The 2026 Major League Baseball postseason is down to four teams – the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians in the American League and the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the senior circuit. This means both best-of-seven League Championship Series are in the offing.
The battle for the pennants gets underway Sunday night with the clash-of-titans NLCS, and then ALCS joins the fun starting Monday. To set the scene for these two series that will determine the World Series matchup, we've landed one crucial question for each of the four teams – the answers to which will go a long way toward determining the outcome of each LCS. Let's explore those questions right now.
Brewers: Will peak Jacob Misiorowski show up?
Milwaukee's 24-year-old phenom is the hardest-throwing starting pitcher the game has ever seen, and he's also the heavy frontrunner for NL Cy Young honors this season. As such, he's essential to the Brewers' cause as they try to take down the back-to-back World Series champs.
The expectation is that he's going to do his part and then some to elevate the Brewers to the World Series for the first time since 1982. However, Misiorowski's personally unprecedented workload in 2026 does raise some concerns, at least insofar as the remainder of the postseason goes.
Last season, Misiorowski – minors, majors, and playoffs combined – worked 141 ⅓ innings. In 2026, his regular-season and postseason innings tally is up to 178 ⅔. Of Misiorowski's 2,735 pitches this season, 1,167 have registered 100 mph or greater. That's more than twice as many triple-digit fastballs as Padres closer Mason Miller, who's in second place on that list.
To be sure, the Brewers have been responsible in their handling of Misiorowski. Of his 30 starts in the regular season, 26 came on extra rest (i.e., more than four days between starts). Just three times did he throw 100 pitches or more in a start, and his highest single-game pitch count was a quite reasonable 107.
Is it worrying that Misiorowski allowed two runs in four innings against the Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS? Not really. Is it worrying in light of the fact that in September he posted his worst monthly K% and BB% of the season? Maybe. When you see that kind of year-over-year innings jump in a young starting pitcher who throws unfathomably hard, it's probably something to consider. So we are.
Misiorowski will be Pat Murphy's starter in Game 1, which would line him up to start again in a Game 5 and, heck, maybe even see a critical relief appearance in a Game 7. As such, we'll soon find out how much fire the best pitcher in baseball still has in that right arm.
Dodgers: Is Shohei Ohtani healthy enough to deliver at the plate?
Ohtani isn't himself right now, and he hasn't been for some time. No, that didn't stop the Dodgers from dispatching the Braves in four games in the NLDS, but the Brewers are a whole other level of problem. It's going to be tough to beat Milwaukee under any circumstances, but doing so while getting little from Ohtani will be even more of an onerous task.
As the question above implies, it's likely a matter of health for the best baseball player in the world. Ohtani hasn't pitched since July 3, when he was pulled from his start against the Padres because of left knee discomfort and soreness in his right biceps. The more pressing concern is how those injuries, especially his knee, are affecting him at the plate right now.
Ohtani's knee inflammation landed him on the injured list in September, but he returned in time to play the final five games of the regular season. He went 5 for 21 in those games with only one extra-base hit, a double, and eight strikeouts against one walk. Taking the longer view, Ohtani in all of September batted just .200/.333/.233, and overall his OPS at the plate dropped from .953 in the first half of 2026 to .772 in the second half. He also saw a decline in underlying batted-ball authority from the first half to the second. He hasn't homered since Aug. 18 at Coors Field. Against the Braves in the NLDS, Ohtani slashed .154/.267/.154 with, as the line implies, no extra-base hits.
All of this is to say, it's been a while since he's been himself at the plate. As the Dodgers' team leader in a host of offensive categories – OBP, SLG, home runs, total bases, and walks among them – he's essential to an attack that's aging in spots and battling inconsistency in others.
Rays: Can their lefty-heavy lineup handle the Guardians' lefty arms?
Coming off a sweep of the Yankees and a 98-win regular season that earned them the top seed in the AL bracket, the Tampa Bay Rays are obviously heavy favorites against the Guardians in the ALCS. That said, the Rays have a particular offensive weakness that Cleveland may be well positioned to exploit.
Overall, the Rays this season ranked a respectable 12th in MLB in runs scored and an even better eighth in OPS. Consider, though, how they fared against right-handed and left-handed pitchers during the 2026 regular season:
| Split | OPS (MLB rank) | xwOBA (MLB rank) |
|---|---|---|
vs. RHPs | .752 (4th) | .323 (7th) |
vs. LHPs | .679 (25th) | .296 (28th) |
As for the possibly unfamiliar xwOBA, or Expected Weighted Runs Created, it evaluates a hitter's or an offense's "deserved" level of production based on quality and frequency of contact off the bat. As such, it's more useful for projecting future production than traditional output-based measures are. When it comes to OPS or xwOBA, the Rays' offense is entirely lacking against lefties.
That stands to reason, as the Rays feature a number of core lefty bats like Jonathan Aranda, Chandler Simpson, Liam Hicks, and Victor Mesa Jr. Yes, tactically adept manager Kevin Cash platoons where he can, but the lefty-heavy nature of his hitters means they're still exposed to a significant degree.
As noted, the Guardians are well-positioned to take advantage. It remains to be seen how Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt lines up his rotation for the ALCS, but he has the ability to confront the Rays with multiple lefties. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick has been the Guardians' best pitcher this season, and he should be lined up to start Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 6. Deadline acquisition Foster Griffin also throws portside, and he may make multiple starts -- or at least be the bulk guy following an opener -- in this series. Joey Cantillo has been working in long relief of late, but he's stretched out enough to make a start or be the volume arm following an opener. That would pose problems for the one-sided Rays attack.
Guardians: Do they have enough power?
Power plays always and especially in October. That's been the rule for some time, and it's again the case in 2026. That brings us to this potential concern in Cleveland. Here are the Guardians' relevant ranks during the regular season:
- 27th in home runs in MLB
- 27th in slugging percentage
- 28th in total bases
- 27th in at-bats/home run
- 26th in average exit velocity
- 29th in expected slugging percentage
You get the idea. That low expected slugging percentage (xSLG) is worth highlighting; xSLG is based on the kind of power numbers a hitter or offense merited based on exit velocity and launch angle off the bat. In Cleveland's case this season, their xSLG of .369 was even worse than the actual SLG, which itself is a paltry .380. xSLG better projects future performance than SLG does. Speaking of which, the Guardians slugged just .350 in their ALDS triumph over the White Sox.
Things might not be as grim as they appear if lineup fulcrum and franchise legend José Ramírez is back to hitting more like his vintage self. Ramírez's power took a dive in this, his age-33 campaign. It's possible decline is setting in, but it's also possible that his midseason wrist injury took a toll. Maybe the further he gets from that injury, the kind that can sap power, he's finding more and more thump. Indeed, Ramírez homered twice in the ALDS, but he didn't have much help, as that .350 SLG for the series suggests.
Yes, Cleveland survived against the White Sox despite that (non-Ramírez) lack of power, but suffice it to say doing so against the Rays will be a much taller order.
