{"id":816706,"date":"2026-09-28T22:48:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/816706\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:48:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:48:36","slug":"mlb-postseason-predictions-wild-card-round-astros-white-sox-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/816706\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB postseason predictions, Wild Card round: Astros-White Sox and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 MLB playoffs begin Wednesday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/article\/texas-rangers-eliminated-corey-seager-jacob-degrom-22451546.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">without the Texas Rangers<\/a>. But that won\u2019t stop our team of experts from weighing in on the four Wild card series. Here are picks from insiders Evan Grant and Shawn\u00a0McFarland and columnists Tim Cowlishaw and Kevin Sherrington:<\/p>\n<p>Yankees vs. Red Sox<\/p>\n<p>Cowlishaw: Sox bats slowed down a month but their bullpen just may be enough to save them. Chapman haunts NY. Red Sox in 3.<\/p>\n<p>Grant: Schlittler and Fried and there is no need \u2026 for Game 3. Yankees in 2.<\/p>\n<p>McFarland: It\u2019s tough luck that one of these two teams will be knocked out before the divisional series. Red Sox in 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sherrington: No Judge, but the jury\u2019s in on the Yankees, and their starting pitching pulls them through. Yankees in 3. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Astros vs. White Sox<\/p>\n<p>Cowlishaw: Sox almost fell out of the playoffs, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/rangers\/article\/texas-rangers-mlb-playoffs-tracker-live-standings-22428104.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Astros fell in<\/a>. Would be shameful if Houston advanced. Vargas blasts them out. White Sox in 2.<\/p>\n<p>Grant: White Sox bullpen worked most innings in MLB in September and are gassed. Alvarez goes off. Mediocre Astros in 3<\/p>\n<p>McFarland: Wouldn\u2019t it be fitting if the incredibly average AL West sent a team on a deep playoff run? Astros in 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sherrington: The good news for Rangers fans is the Astros will take the heat for being a top-3 seed with that record. White Sox in 3.<\/p>\n<p>Padres vs. Cubs<\/p>\n<p>Cowlishaw: Cubs fans still haunted by 1984 and Padres\u2019 comeback. San Diego much better team now. Padres in 2.<\/p>\n<p>Grant: The Padres, 18-6 in September, are a hit TV show right now. The show: \u201cNobody Wants This.\u201d Padres in 2.<\/p>\n<p>McFarland: Alex Bregman\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WatchMarquee\/status\/2102894561580175829?s=20\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow\">broken face<\/a> serves as inspiration. Cubs in 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sherrington: The Cubs may have the best lineup in the playoffs. Can their pitching hold up? Cubs in 3.<\/p>\n<p>Braves vs. Phillies<\/p>\n<p>Cowlishaw: Schwarber ignites the fading Phils. This has happened before. It happens again. Phillies in 3.<\/p>\n<p>Grant: Braves dominated season series against the Phadin\u2019 Phils, 9-4. Nothing suggests that will change. Braves in 2.<\/p>\n<p>McFarland: If there\u2019s going to be a Wild Card team that makes a World Series push (and it feels like there always is), then it\u2019ll be these guys. Phillies in 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 MLB playoffs begin Wednesday without the Texas Rangers. But that won\u2019t stop our team of experts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4,2303,149,1567,69,3240,83514],"class_list":["post-816706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas-rangers","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-rangers","tag-texas","tag-texas-rangers","tag-texasrangers","tag-tp-texas-rangers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117351108059660142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}