Drama, rivalries and Ohtani: how MLB’s playoffs got their mojo back

We’re just about halfway toward determining who will become baseball’s World Series champions, which means there are just four teams remaining. The best-of-seven American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees begins on Monday in the Bronx, while the New York Mets will be in Los Angeles to face the Dodgers on Sunday in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

Related: ‘Cleveland v the world’: Guardians oust Tigers to reach ALCS tie with Yankees

How did we get here? Simply put, with some of the more captivating early-round playoff baseball we’ve seen in some time. And the drama has been much welcome after last year’s early rounds included no fewer than six series sweeps, with series winners trouncing losers by 20 games to two, leaving all but the most hardcore baseball fans pining for preseason NBA games.

One year later the situation has changed significantly: buoyed by strong story lines, competitive games and a flurry of dramatic finishes, baseball has mojo and momentum as it heads deeper into October. Television ratings have spiked by 41% year-on-year, and viewership is up even when taking on college and NFL football. So what’s driving the October uptick?

Overcoming expectations

It’s one of the best storylines in baseball: a team with low (or no) expectations sneaking into the postseason and making their presence felt. This year’s playoffs are loaded with such breakout clubs.

The Padres lost star closer Josh Hader and Cy Young winner Blake Snell to free agency and also dealt soon-to-be-free-agent mega-slugger Juan Soto to the Yankees. The expectation? Third or fourth place. Instead, the Friars won 93 games and the Soto deal, bringing in their best starter, Michael King, in return for a player who was never going to re-sign in San Diego.

Guardian writers awarded the Minnesota Twins another divisional title in March, but it was Cleveland who had the best record in baseball at several points during the year, racing out to a 51-26 start that nobody saw coming. Not expected to contend, the Guardians were led by José Ramírez, still the best player nobody talks about, and Emanuel Clase, the most dominant closer in baseball.

The Tigers were sellers at the deadline, dealing away multiple veterans including pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. Then they started winning, moving from nine games under .500 on 4 July into the playoffs, finishing with a 47-28 stretch backed by southpaw Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal.

Related: Shohei Ohtani: how the LA Dodgers’ humble, normcore megastar reached baseball’s biggest stage

The Royals had the greatest turnaround in baseball, rebounding from a 106-loss season to 86 wins and a wild-card berth. That’s mostly thanks to a rotation as good as any in the AL led by Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans, while Bobby Witt Jr put in a MVP-caliber season.

Then there’s the Mets, in a self-proclaimed “transition season”, who were 11 games under .500 In late May and facing a long summer of empty seats and roster rejigging. Thanks to a McDonald’s mascot, the emergence of Francisco Lindor, a surprising pitching rotation and a resurgent lineup, the team streaked to the best record in baseball from June on, earning a playoff spot during a make-up doubleheader a day after the regular season ended.

Throw in the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Brewers and Astros, and we entered these playoffs with an eclectic mix of haves and have-nots battling it out.

Star wattage

They’re out, finally. Aaron Judge, who missed out on the 2023 postseason, returned to the playoffs after another Mickey Mantle-esqye season in center field for the Yankees. Even when he’s invisible, as he was in the Yankees’ ALDS win over Kansas City, every at-bat is a must-see. Will he finally break out of the .620 OPS slump against Cleveland in the ALCS?

Across town, Lindor emerged as a team leader and bona-fide megastar following an MVP-like season. After a historic blast that sent New York into the playoffs, he topped it with a grand slam that sunk Philly in Game 4, propelling New York into the NLCS. There was a time not long ago Mets fans thought Cleveland may have won the trade that brought Lindor to New York. Now he’s one of MLB’s most prized assets.

Soon-to-be-AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal propelled the Tigers past the heavily favored Astros, and to the brink of an ALCS appearance before bowing out against the Guardians. Young Skubal has only just begun, and if he can stay healthy, will emerge as a true MLB superstar.

And of course there’s Shohei Ohtani, by far baseball’s most recognizable face, who played for years on a stage with a low ceiling in Anaheim. Now he’s finally in the playoffs, and should be for sometime on the deep-pocketed Dodgers. Could he become the first MLB player since Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to transcend the sport in the US? A big-market matchup with the Mets in the NLCS should help.

Unforgettable moments

It’s hard to find magical moments in any non-competitive series, but each of this year’s four divisional series started out with 1-1 deadlocks with two of them going the five-game distance. That said, it was the wild-card round that provided the most theatrical moment of the season.

Soon-to-be-free agent slugger Pete Alonso, who most Mets fans were happy to let go of after an underwhelming season, struck what is arguably the most dramatic home run in franchise history in the decisive Game 3 at Milwaukee. His top-of-the-ninth, three-run dong instantly cemented his place in Mets lore in what has to be one of the most instantaneous 180-degree swings experienced by even the most fickle of fanbases.

The Guardians were seeking a 2-0 ALDS lead over the Tigers in what had been a tense, drama-filled scoreless match-up. Then in the top of the ninth, Kerry Carpenter pinch hit for the Tigers. Facing the Cleveland closer Clase, who had a regular season 0.61 ERA, he stroked a three-run blast that shocked Progressive Field in Cleveland into an Erie quiet.

It couldn’t get any bigger for the Mets after Alonso’s shot, until the aforementioned Lindor grand slam blast ended the Phillies’ hopes of sending the series back to Philadelphia for a decisive Game 5 and a date with ace Zack Wheeler.

And finally, in a decisive Game 5 of the ALDS, Lane Thomas knocked Detroit’s Skubal off his peak, at least for now, with a fifth-inning grand slam that would propel the $109m payroll minnows to a big-money match-up with the Yankees for the right to represent the American League in the World Series.

Fun!

While the opening stages of the 2024 playoffs have been entertaining for their competitive match-ups and big moments, there was also a good amount of gamesmanship in between. The Mets’ Jesse Winker became the chief heel against Milwaukee, prompting Willy Adames to invite Winker to the parking lot post-game to settle scores. Only Adames showed.

In Game 2 of the NLDS, the Padres’ Manny Machado, leading a team packed with Dennis Rodman-type provocateurs, also challenged Dodgers hurler Jack Flaherty to a post-game duel in a parking lot, which seems to be the current MLB venue of choice for fights that will never happen.

Also in Game 2, Machado also may have or may not have purposely thrown a ball at Dodgers manager David Roberts in between innings, leading even more beef between teams with a long legacy of Southern Californian skirmishes.

And amazingly, also in Game 2, Pads left fielder Jurickson Profar began a feud with Dodgers fans, taunting LA supporters after denying Mookie Betts a home run, an incident that had an ugly ending.

And benches cleared in Game 4 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Royals, which rightly or wrongly always gets our attention.

And finally, Max Muncy followed that profane soundbite by Kiké Hernandez with a another one after the Dodgers ousted their hated division rivals in a tight Game 5.

“What was it, 80% of the fucking experts said we were going to lose?” Muncy said. “Fuck those guys. We know who we are. We’re the fucking best team in baseball, and we’re out there to prove it.”