Ramble On...

I’ve got a lot to get out about Fantasy Baseball, Football and Hockey, what’s wrong with the WNBA, Mike Piazza’s final home game at Shea, my work softball championship team, Petko Park and Angels Stadium, Pearl Jam, Ken Macha and of course, the Baseball Playoffs. Here we go…

Ken Macha ruined any chance the A’s had to win the AL West this year. It boggles my mind how people feel that he is a great manager. He is not. He was the 2nd coming of Art Howe, and for some reason every Oakland fan liked Howe. They never managed well in important games, i.e. the playoffs, and Macha blew it for them in 3 games in the final 10 days of the regular season. Why does he keep relying on Juan Cruz and Jay “I have a child molesting mustache” Witasik to pitch in crucial situations? The same goes with Joe Torre and Alan Embree. Why rely on them when they have failed you so many times? I don’t get it.

So on that note, I guess everyone can understand my jubilation over the A’s not bringing back Macha to remain as their manager. I was emailing back and forth with my buddy Brian today, and here was our exchange…(keep in mind it started off about the ever important Montclair State University’s homecoming…so we were talking about boozing, of course, not caring about MSU football)…

Ok, I am going to see if J wants to come into town
Are you going to Alexus on Friday... I am pumped for this weekend
We have to watch Texas-OU at Bill's, Texas is going to murder them
Macha is out.. you have to be happy about that

I am definantly down for texas-ou at bills...i am going to pretend i actually went to UT on saturday...
i am very very very very happy and pleased about macha not coming back
i will probably be at alexus on friday..i will want to get there in time for the yankee game

Who is going to replace Macha....Pinella? You add a power bat and a middle reliever (possibly Dotel when he returns from injury)and the A's are by far the best team in the west
Alexus closes at 10, we need to watch the whole game, Arod blew it yesterday

shoot, i didnt know it closed at 10...d@mn it...
yeah, a-rod did blow it...wang pitched a good game..
i doubt pinella would go there...billy beane is a very close watcher of his managers and apparently pinella doesnt like that...there’s talk that pinella will be in the yankees YES broadcast booth next season
no clue who the a's will hire...i would like to see them go after Jim Tracy though

What if they bring back Art Howe... I think your head would explode

HAHA...someone called into espn radio yesterday and asked that...i almost flipped

My honest opinion is you would not like anyone but Mark Miller as manager of your beloved A's, maybe the Yanks will fire torre and he would go to the A's to spite the yanks


So Brian is definantly right, I probably wouldn’t be happy with anyone but myself running the team. Shoot, the Rangers just hired a 28 year old GM, why not hire a 23 year old Manager? I sure would do a better job than most people, I would guarantee that...Yes, I am that confident.

So while we are on the topic of baseball, the Yankees were dominant in their first game against the Angels, scoring 3 runs in the first inning. Why was Garret Anderson playing so shallow though? I mean, I sort of understand why he was, to stop 2 runs from scoring, but still, Cano does have some pop in his bat. He’s not Ozzie Smith here. But what are you going to do? Moose impressed me. I really didn’t think he would dominate like he did. I liked how Torre used Leiter in that game, and then Flash was lights out, but Mo’ wasn’t unhittable, although Cano did make an error. I don’t understand why the Yankees don’t have someone on their bench to be a defensive replacement for Cano late in the game. He’s cost them games in the past because of his defense. Defense is very important. If you’re winning in the 8th by a run or 2 or 3, take him out. But they can’t do that. Mark Bellhorn isn’t exactly Bill Mazerowski out there.

So then onto Game 2, poor Wang. He pitched a really good game, only for it to be blown by A-Rod. And then Orlando Cabrera with the big blow to make it a 4-2 game. And I don’t want to hear Yankee fans complain about Torre leaving Leiter in the game, only to give up that HR to Bengie Molina. That was one heck of a pitch by Leiter. Molina just got lucky and golfed it over the wall somehow. But where were the Yankees bats? They were 0-9 with RISP. You can’t win games if you can’t get those runners to score.

But Yankee fans, don’t fret, you have Randy on the hill tomorrow night. He should be able to shut down the Angels and take a commanding 2-1 lead, with Chacon pitching game 4. You did what you had to do, split the 2 road games in LA.

