The MLB Playoffs....So Far

The Division Series is drawing to a close. Very soon, every team will be in a 'win or die' scenario. The Oakland Athletics have their backs against the wall, as do the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees and Orioles are playing a nail-biter series and the Nationals and Cardinals are keeping me mildly entertained.

Let's go back the the end of the regular season to see how things ended and predict how things will end.

Heading into the last week of the regular baseball season, much still needed to be settled. The advent of a second wild card winner gave several clubs one last gasp of hope heading into their last series'.

Poetically, the two LA teams were both hanging on by the skin of their teeth and eventually fell into the abyss. The Angels, with so much promise heading into the 2012 season, never clicked on all cylinders. They had Jered Weaver lead the league in WHIP (1.02), BAA (.214) and tied for the lead in wins with 20. He was also third in the AL in ERA with 2.81 behind Verlander (2.64) and Price (2.56).

And they had Jesus Christ/Joe DiMaggio himself, Mike Trout.  This kid (and at 19 years old, I consider him a kid) had a ridiculous year.....RIDICULOUS! He had 30 home runs, 83 RBI, .326 AVG (second to Cabrera, 3.99 OBP, 49 stolen bases, and 129 runs scored. And, oh yeah, he had ALBERT PUJOLS in the line up too.  And even with all that, they failed miserably. Somehow, a bunch of no name kids wearing green and gold (the Athletics) played far better than the Halos.

And then there's the LA Dodgers. They came into the season with a chance to be the best in the West. They were not the overall favorite of anybody, but their was potential. Then Matt Kemp decided to go crazy and destroy every pitch that came anywhere close to his body. Then he got hurt.  But what made this season such a disappointment was the acquisition and failure of these guys to launch the Dodgers into the playoffs.

Crawford doesn't count of course. He's basically becoming Jason Bay

When the dust settled and the two LA juggernauts were defeated, there was one other oddity in the final standings. The Texas Rangers were not in first place. And then they lost to Baltimore in the very dangerous one game playoff. Hence this...

When you look at what had to happen for the Rangers to not advance to the Division Series, it's very shocking. They had to get swept by the Athletics in the final series of the season because they were in first place for every day of the regular season until the last day.   Then they had to loose to the Orioles in a one game wild card playoff facing Joe Saunders, who had a record of 9-13 in the regular season. Somehow, Saunders pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing one run and six hits. Pathetic Rangers. Just pathetic.

Finally, the Atlanta Braves fell to the St. Louis Cardinals. I watched this entire game. It was truly a sad way to end Chipper Jones' career.  But he got his millions, so I'm not wasting any tears on him. The game itself was almost as pathetic as the Rangers season...but not quite. Three errors by the Braves and then this...

Granted, the inning wasn't over and the Braves still failed to score any runs. And I'm not going to lie, I like seeing the Braves crash and burn and I enjoy seeing Braves fans being stupid. It makes me feel a little better as a Mets fan. But in the end, I still think the Rangers collapse is the bigger story. They dominated all year and then lost to a fair pitcher at best. Their mega-offense just gave up. At least the Braves and Cardinals were evenly matched. 

Then began the Division Series. Detroit quickly showed that fairy-tale story teams are not untouchable by handcuffing the Athletics in Game 1 of their series.  The moral of the story....nobody messes with Jason Verlander.  But Saturday's most fascinating story was the devastating blow to the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds at the same time.  After 8 pitches, Reds ace Johnny Cueto left the game with back spasms. He will be unavailable for the remainder of the series. It's a huge blow to loose your ace and 19 game winner, especially in a short series where he can pitch 2 times if necessary. But the Reds showed they have plenty of pitching depth. They beat the Giants in Game 1 by a score of 5-2 where Sam LeCure came in for relief and got the win. And they beat Matt Cain, a Cy Young Award candidate.

THEN the Reds deciding to start burying the Giants with a 9-0 victory in San Francisco the next night.  Bronson Arroyo showed the Giants his dominant stuff going 7 innings allowing no runs and ONE HIT. But the former World Champion Giants weren't quite done just yet. In a do-or-die Game 3 and in extra innings, the Giants capitalized on an error by Scot Rolen and won the game 2-1. I figured, as did many people, the Giants were still going to loose the series, but they were being pesky about it. But tonight, things got more interesting because the Giants beat the Reds Wednesday night 8-3. We got ourselves a Game 5! 

***My prediction: The Reds will still win because they're putting Latos on the mound for Game 5, who dominated in the regular season and pitched well in relief for Game 1.  The Giants will probably counter with Matt Cain for a second start, but the Reds offense will beat him and the Giants will pitch well, but fail with the bat. 

Despite the amazing story of the Oakland Athletics, I believe the fairy tale ends here. Detroit is just too good. They're pitching extremely well and the offense is producing just enough. If Cabrera and Fielder get hot together, the World Series is over before it starts. The A's can not compete on an offensive level and they will not pitch better.  A Tigers-Yankees ALCS is my prediction. Both underdog stories will crash and burn beneath the roaring flames of these two juggernauts. 

Let's talk about those Yankees. First of all, I hate them. Secondly, they're going to win the ALDS. The series might go 5 games. I would not be surprised if the Orioles came back strong tomorrow after loosing a heart-breaker Wednesday night, 3-2 in 12 innings. They had the Yankees on the ropes, so to speak, but that damn right field porch is SO shallow. Raul Ibanez 'will not go quietly into the night.' He's like 100 years old and he PITCH HIT FOR ALEX RODRIGUEZ to tie the game with a home run!  Then he does it again in the 12th inning!  Unfortunately for Yankee haters, I'm sensing some of the magic of the late 1990s when the Yankees would not loose big games and there was a different hero every night. 

So now my final predictions for the Championship Series and the World Series.

Yankees-Tigers = Yankees win in 7

Cardinals-Reds = Reds win in 7

The Cardinals have the postseason experience and the previous World Series victory. They have a very strong lineup of Beltran, Holliday, Craig, Freise and Molina. They have strong pitching in Wainwright, Carpenter (assuming he is fully recovered from surgery), Lance Lynn, and Kyle Lohse. But the Cincinnati Reds can match them player for player. They have a powerhouse lineup of Phillips, Votto, Ludwick, Bruce and Rolen.  Their pitching has surprised a lot of people for some reason.  Latos, Arroyo, Leake and Bailey are just as good as the Cardinal's counterpoints.  And there's the CUBAN MONSTER closing games. Chapman is the real deal. And if Cueto can return for a potenial World Series (he is definitely out for the NLDS and the NLCS), then they might just win this whole thing. 

The Yankees are getting hot and the Tigers are as well. The offensive favorite is probably the Yankees, although the combination of Cabrera and Fielder could be equivalent to A-Rod, Swisher, Cano and Granderson, if those two Tigers are on fire. The pitching match-ups probably favor the Tigers. Verlander, Fister, Sanchez and Scherzer against Sabathia, Pettitte, Kuroda and Hughes. Verlander alone gives the Tigers an edge, but it's only a slight edge.  In the end, I begrudgingly admit that Yankee magic is hard to beat...unless your the 2002 Diamondbacks or the 2004 Red Sox. 

Now let the players play and the gamblers gamble. We've got one heck of a postseason taking shape.