The winner-take-all wild-card games are in the books. Time for the best-of-fives.
With the National League Division Series beginning Thursday and the American League Division Series starting Friday, ESPN.com MLB insiders Buster Olney, Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield set the stage for the next round.
ALDS
Yankees vs. Twins: Who will hit more home runs and will it be the same team that wins the series?
Buster Olney: If the two teams play to form and the series goes to five games, we might see something in the range of 20 to 25 home runs in the series. But I don't think that'll happen -- as the heart rates increase, the pitching performances generally improve. I'll say the Twins hit more home runs but not so many more that the Bomba Squad pushes the team to a series win.
Bradford Doolittle: I'll cheat and say they will tie. After all, the Twins hit only one more than New York over 162 games. But I do this to make a point: Both teams will rely on homers to move the scoreboard, but the team that wins will have more runners on base when the dingers fly. I like the Yankees to be that team.
David Schoenfield: Yes, the team that hits more home runs will win the series -- as is almost always the case in October baseball these days. That team will be ... the Yankees. Sorry, Twins, your postseason horror story against the Yankees will continue. As powerful as the Minnesota offense was this year, the Twins did take advantage of three horrible pitching staffs in their division, and while they slugged .531 against bad teams, they slugged .443 against good teams. That's a much wider difference than any other playoff team.