Opinion

By any reasonable set of standards, Prince Fielder is a fantastic hitter. The Detroit Tigers first baseman owns a .286/.389/.527 career batting line and is one of only 17 players in MLB history with at least 285 home runs through his age-29 season.

Bring on the playoffs.

With a memorable baseball season in the books, eight teams still have dreams of World Series glory to chase, and the parity in this year's postseason is impressive. Just seven wins separates these eight teams, and just five wins separates the particularly tight American League. 

Let's take a closer look at how the wild card and divisional rounds will play out.

Wild Card Round

Having already clinched its first National League Central division title in four years, St. Louis completed a three-game sweep of division rival Chicago Sunday to secure the NL’s best record and home-field advantage throughout the 2013 playoffs.

With 11 World Series championships, the Cardinals will venture into October hunting for their second title in three years.

The month-long journey to become World Series champions begins Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates will host the rival Cincinnati Reds in the National League Wild Card Game. The winner advances to a best-of-five National League Divisional Series while the loser goes home.

The action continues on Wednesday with the American League Wild Card Game, which will pit the Tampa Bay Rays up against the Cleveland Indians.

Four weeks later, a champion will be crowned. 

The 2013 Major League Baseball regular season is over and, alas, some teams just didn’t prove to be good enough to make it to October.

Some of them, however, are going to get there in 2014.

That’s the cue for B/R Pop Culture Lead Writer Gabe Zaldivar and MLB Lead Writer Zachary D. Rymer to put their predicting hats on.

When it comes to acquisitions this offseason, don’t expect the Los Angeles Angels to act like an organization planning for an episode of Supermarket Sweep.

After a long season riddled with injury, pitching issues, and lack of production from high-priced pieces in Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols, we know the team will certainly look to restructure from a 78-84 record.

While the hype surrounding Major League Baseball's free agency period tends to focus on well-known and high-profile players, smaller signings are often just as important.

In a way, low-profile signings can be the difference between a championship team and one that is out of any race before September. 

After a 28-game turnaround from 2012, 97 victories and an American League East title, the Boston Red Sox have earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason and the right to sit back and watch Tampa Bay and Cleveland battle for the right to arrive at Fenway Park for the ALDS on Friday.

The 2013 MLB postseason is officially upon us, as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Texas Rangers 5-2 in a one-game playoff to reach the Wild Card Round. The games will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 8:07 p.m. ET, and the pressure will build for the best in the world.

The question is, how will the major stars fare during the postseason?

Be excited Braves fans, the postseason has finally arrived.

The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers are set to square off on Thursday for a five-game series with the winner advancing to the NLCS (online viewing information found here).