White Sox up 2-0 on the Red Saux. Who saw this coming? I surely didn’t, especially since I predicted the Saux to take it 3 games to 1. Total blow it game 1, which I did not expect at all, and then yesterdays game was great. Mark Buehrle did not pitch well, but did what he had to to keep them in the game. Wells pitched brilliantly up until the 5th innings, but still, wasn’t his entire fault. The blame is put on Tony Graffanino. Costly error which should have been an inning ending double play resulted into a 3 run HR by Tadahito Iguchi 2 batters later to put the ChiSox up 5-4, and they didn’t relinquish the lead after that. But Saux fans, don’t worry, although I know it is difficult to say that you guys. You came back from 3-0 deficit last year, and remember, you rarely lose at home. If they make this go to game 5, I will guarantee the BoSox do not lose the series.

Cards/Pads series is pretty much a done deal, even after one game.

I am very upset my favorite player, Tim Hudson, pitched so poorly yesterday. I know he doesn’t have the best track record in the playoffs, but he’s not awful at all. In the past the A’s just didn’t score runs for him. His first playoff game he lost 4-2, but tossed a complete game, won 2-0 at Yankee Stadium in 2001, got a no decision in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Twins in 2002, but didn’t pitch extremely well (4 runs in 5 1/3---and not 4 ER though, so its not as bad as it looks), pitched only 4 innings against the Twins in Game 4 of that 2002 ALDS (But he should have pitched only Game 3…Art Howe did not set up his rotation correctly. That year, Twins bashed righties, but couldn’t hit lefties. He should have had Mulder pitch Game 1 and Zito in Game 2. The following year in 2003 he pitched Game 1 against Boston and got a no-decision while pitching well. Allowed only 3 ER in 6 2/3 innings. But then started Game 4 and got injured with an oblique injury, forcing him to leave after the 1st inning. That was the turning point of the series. But then he didn’t pitch well at all last night (5 BB alone). I expect him to bounce back though and pitch well.

My fantasy Baseball season is complete. I was in 4 leagues, finished in 4th place in 3 and who knows where in another league. I wasn’t pleased. In the Roto league I was fighting for 1st/2nd place up until the last week and a half where my team took a spill. It seemed like my pitchers couldn’t pitch well. In my All Point league format, I was fighting for 3rd place in the last week, but I decided to bench Johnny Damon because he had an achy shoulder and wasn’t playing every day, so I played Coco Crisp instead. What a mistake. If I didn’t make that move, I would have taken 3rd. But then the heart breaker of them all, I finished in 1st in the regular season, .5 ahead of the 2nd place team. Had a buy in the 1st round, then in the semi-finals I lost by one save, One F’n Save. I wasn’t too pleased 1 Save which he got on the last day. I ended up coping with that and was ok playing for 3rd place, but what happens? I am up 11-8 going into the last day and we end up tying 9-9-2, all because he somehow came back and tied my in runs. So what happens if it’s a tie? They go by lower ERA. And of course I sat Zach Duke this week and pitched Carpenter thinking he would bounce back and make sure he was on a roll going into the playoffs. So I ended up not winning 1 penny.

I decided to run a Fantasy Hockey league. I had no clue what I was doing during the draft. I won’t lie. I felt like a Scores girl in a trivia contest. So I decide to draft my 2nd goalie in the 8th round, and I picked Kevin Weekes, the goaltender of the New York Rangers. Well, needless to say I got ripped on by my buddy Burger. Apparently he stinks. I guess I don’t have much of a shot of winning this league. Ha. Oh well. At least the Devils won their first game 5-1.

Other fantasy news: I have 3 different fantasy football team, 2 are on the cbssportsline site (the best fantasy site) and the other on ESPN. I am sharing 2 of the teams and the other is on my own. All my teams are currently 2-2. But I remember raising the question a month ago about who I should draft #1 overall in the league where I am the only owner (Team Ray Finkle). It was between L.T. and Peyton. I decided to go with L.T. Reason being, I couldn’t wait until picks #24 and #25 to get my 2 running backs. So far it’s paying off, so far (knock on wood). Let’s hope that it stays that way and helps me win it all.

I went to go see Pearl Jam this past Monday night in Philadelphia. First, the tri-stadiums they have there with the Citizens Bank (Phillies), Eagles Stadium and Wachovia Center (76ers and Flyers), it is the perfect place to pre-game. I had gone to a Phillies game back in July, but I didn’t exactly realize the perfect location of the other stadium and arena. So anyway, of course the concert was great. Opened with Wash, threw in Harvest Moon, played Hail Hail, In My Tree etc.., just a great show. Not the best Pearl Jam show that I’ve been to, but it was still great.

