MLB Postseason Predictions

Ahh, the postseason is upon us.  What a time.  October baseball.  This is what I love, right here.  I love it even more when my team, the St. Louis Cardinals, are part of the tournament.  So, with that bias in mind, let's get to the predictions....

We'll start with Colorado and Philadelphia.  The season series went to Philly 4-2.  Philly really dominated the season series with the Rockies only able to win the first game of each 3-game series.  The second series featured Cliff Lee's first home game in a Philly uniform.  He pitched extremely well.  They threw out J.A. Happ and he pitched a complete game 4 hitter.  In the Rockies wins, though, they outscored Philly 18-6.  So I can't count out Colorado just yet.  Game 1 today at 1:37 central time.  It will be Jimenez v Lee.  Jimenez hasn't faced the Phillies this season and Lee had that great performance shortly after coming to Philadelphia.  The offense is a similar story.  In beating Colorado 4-2 in the season series, Philly only outscored Colorado 31-28.  That's real close for having 4 wins and only 2 losses.  I expect this series to be a close one with Colorado winning at least one game and possibly two, pushing it to a decisive 5th game.  Tonight though, I am going with Philly.  Cliff Lee is too good and the Philly lineup is too good.  It's a rough series and Colorado is dangerous, winning tons of games in the second half of the season.  They give Philly a fit but not enough to overcome what they face.  Philly in 5.

The second game of the night, starting at 5:07 central, is where you'll find my first complaint of the post.  Minnesota vs. NY.  Minnesota just defeated the Tigers to make it to the ALDS.  They had to play a decisive 163rd game.  MLB was waiting to set the American League series dates and times until after this decisive game.  Then, after the game, one that lasted 4 hours and 37 minutes, they schedule the Twins to play at Yankee Stadium in 20 hours.  How can that make any sense?  It's so ridiculous.  I can't believe MLB would do that.  Actually, I can.  They do things that don't make sense all the time.  So, this is right within their character.  So stupid.  Ok so the prediction....New York won the season series 7-0.  The just dominated in all accounts.  The Twins are under matched and now tired.  They were outscored 41-25 in those 7 games.  They are really going to have a hard time holding down the Yankee offense and even more trouble scoring against the Yankee pitching which includes a determined CC Sabathia.  Yankees in 4.

The 3 game of the day, starting at 8:37 central, pits the St. Louis Cardinals against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It's a story of two of the most storied franchises in the National League.  It's a rivalry that goes back decades.  And it's a series that features two of the best hitters in the game in Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez.  It also features two Cy Young candidates in Chris Carpenter (my vote) and Adam Wainwright.  Carpenter gets the start for St. Louis and Randy Wolf gets the nod for LA.  In the 5 wins versus LA this season, the trio of Carpenter, Wainwright and Pineiro have combined for 38 innings pitched and given up only 6 earned runs.  That's ridiculously good.  It's an ERA of 0.95.  I think this stat is the story of the series and possibly the rest of the postseason.  I have St. Louis in 4 games.

The last game, taking place on Thursday at 8:37 central, is Boston vs. LAA of A.  LA won the season series 5-4 and outscored Boston in those games 43-40.  It's extremely tight between these two teams.  Boston has tons of depth at starting pitching but has injury question marks.  LA has imporved their offense but has pitching questions.  I think this series is the closest of all and it goes to a 5th game.  I'm taking LA in a decisive 5th game back in Anaheim.

NLCS matchup of St. Louis and Philadelphia
ALCS matchup of LAA of A and NYYankees

I want to continue the predictions but I'm afraid it would be a waste of time if I am wrong, which is a strong possibility.  Getting to the postseason is extremely hard.  Winning in the postseason is even harder.  The 8 teams are so close in their abilities, it makes predicting these playoffs almost impossible.  Can Minnesota actually knock of New York?  Probably not but you can't rule it out.  Can LA beat the NL Central two years in a row?  Can Manny hit?  Can the Angels actually overcome an AL East opponent?  What about Colorado?  Philly is going for a repeat.  It seems like a strong possibility at this point. Who knows?  We'll have to wait and see.