By: Burke De Boer Sports Editor
The MLB playoffs kicked off last week and since spring training this season has been sold as the year the Cubs break their curse. But it’s not only the supposed year of Chicago.
This is also a year where young players have come to the front.
The Boston Red Sox have found an MVP frontrunner in Mookie Betts, who is only in his third professional season. He’s joined in the outfield by Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi. All are products of the Boston farm system.
Rookie Tyler Naquin has been outstanding since being called up by the Cleveland Indians, joining the team’s leading batters, 22-year-old Francisco Lindor and 24-year-old Jose Ramirez, in a high powered lineup. Naquin has a .296 batting average, just shy of the .300 mark his millennial teammates have notched.
The Dodgers have seven rookies on their playoff roster after an injury plagued season.
But the NL deals the Dodgers a more defensive path to the World Series than the power hitting AL. Count ‘em up: Lester, Scherzer, Bumgarner on down. Between all the aces, eight of the NL’s ten best ERA pitchers made it to the postseason.
Analysts predicted a Cubs-Red Sox World Series from a long ways out. My own prediction is Indians-Nationals. No matter what, we know that a lot of fresh faces are currently going through the ringer to come out October veterans.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
