Maybe the least compelling postseason of the last 20-30 years.
I thought it was fairly compelling.
The Padres looked like they were going to give everybody trouble after finishing the season winning 18 of the last 22, then sweeping the Cubs, allowing just 1 run. The Yankees, without Judge, swept the Red Sox, who had gone 32-5 to get back into and stay in, the playoff chase. What was surprising was the Yankees, who scored 5.2 runs a game with Judge and 4.1 without him, put up 9 in each game vs Boston while allowing just 2 runs. The Phillies, who went 15-2 in the second half of August to get within 3 games of the Braves, fell apart down the stretch going 5-10 to finish the year. They did manage to squeak out 1 extra inning win vs Atlanta but that was it. And the White Sox, who's high water mark all year was 6 games over .500 swept the Astros......in Houston. All four of those teams would bow out in the LDS round, with only Chicago putting up a fight.
Then in shocking fashion, the Brewers swept the season long favorite Dodgers in the LCS, while the Rays, the AL favorite won in 6 over Cleveland. We know what happened in the final round and that was equally as shocking as the NLCS round.
It may not have been compelling for Dodger fans. Or Yankee fans. But it was compelling just the same. What didn't shock me was the Trop looked like American Family Field. It's the same thing every year. The last 5 years the Rays have drawn an average of 15,081 fans per game. Their highwater mark years were 2026 (17,469 per game) and 2023 (17,781 per game), not surprisingly, playoff years. That is piss poor. But in the postseason they more than double it (38,734 per game). Unfortunately, it's probably the same 17000 Rays fans being outnumbered by 21000 Brewers fans!!! They drew just 79 more fans per game in the World Series than they did vs the Yankees in the LDS. Terrible.
And they have a deal for a new ballpark coming soon. Go figure.