I need to mention that I also visited two more ball parks in August. I and 4 other friends went out to visit our close friends out in San Diego. We decided to get Padres tickets to go see a Rockies/Padres game at Petko Park. Petko is a gorgeous stadium, absolutely updated with Plasma TVs all around the stadium and the food was spectacular, especially the chicken burrito. Negative though was no beer guy making his way up and down the isles, but there is a beer vendor right outside the section we were in, so we didn’t have to walk far, which was nice.

I also made my way up to Angel’s stadium 4 days later with 2 other friends. I had to go because Oakland was in town, fighting for the division title. Very nice stadium, but not as nice as Petko. Unfortunately I did not eat, but they did sell very good beer there, along with liquor, which surprised me, because I know Yankee Stadium doesn’t sell liquor, but for good reason. But we did get to watch one of the best games I’ve ever seen live. What a great pitching duel between Barry Zito and Bartolo Colon. Zito pitched 9 complete innings, Colon pitched 9 1/3. The A’s finally won the game in the 11th after Bobby Kielty hit a homerun to put the A’s ahead 3-2.

Speaking of California, my work softball team, DOIM (Dept of Information Management) won the final game of the 3 game series of the softball championship. I was really pissed that I missed that final game, but I had this trip planned for over 6 months. We swept in the semi-finals, where I ended the game with a walk-off grand slam single (think of Robin Ventura), which also allowed me to receive MVP for the series. I continued my hitting in the championship. We won the first game 10-1. The only run allowed was a lead off HR. We did not allow a runner past 2B after that. And I also made a full extension diving catch for the final out of the game. It was Jim Edmonds-like I was told. We lost the 2nd game 9-6, I wasn’t happy, but I knew we would win the final game, but I just wanted to be there for the trophy celebration. I’m just glad we won. We have bragging rights. One of my greatest accomplishments ever…and yes, I am proud of it.

On ESPN.com, in The Sports Guy’s latest mailbag, someone posed the question of why the WNBA is no fun to watch. And Bill Simmons brought up a great point, which he also stated on Jim Rome Is Burning…because what’s the point of sitting and watching a game being played that you know you could honestly be the 6th man on the two teams playing? I agree. I’m not saying that I could actually be 6th man, because, after all, I am a horrendous bball player. But I get the point. It’s just not as fast paced as men’s and not as athletic. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.

And finally, Mike Piazza’s final game as a New York Metropolitan.
My friends Juse and Burger went to go see Piazza’s final game. They were having a tribute for him and everything. Make it really special. I mean, they should, look at what he has meant to this franchise. My buddy Burger brought this to my attention. Look at everything Piazza has also gone through as a Met, playing for Bobby V, losing teams, all blame put on his shoulder for not winning, accused of being a homosexual, and not once did he complain. He took everything like a man and handles everything like a class-act. He is the perfect role model. So we figured this was going to be a great day, get to the stadium, drink some beers, head in, see the tribute and watch him play his final game. So we get to the stadium, we drink a few beers, head in and go to our seats, which were located next to the Mets bullpen. But the first problem arouse. You would think that Piazza would be on the cover of the scorebook, but nope, Carlos Beltran was. So we head to our seats and Piazza headed out to the bullpen to warm up Victor Zambrano, the starting pitcher that day. He tipped his cap while everyone gave him a standing ovation and I clicked and took a lot of pictures. Going into the bottom of every inning, the Mets played interviews and some of Piazza’s best highlights throughout his career as a Met. He received a standing ovation every time going to the plate, then even every time he grounded out (he went 0-3 on the day). Then going into the bottom of the 7th, the Mets played a tribute and delayed the game. Great tribute for Piazza, where he received 2 curtain calls. And I must mention one of the classiest moves was that Rockies manager, Clint Hurdle, had his players stay at the top of their dugout and give Piazza his due respect. So Piazza didn’t get the chance to bat in the 7th, so he was due up 3rd in the 8th. Piazza goes out to catch the warm-ups, but then Willie Randolph calls Piazza in and replaces him with Mike DiFelice. Mike DiFelice. What the heck is that about? He had one more at bat. They probably would have grooved one in for him and allowed him to take a hack for an attempt at a HR. I will talk more about Willie in another post about how he has continually disappointed me even after I defended him time after time after time. So the crowd grew weary, booed DiFelice. I don’t blame them. It wasn’t directed at DiFelice, but at the fact that Piazza was taken out of the game. They were down 11-2. Willie left Cliff Floyd in the game and allowed him to hit in the 8th, then took him out and replaced him in the top of the 9th. So why not allow Piazza to hit. But whatever. The Mets had another tribute for him on the jumbo screen right after the game and Piazza blew kisses to all directions of the stadium. He was touched. We were touched. I know I’m not a Mets fan, but I am a fan of the game. I did have a chance to meet him while working for ESPN Radio, Poughkeepsie 3 years ago, and he was a class act then as well. I had to give him my due respect, he deserved it.

