​With the so-called “hard” trade deadline approaching fast for MLB Teams, (now in a matter of hours!), we decided to once again fire up our servers and use our Bayesian model to predict each team’s end of season record, and consequently their shot of making the playoffs.

This season eliminated August waiver trades, a past opportunity to grab a player once a team’s stance has been made clearer. The most famous waiver trade perhaps was Justin Verlander moving from Detroit to Houston for the Astros’ historic World Series run in 2017. July 31 now represents a true, hard trade deadline for the first time in Major League Baseball history. If teams miss the opportunity to add to their clubs via trade by that date, there is no backup plan.

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​Last fall, we generated win probabilities for all 33 games of the MLB postseason, including the 2 wild-card games, 26 divisional and championship round games, and the 5 World Series games. We think it is finally time to declare how we did. 

For each game, we compared win probabilities from 6 sources, two “baselines” (50/50 odds for each game, and the home team winning each game), two for-profit industries (Vegas betting lines and FiveThirtyEight’s Elo), and our two win probability metrics, Runs Scored/Runs Allowed wp%, created in 2017, and our Bayesian SaberSmart Simulator, created in 2018. ​

​Fall brings joy to a lot of people, what with the break from the heat of summer, the annual arrival of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes and shoes, apple picking, and of course, the Fall Classic. This year, the World Series features the regular season juggernaut Boston Red Sox, and the perennial playoff participant, but never the winner, Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Red Sox have only lost two games this postseason, cruising past the Yankees in the ALDS and crushing the Astros and their co-co-co aces in the ALCS. Meanwhile, the Dodgers were on auto-pilot in the NLDS where they destroyed the Braves, before winning an epic battle over Milwaukee in seven games in the NLCS. The Dodgers were one win from winning the World Series last year, while the Red Sox last won the championship half a decade ago in 2013.

We promised win probabilities for every game of the 2018 MLB postseason and we plan on delivering. Check this page before every game for updated game and series win probabilities!

Read more about our SaberSmart Simulator here, and our Runs Scored/Allowed Simulator here, here, or here. FiveThirtyEight's Elo predictions can be found here.

The Rumbledome. All or Nothing. The Play-In Game. The MLB Wild Card has had many names since its inception in 2012. While some fans may not be on board with it, or the MLB playoffs’ current structure in general, the one thing the Rumbledome has always provided has been drama.

The second wild card spot provides teams with hope, that even though they weren’t the best, by definition, there is still a chance of obtaining the perennial glory of a World Series Championship. You may not believe it, but the 2014 World Series featured two Wild Card teams, with the Giants eventually giving the Royals the best possible postseason winning percentage for a World Series loser before winning it all themselves.