The Post season is starting within the next week. It will begin with the wildcard match ups. This is of course unless 2 teams claim a playoff spot with identical records, which would require a tiebreaker game to determine who advances.

Dodgers, Braves and likely the Cardinals will represent the division champs in the NL, with the Reds and Pirates holding the wildcard spots, unless the Pirates can manage to pass the Cardinals before the season ends.

Over in the AL, The Red Sox, Athletics and Tigers represent the division champs in the AL with the Rays, Indians and Rangers scraping it out for the 2 wildcard spots.

Chat about the post season on this thread.

Cleveland got hot at the right time to scoop up the first AL Wild Card, leaving Tampa Bay and Texas to duke it out in a one-game playoff tonight at 8PM EST, 5PM PST. That team will then play the Indians on Wednesday at the same time as the other game. Whatever team wins that game gets to travel to Fenway Park to play Boston, the winningest team in the American League.. The other ALDS is a rematch of last year, as the Tigers and A's will face each other for the second year in a row in an ALDS series. On the National League side of things, the Pirates are hosting Cincinatti for the Wild Card game, who will then face St. Louis. The matchup for the other NLDS is Los Angeles vs. Atlanta.

I believe that in the Wild Card game that Tampa Bay will beat Texas. The Rangers did not do well in last year's Wild Card game, and they would probably lose to the Indians anyway if they somehow won their way to the WC playoff for the second straight year. Also, the Rays are really annoying, as they never give up. My team, the Boston Red Sox, have had to put up with that annoyingness for 5 seasons now, and as seen in 2011 we lost a playoff spot to them. As for who will win the actual AL Wild Card game, I think it will be Cleveland no matter which team makes it. They got hot the last week of the season, snatching the first WC.

Whoever will win the Wild Card game will probably lose to Boston. The BoSox have played well all year, and aren't about to let up now. They wear down pitchers. The clubhouse is great. All of them work their butts off every day, you should see Dustin Pedroia at second some time, he REALLY works hard. Plus, their bullpen, despite many injuries, has been able to be one of the most effective pitching staffs in the game.

Between Detroit and Oakland, I think the A's will get their revenge from last year. With a squad with quite a few former Red Sox, Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp, and Brandon Moss to name a few, Billy Beane has built a team full of skill. Of course, the Tigers are also a good team, with Miguel Cabrera and slugger Prince Fielder, who should be a DH, powering the offense. Their pitching staff is also one of the best, with Max Scherzer and former MVP and Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander.

For the National League, I think that Pittsburgh's Pirates with power their way past Cincinatti in the Wild Card game. Pedro Alvarez and Andrew McCutchen will greatly help their cause. After that, I believe the Bucs will beat St. Louis, despite the Cards being the division winners.

As for the other NLDS, the Braves will probably end up losing to the Dodgers. Atlanta has not fared well in postseasons past, and Los Angeles is a train rolling down the tracks that doesn't look like it will stop soon. Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier, and Clayton Kershaw have really helped them turn around their season.

Below I have a chart of the Postseason. It is somewhat correct, but the person that made it didn't have all the info. The ALWC is not yet decided, and the NLWC winner will play St. Louis rather than Atlanta.

Mr. Nerd :

I love how that picture you posted of the brackets completely disregard the rangers, even though the rays just got another rbi to take a 4-1 lead in the 6th.

bobq : I didn't make the picture. It's the best I could find without actually editing the picture.

Wow, the ranger guy trapped the ball, so it should have been a hit and it would have scored a run for the rays, but they called it an out.

Lets see if this will affect the outcome.

At least it's not an Outfield Fly. The score is 4-2 in the top of the 8th, with the Rays batting. There is one out.

 since when are the braves the 1 seed in ?the NL? it will be the braves vs the dodgers, and the cardinals vs the pirates or reds
ahh, i dont read things apparently

Price throws a complete game and wins 5-2 to advance to the wildcard against the Indians.

Longoria was 3-4 tonight with a homerun and was the rays best hitter.

boomer1709 : I put a line above the picture correcting the mistakes. Please read my post again.

bobq : I was hoping that Texas would end up the victor, but Tampa Bay is just too darn annoying. Is the NLWC game today?

Mr. Nerd : Yea I noticed that later when I read through it again LOL.. .GO BUCS

I am not a fan of any of these teams, but I would like to see the Pirates make a deep run in the playoffs.

I think the Pirates will. With the kind of turnaround season they had, I would suspect they'll make it to at least the NLCS, but I think they'll make it to the final round. My prediction, albeit somewhat biased, is that Pittsburgh will face the Red Sox, another turnaround team.

I tend to root for the underdogs. I think an OAK/PIT World Series would be interesting considering they are both small market teams.

Chewedmint : Yeah, that would be cool too! We'll just have to see how this plays out! I hope the A's will get revenge from last year. Two years in a row I bet they won't lose!

YES YES YES! RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER !!! THE BUCCOS WIN THEIR FIRST PLAYOFF GAME IN 21 YEARS, THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!

Who needs the Steelers when you've got the Pirates making a postseason run, eh?

Chewedmint : hahaha, who needed the steelers ever!?

NNoooooooooooooobody.

I havent seen a bad boy commercial in a while.

I think that the Cardinals are going to wjn it this year. My second guess would be the Braves.

bobq : ahhahaha