The long, arduous baseball season has ended – the brutal summer heat has given way to crisper autumn weather, leading us into another postseason. The new, nerve-racking “one-and-done” wild card round was used for the first time on Friday night, with the Baltimore Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals surviving and advancing to the more familiar best-of-five Division Series round. It’s always difficult to predict which players will make the difference in the MLB playoffs – no one player is going to dominate like Michael Jordan. Also, the players that come through in the biggest situations are often lesser known, non-superstar players, such as the last two World Series MVP’s – David Freese and Edgar Renteria.
That sheer unpredictability might be the best part about the MLB playoffs, and it’s a great reason to tune in. Any team can take the title and any guy that makes one of the rosters has a shot at being the hero. Still, as a guide, we made a brief list of players to watch this postseason. These guys have been instrumental in getting their teams to the playoffs, and could provide the edge their team needs to take the title.
