The MLB postseason schedule was released on Wednesday, but MLB Network’s Christopher Russo doesn’t believe Giants fans should pay attention to the World Series portion of it.
As a matter of fact, he doesn’t have the team ranked in the top five with the best chance of making it to the Fall Classic.
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SIGN UP HERE “I did that with thinking of who has the best chance of winning a World Series,” Russo said Wednesday on NBC Sports Bay Area's "Giants Pregame Live". “That’s why I did not put the Giants in the top five.”
Russo went on to say the ranking wasn’t quite what we all thought, but these were his rankings:
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- New York Yankees
- Houston Astros
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Milwaukee Brewers
Russo makes a good case for the above teams, including the Astros who have won their fair share of playoff games in recent years.
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“Whether they cheated or not,” Russo explained.
“I left the Giants out, and I knew I would be on with you today, I know Jon Miller and Javier Lopez, they’re old buddies, the lefty reliever is watching, so I figured I would get you all fired up by not making the Giants a top-five team come postseason.”
Now, this isn’t the first time Russo wanted to ruffle the feathers of viewers. After all, he went on a rant about the Astros and Justin Verlander questioning whether or not the two-time Cy Young Award winner had any indication of the Astros’ sign-stealing ways.
That’s another blog.
For now, Russo’s discussion saying he wanted to ruffle feathers shows how he tends to lean into controversial takes, but the Giants are proving him wrong.
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He admitted, yes, the Giants have the best record in baseball (81-44) and that alone should say something. But the odds show the team still has a better chance than most of the teams Russo listed.
With that said, the Giants will be in the playoffs with an exceptional lead ahead of the other teams chasing a second Wild Card spot.
You could see why the mentions weren’t on Russo’s side.