Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Nearly every postseason, there are upsets in the MLB playoffs and this year may be no exception.
Nearly every postseason, there is at least one postseason upset in the MLB playoffs. In 2021 alone, in the nine postseason series (four in each league and the World Series), five of the series involved an upset, or where the team with the lowest amount of regular season wins ended up winning.
Many teams could be victims of an upset in the postseason this season. Here are five teams with the highest chance of being upset this season.
5 MLB teams on upset alert this postseason
5) Cleveland Guardians
Entering play on Friday, the Cleveland Guardians lead the AL Central by three games over the Chicago White Sox with a 76-66 record.
If they hang on, they will be the no. 3 seed in the AL Wild Card round and facing whoever is the no. 6 seed. Whoever that no. 6 seed is, they will almost certainly have a better record than Cleveland, though.
The Guardians are a young team that has exceeded the expectations of many this year but they have a long (and recent) track record of choking in the postseason. Even in the regular season, the Guardians have not been particularly great. For example, offensively, since August 1, they have a team wRC+ of 91, which is tied for 21st in the sport with the Oakland A’s (one of the worst teams in baseball).
They’ve also been shutout 11 times this season, including nine times since June against teams that will be in the playoffs or are in the playoff hunt. Five of those shutouts are since August 20.
They will likely have strong pitching in the Wild Card but their offense will likely lay an egg and you can’t win if you don’t score. Right now, they’d face the Tampa Bay Rays, who have a very good pitching staff so if those two face each other, Tampa Bay will have the advantage, despite being a Wild Card team.