MLB Playoff Preview

It's starting to get cooler outside. That means one thing, MLB Playoff time! In my last blog, I told you exactly why the San Fransisco Giants would win the NL West. It was seamingly the only division that didn't have someone who knew they were going to MLB's second season. Now that we have all 8 teams lined up. Lets take a good look and see who will do what.

National League

Cincinatti Reds Vs. Philladelphia Phillies

This years team that came from nowhere to win their division in the NL. Led by Joey Votto's surge to the top of the National League rankings in virtually every category. But other than Votto, I would be willing to bet that the average fan couldn't name 5 ballplayers that the Reds employ. Fortunately for you, I can. The Reds will begin the postseason with Edison Volquez, who has been slightly inconsistent this season. He missed some time with a drug suspension, and then some more time with an injury. For about the next 4 starts after his return he struggled. But after that he was very solid. He gets the nod in game 1 against the Phillies and Roy Halladay. In his career he is 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA against the Phillies. The two teams played 7 games against each other this season, with the Phillies winning 5 of the 7. Halladay did not face the Reds this season, but in his career he is 0-1. Game 2 will feature Bronson Arroyo against Roy Oswalt who the Phillies acquired from Houston just before the trade deadline. The Reds have several injuries. Orlando Cabrera and Jay Bruce both have sore muscles in their torso and are not 100% but will play. Arthur Rhodes has been bothered by a bad foot much of the year. Laynce Nix has a sprained ankle, and Jim Edmonds has an injured right achilles tendon. Halladay was 21-10 this season with 9 complete games. It was his 3rd 20+ win season. Many people will say that the Phillies should already be pencilled in to the World Series. However, lets not do that just yet, there are 3 other teams who might have something to say about that. This is the Phillies 4th straight trip to the postseason and they have the majors best record at 97-65, one game lower than the franchise best ever. Game 1 features two pitchers who have never seen the postseason before. Game 2 features two players who have World Series experience. The Reds are resilient but, the Phillies just have too much firepower. I look for Philly to take this in 4.

Atlanta Braves vs. San Fransisco Giants

Mark my words. This will be the best pitching matchup, game for game in any of the divisional series. There might not be 25 runs scored total. In my opinion, the giants have the best frontline pitching staff in the majors. I've said it before, and I'll say it now. The reason the Giants won the West was because they have the best pitching staff. The Giants don't score alot, but they defend that by starting the former two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. He will face the guy with the best sinker in the game in Dereck Lowe. Lowe was 16-12 and had a less than stellar first half and came on strong as the Braves made a playoff push. Throughout the regular season the Giants threw 888 strikeouts to the braves 771. Game 2 will feature Matt Cain against Tommy Hanson. Cain was 13-11 with a 3.14 ERA and 177 strikeouts, while Hanson was 10-11 with a 3.33 ERA and 173K. Like i said in the outset. I expect this series to be very low scoring. Game 3 will be Johnathon Sanchez (13-9 3.07 205) against Atlanta ace Tim Hudson (17-9 2.83 139). The question in this series is, can the Braces survive without using their ace until game 3? The other big story about this series is it features the two players in the race for the NL Rookie of the Year. Who will come out victorious in this series? Your guess is as good as mine! To true baseball fans, this will be the best series of the DS.

American League

New York Yankees Vs. Minnesota Twins

The fact that the Yankees limped into the postseason, coupled with the fact that beside C.C. Sabathia their starting pitching is in awry really scares me for the saintity of Yankee fans. However, game 1 will be one for the ages. Fransisco Liriano (14-10 3.62 201)and winner of the 2010 AL comeback player of the year award, faces C.C. Sabathia (21-7 3.18 197) coming off of his first 20 win season and a run at the AL Cy Young award. But really after Sabathia, the Yanks are pretty scarce pitching wise. In his last start of the season, Andy Pettitte looked pretty bad.IN his last start against Boston on Saturday, Pettitte went 4 innings, gave up 9 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs. To top it off, they didn't really look like a team that wanted it. They don't at this present time have the killer instinct that they had last season. However in his last 14 ALDS games Ron Gardenhire is 2-12, and has faced the Yankees 3 times in the ALDS, lost everytime. However, this is the first time they've had home-field against them. The Yankees are a much older team than anyone else in the playoffs. As i've stated in a previous Blog post, The average age in the major leagues is 27, and the Yankees average age is 29. In the last few weeks future hall of famer Mariano Rivera has shown that he is aging as he hasn't had all of his good stuff. The 38 year old had the most blown saves (5) since 2003 when he had 6. In their last 26 games, the Yankees are 9-17. However, ESPN would have you believe that this series will be swept by the Yankees. But since you're reading this you already assumed that because you know that ESPN is the most East Coast biased company there is. The Twins were 46-42 before the all star break, and 48-26 afterwards. The Twins are on a tear. They were hoping they could get Justin Morneau back for the playoffs, but that's not going to happen. As it stands right now, I like the Twins in 4.

Texas Rangers Vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Yes, you know. I'm a Rangers homer. Always have been, always will be. That being said. The Rangers are 0-12 in the respective parks that the other AL playoff teams call home. The Rangers are 19-25 in daytime games this season and with the exception of a couple of players, they have relatively no playoff experience. But, they went out and acquired Cliff Lee for this very reason. last season he was 4-0 in 5 playoff games with 2 wins in the World Series. Much has been said about how easy it has been to run on the Rangers this season, and the Rays really like to run. That's what scares me about this series. However, since August 31 Tampa Bay starting pitchers not named David Price are 4-11 with a 5.25 ERA and game 2 starter James Shields was 0-4 with a 7.59 ERA. David Price is very good. If he wasn't he wouldn't be in the Cy Young award discussion. But after him they haven't been that great of late. Josh Hamilton was drafted by the Rays in 1999 and was poised to be in the outfield with Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli. Everyone knows of the problems that Hamilton had and how he found himself in Texas. I don't feel like i need to go into anymore detail about it here now. The key to Texas winning this series is Michael Young getting on base. his OBS this season was .330, if he gets on base and lets the 3 guys behind him drive him in, Texas will score a lot of runs. The Rangers decided this week that they will use 4 pitchers instead of 3. These 2 bullpens are the top 2 in the entire major leagues. It all starts in about 13 hours and I for one can not wait! I told you at the start that I am a Rangers homer, and my sunglasses might be red and blue. But, I say the Rangers win this one in 5.