Here's Where The Fun Begins...
Uhm, does anyone else find it weird that FOX is using the Smashing Pumpkins as background music on the incessant commercials for the playoffs?
Anywho, what is quite possibly my favorite time of the year begins tomorrow at 1, with the Padres and Cardinals squaring off as the curtain opens on the playoffs once again. The last time I tried to make predictions about the baseball playoffs was my junior year of college, and I think I made every single prediction wrong.
Then again, no one saw that one. I intended to send it out as an email, and just as I hit send, my computer crapped out on me (I’ve learned my lesson this time: I’m writing it in Word first).
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Honestly, I have trouble deciding on who I like in either of the initial series in the AL. With serious questions about both the Yankees and the Red Sox, the two presumed goliaths of the division, I could see any of the four teams advancing. At the end, we should see a third Red Sox-Yankees blood feud, at least on paper. I’m picking both series’ to go five, because I can see either team winning in both cases.
Red Sox-White Sox: My father and grandfather, both devout acolytes of the cult which is Red Sox Nation are on pins and needles, if my father’s increasingly frenzied emails over the past week are any indication (love you Pops!). And they should be. The Red Sox starters are shaky and inconsistent, and the bullpen—Mike Timlin closing!?—has got to keep fans all across New England waking up in cold sweats. Can the Red Sox score 8 runs a game in October? They may have to, just to have a shot.
The trouble is, I have trouble picking the White Sox either. Any team that nearly coughs up a fifteen game lead in August scares the living hell out of me. No one on their offense really puts the fear of God in the opposing pitcher, with the possible exception of Konerko. It remains to be seen whether the White Sox can play their brand of small ball effectively in the tight games of the playoffs, and while the pitching is solid throughout, they lack a true imposing ace (Note: I realize so does Boston. But Chicago also doesn’t have Ortiz and Ramirez, either).
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge admirer of the Oakland A’s and a card carrying member of the Billy Beane fan club. Yet, this White Sox team looks a lot to me like the A’s teams that showed so much promise, only to flame out in the first round year after year. In the end, I’m going with the experience and the entire Red Sox organization and the incredible combination of clutch and cluelessness that is Big Papi and Manny.
The pick: Boston in Five.
Yankees-Angels: Most Yankee fans will tell you that the Angels are the last team they wanted to play in the first round, because they always play them tough (and remember, it was the Angels who Rally Monkeyed the Yanks in 2002). It’s why the Yankees were so pissed at Buck Showalter Sunday, because the last thing they wanted to do was concede homefield advantage.
Even with Randy Johnson rounding into form as the menacing October ace George Steinbrenner envisioned when he acquired him, the Yankees pitching is loaded with question marks—Can you really trust Shawn Chacon in the playoffs? What’s up with Mike Mussina? Much like the Red Sox, it may take a nightly fireworks display for the Bombers to move on, especially against a deep Angel bullpen.
It is the Angels offense that may wind up doing them in, because Vlad The Impaler can only carry them so far. Steve Finley has been a huge disappointment, and Halos desperately need Garrett Anderson to rediscover his 2002 form. If Chone Figgins has a big series and Vlad gets a little magic (and some pitches to hit), the Angels could win this thing.
Nevertheless, I think Randy Johnson combined with the impressive Yankee offense gets them to three victories. If this was a seven game series, I might think differently. However, if A-Rod truly is the AL MVP (and I don’t think he is, as you’ll see tomorrow), he’s got to step up and put a big time stamp on this series. If he doesn’t, it’ll only give more credence to those who say he puts up MVP numbers in blowouts and under no pressure, but when wilts when you need the big hit.
The pick: Yankees in Five.
AL CHAMPION: Yankees in Six As much as it pains me to say, I think this is where the Red Sox pitching gets exploited, unless Curt Schilling can channel the Schilling of October past (or maybe just a bloody sock).
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Unlike the AL, I see the NL much more clearly. Of course, that probably means that we’ll be seeing the Padres and Braves in a rematch of the 1998 NLCS…
Padres-Cardinals Are you serious? I know that a team can get hot for a stretch and that anything can happen in the playoffs. Jake Peavy is a certified number one starter for San Diego, and likely NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter appeared to be tiring as the season wound down. Doesn’t matter.
There’s a reason the Padres finished barely over .500 and the Cardinals were the best team in the National League. Pujols goes off, and the Padres will be lucky if the Padres even win tomorrow with Peavy going.
The pick: St. Louis in Four.
Houston-Atlanta: Well, you’ve got the team that won its first postseason series last season versus the team that held the patent for postseason choking, until the Yankees came along and made them look like cheap generic ripoffs last year. Bobby Cox’s boys have had a nice little run, plugging in rookies to great effectiveness and riding the long promised breakout season of Andruw Jones. And the addition of Hudson gives them an imposing 1-2 punch in the starting rotation.
Except that Houston goes them one better, trotting out the three-headed monster of Clemens-Oswalt-Petitite. Last year, the ‘Stros took out the Braves. I don’t see this year being any different. Let’s hope the Ted is actually sold out for these games…
The pick: Houston in Five.
WORLD CHAMPION: Houston Astros in Six… and go ahead and win it to boot. Picture this: Pitching at familiar Yankee Stadium, Andy Petitite twirls a gem as the Astros clinch. While watching Petitite, Clemens, and Astros celebrate on the Yankee Stadium field, George Steinbrenner begins laying waste to his luxury box, where his head literally explodes in a modern mystery of science.
posted by Black Charles at 10:07 PM
2 Comments:
I still believe
Well, I wish I could disagree with your analysis of the Sox’ chances, but I can’t. Yes, we’re on pins and needles here in the Nation and strange things can happen in a short series, not to mention the ALCS, but I’m not at all confident the Sox in the ALCS will be Red. Wouldn’t surprise me to see the Angels clock the Yankees, though that may be wishful thinking. Houston in the NL? Hard for me to accept that, though the Padres are plainly destined for an early exit and it’s hard to have a whole lot of hope for the Braves, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. But beating the Cards? I know, I know, they came close last year, but maybe the weird thing was how close the Cards let it get, not how close the ‘stros came.
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