Fall baseball is a bloodbath as both leagues crown champions.

With teams rising above the odds in the Wild Card Series (WCS) and Division Series (DS), it’s hard to argue with the morale of the league championship series.

The American League Championship Series (ALCS) will be decided in a best-of-seven series with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers tied at three games apiece. Texas took Game 6 at Minute Maid Park on Nov. 23 (ET), effectively combining 10 hits, including a walk-off home run by Adolis Garcia, for a 9-2 victory to even the series.

While the Astros were expected to take Game 3, 4, and 5 at Globe Life Field, with three straight wins by the Astros to sweep the series 3-2, the Astros’ focus proved to be too much for the visitors. In particular, Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi pitched six and a third innings of five-hit ball to earn his fourth straight postseason victory and become the “Hero of Fall Ball.

Game 7 is just as unpredictable. Texas’ Max Scherzer is favored over Houston’s Christian Javier, but Javier outdueled Scherzer in Game 3.

The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is up 3-2 in favor of the Phillies heading into Game 5. Ace Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies and Meryl Kelly will start for Arizona in Game 6 on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

Nola pitched six innings of three-hit ball in Game 2 on April 18, while Kelly took the loss after giving up four runs on three hits in 5⅔ innings. However, the series is not a foregone conclusion. If the A’s can replicate their game-changing performance of dropping Games 1 and 2 on the road and then coming back to win Games 3 and 4 at home, the NLCS could go to seven games.

There are four possible World Series matchups this year. I don’t know about you, but outside of Houston and Philadelphia, few fans want to see a repeat of last year’s World Series. For story, buzz, and freshness, it would be great to see Texas and Arizona battle for supremacy in the World Series for the first time in 12 and 22 years, respectively.

Houston and Philadelphia are powerhouses compared to Texas and Arizona. 굿모닝토토

In Forbes’ Major League Baseball team value rankings released in March, Houston was 11th out of 30 teams at $2.25 billion and Texas was 12th at $2.25 billion. Compared to their 2022 valuations, Houston’s is up 14% and Texas’ is up 9%, with Houston winning the World Series last year pushing it ahead of Texas.

Philadelphia is ninth at $2.575 billion and the Arizona Diamondbacks are nearly half that at $1.38 billion. Philadelphia also saw a 12% increase last year after winning the NL Championship and finishing as World Series runners-up, while Arizona’s was unchanged from 2022. Simply put, the Phillies are an absolute powerhouse in Arizona. Even looking at this season’s opening payroll, Philadelphia ranks fourth at $243 million, while Arizona ranks fifth at