Jim,
Tier Box 614, Row A, seat 6-7 (behind home plate, to the third base side): my home away from home. My wife and I, plus 2 other couples, split season tickets (weekday plan). As a bonus, we’re guaranteed seats for all playoff and series games, same seats. I drew short straw and was number 3 in our playoff rotation. My hope is 2 home games versus Detroit, 3 home games versus Minnesota, and that Mets-Yankees goes 7. 
Who cares what Fox wants? They don’t care about what I want, which is to have a mute button with McCarver’s name on it, so why should I care about them?
AL
Yanks over Tigers in 4
Twins over A’s in 4
Yanks over Twins in 7
NL
Mets over Dodges in 5
Padres over Cards in 4
Padres over Mets in 6
WS
Yanks over Padres in 6
I want that mute button also, or a large anvil to drop on his head looney toon style every times he says something dumb or annoying. (Yes, I do mean every time he opens his mouth, why do you ask?)
I am not too worried about what Fox wants, but I am hopeful of good ratings to continue to keep up the overall value of the TV package. In the long run, baseball will be better off with a good TV deal.
Jim
That’s the worst part of the postseason for me, being stuck with the Fox announcers and the Fox, um, production style. I wish the radio synched better with the TV signal. Or that I was fluent in Spanish.
I see there is not a lot of enthusiasm for the Cardinals here. I don’t recall them dominating their division they way the Tigers did – it seemed like there was always a team on their tail. (Only the Mets failed to read the memo that every NL team was supposed to strive for a .500 record this year.) As a Mets fan, I’m glad that the Phillies and Astros are not around; we match up pretty well against the cream of the powerhouse NL West. No predictions or trash-talking for me, though. I’ll root for the (non-Braves) NL as usual to the end.
As far as the AL goes, my impulse is to root for underdog*, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the Tigers have a shot. (Is anyone predicting the Royals will make it to the postseason in 2008?) Although, come to think of it, the Twins and the A’s are underdogs. too. I’d rather not see a Subway series, mainly for the selfish reason that the Yankees are the best team in the Junior Circuit (although Mussina and Johnson look vulnerable to me, and the fourth starter is a real black hole) (and don’t you just get the weird feeling that A-Rod is going to go 1-for-51 for the postseason and end up being benched for Miguel Cairo?). Without the Angels around to pick off the Yankees, it seems almost a forgone conclusion. I wish Liriano was healthy to at least make it interesting.
*In New York (for all you East-hating baseball fans who would watch all 7 games of the Padres-A’s thriller but ignore Yankees-Mets), the Mets are still the underdog. The 2 most popular sports radio shows are run by a Yankee fan and a SF Giants fan, and the Yankees TV announcer. The Mets are often buried in the sports sections while the Yankees dominate the back page. I guess this makes sense for the papers (more Yankee fans) (although one would think Randy Johnson’s face would cause sales to go down rather than up).
So even though I’ll be rooting for my Pedro-less Mets to go all the way, I can’t realistically pick them to win the Series. Here are my “I thought about them a little bit between football games” predictions.
AL
Yanks over Tigers in 3
Twins over A’s in 4
Twins over Yanks in 7
**
NL**
Mets over Dodges in 4
Cards over Padres in 5
Mets over Cards in 6
**
WS**
Twins (or Yanks or whoever) over Mets in 4.
Man…it sucks knowing that the World series is there for the taking and your ace pitcher is out till the middle of next year. I think the Mets are still good enough to get through the NL (Houston would have been interesting) but any of these NL teams is going to get shut down & crushed by the AL team. I hope not, and I’ll be trash-talking as if the Mets are on a one-way ticket to the championship from here on in.
Enjoy those Playoff Yankee tickets, guys. There’s no place like the Stadium during a playoff game.
Tier Box 663, Row C, seat 9-10. I live too far from the Bronx for more than a small plan, so I am not even guaranteed tickets and 2 per series at most.
I had fun with the Bleachers this year, but I think I will return to proper seats next year. My back was complaining and my Brother could not do the the bleachers anymore.
Jim
That would put you way up the first base side, wouldn’t it?
Personally, I’m looking forward to the redesign (although I still think they’re idiots for going with lower capacity). I need more legroom; my knees ache after every game.
That sounds right. I’ll miss the grand old park, but more legroom sounds good. I think the mid-week $5 nose bleed seats are going to disappear in 2009. I’ll miss them. I wish they would keep the capacity or even go a little higher. It would be fun to go after the MLB attendance record. Impossible in the new stadium.
