MLB Playoffs 2018: Breaking Down the Updated World Series Bracket

The two wild-card games are in the books, leaving eight teams in the hunt for the 2018 World Series title.

After the Colorado Rockies bested the Chicago Cubs by 2-1 score in a thrilling 13-inning affair Tuesday, the New York Yankees' high-powered offense came out on top Wednesday with a 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Focus now shifts to the Division Series, where the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves are all waiting to begin their respective playoff runs.

The full playoff bracket can be found here.

Division Series Matchups

ALDS

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(1) Boston Red Sox vs. (WC) New York Yankees

(2) Houston Astros vs. (3) Cleveland Indians

Surviving the AL Wild Card Game means the Yankees are headed to Boston to take on the rival Red Sox, who finished the regular season with a franchise-record 108 wins.

The Red Sox won the season series by a 10-9 margin, but the Yankees took two of three during both of their meetings in September.

There promises to be plenty of offense in this matchup.

Boston led the majors in runs scored (876), batting average (.268) and OPS (.792), while New York slugged an MLB-record 267 home runs and finished second in runs scored (851).

Meanwhile, pitching will be the big story in the other ALDS matchup.

That's not to say the Astros (797 runs, sixth in MLB) and Indians (818, third in MLB) don't both have high-powered offenses, but it's their arms that will likely determine their matchup.

Houston led the majors in team ERA (3.11), WHIP (1.10), strikeouts (1,687) and opponents' batting average (.217), while Cleveland was the first team in baseball history to have four pitchers record 200 strikeouts in the same season.

It will be the Astros' Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton squaring off against the Indians' Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger and Trevor Bauer.

The first team to get to the other one's bullpen should come out on top.

NLDS

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(1) Milwaukee Brewers vs. (WC) Colorado Rockies

(2) Los Angeles Dodgers vs. (3) Atlanta Braves

The Brewers and Rockies were both forced to play a Game 163 after finishing the regular season tied for their respective division leads, so both clubs have already had a taste of the postseason atmosphere. The Rockies also played in the NL Wild Card Game.

Both teams finished the regular season strong.

The Brewers went 19-7 with a plus-67 run differential in September to erase a four-game deficit in the NL Central standings, while the Rockies were 19-9 with a plus-59 run differential to overtake both the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Milwaukee won the season series 5-2, which included taking three of four at Coors Field, but the teams haven't met since early August.

Christian Yelich (MIL) and David Dahl (COL) might be the two hottest hitters on the planet, so keeping them from doing further damage will be key for the pitching staffs.

In the other NL matchup, a Dodgers team that has won six straight division titles will square off against a Braves team that only recently emerged from a full-scale rebuild and hasn't been to the playoffs since 2013.

L.A.'s rotation is finally all healthy at once, and the starting staff of Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill might be the deepest of any of the Dodgers' recent postseason squads.

Buehler could be the real X-factor, as he's pitched like a legitimate ace of late. The 24-year-old rookie posted a 1.95 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 32.1 innings over five September starts. Then he tossed 6.2 scoreless innings of one-hit ball in the tiebreaker against the Rockies.

As for the Braves, the emergence of Mike Foltynewicz, steady production of Anibal Sanchez and impact addition of Kevin Gausman give them a formidable staff of their own.

Experience looks like a major factor here, but Atlanta has been surprising people all season after losing 90 games a year ago.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, unless otherwise noted.