MLB Playoffs 2014: Predictions for AL and NL Postseason Brackets

The cooler weather outside means it's getting closer to the start of the 2014 Major League Baseball postseason. That also means teams fighting for their October lives are doing all they can to play in the second season. 

While three teams have already clinched playoff berths, the fields in the American and National Leagues are still wide open. There is just over one week left to play in the regular season and seven postseason spots available. Every game is magnified, so this will be a test of fortitude and skill. 

Our postseason predictions are based on a number of factors, but the most important are remaining schedules and how teams are playing right now. Why waste anymore time setting things up? Let's dive into the predictions. 

Team	Berth
Washington Nationals	Won NL East
Los Angeles Angels	Won AL West
Baltimore Orioles	Won AL East

American League

The most compelling race in the American League is in the AL Central between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals. The Tigers lead the division by a half-game with a three-game series starting in Kansas City on Friday. It's great for baseball that the Royals are playing meaningful games in the last week of the year. 

Brad Ausmus and Ned Yost are each putting their best foot forward with his top three pitchers going in each of these games. However, as much fun as it would be to see new blood win a division title, ESPN's Buster Olney made a great point whenever anyone has gotten close to Detroit this season:

The Royals have had 16 games against Detroit already this year and won five of those games. The only reason this series means everything to Kansas City is because it hasn't been able to take care of business before.

You can give the pitching edge to Kansas City in Game 1 because Jason Vargas has been better than Justin Verlander this season. Max Scherzer and James Shields in Game 2 is a wash, though Shields has been terrific in September with a 1.21 ERA, 20 strikeouts and one walk in 22.1 innings. Detroit gets the edge in Game 3 with Rick Porcello going against Jeremy Guthrie. 

As much fun as this series should be, it's still hard to pick against Detroit in the final week. The Tigers have seven games against the White Sox and Twins, while the Royals have eight games against Cleveland and Chicago. 

One of Kansas City's games against the Indians is the completion of a suspended game in which the Royals were trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the 10th, so barring a miracle comeback with three outs to play, that's a guaranteed loss. 

With so little margin for error, the Royals have to play perfect baseball. The Tigers have responded each time they have faced adversity in the division this year. It's Detroit's division until someone takes it away. 

The good news for Kansas City is that the wild card is in the palm of its hands. Oakland's free fall makes it impossible to think it will stick in the second wild-card spot. 

Speaking of the A's, if you think the trade of Yoenis Cespedes and his .292 on-base percentage is why the lineup has failed to produce, read Tony Blengino's piece on FanGraphs on why that is an overly simplistic narrative that carries little weight. 

"We should realize, however, that perhaps the A’s and their offense weren’t quite as good as they appeared to be a couple months ago," Blengino wrote, "and that their full season numbers only now represent their true talent level."

As long as the Royals can split against Cleveland and win the four-game series against Minnesota, that will give them 88 wins (not including what happens with Detroit). That means Oakland and Seattle would have to win six more games to pass them. It's not going to happen, so there will be postseason baseball for Kansas City. 

Trying to figure out the second wild card isn't that difficult either. It's hard not to love the Mariners in this spot, both because of their schedule and how bad Oakland has played. The Mariners have three games with Houston this weekend and four at Toronto that could pose some problems, even though Felix Hernandez would start Tuesday if kept on a five-day schedule. 

Seattle ends the year with three games against the Angels, who have nothing to play for after winning the AL West earlier in the week and just sent out this lineup on Thursday night, via the Angels' official Twitter:

You'd think the A's would be able to capitalize on playing Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Texas to end the year, but they were just swept by the Rangers, so who knows what they are going to do. 

Other contenders like Cleveland, New York and Toronto are too far back with too little time to make up the games they need to, so apologies to their fans. It's going to be Kansas City and Seattle in the Wild Card game. 

Prediction: Detroit wins AL Central; Kansas City and Seattle win wild cards

National League

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Just as we saw in the American League Central race, compelling as it may be right now, both division races left in the National League lose some luster because the two teams that don't win are going to play in the Wild Card game. 

With respect to the Brewers, who have fallen off a cliff, losing 19 of their last 28 games after starting 70-55, they're not making up 3.5 games on Pittsburgh in the next 10 days. Therefore, the NL playoffs will feature Washington, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. 

The Nationals have already clinched the NL East, so we know we won't see them until the Division Series. That leaves the Cardinals and Pirates fighting for the NL Central and Dodgers and Giants fighting for the NL West. 

Let's start out by the Bay Area. You couldn't ask for a better script. The Dodgers and Giants both have winnable series this weekend against the Cubs and Padres, then the two teams have a three-game series in Los Angeles starting on Monday. They have played 16 times already this year, each winning eight times. 

The bad news for San Francisco is Clayton Kershaw is on track to start the final game in that series. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register noted that the left-hander seems to be at his best against the Giants:

Of course, a 1.40 ERA for Kershaw is just another day at the office, so maybe he's not dialing it up against Los Angeles' division rival. 

Tuesday's scheduled pitching matchup between Madison Bumgarner and Zack Greinke is fascinating and compelling. 

On paper, the Dodgers are still a better team and should be able to take care of business against the Cubs and Rockies to hold their lead in the division. 

Moving to the NL Central, on paper there's no reason the Cardinals shouldn't be running away with this division. Look at the talent in the lineup and starting rotation; no one in that division is close to matching that. 

The Pirates have proven last year wasn't a fluke, catching fire with 11 wins in their last 13 games, via MLB.com:

While I did dismiss the Brewers earlier, they do have a chance to get back in the race with a series against Pittsburgh this weekend. However, with Milwaukee looking like the Oakland of the National League, does anyone see the Brewers winning that series?

Even if the Brewers take two games in Pittsburgh, they are still 2.5 games back,and the Pirates have four games against the lifeless Atlanta Braves and three against Cincinnati, which has lost four straight games. 

Unfortunately for the Pirates when it comes to the division, St. Louis gets first crack at the Reds this weekend and has six games in the final week against Chicago and Arizona. Only Colorado has a worse record in the NL than the Cubs and Diamondbacks. 

While we all like change, the Central and West division champions are going to be repeats from 2013. The wild cards will feature a repeat from last year and a team that won the World Series two years ago. 

Prediction: Cardinals win NL Central; Dodgers win NL West; Pirates and Giants win wild cards

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