Jim
Oh god…didn’t we just do that? Shoot me now. That clicking noise is every fan west of the Hudson watching “Lost”.
(annie, I’m sure you’re a wonderful human being, and I wish you and your team(s) well, but I just loath all teams from NY.)
That is a common problem, why just NY?
As a Yankee fan, I understand why so many hate the Yanks, richest and most successful team, The Boss has often been a king size jerk. etc. etc. etc.
Why the hatred of the Mets?
They have not been all that successful. The have rarely had the highest payroll and have been kept down my the Braves for fifteen years. They currently have two of the most exciting young players in the game.
So why the hatred of the Mets? Is it a hatred of all thing NY? 
Jim
So what was the deal with the Tigers this year? Can someone give me a rundown on the factors in their success?
Who have been the key players? What impact did Leland have? Did anyone predict this spring they would do so well this year? And what went wrong over the last few months?
I try to follow baseball as well as I can here in Panama, but although I get some coverage in the Miami Herald international edition, it’s pretty short on analysis.
Hmmm…I hate to throw around the word “hate” so much, especially in describing myself; but – yeah (at least, in a sports context). It’s irrational, I know…I think it comes from a feeling of “there are other places in the world besides NY, ya know…” that no New Yorker would ever admit to.
I’m already on record as saying neither New York team would win the Series. I’m feeling a bit shakier on that–I thought for sure the Yankees would get taken out in the Divsion Series by the Twins–but I’ll stand by it.
AL
Yankees over Tigers, probably in 3.
Twins over A’s, again probably in 3.
NL
Dodgers over Mets, 3-1.
Padres over Cardinals, 3-1.
LCS
Twins over Yankees, 4-2.
Padres over Dodgers, 4-3.
WS
Twins over Padres, 4-1.
Of course, I could be wrong…
And to all those who are hoping on the underdogs: I was sitting in those bleachers in Oakland for the '88 World Series. Folks, I can vouch for it: sometimes the better team loses, no matter how overwhelming the disparity may seem.
That’s a good reminder (and a real thrill for you), but there are more recent examples, like the Fish beating the Cubs and then the Yankees in 2003, the Indians knocking off the Yanks in 1997, the Yankees beating Cleveland and the Braves in '96… The list is rather long, actually.
I’m not sure I can predict anything this postseason. The Cards have been absolutely awful, but they also usually find another gear in October.
The Pads don’t strike me as being a pennant threat. I really think it’s going to be the Dodgers coming out of the NL, because the Mets have some problems.
I am glad you said irrational. You do know New Yorkers only half believe that?
Pudge led the team from the catcher’s position. He did great with the young staff. Kenny Rodgers brought a veteran’s presence to the rotation and the young arms stepped up. Leyland got a lot out of a young team. Magglio Ordonez has a full and healthy and therefore productive year. These are the major things I saw as an outsider observing the team.
Jim
Man, the Tigers sound a lot like that Marlins team Pudge led to a World Series.
I know, but the Marlins had better pitching and the Yankees had a lesser team and less scouting on that team.
I wouldn’t call it a thrill; I’m still filled with disgust and loathing at the thought of it.
As for your more recent examples, I’d quarrel with just about all of them. The Yankees/Indians and Indians/Yankees examples are self-cancelling. Both teams had dominant clubs in the early to late '90s; neither can be considered a truly inferior team. And that Florida team was very talented, at least as talented as the Cubs. Much of that talent was dispersed, but nevertheless, they were, again, not an inferior team.
The '88 Dodgers were Hershieser and not much else on the mound, with the “big bats” being Mike Davis and Mickey Hatcher. Enough said. And yet they still won it all. My point was, even major, huge, “not a fucking chance” underdogs do occasionally have all the planets align for them.
So I wouldn’t even count out the Cardinals at this point. If Pujols goes out of his mind for the next 3 weeks, things could get interesting, and the major choke job will be long forgotten.
This doesn’t apply to the Tigers, though. They’re toasted shit on a shingle.
That’s not supported by the evidence. The 2006 Tigers have much better pitching than the 2003 Marlins. The Tigers had the best team ERA in the AL this year, and that in the league that was clearly superior to the other league, no less.
The 2003 Fish not only did not have the best pitching in the league, they weren’t even close; they were 7th in team ERA and that was helped by their home park.
In fact, the '06 Tigers actually gave up fewer runs than the '03 Marlins, despite being in a league that gave up more runs per game.
I’d favour the Yankees too but people are dismissing the Tigers way too easily. They had the best pitching staff in baseball. (Well, actually, one of the best; the Twins were just as good.) That’s a pretty big thing to so easily dismiss.