As the regular season came to a close over this past weekend, we finally figured out what teams were going to be playing in what games. St. Louis clinched the National League Central division, forcing the brewers to travel to the nation’s capital for the NL Wild Card game tonight. The winner of that game takes on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the divisional round, while the Atlanta Braves take on the Cardinals.

Over on the American League side of things, we have the New York Yankees going up against the Twins of Minnesota, and the Houston Astros taking on the winner of the AL Wild Card game between the Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Let’s take it round by round and see who I think is going on to win this year’s World Series.

NL Wild Card

The Nationals surprised me this year with their record. I personally thought they were the fourth best team in the NL East this season, behind the Braves, Phillies and Mets.

The Brewers caught a tough break towards the end of the season this year, losing their best player and last season’s MVP Christian Yelich to injury.

The Brewers have proven to be a good team without their best player, sure. But they unfortunately run into the Nats in a one game playoff.

Sure, Max Scherzer is 0-2 in his postseason career as a National, but it is still hard to bet against him. He finished the regular season with an 11-7 record, a 2.92 ERA, and 243 strikeouts. Scherzer is in the Cy Young award discussion once again, and with good reason.

The Brewers are sending Brandon Woodruff to the mound for this one. Due to his recent oblique injury, there is speculation that he will only go two or three innings before the Brewers turn to their bullpen, which is known for being deep.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the deep bullpen will be enough for the Brewers to get over the Nats in this one. The Nationals offense will be too much for the Brewers pitching, and Max Scherzer will be too much for the Brewers offense to handle.

Did I mention Christian Yelich won’t be in the lineup?

AL Wild Card

This is the game that I am most excited to see. Oakland vs. Tampa Bay. Two teams who are continuously overlooked by many due to their lack of star power.

As of this moment, the A’s haven’t announced their starting pitcher. The Rays on the other hand are putting Charlie Morton on the bump.

Morton is the ace of the Rays’ rotation, but he has also had much success against the A’s throughout his career. This year alone in two starts he has only allowed one run in 13 innings, earning an ERA of 0.68.

But, I am still going to give the edge to the Oakland A’s. I believe that they will earn the win in a close game.

The difference maker? Travel.

Tampa has to go across the country for one game, while the A’s get to show up to the ballpark and do their thing.

These teams are evenly matched, and each have a tough division to play throughout the year. But I think that Oakland has just enough to get by the Rays and move onto the next round.

NLDS, Braves vs. Cardinals

Look, the Cardinals are a good team, some may say a really good team. But the Braves have too much fire power for them to handle.

Yes, the Cards have Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter, but the Braves have youth and experience that will lead them over the Cards.

The Braves have pieces like Josh Donaldson, Dallas Keuchel, Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr.

I want this to be a competitive series, but I just don’t think that the Cards have enough on their roster to earn more than one win over the Braves.

I’m taking the Braves over the Red Birds in 4.

NLDS, Dodgers vs. Nationals

While I do believe that these two teams are more evenly matched than the Braves and Cardinals, I feel the Dodgers are a safe pick in this one.

LA has pitching, offense, and defense, more so than the Nats do, and they have the potential MVP and Cy Young award winners in Cody Bellinger and Hyun-jin Ryu.

As I’ve already covered, the Nats do have Max Scherzer, who will miss the opener due to his involvement in the Wild Card game. But the Nats have pitching depth.

They have Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and Aníbal Sánchez. All pitchers capable of earning wins over the Dodgers.

I just don’t see it happening.

I’ll give the Nats wins with Strasburg and Scherzer on the bump, but other than that I feel it’s going to be an uneven series.

I’ve got the Dodgers in 5.

ALDS, Yankees vs. Twins

It would be easy to say the Yankees are going to sweep the Twins in this round. They have a pretty stacked roster, and experience going into the playoffs.

But let’s look at the Twins for a moment.

The Twins had more home runs in the regular season than the yankees did. The Yankees only won two more games than the Twins in the regular season.

And this Twins team reminds me of the Yankees last year. A young team with a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs.

Sure, the Twins are going to be without Byron Buxton due to his shoulder injury, but they still have guys like Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sanó to pick up his load.

This series is going to be a showcase of offense. These teams were first and second in home runs in the regular season, and they aren’t going to stop hitting bombs in October.

Going with my gut here, I’m taking the Twins over the Yankees in 5.

ALDS, Astros vs. A’s

I wish I could say that the A’s have a shot against the Astros in this one.

But I can’t

The Astros are a very good team, with one of, if not the best rotations in all of baseball. You have Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke.

Then you have guys like Alex Bregman, José Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer who can dominate any pitcher that takes the mound.

I like what the A’s bring to the table, but they are no match for what Houston has, especially in the playoffs.

Houston takes this one in 3.

NLCS, Braves vs. Dodgers

This one is going to go seven games.

You’ve got two teams with depth, youth and experience. Both of these teams have leaders and good coaching.

I truly think that this one os going to go back and forth, each team trading wins with the other. And it will all culminate at Dodgers Stadium in LA.

This would usually lead me to believe that the home team is going to take it. But not this time.

The Braves are going to go into Dodgers Stadium and win a close game seven to go on to the World Series. I feel that it is their time to get back after missing out for so long.

The Braves are moving on in 7.

ALCS, Astros vs. Twins

Not the matchup most people are expecting, but it’s the one that they are going to get. An experienced Astros team taking on a young Twins team.

Yes, I touched on the Twins’ experienced players like Nelson Cruz earlier, but they will be no match for the Astros.

It’s going to look easy once again for the Astros, and they will move on to the World Series led by their stacked team of all-star caliber pitching and offense.

The Astros are going to advance in 4.

World Series, Astros vs. Braves

Going into this series the Astros are going to have won every single game that they have played up to this point. The Braves will have just participated in a hard-fought NLCS against the Dodgers.

Astros have the edge, but it’s not going to be that easy.

Sure, the Astros are going to be able to rest and watch their opponents tire themselves out in a seven game series. And yes, the Braves are going to have to travel to Houston for the first set of games.

But don’t count the Braves out just yet.

Personally, I think that the previous series against the Dodgers will be the advantage that they need heading into the series against the Astros. They will have faced one of the best teams in the MLB, and taken them to seven games and won.

The Astros have had no real challenge up to this point, which will be their downfall.

I once again see the Braves extending this one to seven games, sending it back to Houston. And I once again see the Braves taking it on the road.

The Atlanta Braves will be your 2019 World Series Champions.