As we turn out calendars to October, one of the best months of sports arrives. The NFL is in full swing, the NHL regular season begins tomorrow, the NBA isn’t too far behind, but most importantly we get the MLB postseason. One month will determine the World Series champions for the 2017 season.

What a season it was by the way. The Dodgers flirted with the regular season wins record in a mostly dominant year. Cleveland pulled off one of the greatest winning streaks ever. New York got a lift from the Yankees coming back in a big way led by presumptive AL Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge. The defending champs struggled for much of the season, but the Cubs are starting to find their groove.

Meanwhile the Wild Cards produced a little bit of drama down the stretch. The Rockies, who stormed out of the gates early, managed to hang on to the final NL playoff spot by a hair. Plus, in a true regular season surprise, the Twins became the first team in MLB history to lose 100 games then make the playoffs in the next season. After a regular season like that we get playoff drama to the –enth degree for the next month. Is that something you might be able to interest you in?

It seems appropriate bright lights of New York will provide us with our first pictures from this great October theatre. The AL Wild Card game features the Yankees against the upstart Twins. What follows will set the tone for the postseason.

While the matchup seems intriguing, its clear who the favorite in this game. The Yankees present a power-hitting lineup, at home with their ace on the mound. Not only that, but the Yanks have plenty of shutdown arms in the bullpen if things go awry early.

Luis Severino gets the ball for the home team, and has earned the right to do so tonight. Severino has unquestionably been the best starting pitcher this season for the Yanks. His sub-3.00 ERA was the best among the starting rotation, and led the team in innings pitched and strikeouts.

Opposing Severino in the starters matchup is Ervin Santana. Minnesota’s pitching has been average at best this season, so despite his journeyman’s status Santana is the best hope for the Twins to pull off the upset. He’s been more susceptible to giving up the long ball than Severino, and that is the one thing he cannot afford to do against this Yankees lineup.

Out-slugging the Yankees in the Bronx is not the ideal strategy, but that is likely gameplan for the Twins tonight. Things are setting up in a nice way for New York tonight, expect them to be playing Cleveland in the ALDS on Thursday.

Over in the National League tomorrow night, the Wild Card game will feature a NL West matchup of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies. Both teams made huge improvements from a year ago and surprised many by making the postseason.

This is another matchup that would seemingly favor the home team. Arizona has been among the best teams in the National League all season, and including recent success against Los Angeles Dodgers. Meanwhile the Rockies haven’t had the best finish to the season either.

Zach Grienke takes the mound tonight for Arizona and will square off against Jon Gray for Colorado. It could be difficult for the Rockies to pull off the upset here against one of the games best pitchers on the road. Arizona was the second-best team in the MLB at-home during the regular season just to add to the daunting nature of this upset. Look for J.D. Martinez and Paul Goldschmidt to power this lineup for the D’Backs to vault them to a NLDS showdown with the Dodgers.

That’s it for me today. I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” with a look at the NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 5. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.