During October, Major League Baseball reaches its most exciting point: the playoffs. After a long season, which is 162 games long, only the best teams remain battling for a chance at the World Series. The atmosphere is electric, the stakes are high and every pitch can change the outcome of everything. From walk-off home runs to clutch pitching performances, playoff baseball brings out the emotion and unpredictability that make sports so special.
The passion for playoff baseball extends far beyond the stadium; here at school, students’ favorite teams stretch throughout the whole United States. Senior Dylan McAllister said his favorite MLB team was the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reigning champions went 93-69, which is a very productive year. The Dodgers are back in the World Series after dominating the postseason so far.
“The most notable difference is the atmosphere of the playoffs and lots of fans come out and contribute what they can to help their team win,” McAllister said. The team that surprised him the most this season would “probably be the Blue Jays because of how they started off the season slow and now are playing for a chance at the World Series.”
‘Mr. October’ is the nickname for the player in the playoffs who is the most clutch and performs the best day in and day out. It is a big title to carry throughout the MLB, and McAllister thinks that this year, so far, it has been Shohei Ohtani.
“With his 10 strikeout performance on the mound, and then hitting three home runs in one game on top of that, [it] is just generational type of talent that you don’t see often,” McAllister said.
Senior Jacob Gray shared his own perspective on the energy and emotion that come with watching playoff baseball.
“It is so nail-biting because it’s win or go home, and everyone wants to win,” Gray said. His favorite team is the Boston Red Sox, and they made the playoffs as well, making it to the wild card, but ended up losing to the New York Yankees.
The biggest difference between the playoffs and the regular season is that “your team gets to play on the big stage and put all the hard work you put in all season to the test,” Gray said.
Some of the teams that surprised him the most were the Atlanta Braves because “I didn’t expect their season to go so rough” or the Milwaukee Brewers because “I didn’t think they would finish the year being the best team in baseball,” Gray said.
Looking back on the ups and downs of the playoffs, both seniors were asked to capture the season in a single word. For McAllister, it was “thrilling,” a nod to the energy and excitement of every game. Gray, on the other hand, summed it up as “unpredictable,” perfectly describing the twists and turns that kept fans on edge.
