Samples: Who will get through the MLB playoffs?
By CHUCK SAMPLES
ISL Correspondent
ISL Correspondent
After a pulsating end to the major league regular season (for a lot of us, myself included), the playoffs begin Friday.
The past month saw a sprint to the finish in the AL East, won ultimately by the Yankees, the resurgence of Detroit coupled with a late stumble by Chicago…and no-name Oakland charging to the tape as Texas put the bus into cruise control mode way too early.
So who gets to the World Series? Here’s how I see it, and there’s nothing sabermetric about it:
American League
Wild card: Texas over Baltimore. This kills me to write, but I think the Orioles pressed and tried to do too much in Tampa earlier this week. I understand Texas may be totally shell-shocked after flat-out giving the division to Oakland, but I also don’t think the O’s solve Yu Darvish. Great run, Baltimore, see you in the playoffs in another decade.
Division series: Oakland over Detroit, New York over Texas. Pitching has been pretty darn good, all things considered, for Detroit, but Oakland just has that “team of destiny” look written all over it right now. In the other series, I’m still waiting for the Yankees to age 2,500 years collectively all at once. It just doesn’t look like that will happen this season.
LCS: New York over Oakland. Sometimes, teams of destiny find that destiny doesn’t come with a trophy attached.
National League:
Wild card: St. Louis over Atlanta. Manager Mike Matheny is not playoff tested — at least not in his current capacity — but Kyle Lohse is, and that’s good enough for me. This would be a bitter end to the Chipper Jones era, especially after how last year ended for the Braves.
Division series: Cincinnati over San Francisco, St. Louis over Washington. As even as the Cincy-San Francisco matchup is, I just like the Reds. Gut feeling, nothing more than that. In the Cards-Nats series, I foresee two things happening. One is a Freese warning. The other? You know how there is always one team barreling into the playoffs only to see the wheels fall off at the first speed bump? Something tells me that’s the Nationals this year.
LCS: Cincinnati over St. Louis. I’ve been going back and forth on this for a while, but in the end I think Dusty Baker pushes the buttons that work. Well, more of them than Matheny. Amazing, I know.
