By TwinsWin83
Ah yes, it’s the best time of the year. No, not Christmas, it’s October and that could only mean one thing: the MLB playoffs. Before we make our picks here is a preview of the first-round matchups.
Yankees vs. Indians
Season series: Yankees 6-0
What you should know: It’s all about A-Rod. If Rodriguez doesn’t produce this year in the post-season everything he did during the regular season (.314, 54, 156) will mean nothing in the eyes of New Yorkers and that could lead to his exit from the Bronx this offseason.
Why the Yankees will win: The Yankees have been the best team in the American League since the All-Star break and are going up against a team in Cleveland that has little post-season experience. Yankee Stadium can be a daunting place to play for visitors any time of the year but especially in October. New York has two pitchers (Pettitte and Clemens) who live for October and another (Wang) who has been one of the best in the league over the past two regular seasons. If their newly-revived bullpen can support Clemens, who isn’t much more than a 5-inning pitcher now, and if the offense hits like they are capable of this team is going to be tough to beat.
Why the Indians will win: The Indians have played great baseball over the past month, running away in the Central from the Tigers and Twins. They survived a subpar first-half of the season by Travis Hafner who didn’t find his swing until September. If Hafner is hitting the Indians have a dangerous offense to go along with several solid starting pitchers and one of the better bullpens in the American League. Fausto Carmona was one of 2007’s breakthrough pitchers winning 19 games to go along with an impressive 3.06 E.R.A. and could be the wild card in this series.
What to watch for: Sabathia vs. A-Rod. The pressure is on the soon-to-be AL MVP Rodriguez and Sabathia needs to prove he can lead the Indians pitching staff. The Yankees haven’t faced Sabathia since 2004.
Who will win: As much as I would like to see the Indians prevail in this one I think the Yankees have too many weapons and are too October-tested. Yankees in 4.
Angels vs. Red Sox
Season Series: Boston 6-4
What you should know: Neither team has played a meaningful game in a while. Even though the Bo Sox nearly let their A.L. East lead dwindle away they spent the majority of the season comfortably in first and the Angels, following a late-August collapse by the Mariners, were never threatened again in the West. Both these teams need to step up their level of play if they want to advance past the ALCS.
Why the Angels will win: The Angels might have the best all-around team in the league with great pitching, solid defense and an offense that can be overpowering at times. If the Angels win it will be on the backs of their starting pitchers and defense, a formula that should sound familiar to Twins fans. The Angels have been a force when they’ve reached October recently and the 07’ squad might be their most talented yet.
Why the Red Sox will win: The Red Sox have seemingly breezed through this entire season, up until the last couple weeks when the Yankees put some pressure on them. They have three starting pitchers (Beckett, Schilling and Matsuzaka) who can be lights-out on any given night and an offense that can be scary when healthy. David Ortiz is magical at Fenway in October and if they bring a lead into the 9th odds are Papelbon will slam the door on the opponent. The questions will be how will Matsuzaka respond on the big stage and how healthy are Manny Ramirez and Curt Schilling.
What to watch for: Beckett vs. Lackey. Two Cy-Young front runners go head-to-head in the series opener and after watching Beckett against the Twins last week I give the edge to Lackey at home in Game 1.
Who will win: The big issue for L.A. right now is that Vlad is not 100% healthy. He might be a major part of the team’s offense but I believe the Angels are well-rounded enough to win even if Vlad is forced into a limited role. Angels in 5.
Cubs vs. Diamondbacks
Season Series: Arizona 4-2
What you should know: Arizona has the best record in the NL. Who would have thought when this season began that the Arizona Diamondbacks would enter October with home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs? The Cubs appeared very talented coming out of Spring Training but struggled out of the gates before finding a groove after the All-Star break. In a wide open NL field either of these teams could get hot at the right time and breeze through this side of the bracket.
