It feels like Opening Day was just yesterday, but another season has come and gone as October baseball is only a few days away.  The division champs have been decided, but the wild card is still a tight race.  Here’s a look projected matchups and results for the Wild Card and ALDS.

Wild Card Elimination Game

The Wild Card has become a three team race as the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians lead the Texas Rangers.  Both the Rays and Rangers have some tough matches ahead, but the Indians have the easiest remaining schedule.  The one game elimination will feature the Rays and Indians.  Cleveland’s had a Cinderella year, and have played tough all season long, but playing a one game elimination in Tampa won’t be easy for this team.  They haven’t been in the playoffs for a while, and the Rays have quite a bit of recent playoff experience. The Rays will take the wild card and advance to the ALDS to face the Boston Red Sox.

ALDS Matchups

The Rays will face the number one seed Boston Red Sox in the ALDS in what will be a fun five game series.  Both teams have talented rosters and playoff experience, and both know how to battle the full nine innings to get a win. The Rays have a starting rotation led by  David Price and Alex Cobb, who have both had great seasons for the Rays.  Their lineup consists of some hot hitters such as Evan Longoria, Wil Myers, and Ben Zobrist.  The Rays have a good team and have been playing some good baseball as of late, but they’ll have their hands full with Boston.  The Sox rotation is led by the impressive performances of Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.  The Red Sox also have a stacked roster and big name players such as David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Will Middlebrooks.  The Red Sox have significantly turned it around after what was a horror story last season, and they have the talent to go far in the playoffs.  The Red Sox have the best record for a reason, they are a very good team.  The Rays have talent, but won’t match up against Boston.  The Sox lineup has more threats than the Rays and the pitching staff is more dynamic with such great hitting, allowing more room for error.  The Red Sox will take this ALDS matchup in four games, and advance to the ALCS.

The Oakland A’s will take on the Detroit Tigers in an ALDS rematch.  The Tigers have been the achilles heel for the A’s the last few times they’ve been in the postseason; losing to Detroit in the ALDS in 2006, and last year in the ALDS.  The green and gold will look to change that and take the series from Detroit.  Both teams enter this series with a chip on their shoulder as neither finished the 2012 season the way they wanted to.  Oakland will have home field advantage which will help push them passed the Tigers and advance to the ALCS.  Like last year, it will take the full five games, but this time the A’s will be the team to advance.  The A’s hitters have been hot this month and had success against the Tigers pitching back in August.  The detroit pitching staff is one of the best led by Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, but they have had some off games this year and each pitched poorly against the A’s this season.  Their lineup is also stacked, but Miguel Cabrera has been battling injuries which may affect postseason play.  Prince Fielder is always a threat as well, which will keep the A’s pitching staff on their toes.  Speaking of, the A’s pitching is pretty good as well.  Jarrod Parker and Bartolo Colon lead the pack and will be a force in this series.  Their hitters have been swinging a hot bat lately as well, especially Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie, Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss and newly acquired Alberto Callaspo.  Last year the Tigers bullpen was an issue, this year it’s the A’s bullpen with some questions.  Grant Balfour and Ryan Cook have struggled this last month, but with October baseball comes remarkable performances.  The Tigers made it all the way to the World Series last year despite a poor bullpen.  This is the year the A’s are able to overcome the Tigers and advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2006.

The divisional series will be an entertaining one as these four teams are the best in the American League.  There’s no such thing as an easy win when it comes to October baseball and all these games would be hard fought and well deserved.  An ALCS matchup between the A’s and Red Sox would make for an amazing seven game series as well.  October baseball is finally here, and what an October it will be.