After 4,860 games and six months, Major League Baseball is ready to start its post season.
The only thing I can think is “Finally!”
Do they really need to play 162 games? For half of the teams in the league (you know who you are Toronto, Kansas City, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Minnesota, Oakland, Flordia, Colorado, San Diego, Cubs, Mets and Dodgers) the season was over by mid-June.
Would it kill MLB to cut 20 games and a month off the schedule? It would even help their early and late season snow concerns.
But I digress, it is time for me to peer into my crystal ball and figure out your World Series Champion — assuming you’ve more than had your fill of watching baseball already.
The first American League Division Series pits the Detroit Tigers against the New York Yankees. Essentially what it will be is a series between teams with pitching staffs that are one pitcher deep. The Yankees though have a much better lineup and will advance.
In the other ALDS Texas takes on Tampa Bay. The Rays had to go all out just to make the playoffs while the Rangers have been able to coast into the playoffs. I also like the Rangers pitching depth much more than the Rays. The Rangers also have the stronger lineup.
Texas will meet the Yankees for the ALCS.
And again it is going to come down to pitching, as it almost always does in the post-season. I’ll take the Rangers’ Derek Holland (16-5, 3.95 ERA), C.J. Wilson (16-7, 2.94), Matt Harrison (14-9, 3.39), Colby Lewis (14-10, 4.40) and Alexi Ogando (13-8, 3.51) Over the Yankees’ C.C. Sabathia (19-8, 3.00), Ivan Nova (16-4, 3.70), Freddy Garcia (12-89, 3.62), A.J. Burnett (11-11, 5.15) and Bartolo Colon (8-10, 4.0).
The Rangers also have a sense of unfinished business after falling to the San Francisco Giants in last year’s World Series.
These also aren’t the same Yankees of their golden years. Only Derek Jeter remains from their dynasty and Mariano Rivera isn’t lights out anymore.
Texas goes through.
In the National League it isn’t quite cut and dried — in the NLCS at least.
The Philadelphia Phillies — led by their hall-of-fame rotation of Doc Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt with Cole Hamels and Vance Worely — chewed up the NL this year and posted the best record in all of baseball. St. Louis, who made the playoffs on the last day of the playoffs, should not pose much of a threat unless Albert Pujols takes over.
In the other NLDS the Milwaukee Brewers should dispose of the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks. The key word is should, as the D-Backs have surprised all year and their is always a surprise team in the playoffs.
But the Brewers mix of hitting and pitching should get them, past the snakes.
The second round is a little more difficult to call.
While the Phillies rotation is almost overwhelming, if there is a team that could come close to matching their arms it is the Milwaukee Brewers, at least for their top three. Yovani Gallardo (17-10, 3.52), Zach Greinke (16-6, 3.83) and Shaun Marcum (13-7, 3.54) give the Brewers a puncher’s chance.
Also the Brewers have a better offence than the Phillies, scoring more runs, hitting more home runs and boasting a better team batting average than the Phillies over the coarse of the year.
I’ll take the upset with the Brewers meeting the Rangers in this year’s fall classic.
In that case I do take the Rangers. The pitching is pretty close to a wash, but the big advantage will be the Rangers’ prowess at the plate with arguably the best offence in the game.
The Brew Crew’s last ditch effort to win with Prince Fielder will come up short as Texas will do what they failed to do last year and win this match up between two of the sport’s most moribund franchises.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com
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