HOT CORNER: Intriguing matchups in MLB’s League Championship Series

Major League Baseball's (MLB) post-season has been a bit of a yawner so far, but look for that to change with the start of the League Championship Series in both the American And National Leagues.
The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers got their best-of-seven series going Friday night, and the much-anticipated series with Boston and Houston starts in Boston on Saturday evening.
Can the upstart Brewers beat the favoured Dodgers?
Most would pick the Dodgers, but the Brewers will give them everything they can handle. Going into Game 1, Milwaukee had not lost since Sept. 22nd, recording 11 straight wins. The Brewers’ Christian Yelich leads this Milwaukee youthful squad, and he’ll likely win NL MVP honours. The Brewers play sound, fundamental baseball under manager Craig Counsell, and the Dodgers will need to be at their best to beat Milwaukee.
Maybe I am going with my heart in this one, but I will take the Brewers in an upset.
The Red Sox and Astros’ series shapes up to be a great one featuring the best team in baseball all year, Boston, facing the defending World Series champions from Houston.
The Red Sox can hit with the best of them, but they will face the best overall pitching staff in baseball.
If the old baseball adage holds true, where good pitching always beats good hitting, then the Astros should prevail. But the Red Sox have great hitting, so the Astros will need great pitching to beat them.
It was a record-setting year in Beantown, but I will be surprised if the Red Sox have enough to beat the Astros – baseball's most complete team. I will take the Astros in a long series, and the only reason for this choice is better overall pitching depth.
Hopefully, both league championships will be great leading to a Milwaukee-Houston World Series. 

Team payrolls
There is quite a gap in team payrolls for the four remaining teams. According to the website Spotrac, the Red Sox will spend just over $228 million in player salaries this season. That includes players who have been bought out, injured players and so on.
The Dodgers are spending just shy of $200 million while Houston is spending about $163 million. The Brewers are just shy of the $109-million mark, which makes them the 22nd highest-paid team in baseball.
The Red Sox are the highest-paid team in baseball while the Dodgers are No. 3. Houston is No. 9.
The average annual team payroll for MLB is $139 million.

Small-market teams
It is great to see small-market teams like Milwaukee have some post-season success. The Brewers entered the American League in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots. They moved to Milwaukee the next year to become the Brewers. Their only World Series appearance came in 1982, when they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Brewers and Houston switched leagues in 1998, and the results have not been any better for the Brewers. They reached the post-season in 2011, and lost in the NLCS, also to the Cardinals.
The other three expansion teams in 1969 were the Kansas City Royals in the American League while both the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos became members of the National League.

Big salaries
Being a Detroit Tigers’ fan, I read all I can about the team and organization. Mario Impemba and Rod Allen have been Fox Sports Detroit’s television announcers for over 2,000 Tiger games spanning over 16 seasons. They were both let go this week by Fox after an altercation following a Sept. 4 game in Chicago.
They were suspended for the rest of the year after that game, before the axe fell this week. I never knew what announcers made, but reports out of Detroit had Impemba making $500,000 annually while Allen had an annual take of $350,000. I never would have thought announcers would make that much, but I guess most in MLB are very well paid.
Have a great week!

Joe MacIntyre is a local life insurance broker. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to joemacintyre18@gmail.com.