Until next time….

The Double Awards

This is the most important Award that any ball player can be presented with, the Double Award. Well, unless of course you are the Least Valuable Player and Cy Yuk. So congrats to the winners, and sorry, to those who stunk it up this year to be presented with LVP and Cy Yuk. And of course, let me know what you think….Here we go….

AL MVP
Mariano Rivera - - - Is there a more valuable player to one team than Mo’? C’mon, let’s be realistic here. Talk is always about could this player be replaced? How well would they do without so-and-so. Well, you have it, the Yanks would have been done for, a fork stuck in them if they didn’t have Mo’ as their savior.

NL MVP
Albert Pujols - - - I DO NOT want to hear someone say “Pujols was fortunate to hit in a great lineup.” What great lineup are we talking about here? Rolen? Nope, injured all year. Larry W? Nope, injured for most of the season. Reggie Sanders? Injured for 7 weeks from August thru September. Even Yadier Molina was injured, and Edmonds wasn’t healthy all year. Ok, so then you are going to talk about how Andruw Jones carried his team when Larry “Chipper” Jones was injured. I will grant you that, no problem. But Andruw posted a .208 average in September, a .244 average with RISP with 2 outs and a .243 average in LIP situations with runners on base. How is that being valuable? Pujols on the other hand hit better over .300 in every month, except for one (August .287, but still posted 7 HR and 16 RBI). And in June and July, where he was carrying the team through injuries, his line was .370/8/20 and .358/8/22 respectively. He hit .308 with a 1.114 OPS with RISP with 2 outs. Now are you going to argue me? I don’t think so.

AL Cy Young
Mariano Rivera - - - I would give him both the MVP and Cy Young, he was that good this season. What, are you going to give it to Colon for winning 20 games? But what about his 3.48 ERA? And he was only good for half a season. The same goes for 18 game winner John Garland. He recorded his 12th win on June 21, where his record was 12-2. Since then he went 6-8 and finished 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA. Not so good. Johan Santana was lights out in the 2nd half of the season, but where was he in the 1st half?

NL Cy Young
Chris Carpenter - - - This one was tough. You can go with Chris Carpenter, Dontrelle Willis or Roger Clemens. Whoever anyone decides to go with is right. There is no wrong choice here. But I’d have to go with Carpenter for his 21-5 record, 2.83 ERA, 7 Complete Games, 4 Shutouts, 242.2 IP and a WHIP of 1.06. He ate up innings and pitched well, with the exception of his last 4 outings, but D-Train and Clemens also pitched poor in September, so the nod goes to Carp, but again, any of them is worthy of the award.

AL ROY
Huston Street - - - Put it this way, a year and a half ago this 22 year old rookie was pitching in the College World Series for the University of Texas. Now, he didn’t have time to get groomed into the closers role, as he was thrust right into there after Octavio Dotel went down for the year. Street closed out 23 games in 27 opportunities, the most ever by a rookie. And he did this while playing on a team contending for the playoffs. Yes Robinson Cano had a great September, and Johny Peralta had a great year, but Huston Street was more valuable to his team.

NL ROY
Willie Taveras - - - This was also a tough one to determine, but I have to go with Taveras because he has been a very steady, solid player all year. Ryan Howard played in only 88 games and Jeff Francoeur played in only 70. Both were very good players and were major factors to their team, but so was Taveras. His speed (34 stolen bases in 45 attempts) kept pitchers on their toes and allowed him to score 82 runs on the year. And on top of that he hit .291 with 172 hits. All this while playing in the NL Central where he had to go against the likes of Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Mark Prior, Chris Capuano and Doug Davis to name a few.