Why the Cubs will win: Because it’s about time. With visions of Billy Goats dancing in their heads the Cubs will try and break a 99-year curse while relying on ace Carlos Zambrano and two lefties in Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. If the starters can keep Chicago in the game they have a chance with an offense that can explode at any time, especially at home. Even in an injury-shortened season Alfanso Soriano led the team with 33 home runs. He, along with Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, need to put a charge into the Cubs offense. The Cubs won a mediocre Central Division but if their stars step up and play like stars Chicago could sneak by again, this time in a weak National League field.
Why the Diamondback will win: The D-Backs have defied the critics all year, winning with a young team and what was one of the worst offenses in the National League. Arizona has the reigning Cy-Young winner in Brandon Webb who has a wicked sinker and can beat anyone in the league when it’s working. Eric Burns is a spark plug, stealing 50 bases this season, and if the D-Backs can get runners on and move them around the teams pitching is good enough to keep them in any game.
What to watch for: Brandon Webb vs. The Cubs. Webb is nasty and had a streak of 42-consecutive scoreless innings this year which included a game against the Cubs. If Chicago can get to Webb it could put the D-Backs in a big hole for the rest of the series.
Who will win: It would be great to see the Cubs win it all this season and we could cross one more “cursed” team off our list (i.e. White Sox, Red Sox) but I just don’t think this is the Chicago team to put the Billy Goat to rest. The Diamondbacks are scrappy and will ride Webb and home field advantage to a series win. DiamondBacks in 5.
Rockies vs. Phillies
Season Series: Rockies 4-3
What you should know: Two Cinderella’s don’t get to go to the ball. The Rockies and Phillies are the two feel good stories of this year’s playoffs but one of them will be heading home after this first-round matchup. The Phillies won the East despite a less-than-average pitching staff and the Rockies have stormed into the playoffs by winning 14 of their last 15 games.
Why the Rockies will win: The Rockies are the hottest team in baseball heading into the playoffs and if the Cardinals taught us anything last year it was that the best team doesn’t always win, the team that’s playing the best at the time does. Many people don’t know much about the Rox but Colorado is stocked full of potential stars. Matt Holiday should be the NL MVP (.340, 36, 137), Troy Tulowitzki, who anchors a solid defense at shortstop, should be rookie of the year and Todd Helton is always dangerous at the plate. The Rockies have a high team E.R.A. but it is seemingly offset by their top ranked offense, shown by their franchise record 90-wins this season. Jeff Francis quietly won 17 games pitching in a home stadium infamous for hampering pitchers careers. This team seems to have a bit of magic about them as October gets under way and that could spell trouble for opponents.
Why the Phillies will win: The Phillies were nearly as hot as the Rockies over the final weeks of the season, apparent by their ability to catch the sinking Mets who they trailed by 7 games with 17 games left to play. They have defied the odds by winning 89 games this season with an offense that carried a patch-work pitching staff. There are two potential MVP candidates on the Phillies roster in Ryan Howard (.268, 47, 136) and Jimmy Rollins (.296, 30, 94), both of whom can ignite this team with one swing of the bat. Although the pitching staff has struggled this year Cole Hamels and 44 year-old Jamie Moyer won 15 and 14 games this season, respectively. They, along with the bullpen, will need to pitch well to give Philadelphia a chance this post-season. Former Twins pitchers Kyle Lohse and J.C. Romero have come onboard for the Phillies this season and helped spark the teams late season run.
What to watch for: Colorado’s pitching staff vs. Chase Utley. Howard and Rollins might be the most talked about right now in Philadelphia but no one is more important to the Phillies than Utley. Chase leads the team with a .332 average and drove in 103 runs in a season where he missed 30 games with injury.
Who will win: After watching the tie-breaker game on Monday night the Rockies are too hard to pick against. The Phillies luck runs out. Rockies in 4.
So that means……
My ALCS Picks: Yankees vs. Angels
My NLCS Picks: Diamondbacks vs. Rockies
Your Picks?...
15 comments:
Living next door to a rabid Indians fan I have learned quite a bit about them, and being a rabid Yankees hater I have to stick the the indians pitching will out last the Yanks bats. Tribe in 5.
In the the other AL series, both teams bring a well balenced attack I'm going to go with the Lackey/Escobar duo over the Becket/Dice K/Schilling Red Sox.
