After six long months and a lot of hypotheticals, the October stage is finally set.
Ten teams have made it through the 162-game gantlet for a shot at the Commissioner’s Trophy. The final day of the regular season had potential to turn wacky in all kinds of ways, but ultimately settled on a conventional (yet still captivating) playoff field that gets underway on Tuesday with the Yankees and Red Sox in the win-or-go-home AL wild-card game. That will be followed by the defending champion Dodgers taking on the Cardinals on Wednesday night—sign us up, please.
Before the race to the Fall Classic begins, we’ll take a stab at ranking the 10 remaining teams based on their chances of winning the World Series, along with how and why each club can do so.