We can finally start looking forward to the 2018 World Series now with game one of the Postseason getting underway tonight, the Colorado Rockies visit the Chicago Cubs (both a day following their Tiebreaker game losses) in the NL Wildcard Game while the Oakland A’s and New York Yankees battle it out tomorrow on the AL side.
With five playoff teams qualifying in each league, there are twenty-five possible matchups for the World Series every year entering day one of the postseason; that number quickly drops with the one-game Wildcard round, once both leagues get through those the possible matchups for the World Series will fall from 25 to 16.
Here’s the current list of possible matchups for the 2018 World Series, we’ll update this as we go throughout the postseason:
The random things I notice…
As is the case with most baseball fans of a certain age (I assume), I’ll probably never get used to the idea that Milwaukee plays in the National League, and certainly never that the Houston Astros are in the American League. This is why I’d be all for a Brewers – Astros World Series this year, it would be much easier to accept for us old, stubborn people than say the Brewers vs. Indians or Astros vs Cubs, which would both sound more like a weekend series in July than the Fall Classic. And no, a Dodgers-Astros World Series last year does not change a thing.
A few World Series possibilities for fans of cap logo alliteration, A’s vs Atlanta, Chicago vs Cleveland, or Colorado vs. Cleveland. If the alphabet is your bag, you might enjoy Atlanta vs Boston.
Possible World Series rematches (if we stick with teams who are still in the same city then as they are now) include: Houston/Los Angeles (2017); Cleveland/Chicago (2016); Boston/Colorado (2007); New York/Atlanta (1999, 1996); Cleveland/Atlanta (1995); Oakland/Los Angeles (1988, 1974); New York/Los Angeles (1981, 1978, 1977, 1963); and New York/Chicago (1938, 1932).
Once again blue dominates the MLB playoff field, only two of the ten teams don’t wear blue as their main cap colour – the Oakland A’s (green) and Colorado Rockies (black), and they could both be gone by day two. This means that 24 of the 25 (96%) possible World Series matchups contain at least one blue team and that 16 of 25 (64%) are blue vs blue.
As every team in the American League has won at least one title, there are no possible matchups between two teams who have both never won a World Series. Cleveland has gone the longest in the AL, having not won a World title in 70 years, their last coming in 1948; Oakland is next with their last in 1989. In the National League, the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers have both never won the World Series, the longest droughts for those that have in the NL are the Dodgers (1988) and Braves (1996)… Cubs fans, out of instinct, keep looking around for their team on this list.
Alright, let’s go baseball!
UPDATE (Oct 3/18): The Rockies knocked out the Cubs last night, or early this morning, in the extra-inning Wild Card Game leaving us with just 20 possible World Series matchups:
UPDATE (Oct 4/18): Farewell Oakland, and any hopes you may have had for a blue-free World Series. Sixteen possibilities remain, and a special tip of the cap to Twitter user @GraysonWoods for making our arrangement here Sudoku-friendly!
UPDATE (Oct 9/18): I take a few days off for Thanksgiving and just about half the league gets eliminated. Colorado, Atlanta, and Cleveland all packed their things leaving us down to just six possible World Series matchups in 2018.
We still have a chance for a rematch of last year’s Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Dodgers and another classic rematch of the Dodgers vs the New York Yankees. The ole-AL/NL-switcheroo series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros is still up there, as is the battle of the Braves: Boston vs Milwaukee. If Milwaukee faces New York it’ll be a rematch of the 1981 ALDS, the second year in a row that we’d have a World Series that’s also a rematch of a Division Series.
UPDATE (Oct 10/18):
So long, Yankees. Only four teams and four possibilities left as we move on to the League Championship Series.
UPDATE (Oct 19/18):
The champs are done, Boston drops the Astros in five in the ALCS to give us just TWO remaining possibilities for the 2018 World Series… will it be the “Battle of the Braves” or BLAh Series. I mean, either one will give us some pretty great baseball but I have a few Brewers shirts, so I wouldn’t mind an excuse to wear those for the next couple of weeks.
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