The MLB playoffs start tomorrow. The yearly Yankees-Twins playoffs series is on at prime-time again. It seems like the AL playoffs always features either the Twins losing to the Yankees or the Yankees losing to the Angels. This year, the Angels are out and the Twins will probably lose to the Yankees. I am glad to see Francisco Liriano back and doing well and winning the comeback player of the year award. He starts game 1 against C.C.Sabathia. He may win, but it may not matter anyways. Pettitte and Hughes go in game 2 and 3 and unfortunately for the Twins, the Yankees offense will be playing all the games all the time! Yanks in 4 as always I guess. It would be funny if Carl Pavano beats Pettitte after all the time he spent, rather wasted in NY. That may be the most intriguing story-line of this series for me.
In Philadelphia, Roy Halladay starts his first ever playoff game. He should win another Cy Young this year with his 21-10 record and 2.44 ERA, but I am sure he is not sleeping today because of the playoff excitement and anxiety. He is going against Edinson Vólquez and the Reds who have not been to the playoffs forever. It will be good to see Dusty Baker back in the big dance. But I don't think Dusty will be happy to see Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels on back-to-back-to-back games, Thats as tough a pitching matchup as we will see in these playoffs. Plus the Phillies have the hitting to back that pitching up. Ryan Howard had an "off year" with just 31 homers and 108 RBIs, but that should be enough to set this pitching up for success. Phillies in 4.
The Texas Rangers have never won a playoffs series ever. I find that stat hard to believe. But the Rangers may not be able to change that this season either. It's great that they made the playoffs, but I pick the Rays primarily because of the level of competition the Rays endured on their way to these playoffs. The Rays have a much better record than the Rangers despite playing in a much tougher division and going down the wire to win that division. The Rangers on the other hand, won the division where the Oakland A's were the second best team at 81-81. The A's organization don't even want to win these days. Winning creates stars and that costs money. The A's just want to be in a perpetual rebuilding mode. These 2 divisions are so different it's almost like one is in the big league and the other is in the minor leagues. With all that said, Josh Hamilton, Cliff Lee and bad Vlad will make this challenging for the Rays. But Rays should take it in 5.
All 4 playoff games feature a Cy Young winner in game 1 - Lee, Halladay, CC and Lincecum - another proof that pitching is the key ingredient to success in baseball. That brings me to the Giants. I was hoping against hope that they would miss the playoffs, but they made it despite some spirited showing by the Padres in that season-ending series. The Giants finally won on the last day of the regular season after losing the previous 2 games to the Padres. They play the Braves in the NLDS and they should win it behind that filthy pitching - Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez with Bumgarner waiting in the wings. The Giants are probably going to leave their 120 million dollar man Zito off the playoff roster. That tells you all you need to know about Zito and about how loaded the Giants pitching is. Atlanta will hang in there behind Tim Hudson who is back strong after 2 injury plagued seasons and they would love to win one for their retiring manager Bobby Cox, but the Gigantes should take it in 5. I don't trust the Atlanta pitching outside of Hudson. I have always thought Derek Lowe is overrated and he will show us why again on Thursday.
In the NFL, Moss is going to Minnesota in a trade. A hired gun who is going to be a pain starting next season. But lets see if Favre clicks with him this season.
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