Postseason Predictions

Alright here are my official 2011 MLB Postseason Predictions

DIVISIONAL SERIES

DET-NYY Let's get this out of the way. Of course I will root for my Yanks, but in all honesty as I said in my other blog entry, detroit is the real deal. They just have it. they have the chemistry and I think they will, what I guess will be considered an upset, defeat the Yankees. Verlander gets in the Yankees head like Cliff Lee, and the tigers have better pitching than the Yankees do. As much as I liked it, I think the loss on Wednesday will tell the baseball gods, the Yankees are not deserving compared to the 2005 Chcago White Sox. DETROIT IN 4

TB-TEX Tampa is a feel good story and it seems liek people think they are going to go far since they were given the chance when they shouldnt be here. However I think the long fight will end here. Once Texas clinched they were forgotten and all the focus is now on the Rays. I think Tampa will cool off on offense, and Texas will cruise into the ALCS despite the probable better pitching staff of Tampa. Also the child of the Texas Ranger fan who lost his life earlier this year in Texas will throw out the first pitch in Game 1 giving the Rangers the emotional edge they need in Game 1 which should give them a win. TEXAS IN 4

STL-PHI I still cant see how St. Louis got here. Where did htey come from? they aren't even that good and Philly will shut htis team down and quickly get them out of the playoffs. If St.Louis wins I will be highly surprised. Philly is just ckearly better. PHILADELPHIA IN 3

ARI-MIL I think what can be a great series really wont be. Milwaukee has too much talent and Arizona is way too inexperienced. ARizona's offense will get sht down a great run and hopefully for them a good experience. Winning one game here would be a positive for them. Dont think it's going to happen though. MILWAUKEE IN 3

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

DET-TEX I stand by my earlier prediciton, and I think Detroit will pull through in a great series. A very evenly matched series except for the pitching. Detroit has a better staff and a way more certain bullpen. Adams is not the same in Texas as he was in San Diego, two different types of ballparks. Leyland out manages Washington in a trip to the World Series. MVP- Verlander DETROIT IN 6

MIL-PHI I think a very competitive series will go down to the wire. I think this is the NL matchup we all want. Milwaukee has that chemistry that you can see them winning it all. TONY PLUSH!!!!! But Philadelphia is too much and too strong. I will say later on why they have a certain stright and comparison. MVP- Chase Utley PHILADELPHIA IN 7

WORLD SERIES

DET-PHI This series will be very good for baseball fans but not for ones who dont care as much. Philadelphia's pithcing staff is too much to go along with a now very good offense. What puts Philadelphia over the top tht i mentioned before is the fact that they remind me of those 2005 White Sox. When things didn't matter for them and everything for Atlanta, they end up winnning that game similar to Chicago's beating of Cleveland when Cleveland was up for a Wild Card spot with Boston. I thiml they may just be that good. They may be too much for Detroit and home field will give them the edge. As much as I'd hate to say it, they'll win in 6. MVP- Roy Halladay

2011 CHAMPIONS - Philadelphia Phillies

The Boston Flee Party

Oh how I loved how this baseball year has turned out. What we saw Wednesday night was possibly the greatest night in baseball history not only in my eyes but in most of the public's as well, and my Yankees didn't even win! You cant script what had occurred that momentous night. This is exactly why sports is the ultimate reality TV. MTV or Bravo cant come close to the entertainment that ESPN provided for us.

For once in my life I enjoyed the Yankees losing. As much as I wanted them to win and have Tampa Bay just beat Boston in the one game playoff, I think what actually happened was better. I think it was better seeing the last place Baltimore Orioles absolutely stun the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th down a run with 2 outs and no men on base. I was so close to just write Boston in with the lead and Tampa gone who was down 7 runs late in that game, but something told me and perhaps all of us something was going to happen. I actually fell asleep right around the rain delay that occur ed in Baltimore to wake up and see that both games were somehow still going on. There was that disturbing feeling even though seeing 2 strikes and 2 outs in each game that told me this just couldn't end right now and both games would prolong.

Tampa's comeback was so epic, it almost seemed unreal. When it was 7-6 with the 2-2 count and 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth, Dan Johnson up to bat and Cory Wade pitching, I had something say in my mind, are the Yankees really going to win this game? I couldn't have a reason in my mind that they shouldve yet would've. It's like I almost knew that Johnson would hit a home run because I knew it was too good to end. If we would've won that game, it would've made us "good guys" to those in Boston which can never happen. It's not the Yankees montra to be seen as "good guys" in other cities not named New York. And there it was the season saving home run and Yankee fans all smiled for the weirdest of reasons. Then Baltimore coming back in the 9th in Boston was almost so quick it didn't feel like it actually didn't happen. They played the exact same role as the Buffalo Bills this past week. A team who has the worst of track records against the highly favored team in New England, seemingly for some unexplained reason came through. Then again Yankee fans smiled. And sure enough minutes after the Boston collapse, Longoria hits the walk off and Yankee fans again rejoiced. i think for the first time in our lives, were able to see baseball through the eyes of the "little guys" and I think for about 20 minutes were truly exposed to the real wonders of baseball. Coincidence that the movie Moneyball just came out huh? ( By the way which was a great movie)