Angels in 4.
Cubs vs. D-Backs, I love a team that defies the odds and the D-backs have done just that all year long.
Arizona in 3.
The Phils have been my choice to win the whole damned thing since spring training. So you can imagine how happy I was when they woke up about a month ago. I'll stick with them to beat the Rocks in 4.
Assuming we'll do one of these for each round I'll keep my predictions for the CS and WS until then.
yeah we figured we should do our picks and previews round-by-round because who knows if anyone will have any picks right heading into the next round of this seemingly wide-open playoff season.
I say at the end of the day someone puts together all of our picks and we see who did the best and give them some sort of AH! award.
Here are my picks.
Yes, the Yanks have dominated the Indians this year (8.19-2.67 ERA, .228-.348 BA) But for some reason (call it hate for the Yankees) I think the Indians are going to come up big. After the Indians blow out the Yanks in game 1, the next 4 will be some nail bitters... Indians in 5.
I am surprised there is even a debate on this game. I think the Red Sox will take this one easily with a 3 game sweep.
Maybe this is just me really wanting something to happen that my judgement gets clouded (see my yankee/tribe prediction) but I think the Cubs can beat the young DBacks. My only worry is the pitching, if Zambrano can not be all over the place like he has this year, and Lilly play like he has been, I think the hot hitting Cubs can take it in 4.
I really don't feel like writing about this one so I'll just say the rockies beat the philies in 5.
I can round up everyones picks for the first round at the end of the day today.
you guys need to give me a good point system to use, Im not great with these.
8 points for a right pick in the 1st round, 10 points for a correct LCS pick and 12 points for the right WS pick? better ideas?
I emailed mine to haas, but I will post them in the comment box at lunch...so dont worry about it haas.
This is soup...I'm at work so can sign in
what about points for guessing the number of games too
EXAMPLE:
Lets say Team A beats Team B in 4 games.
Prediction and points awarded
Team A in 3 - 2pts
Team A in 4 - 5pts
Team A in 5 - 2pts
Team B in 3 - 0pts
Team B in 4 - 1pts
Team B in 5 - 0pts
I am just spitballing here but I think that you should be rewarded for guessing the number of games. Feel free to tell me I am stupid.
yeah thats a good idea for a point system. You should come up with a final grid for each round and post them. Each round a correct answer should be worth a few more points.
What about this scoring system (essentially same as before just explained differently)
1st round:
Correct Team: 3pts
Correct Number of games: 1pt
Bonus for both correct: 2pts
Total Points Possible: 24pts
LCS:
Correct Team: 6pts
Correct Number of games: 2pts
Bonus for both correct: 4pts
Total Points Possible: 24pts
WS:
Correct Team: 12pts
Correct Number of games: 4pts
Bonus for both correct: 8pts
Total Points Possible 24pts
Total for all Rounds: 72pts So, if you got every game correct and every number correct you would score 72 pts.
ok cool soup
not that it matters a whole lot, but the playoffs start at like 2pm today....
but other than that, i think this is a great idea and im excited about this. let me know what you want me to do in terms of puttin' it together.
indians in 4
angels in 5
diamondbacks in 4
phillies in 3
lets go with that brackett daymonster. It looks good. So far I have TFrezacs, daymonster, Haas' and soup will be sending his in. Still need a few more before the end of the day.
hey twinswin or daymonster? it might be a good idea to post that grid with our picks on it, like soon, and then edit it later. might be a good way to get more people to comment their picks over.....?
yanks in 4
sox in 5
cubs in 5
phils in 4
note: this is not what i want to happen i just think this is the way it will happen, if i had a choice it would be cleveland vs colorado in the world series, but who am i kidding.
This is LittleJo
My picks are:
Indians in 5
Sox in 4
D-Backs in 5
Rockies in 4
This is MrP
My picks are:
Yankees in 5
Red Sox in 4
D-Backs in 4
Rockies in 3
this is Aunt Mary--here are my picks: Indians in 4, Boston in 3, Colorado in 4, and the D-Backs in 4
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