AL Manager of the Year
Eric Wedge - - - I don’t understand how anyone would be able to argue this, but I also do not think anyone will argue this. He took this team from an 80-82 record a year ago and turned them around into a 93-69 team which was contending for the AL Central until the last week of the season. The players love him and he gets the most out of his players.

NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox - - - That was a very easy choice. 14 straight years the Braves have won the NL East. No other sports franchise has a streak like that. And he does it with different personnel each year. But this year was different. He did it with 17 different rookies in the lineup throughout the year. And he started the year with Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan manning RF and LF respectively. He also did not have bullpen, where they used 4 different closers throughout the year. And he took Smoltz out of the closer role and he instantly became one of the best starting pitchers in the NL this year. Absolutely amazing, and he does it under the radar. You have to respect that, just like his players have the ultimate respect for him.

Now time for the awards that, well, you wouldn’t be proud to receive.

AL Least Valuable Player (LVP)
Sammy Sosa - - - He came over to the Baltimore Orioles from the Chicago Cubs, hoping to give some punch to their lineup. I personally thought it was a good move for him and thought he would excel in Baltimore. WRONG! Instead his line looked worse than Pam’s face after a Tommy Lee beating, .221/14/45. He even sat out the series back to Chicago, he said he was injured, but I think he was just scared. I think it might be time for him to just pack it in.

NL LVP
Cristian Guzman - - - Guzman was one of the most prized Short Stops in the free agent market last winter. He signed a 4 year, 16.8 million dollar contract. I think he didn’t quite live up to it though, .219/4/31. He even benched for part of the season. That was how bad he was. And he wasn’t even stellar with his glove, posting a .973 fielding percentage. Maybe next year he can live up to the contract.

AL Cy Yuk
Sidney Ponson - - - First he was arrested in the off season for hitting a judge at a Christmas party, then less than a month later was arrested for driving under the influence. Then he was arrested again during the year for driving under the influence once again. So I can only imagine that it must have been real difficult for the Orioles to release Ponson, his track record and his 7-11 and 6.21 ERA. Although, he did have one more year left on his contract, which he would have made $10 million. Geeze, put me out there for 1/10 of that cash and I’ll put up better numbers.

NL Cy Yuk
Eric Milton - - - Coming over in free agency from the Minnesota Twins and signing an absurd 3 year, $25.5 million deal, the Reds really believed that Milton could help out their pitching staff. I think they forgot that 1) He is a fly ball pitcher and 2) Cinergy field is a home run haven. So not exactly a good mix. But they still gave Milton his contract and Milton didn’t quite perform up to par with an 8-15 record and 6.47 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. Hey, at least he didn’t get arrested or released. He’s got that going for him.


So there you have it, the 2005 MLB Double Awards. Take my opnions into consideration, and we'll see how many I get right, although some of them I know won't win, but I don't always go for the popular choice, I vote for the one that is right.

Double’s Division Series Predictions

ALDS

Yankees at Angels

Yankees bats are on fire; Randy seems invincible and is just purely dominating. The X factor is what Moose can give in Game 1, and see if starting Wang instead of Chacon in Game 2 will pay off. That could ultimately do the Yankees in. Chacon has pitched brilliantly in his last 3 games; has pitched 8 innings in 2 of the 3 outings, and 7.2 in his final appearance of the season, allowing a total of only 1 ER and winning all 3 contests. Why not have him out there? So the question is if the Angels pound on the Moose early that will force them to the weary bullpen. But if Moose can give them over 6 quality innings and somehow get to Flash, and then Enter Sandman plays, it’s over.
As for the Angels, they have their best pitcher going, Bartolo Colon, in Game 1, which is an advantage over Mussina. But in Colons only outing against the Yankees this year, he pitched poorly allowing 5 ER in 4.2 innings. But that was back on April 26. He is a different pitcher since then. The Angels offense has been erratic. They can get hot at anytime, but this isn’t the offensive juggernaut it was back in 2002 when they won the World Series. Vlad will have to carry them offensively in this series in order for them to win. But he also did that last year, and couldn’t get past the Boston Red Sox.

Prediction: Yankees in 4
I believe the Yankees lineup are all on the same page, all cylinders are spinning right now. And watch out for Tony Womack, if he is put on the post-season roster. He can be this year’s version of Dave Roberts.


