Time For The Playoffs

Well, that’s it. Season over. At least the preamble that is the regular season for now we head off into the real stuff as the post-season looms large over us.

Of course the Yankees and BoSox might think that the playoffs started about a month ago and have finally found a way to shake off those pesky Indians who finally fell foul of that terrible start they had all the way back in April (remember that far back?). If Cleveland could have found it within themselves to beat the ChiSox a couple of times in that last series I would now be saying how great a chance they had to win it all but that hasn’t happened and now it really would take a miracle (hey, they found an extra RBI for Hack Wilson a few years back so maybe they’ll find a missing win for the Indians).

Once again, as predicted, the Yankees and Red Sox have made the playoffs but unlike in pre-season predictions by many experts, I can’t see either team winning a World Series with their respective pitching staffs.

Randy Johnson came on strong down the stretch and is a truly clutch performer but Chien-Ming Wang is the only guy who has been even remotely consistent in that rotation all year and while I don’t doubt his big game temperament I do have questions as to the endurance of that young arm. Of course the rest of the potential starters for the Yanks have it within themselves to be productive in the post-season, the likes of Pavano, Mussina and Wright all look past their prime or maybe just unable to deal with being a Yankee.

I’m not even sure about their pen’s ability to get to Rivera and while I doubt Torre will have a problem sending Mo out for two innings for the save, I doubt he’ll ask him to go three.
The Red Sox aren’t much better and they might even be worse. I never bet against Curt Schilling but he went through so much last year (just another chapter in the legacy of one of baseballs all time great competitors) that it has left him playing catch up for most of the year. Matt Clement has been as awful as his beard since the All Star break and then you’re looking to rely on a knuckleballer to provide you with consistent starts.

The Boston pen has been [insert expletive] all year.

Of course what both teams have is a lot of players who have been there before and whilst New York have lost most of their energy players, they still have Derek Jeter who should once again show why he is the leader of this team and why A-Rod is just a slugging third baseman.

The Red Sox have a plethora of guys who give the team energy and Big Papi has been clutch all year. You can never doubt that Boston will fight to the end and will never be beaten and someone will have to take their hands off the trophy because they won’t just give it up.

Elsewhere in the AL you have the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who have looked as perplexing as their ridiculous moniker all year. Their line-up is stacked with speed and power with depth on the bench and that man Vlad, yet they had to fight off an offensively challenged A’s team late into the year to win the division. The only question going into the year was the pitching and Lackey and Colon have been one of the AL’s best one-two punches all year so how they managed not to win their division by June and end up with over 100 wins is beyond me. They still have all of that going for them (except maybe Colon showing a bit of wear and tear after being a horse all year) so they could still storm through and kick some serious ass but they won’t be as intimidating as they should have been.

The way I see it is that the ChiSox just swept the best team in baseball since the All Star break going into the post-season, they have their pitching set how they want it going into the first round and that pitching from starter to closer is probably the best of any of this years playoff teams in either league. Add to that they have a scrappy batting order with speed at the top and some pop in the middle (not a lot but some) and play great D. This has to be the team to beat in the AL and maybe the talk of a team from Chicago ending a long stretch without a title was directed at the wrong side of town.

The National League is a curious place this year. Much has been made of San Diego and the way they managed to win out west with a .500 record but when they have Jake Peavy on the mound and Hoffman in the pen they will have a chance to win games against anyone. Admittedly on the days they don’t have Peavy going they look a very average side but the playoffs are a freaky time of year when the team with the best record rarely seems to win it all.

The Astros will see most of their games decided when they try to get the ball from the starter to Lidge because they will not score enough runs to put teams away and their middle relief is not great. That basically means that Oswalt and Pettitte should make things tough for the opposition but Clemens will struggle to get decisions if he continues to pass up the game in the sixth and seventh to protect his numbers.

In theory, the Astros should look a tough team in post-season play due to their rotation but every gut feeling I have says they won’t make it.

Atlanta have managed to win yet another division crown and this time with a pieced together team of reclamation projects and a tonne of farmhands. With their rotation mostly back together and sporting one of the best post-season pitchers of all time (John Smoltz) it should take pressure off the young hitters but the question remains as to how much gas those young guys have left in their tanks and how long Andruw can keep up this incredible run of form?

The class of the NL should remain the reigning NL champs in St Louis who will have the benefit of having their key pitchers healthy this time around (I’m still amazed Carpenter hasn’t injured himself yet) and with Pujols in the line-up you never have to worry about production.

The Cardinal line-up has been banged up all year but the guys they’ve brought in have done a great job filling gaps and David Eckstein has looked more than good enough to justify his All Star status this season at the top of the order.

So who’s going to win it all this year? Before the year started I pegged the Braves to lose to the Angels and that’s still on so I should probably should stick with that (hell, if it happens how cool would that make me look?) but right now the odds are on the ChiSox and Cards and I have no idea who would win that.

One thing I am sure about is that this one of the most wide open playoffs I have seen in a long time and I can’t remember the last time we had a year when a favourite wasn’t obvious. What we have is a lot of flawed teams with big time performers who might play the game in different ways but all are capable of coming up big and carrying their team all the way to the promised land.