And then there were four...
The fact that every team that won more than 90 games has been eliminated before we even got to the LCS, never mind the World Series, has prompted some discussion - about the meaningless of the regular season or the impact of the layoff before the Divisional Series began.
I think it was just One of Those Things. Certainly, the layoff didn't bother Houston very much. Tampa Bay and the Dodgers were both considerably weakened by the absence of key players (not always by injury) at a most inconvenient time. While everyone loves the Orioles' young talent, no one was all that impressed with their pitching. And while there has been grumbling about Atlanta's core and how it misses the leadership of Freeman and Swanson, it seems to me that their real problem is Bryce Harper and the Phillies.
So it's Texas vs Houston...
and Arizona vs Philadelphia.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20231015080123337