Baseball

After a string of MLB league division series that went down to the wire, the league championship series have offered a bit less competitive balance. With both series already featuring elimination games, let's take a look at some of the highlights and storylines that have defined these postseason matchups thus far.

ALCS: Kansas City Royals Lead Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1

After a suspense-filled division series, the two league championship series appear to be over at this point. The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets have respectively put the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs against the wall, with history not looking kind for the two teams trailing. 

Wrigley Field was a haunted house for the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets again played the ghoul. 

The Toronto Blue Jays need to have a short memory and a long memory when they take the field at the Rogers Centre Wednesday afternoon for Game 5 in the American League Championship Series.

They need to forget the beating they took in Game 4, as the Kansas City Royals bludgeoned them on their home field by a 14-2 margin after the Royals jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back.

In baseball’s long history of epic playoff moments and fantastical series comebacks, only once has a team come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a series. The 2004 Boston Red Sox gave many a team hope in the toughest of situations, but replicating their magic is next to impossible.

Both the American League and National League Championship Series looked extremely close on paper following the division series, but they have been anything but that thus far.

The Kansas City Royals hold a 3-1 advantage over the Toronto Blue Jays entering play Wednesday, while the New York Mets are just one win away from sweeping the Chicago Cubs at 3-0. It doesn't take much to shift momentum in a series, though, which is why both are far from over.

It’s hard to assume something wide sweeping about sports as a whole, but if there was ever a more emphatic response to a loss than Kansas City’s, I haven’t seen it.

After losing 11-8 on Monday night in Toronto—a game that was largely decided early, even though Kansas City made a late push—the Royals answered in force, beating the Blue Jays 14-2, scoring nine runs in the final three innings and taking a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.

With the Wild Card Games and division series fading in the rearview and the American and National League Championship Series churning toward completion, we've reached roughly the halfway point of the 2015 MLB playoffs.

Let's take this opportunity to pause, exhale and appreciate the best personal performances we've witnessed thus far—specifically by creating a mid-postseason All-Star team.

After spotting the Kansas City Royals two games in the American League Championship Series, the Toronto Blue Jays returned home for a three-game set at Rogers Centre. The two American League finalists are in the middle of a three-games-in-three-days set that could ultimately decide which team represents the AL in the World Series.

Replay in baseball will make everything better, they said. It will help eliminate controversy, they said.

Well, Major League Baseball has had expanded replay for two years now. And though the system has indeed done its share of good, what we're seeing this postseason is baseball going through its own "tuck rule" moment.

You remember the tuck rule, right? You know. 2002 NFL divisional playoff game. Oakland Raiders vs. New England Patriots. Tom Brady. Charles Woodson. Snow-globe setting. Anything?