Wednesday was the most prime example of why a true sports fan knows why baseball is the greatest sport. Nothing builds up excitement and anticipation more than this sport when it's in its highlight moments. The amount of concentration of baseball contains in limitless. It's both slow and fast in ways that the human mind cant seem to control in suspense. This is why in my eyes, Wednesday night was the single greatest day in baseball history! Oh how I loved all the biased Red Sox fan news anchors the next day on Sportscenter just quiver when going over the highlights. You can just see the shame on their faces. Boy do I wish I can just rub it in Buchigross' face.

And here we are now with Boston. The team who was, along with the Philadelphia Phillies, in most of the headlines in the off season with its free agent pickups of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and were heavy favorites by almost all the experts to make it to the World Series. Both were absolute failures for them when it mattered the most. they couldn't handle the big stage even though Crawford was seemingly transparent throughout the whole year. The failure of this team now arises questionability of whether changes need to be made. it was said today that Terry Francona, the manger of the team is on his way out due to lack of ability to control a clubhouse filled with the superstar egos and players they have. Theo Epstein the general manager of the team is also in question of whether he would stay and not take the job in Chicago trying to rebuild his second historically cursed franchise. The now free agents in the most lovable Red Sox, David "Big Papi" Ortiz who is a wonder of how much left he has in the tank and the pompous arrogant closer Johnathan Papelbon, more like Papelbum! Something must be really bad there since they are really wanting change for a team that was given one year and missed the playoffs by a game. There must be a huge lack of chemistry, something they have been long known to have. Keep in mind they didn't have their second best pitcher for most of the year in Buccholz. The fact that two although hated, very smart individuals in Francona and Epstein seemingly might want to leave in this situation could possibly mean the end of the longtime powerful run of the Boston Red Sox. Sufferers of the biggest collapse in baseball history may finally put my Yankees greatest foes down the drain once and for all. They known something all of us don't with what still is a very good baseball team within that clubhouse that has bad signs. Oh how this off season could be another sign of Yankee fans smiling. By the way I give big props to the mlb facebook page for this picture which I find as a fantastic way of describing this scenario.

Can You Hear the Quiet Roar?

Yeah it's been a while since I made my last post. The start of school got in the way along with some laziness and lack of stories to really blog about. Well I'm back to talk about a very interesting team heading into the MLB Postseason: The Detroit Tigers.

There's something about this team that has me thinking that they are special and could cause a real havoc in the playoffs for the other A.L teams. They are in reality destroying the competition in their division when a lot of analysts were thinking this division race was still close. The A.L Central is pretty much wrapped up. Detroit just swept the four game series with the Chi Sox and probably are going to do close to the same in Cleveland the other only slight hopeful team to make a comeback in that division.

Everyone is talking about the Yankees and the Red Sox and Texas is the reigning A.L Champs so they aren't exactly sleepers either and it seems everyone is overlooking a very quietly good Detroit team. The way they are playing, they remind of the White Sox in 2005. The White Sox had that division wrapped up and completely obliterated the competition down the stretch including an Indians team that was vying for the Wild Card Spot. The Tigers are doing that now and it seems like they are doing it with ease.

To me they have the complete package as a team. A very good front three in the rotation, something the other 3 teams in the A.L currently lack, a high powered offense that's third in team average in the majors and fourth in both hits ans runs, and a dominant closer. It looks like they have more heart and consistency on the baseball field than the other 3 teams along with the great amount of talent. They are relatively healthy and most of their players have postseason experience.

It seems like every year one surprise team make the postseason and World Series. Yeah this year we have the Diamondbacks who no one had making the postseason running away with the N.L West, but I don't see them having enough talent to beat Philadelphia, Atlanta or Milwaukee. They will probably be that nice story team that plays the Phillies in the first round then gets smacked and swept by them and we forget all about them. Detroit is that other kind of surprise. Chicago and Minnesota were the favorites in that division going into the year. Detroit in my opinion can beat any of those A.L teams. They still have some of that core team that beat the Yankees in 2006 in the ALDS and i can see it happening again. Boston shows a ton of inconsistency heading down the stretch and are getting hurt left and right and they have won the season series against Texas and the last time they played them in Texas they looked like they had their number out there.

This team is for real and I don't have any doubts that they would upset any of the other 3 teams and win the pennant in late October. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers better watch out, or else they will be getting upset by this team in which I don't think you can consider much of an upset, heading into an off-season with no rings on their fingers. Believe is or not Detroit is the team to beat in the American League. Official Playoff Predictions coming at the end of the regular season. Stay Tuned!