Mariners 1-0 in game three, after Jeremy Pena’s solo home run in the 18th inning! Neither the Yankees nor the Guardians would give up their chance that easily. They played till the deciding 5th game when the Yankees secured their spot in the ALCS with a 5-1 win over the Guardians.

In the National League, the Phillies played the 2021 Champions the Braves while the Dodgers played their rivals the Padres. In game four of the Phillies vs. Braves series, Philadelphia became NLCS contenders as they beat the Braves 8-3. Meanwhile, the Dodgers fell short, disappointing many fans in L.A. when they allowed the Padres to beat them in game four of their series, sending the Padres to the NLCS.

Championship Series

With the Phillies facing the Padres competing for a chance at the World Series title, the Phillies kept the Padres scoreless in the first game finishing them off with a score of 2-0. All thanks to Zack Wheeler’s 7 innings pitched, and a pair of home runs by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. The Padres put up a fight in game two, scoring 5 runs in the 5th inning, beating the Phillies 8-5, and tying up the series. Kyle Schwarber started off game three with a home run in the first inning and lead the Phillies to win with a score of 4-2. In game four, the Phillies, with 4 home runs total, were victorious in beating the Padres 10-6. In the final game of the series, the Phillies clinched the title of National League Champions after Bryce Harper’s 2-run home run in the 8th inning had put Philadelphia ahead to win 4-3.

Competing for the American League pennant, the Yankees went up against the so-far undefeated Astros. The Astros kept this postseason streak going when they beat the Yankees 4-2 in the first game. In game two the Yankees were unsuccessful in their attempt to tie up the series losing 2-3. The Astros once again proved to be pushing for the win keeping the Yankees scoreless, in a 5-0 game three win and a huge contribution from Cristian Javier with 5.1 innings pitched. The Astros eliminated the Yankees in game 4 beating them 6-5 and continuing their unbeaten postseason.

The Astros and Phillies are both set to compete for the World Series Title. It will be interesting to see if the Astros can keep up their win streak as the Phillies fight in hopes of clinching the franchise’s 3rd pennant.