If it’s October, it must be that time of year again, where eight baseball teams, having survived the grueling 162-game marathon, now ready themselves for the postseason.
Eight teams: the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees (who else?) and Oakland A’s will fight for the American League pennant while the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals will fight to represent the National League. Here is a preview of each series (and sad to say, there are no upsets in the making).
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers: This is a no-brainer, the Yankees appear to be the far superior team with loads of postseason experience while the Tigers are untested, unproven and stumbling into the playoffs. The Yankees got hot right after George Steinbrenner reached deep into his bank account and made the trade for Bobby Abreu, winning six of their first eight and sweeping the Boston Red Sox in a five-game series that practically won the Yankees’ ninth straight division title. Meanwhile, the Tigers lost their last five games and with it the AL Central to Minnesota, plus the pitching matchups tend to favor the Yankees. Chen-Ming Wang starts game one for the Yankees and is 6-2 with a 3.77 ERA in his last 10 starts, establishing himself as the ace of the Yankee staff. Plus, game one is at Yankee Stadium. After that, Mike Mussina (15-7, 3.51 ERA) pitches against rookie Justin Verlander in game two, and as good as Verlander has been this year (17-9, 3.63 ERA) I’m not sure I trust a rookie pitcher pitching in his very first postseason game at Yankee Stadium in October. The Tigers might win one game: Game three in Detroit against Randy Johnson, whose health is still in question, but I can’t see this series going past four games, not with Derek Jeter coming off an MVP season and Mariano Rivera as the closer.
Prediction: Yankees in four.
Oakland A’s vs. Minnesota Twins: This series appears to be too close to call. The pitching matchups appear to be evenly matched. American League Cy Young candidate Johan Santana (19-6, 2.77 ERA) starts game one for the Twins vs. Oakland Ace Barry Zito (16-10, 3.83 ERA), but after that, there’s not much both teams have to offer. The Twins have Boof Bosner (7-6, 4.22 ERA) going in game two vs. Esteban Loaiza (11-9, 4.89 ERA) and Brad Radke (12-9, 4.32 ERA) goes in game three for the Twins. The A’s are undecided on a starter, though it is likely to be Rich Harden, who spent most of the season on the DL. I give the edge to the Twins, mainly due to their offense, posting a league-best .287 batting average. The offense will be led by American League Batting Champion Joe Mauer (.347 BA), Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer. Plus with Santana on the mound in a five-game series in the Metrodome, I like the Twins’ chances.
Prediction: Twins in five.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets: Another close series that wasn’t supposed to be, but became so when the Mets lost Pedro Martinez for the postseason and beyond, not to mention reliever Duaner Sanchez earlier in the season. The Dodgers will have a well-rested Derek Lowe going in game one, but left-handed rookie Hong-Chih Kuo will go in game two. The assumption is that Kuo is a tempting left-handed starter against a Mets lineup dominated by lefties. Still, starting a rookie like Kuo in the playoffs on the road can be dangerous, and though he did pitch well in the last two weeks, the playoffs are a new beast. So game one is critical to the Dodgers’ chances of pulling the upset, especially with Maddux set to start game three at Dodger Stadium and Lowe lurking in game four on normal day’s rest. Lose game one and the pressure on Kuo in game two will be immense. The Dodgers’ offense has quietly gotten the job done this season, leading the National League in team batting average (.276) and on-base percentage (.348) and sixth in slugging percentage at .432 (which is somewhat hard to believe, considering they were next-to-last in home runs). J.D. Drew has quietly put up some impressive numbers for the Blue crew, slugging 20 home runs and driving in 100 runs. Still, it should be a closely contested series that could go the full five. I tend to favor the Mets mainly due to the Dodgers’ question marks in the pitching category, not to mention Nomar Garciaparra isn’t at full strength. Even without Pedro, a Mets batting lineup with Jose Reyes, David Wright, Paul LoDuca, David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Cliff Floyd and Shawn Green will be enough to win this series.
Prediction: Mets in five.
San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals: Another series where momentum could be a factor. The Padres have shown incredible resilience since that unbelievable collapse against the Dodgers two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the Cardinals narrowly avoided the biggest collapse in baseball history, watching as the Houston Astros whittled down an eight and a half game deficit in a week’s span and needed a Houston loss on the final day to wrap up the NL Central. I favor the Padres in this series mainly due to the Padres’ timely hitting. Dave Roberts is a solid leadoff hitter, sporting a .360 on-base percentage and stealing 49 bases. Adrian Gonzalez had a big year for the Friars, hitting .304 with 20 home runs. Brian Giles’ numbers have dipped significantly, but he is still a threat, as is Mike Piazza. Piazza hit 22 home runs and had a .501 slugging percentage. The Padres’ pitching is a little suspect. Jake Peavy went 11-14 with a 4.09 ERA and David Wells, brought over from the Red Sox in August, didn’t fare too well, going 2-3 since the trade. Chris Young was solid for San Diego, going 11-5 with a 3.46 ERA, and that one closer in the bullpen named Trevor Hoffman. Aside from giving up the latter of the four home runs against the Dodgers (which he can blame on manager Bruce Bochy for not bringing him in to start the ninth) and back-to-back jacks in the ninth against Arizona on Oct. 1, Hoffman has been his usual self, saving 46 games and becoming the all-time saves leader with 481 total. Now the Cardinals will make it a series. How could they not as long as they have Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen, but ultimately, the Padres’ combination of patient hitting and effective pitching will be enough to win the series.
Prediction: Padres in five.
