Kind of making this short and succinct.

Tonight’s matchup

American League Wild Card

Houston Astros (86-76) @ New York Yankees

(87-75)

Yankee Stadium (49,642)  The Bronx

7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET

ESPN

Starters

Stros: LHP Dallas Keuchel: 20-8, 2.48 ERA, 51 walks, 216 K’s, 17 long ones given up, 1.02 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)

Yanks: RHP Masahiro Tanaka: 12-7, 3.51, 27 walks, 139 K’s, 25 homers given up. 0.99 WHIP

Like Keuchel and the Stros  get it done over the Yankees. Really trust Keuchel.

Astros 4, Yankees 3

Tomorrow night (Wednesday)

National League Wild Card game

Chicago Cubs (97-65) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (98-

64)

PNC Park Pittsburgh (38,496)

7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET

TBS

Starters

Cubs: RHP Jake Arrieta: 22-6, 1.77 ERA, 48 walks, 236 K’s, 10 homers given up, 0.86 WHIP

Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole: 19-8, 2.60 ERA, 44 walks, 202 K’s, 11 homers coughed up, 1.09 WHIP

It’s hard to pick against Arrieta. He’s been so dominant the last two months of the season, and no Pirate has hit him very well. He’s been a strikeout machine. But I’m going to go with the Bucs here because I think they’ll hit enough and get good pitching from Cole, and their closer, Mark Melancon, is the best in the business. Melancon is as close to a sure thing as you’re going to get out of your closer in baseball. He’s saved 51 games in 53 opportunities, has a 2.23 ERA, and an 0.93 WHIP. He’s a stud. Like the Bucs to get it done barely over the Cubs in a heckuva  game. These two teams, along with the Cardinals, which won the NL Central, have the best three records in baseball. The Cards finished the season 100-62. It’s a shame these two teams only have one game to decide who advances. Makes me think they should re-format the playoffs and let the teams with the best records get byes and not have to play in the wild card game. If that were the case, the Mets and the Dodgers, two very good teams, would be playing the wild card game, which really is the most fair and accurate way to do it. But that’s the system. Tough for both the Pirates and Cubs. But that’s the way it is right now.

Pirates 3, Cubs 2

American League Division Series

KC Royals over the Astros in 4

Toronto Blue Jays over the Texas Rangers in 4

NLDS:

Mets over Dodgers in 5

Cardinals over Pirates in 5

American League Championship Series:

Blue Jays over KC in 6

National Leauge Championship Series

Cardinals over Mets in 6

World Series (starts October 27th at American League Park. with a 2-3-2 format; two at American, three at National and two at American).

FOX will telecast

The Cardinals have had an amazingly, consistently awesome season. They’ve got strong pitching. But look at this hitting trifecta for the Blue Jays: third baseman Josh Donaldson (who should win the AL MVP), 41 homers, 123 RBIs; right fielder Jose “Joey Bats” Bautista, 40 home runs, 114 Ribeyes; DH-first baseman (in NL park) Edwin Encarnacion,  39 bombs and 111 Ribeyes. That’s something else. Combine those guys with super stud shortstop Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki, and the other bats, and that is one potent hitting lineup. And the Blue Jays have pitching. David Price came over from Detroit right before the trade deadline, and has been superb. Price has gone 9-1 with the Blue Jays with a 2.30 ERA, he’s issued 18 walks and struck out 87 and has a 1.01 WHIP. Overall, Price is 18-5  with a 2.45 ERA, 47 walks and 225 K’s. He’s a strike throwing machine and he’s bringing it 95-96, along with an excellent split fingered fastball coming in at 90, a stellar 85 MPH change up and a pretty good curve he developed in the offseason. But his go to is his 96 MPH heater. And he’s very good at getting batters out with that, usually on swings and misses or called strike threes. The Blue Jays have some other good starting arms and a solid bullpen. And the fans in Toronto are hungry for a championship. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 1994 after winning consecutive World Series in 1992 and 93. That Rogers Centre, where they play, has been rockin’ ever since Price and Tulowitzki came to Toronto in early August. It’ll be like the Super Bowl there every playoff and series game in Toronto. It’ll be a tremendous home field advantage.I love the Jays’ bats. Donaldson, who played at Auburn, Joey Bats, Encarnacion, Tulo and Price get Toronto their first World Series championship in 22 years.

Blue Jays over Cardinals in 6

World Series Champions

The Toronto Blue Jays