We've made it to the final week of the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season. While just about all the playoff teams are decided, this final week will still determine which ones have byes in each league and which clubs will meet in the first round of the postseason. Before the final days of the regular season, here are the latest predictions on how the 2024 postseason will play out.
AL East: New York Yankees Led by the one-two punch of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, the Yankees are going to hold off the Baltimore Orioles and win the AL East title. They feel a bit like the 2002 San Francisco Giants, who made it to Game 7 of the World Series led by the dominant duo of Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent. Still, there are a few major questions for manager Aaron Boone's squad to answer in the postseason.
1. What type of production will the Yankees get from their lineup outside of Judge and Soto? Jazz Chisholm Jr. feels like the most likely player to step up and provide star-level production in addition to Judge and Soto.
2. Can Gerrit Cole pitch at an ace level? The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner seemed to turn the corner with a 1.93 ERA across five starts in August, and he just threw a complete game against the Oakland A's on Friday.
3. Do the Yankees have someone capable of closing in the playoffs? Clay Holmes has had a disastrous second half, which could leave any of Luke Weaver, Tommy Kahnle and Jake Cousins to try to close out games. AL Central: Cleveland Guardians (have clinched d.