Red Sox at White Sox

This is going to be a battle of pitching versus hitting. And they say good pitching will shut down good hitting. That will have to be the case in order for the White Sox to win. The key for the Red Sox is Johnny Damon. If he can get on base, he will be a nuisance on base, forcing the pitchers to pay attention to him, which will give Renteria, Ortiz and Manny the advantage. And we all know there is no pitching around Ortiz with Manny behind him.
So in order for the White Sox to win will be based on their pitching, just like it was all season long. They will try to keep it to low scoring games, as 94 of their 162 games played this year were decided by 2 runs or less. The Sox best pitcher right now is Jose Contreras, but Contreras has a history of not performing well in the post-season. The most important batter in the White Sox lineup is Scott Podsednik. He has stolen 3 bases in his last 3 attempts. He is looking healthy. If he can stretch his singles into doubles by swiping a few bags that will allow for small ball to play in favor for Ozzie Guillen, especially if the pitching is able to shutdown the Red Sox lineup.

Prediction: Red Sox in 4
I am not confident in the White Sox pitching, but I am not confident in the Red Sox pitching either. So it’s going to be based on offense, and the Red Sox has the better, more productive offense.



NLDS

Padres at Cardinals

Padres were lucky to be playing in the NL West this season. That division absolutely, without question, Stunk. The only reliable pitcher on the Padres staff is Jake Peavy. If he can pitch lights out in Game 1 and then again in Game 4 or 5 (probably game 4 if Padres can pull out a win in there), then they have a shot. But the Padres do not have anyone that can hit the long ball at anytime. Giles is their most dangerous hitter, but he has Mark Sweeney batting behind him, sometimes Klesko. That doesn’t bode well, because that means if he catches fire, they can pitch around him.
The Cardinals on the other hand are the most complete team in any league. They have very good starting pitching in Carpenter (although hasn’t been good in his last 4 starts), Mulder (possibly the piece they were missing a year ago, along with Carpenter), Suppan and then if LaRussa decides to, he can also go to either Matt Morris or Jason Marquis (my guess is he would opt with Marquis). The Cardinals also have an offense that does everything. They are clutch, have speed and of course, have the best all around hitter in the game, Albert Pujols.

Prediction: Cardinals in 3
Cardinals pitching is too good. Even though they will be without Al Reyes, their best middle relief pitcher, they can do without him. I expect their offense to tear apart the Padres pitching, except for Peavy, who could give them some trouble. But LaRussa has had his team playing hard all year, even after they clinched the division. This is a hard nose team that plays the game the right way.


Astros at Braves

This is the most intriguing match-up of any for either Division Series. This is all about pitching. Not too much offense. 2 of the best post-season pitchers ever will be taking the mound, but unfortunately, not facing one another like first reported. Smoltz, who is the most successful post-season pitcher of all-time, will take the mound in Game 2, and Hudson has been given the nod in Game 1, but to face off post-season great Andy Petitte. Hudson does not have a good track record in the post-season, but I blame that on Art Howe and Ken Macha. Hudson hasn’t pitched poorly in the post-season, but the way his former managers set up the rotation, and the Oakland offense failing to score him runs cost him post-season games.
The Astros have the best 1-2-3 pitching combo in all of baseball, hands down. Pettite, Clemens and Oswalt make up a triple threat and will pose big problems to the young Braves lineup. In order for the Astros to be successful is to make sure their pitchers can get to Lidge. The Astros offense needs Willie Taveras to get on base and will need to move him over and make sure that Ensberg and/or Berkman will drive him in.

Prediction: Astros in 5

This will be a great series. A pitchers duel. A baseball enthusiast’s dream come true. I just believe the Astros pitching will prevail and the Astros offense will be able to squeeze out just enough offense in this series to get past the Braves. Due to the great starting pitching of both teams, I truly believe it will come down to the bullpen, and that’s the Brave’s weakness. We will see how well Kyle Farnsworth can handle the post-season pressure as the closer. I can really see this series going down as one of the great ones.

Double's Playoff Predictions

This is my playoff predictions to begin the season. I will have predictions for each series, but this is prior to the playoffs beginning. Let's see how I do. Let me know what you think.


ALDS

NYY vs. LAA
NYY in 4

Bos vs. Chi
Bos in 4

NLDS

SD vs. Stl
STL in 3

Hou vs. Atl
Hou in 5

ALCS

Bos vs. NYY
NYY in 7
MVP: Rivera

NLCS

Hou vs. Stl
Hou in 7
MVP: Biggio


World Series

Hou vs. NYY
NYY in 6
MVP: Randy Johnson