2019 MLB Playoffs: League Championship Series Predictions

Here are my predictions for the League Championship Series for the 2019 MLB Playoffs.

National League Championship Series
(WC1) Washington Nationals vs (N3) St. Louis Cardinals: This should be a very fun series between two teams that are very good all around. The Nationals are coming off a five game series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cardinals are coming off a five game series win over the Atlanta Braves. The Nats offense really is starting to come together led by Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon, and Trea Turner. The Cardinals offense is starting to click too led by Paul Goldschmidt, Marcell Ozuna, rookie Tommy Edman, and Yadier Molina. The Nationals starting pitching stepped up throughout the series and kept the Nats in games in which they were trailing at times led by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and Anibal Sanchez. The Cardinals starting pitching was very solid in the previous round led by Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, and Adam Wainwright. The Nationals bullpen really has stepped up and got big outs led by Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson as well as starters coming in relief too. The Cardinals bullpen had it's moments throughout the previous round but also got big outs led by Carlos Martinez, Andrew Miller, Giovanni Gallegos, and John Brebbia. The Nationals feel like a team of destiny right now considering they had two big comebacks in elimination/win-or-take-all games and the fact they finally won a playoff series, but the Cardinals have home field advantage despite winning less games (hey it just shows winning the division is important) and I think their advantage in the bullpen will be the difference here as I think the Cardinals will advance to their first World Series in six seasons.
Prediction: Cardinals in seven games.

American League Championship Series
(A2) New York Yankees vs (A1) Houston Astros: This is the most highly anticipated League Championship Series that I could remember in a long time. The Yankees are coming off a three game sweep over the Minnesota Twins. The Astros are coming off a five game series win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees offense is relentless led by Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, Edwin Encarnacion, and Giancarlo Stanton. The Astros offense is great too led by Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, rookie Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, and Carlos Correa. The Yankees starting pitching isn't known to give length, but it's better than it's perceived and it showed in the previous series led by James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, and Luis Severino. The Astros starting pitching is the best in the league led by Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke. The Yankees bullpen is the best in the league led by Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle, and occasional opener Chad Green. The Astros bullpen showed leaks in the previous series, but got away with it in the previous round with guys like Roberto Osuna, Will Harris, Josh James, and Ryan Pressly. The difference in this series is Verlander and Cole (despite Verlander struggling in Game 4 on short rest) and they'll advance to their second World Series in three seasons in what should be a phenomenal series.
Prediction: Astros in seven games.