☀️ Good morning and welcome back to The Nosebleeds.

🧹 The MLB Postseason kicked off this week, and every Wildcard series ended with a sweep.

😴 Hockey season is also only a few sleeps away, so we have plenty to cover on today’s edition of Nosebleed Sports.

⚾️ MLB Postseason Update

The Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Philadelphia Phillies are heading to the MLB Division series after sweeping their wildcard match-ups. Here’s a quick summary on how each the first four series went:

• Rangers @ Rays: Tampa Bay couldn’t pitch, hit, or play defense—they looked like maybe the worst 99-win baseball team of all time, as Texas dominated both games (4-0 and 7-1, respectively).

• Blue Jays @ Twins: Toronto scored one run total in this series, and when you combine that with stupid managerial decisions/organizational philosophy, odds are you’re not going to win many postseason baseball games (and the Blue Jays haven’t, as they’ve now lost seven straight playoff games).

• Diamondbacks @ Brewers: This young Arizona team played like they had nothing to lose and it showed, as they send home a Milwaukee team that boasted one of the best pitching staffs in the majors.

• Marlins @ Phillies: Philadelphia looks primed to make another deep postseason run, as they make quick work of an up-and-coming Miami team.

Looking ahead: Division Series

No more pretenders, the MLB Postseason gets for real now. Eight teams remaining, four great best-of-5 series—let’s take a look at the match-ups.

Predictions

• Rangers > Orioles in 4

• Twins < Astros in 3

• Phillies > Braves in 5

• Diamondbacks < Dodgers in 4

🏒 NHL Season Preview

The 2023-24 NHL season begins on October 10, and we head into the year with extreme parity—a handful of teams could be the one lifting the Stanley Cup next spring.

The Athletic recently released their 2023 team projections, and as we can see below, there is a little more than four points separating the team with the highest point projection from the team with the ninth highest point projection.

There is no clear favorite, what should make for an extremely competitive hockey season.

Our prediction? We think this is the year Connor McDavid finally gets his long-awaited championship, as the Edmonton Oilers end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought with a victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final (just kidding, we all know the Leafs aren’t making in that far… the Oilers will beat the New Jersey Devils in the Cup Final).

🤔 Baseball Trivia

The Houston Astros are looking to win their second straight World Series title.

• Question: can you name the only team remaining in the MLB Postseason that has never won a World Series?

Answer at the bottom.

📸 Bloody Good Photo of the Week

🦃 Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian readers!

• Trivia Answer: Texas Rangers

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