SB Nation Reacts: Postseason Predictions

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Red Sox fans, sign up HERE to join Reacts.

We are back for another edition of SB Nations Reacts, a fan-driven weekly poll series, and our first edition of the offseason. We start off with an update on the Red Sox fan confidence rating, and then move into a couple of postseason predictions from earlier in the week. Let’s just get right into it, eh?

Confidence still trending up

The postseason is underway and it started with more teams in it than those who had to stay home, but even with the expanded field the Red Sox were in the latter camp. It was obviously a disappointing year, but they ended it with momentum heading in the right direction. That was true both in terms of wins and losses as well as the general perception of the team by fans. According to our polls at least, confidence in the organization moving forward jumped to 53 percent, the highest mark of the year.

It’s not totally unreasonable, even if the end-of-year spike in production could mask the fact that there is still major work to be done on the roster. There were positives on the pitching front with Tanner Houck and Nick Pivetta showing legitimate potential, Nathan Eovaldi looking at strong as ever and Martín Pérez being solid. Combine that with a strong deadline and a top five pick coming up, and things are trending up. But, again, this is not where the Red Sox want to be, or should be, and they need to be busy this winter.

Which series will be the best?

We have more information now than we did when this got started, but these results are pretty good so far. The White Sox and Athletics are the only series to go to a game three. The Yankees got the sweep, but the second game of that series was probably the most entertaining of the postseason through two days. The Reds and Braves went 13 innings in their first game. So far, so good on these predictions.

Who will be upset?

I’m surprised the Cubs got so much of the vote here, but it’s not looking like a bad pick. They’ve only played one game so far as of this writing, but they are now in a position in which they have to win two in a row to move on. In hindsight, though, everyone should have picked the Twins, who seem quite literally unable to win a single postseason game. They were indeed eliminated and have now lost 18 straight playoff games.

Who will win it all?

I mean, duh. This is obviously a year where it seems like something crazy will happen, but I’m not sure how you can reasonably pick anyone besides the clear best team in baseball. Given the choice of the field versus the Dodgers, give me the field every time. But if I have to pick one team? I can’t justify any other pick.