And then there were seven.
The New York Mets were the first team to advance to the League Championship Series on Wednesday with their 4-1 takedown of the Philadelphia Phillies. Soon, they'll be joined by the three teams fortunate enough to escape the series between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
There is still much to be decided in the 2024 MLB playoffs, in other words, but the finish line is undeniably close. Close enough, in fact, for experts across the baseball world to have predicted how things will play out.