It’s (almost) that time. One game left to play in September that should be good enough to be called a playoff game. Here we go.
Boston v. 4) Cleveland/Texas/Tampa Bay
2 Oakland v. 3) Detroit
St. Louis v. 4) Pittsburgh/Cincinnati
Atlanta v. 3) Los Angeles
I’ve heard a number of folks who say it’s going to be the Sox against the Cards in the WS. What do you think?
My Dodgers are hurting a bit. Kemp is out for the postseason due to a fragile ankle. Ethier is questionable. So I assume Schumaker or Van Slyke in the outfield, depending on the opposing pitcher. Beyond that, the team should be solid.
My Tribe looks like the hottest team in baseball right now, but they streak into the postseason having beaten up on some very bad teams. And they’ve still gotta get past a single wild card matchup to go deep.
Share your thoughts and dreams! It’s time for October baseball!
Being a Northern Californian, I’m pulling for the A’s; I don’t buy into the A’s/Giants animosity, and would be perfectly happy to seem them win the AL Pennant every season, and then lose to the Giants in the World Series. But I think they’re going to get beaten by the Red Sox.
My prediction, based on several minutes of looking at the matchups here in this thread:
My wife guarantees that the Dodgers will be in the Series in the next 3 years. She just isn’t very sure it will be this year. On the upside, the Giants crashed and burned at a high rate of speed, which makes the season a winner no matter what else happens!
To me the winner is unimportant. My only hope is that every playoff game goes to the maximum number. And throw in some extra inning games. I want to see the maximum, because there is a long drought until spring training 2014.
If the National League takes the series all the better. I am not a fan of the designated hitter.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing to have a “sports arch-enemy”?
Instead of worrying about whether or not your team will live up to it’s promise, you can sit back, relax, and know that no matter what happens from this point on, you’ve already “won”.
And from my position, even though the season didn’t go quite as planned, there’s still a chance that the season will be a “success”.
I don’t know how anyone can make confident predictions about playoff series, given the rather extensive history of the playoffs being so remarkably unpredictable.
If I had to pick any two teams I’d pick Detroit and St. Louis for a rematch of 2006. My reasoning:
While Boston and Oakland are superficially as good as Detroit, the Red Sox’s best pitcher was hurt most of the year and may not be as sharp as he was, while Oakland is in a weaker division.
St. Louis is in a very strong division.
But really that’s small potatoes. Any team still in it could win it all. Boston looks excellent, Oakland has a great rotation, Atlanta is a solid team with many weapons, Los Angeles played like gods the last four months. Who knows?
By the way, MLB Network last night noted that the last three (or was it four? Now I’ve forgotten) teams who went into the postseason riding a 10+ game winning streak have made the World Series. MOIDALIZE, ZipperJJ and jsgoddess…I’m just sayin’.
ETA: Unrelated — how fucking long do we have to wait before MLB announces the times for the division series games?
As a Red Sox fan, my rooting interests should be obvious. The Indians are probably the least scary of the possible ALDS opponents.
I think the A’s will beat the Tigers and Sox will beat the A’s and face off against the Pirates in the WS. I jsut can’t help but root for the Pirates…until they play Boston.
Lester? He had a slow period midseason, but a long rest after the break fixed it. Lackey and Peavy? They stayed healthy, too (John finally got the message about going to the friggin’ *gym *in the wintertime - now maybe he can explain the concept to Doubront). Setup has always been a soft spot, but maybe not in the postseason (i.e. “real”) games where you can use a shorter roster - if the starters can go 6 to get to Breslow, Tazawa, and Uehara, they’re set. They have enough pitching , don’t worry.
Buchholz actually *lowered *his unreal ERA after coming back, except for that last start that didn’t mean anything, which may explain it. He’s fine.
What worries me is the long layoff before they finally play again, on Friday. That may cost the whole team their edge - it’s happened to many teams before.
Buchholz is fine if he gets ahead, but we now know how much of a head case he really is. Lackey, well, let’s just say Gomer never overthinks things, and that can be a strength in sports. Peavy is short of recent postseason experience, but nobody looks more intense out there, and he’s been pretty damn good. Lester is the rock, I agree.
No-one in the post season has better pitching. I believe that the core of Hanley, A. Gonzalez, and Uribe can carry the offense. I don’t expect much from Puig, but who knows? Hopefully, this will be just a long enough rest for those who can get healthy, to do so.
It’s a little unsettling to look at the Dodgers’ and A’s rosters and see how many guys each team has who might want revenge on Boston for letting go of them (and usually happily). Hell, I’ll be happy if Jose Iglesias doesn’t kill a Sox rally in Game 7 of the ALCS.
I agree. Against the Braves I think they match up really well too. Their pitchers strike guys out, and the Braves strike out a lot. I am still a little worried that the bats will be cold though. I keep reminding myself that Kemp wasn’t around for more than half of this year, and for half of the time he was with the team he was an anchor because of his injuries. If Ethier can get healthy things are probably fine. Still, a healthy Kemp would have been a nice security blanket.
I’ve never known a Giants fan who has anything but mild good feelings about the A’s. On the other hand, A’s fans get their knickers all twisted about the Giants. Some kind of inferiority complex, no doubt. And the same holds true about 49ers - Raiders.
So…rooting for A’s, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and whoever the Dodgers are playing.
