MLB Postseason Preview

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Wow what a long season it has been. 162 games have been played and now the real season can begin. When people think of October, they think of pumpkins, football, beer, scary costumes. Not me. It's time for baseball. The matchups are set...well almost. We still have to wait for the inaugural wild card game of death. In today's blog, I am going to dissect each playoff team and then make my predictions.

As you all know, Friday will consist of two wild card matchups. In the American league, it will be the Baltimore Orioles visiting the Oakland Athletics...I mean the Texas Rangers. How did Texas collapse that miserably at the end of the season? They had been in sole possession of first place since April 9th. That's 176 straight days in first. Everyone thought that it would be the Yankees to collapse but no, The Rangers were able to claim that horrible feat. Congratulations to Oakland by the way. Because of their historic collapse, I have absolutely no faith in them beating a red hot Orioles team that everyone counted out but kept hanging around. I don't understand it. They can't score runs and they can't pitch. How do they win? I'll tell you how. Buck Showalter. The man is a genius. He turned around the Yankees in 1995 and then the Diamondbacks in 1999. He made Joe Torre and Bob Brenly managerial hall of famers and he has no rings to show for it. I've been betting against the Orioles all season but I believe they make it past Texas and into the REAL tournament.

The National League matchup will be the Atlanta Braves hosting the St. Louis Cardinals. It's a matchup between a team that surrendered a huge lead in the wild card race last season, the Braves, against the team that got red hot last season and took the wild card from them, the Cardinals. Could there be possible payback here? Maybe. The Braves are putting a guy on the mound, Medlen, who has a 1.57 ERA and the Cardinals have Chris Carpenter who is the definition of a big game pitcher....wait a minute. The Cardinals are starting Kyle Lohse? Really? I know Lohse has had a great year but in a huge game like this, I don't trust him. The Braves just do not lose when Medlen pitches and they throw out Lohse? I don't like this move by Matheny at all. That's why I have to give the edge to the Braves.

Now the real Postseason can begin. The matchups now will be the Yankees vs Orioles, Athletics vs Tigers, Giants vs Reds, and Braves vs Nationals.

In my opinion, the Orioles may be the toughest matchup, in MLB because of one small factor. Luck. They are the luckiest team on the face on the earth. No team goes this far with no pitching and no hitting. It's unbelievable. On the other hand, the Yankees are red hot right now and finally healthy. Texeira is back. Sabathia's red hot and nobody is getting Cano out right now which is very scary. They also have pitching depth with the return of Pettitte who has been brilliant. The Yankees should not only win this series but they should sweep. They won't sweep because nothing is ever easy when it's the Yankees especially this year. Even so, I believe the Yankees will find a way to win in five games because the Orioles just don't have the pitching and pitching wins championships. Also, the Yankees have a guy named Derek Jeter. Maybe you've heard of him. I'll pick the Yankees but it won't be easy.

This matchup will not be easy by any means. You have the very young, talented A's going against the very talented underachieving Tigers who have a guy who just won the Triple Crown, Miguel Cabrera, and a guy who is on the verge of winning his second straight cy young, Justin Verlander. The only problem with Verlander is that he can't pitch every day. The A's pitching is better and deeper than the Tigers pitching. Their rotation is superb and their bullpen is even better. Each game in this series will be decided by one run because that's how the A's play. They are surprisingly very relaxed and play each day like they have nothing to lose, which they don't. That is why I have them leap frogging the Tigers who, in my opinion, do not even deserve to be in the Playoffs. They play in the worst division in baseball and barely sneak in in the last week. I just don't trust them and I don't think they can get it done. I have the A's in five.

If you enjoy a great pitchers duel each night, then you might want to check in on this series. The Reds just seem like it's their time. They have everything you could want in a team. Pitching, defense, maturity, offense. They can do it all. The Giants, on the other hand, have question marks. What's Tim Lincecum gonna do after a sub-par year? He looked better as the year went on. What's Madison Bumgarner gonna do after the Padres crushed him last week. The Padres don;t crush anybody. Is Barry Zito going to get a start? If he does, they are doomed. You know Matt Cain will be lights out. You know they won't score many runs. They just don't match up well enough to give me confidence that they can beat the Reds. That's why I'm gonna pick the Reds in four and move on to the NLCS.

Another division matchup between two NL East rivals. This has the making of a slugfest. Too bad it won't be. The Nationals did something that says to me that they care more about next season than this one, even though they finished with the best record. They decided to bench Stephen Strasburg. They handled this situation so poorly that it's going to bite them in the ass sooner rather than later. The Braves are ready and they are on a mission to make a deep playoff run. The Nationals would be if they had Strasburg. Them benching Strasburg to me is like the Tigers benching Verlander. He's that important. They still have Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman, which is enough to win a short series but the Braves have more and they are coming. Don't expect Chipper Jones to retire quietly either. I'll pick the Braves in five.

This is a terrible matchup for the Yankees. The A's have great pitching and they are very good at playing small ball. They have a top notch starter who can pitch in any game. Their bullpen is extremely deep and they live for one run games that tend to go into extra innings. The Yankees have Sabathia, who hasn't fared extremely well against Oakland this year. After that, it's Kuroda, Pettitte, and maybe Hughes or Nova or Phelps. The Yankees also do not hit well with men on base and usually wait for the Home Run. These Oakland pitchers don;t give up many homeruns and they don't make a lot of mistakes. I'll pick Oakland in five in a seven game series and keep their magical run going.

The Braves have plenty of momentum and are trying to ride the Chipper Jones farewell tour as long as they can. Expect them to come out swinging and ready to play. On the other hand, it's the time of the Reds and they're not going down easy for anybody. With Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay bruce, they will provide plenty of offense for the Reds to take this series. They can also pitch as well. So long Chipper. you've had a great career. Reds in six.

As you may have guessed, I have the Oakland Athletics taking on the Cincinnati Reds in this year's fall classic. This is a classic showdown between two historic franchises. You have the kids with names that nobody knows and the veterans who are really good. With the advantage on paper to the Reds, don;t expect the Athletics to just lay down and die and just be happy to be there. They will compete and this series has the makings to go the distance. Unfortunately, for the Athletics, this Cinderella story won;t have a happy ending. This is the Red's year and they will win this series. The Athletics should be happy for their great year and be excited for the future because they have a very young and talented team. Unless Billy Beane decides to break them up which he does with every great Athletics team. They should make a movie about this guy, he's too much. Reds in seven