After Major League Baseball’s regular season ended, 10 teams continued on to October baseball, as the postseason was played to determine who the World Series champions would be. Five American League teams advanced to postseason play. Three were the division winners and the other two were the wild card teams. The division winners were Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros, while the AL Wild Card Game was between the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees in New York City. The Yankees won the game at Yankee Stadium 7-2.

Meanwhile in the National League, the division champions were the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers. The wild card teams were the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockieswith Colorado winning the NL Wild Card Game 2-1 at Wrigley Field in a 13-inning thriller, led by Kyle Freeland throwing 6 2/3 shutout innings, as well as Tony Wolter’s go-ahead single to win the game.

In the division series, the Brewers swept Colorado in three games, the Dodgers beat the Braves 3-1, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in five games, and the Astros swept their series in Cleveland.

As for the two league championship series, the Red Sox defeated the defending World Series champion Astros three games to one. Jackie Bradley Jr. won the MVP for the series, leading the way with 9 RBI. The Red Sox, who won a franchise record 108 games during the regular season, had home field advantage during the World Series.

The Dodgers also defeated Milwaukee in a classic seven-game series that culminated with a 5-1 Dodger victory in game seven. The Brewers’ bats seemed to be cold all series long, scoring only 24 runs in the series. However, that outscored the Dodgers, who scored 23 times. Slugging first baseman Cody Bellinger won the series MVP in a questionable decision, as he only slashed .200/.231/.360 with one home run, which came in the series-clinching game.

The Dodgers (92-71) and Red Sox (108-54) matched up in the 2018 World Series. It featured arguably two of the best players in their respective leagues in J.D. Martinez, Red Sox outfielder and designated hitter, and Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers pitcher.

Martinez finished second in MLB for home runs with 43, falling five short of Khris Davis, Athletics left fielder. Kershaw had a below-average year by his standards, having a 2.73 ERA and 1.041 WHIP, though he suffered injuries throughout the regular season.

All in all, with two championship-caliber teams, it should be another great edition of the Fall Classic.