Last season saw the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants surprise everybody and go from the Wild Card round all the way to the World Series, where the Giants rode the pitching of Madison Bumgarner to the championship title.
So, the point is ... anything can happen and usually does.
The Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros have crashed the party this year and both would be big time under dogs to reach the Fall Classic, but don't count them out.
Other surprise teams making the post-season are both New York teams, the Yankees and the Mets.
The Toronto Blue Jays made huge changes at the July 31 trade deadline and it paid off as the team from Canada finally made the playoffs after a 22-year absence.
Kansas City is back, but the San Francisco Giants are out this year and will not be able to defend their crown. The Los Angeles Dodgers, led by their one-two pitching tandem of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, will be tough to beat after winning the National League West division.
The Central division in the National League has THREE teams in the playoffs as the Cubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals all made it.
The Cardinals have to be the odds-on favorites to reach the World Series as they are baseball's only 100-win team this season.
The Yankees and Astros get it all started tonight in the Bronx while the Cubs and 22-game winner Jake Arrieta will face the Bucs and their ace, Garrett Cole tomorrow night in Pittsburgh.
The Heftyinfo predictions for the MLB post-season follow up and here's hoping the post-season and World Series are as exciting as the past season was.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Wild Card - Yankees over Astros
ALDS - Kansas City Royals over NY Yankees is four games
Toronto Blue Jays over Texas Rangers in three games
ALCS - Toronto Blue Jays over Kansas City Royals in five games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Wild Card - Pirates over Cubs
NLDS - Pittsburgh Pirates over St. Louis Cardinals in five games
New York Mets over Los Angeles Dodgers in four games
NLCS - New York Mets over Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games
WORLD SERIES
New York Mets over Toronto Blue Jays in six games
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