Playoff Predictions - Round 1

It's October and playoff baseball is here! Somehow regardless of how disinterested in the MLB season I may have become after 162 games, I always get excited for the playoffs, and I'm very seldom disappointed. I have some great memories of watching Atlanta's crazy NLCS win over the Pirates in 1992, Joe Carter's HR to beat the Phillies in 1993, the Padres great run in 1998, Arizona overcoming BY Kim's implosion to beat the Yankees in Steve's dorm room in 2001, the A's collapse in 2003, and of course the Aaron Boone, Papi, and the bloody sock in 2003 and 2004. Heck, I even vaguely remember crying foul at the 1987 WS when the home team won each game, but the Twins prevailed over my Cardinals in no small part due to the advantage they had being familiar with how to field fly balls in the Metrodome (I wonder if they turned on the air conditioning system for the home half back then, too...).

So without further ado, and definitely without anywhere near as much thought or analysis as Sky puts into his blog, I present my 2007 MLB playoff predictions:

Yankees vs. Indians
Man, I really like the Indians, and will be rooting heartily for them, but I think I have to pick the Stankees in this one. I see ARod having a huge postseason and finally putting to rest all those stories about how he can't handle the playoff pressure. Although, with CC and Fausto on their game, that could be an easy 3 wins for the Indians. I'm concerned about how their offense really struggled the last couple weeks, too. I think the Yankees score too many runs, most of which come after the 5th inning, and take this one 3-1.

Angels vs. Red Sox
I am definitely not as much of a Red Sox fan as I used to be, but I still think they are the best team in the playoffs. They shouldn't have too much trouble dispatching the Angels. Vlad is relegated to DHing, and there are major questions about the Angels pitchers not named Lackey, with Escobar's shoulder issues and Weaver and Santana's general inconsistency. Boston has a huge power advantage, and it'll be interesting to see if playing in Fenway stifles the Angels running game much outside plain SBs. I'll say Boston sweeps, 3-0.

Rockies vs. Phillies
I'm not going out on a limb at all by saying a lot of runs will be scored in this series. Good hitting + bad pitching + 2 of the most hitter-friendly parks out there = an exciting offensive series. I think this one could go either way and it would only be fitting, given the drama that got both of these teams into the playoffs, for it to go 5 games. Rockies take it in 5, with Jamie Moyer getting lit up like a neon Coors sign in game 5.

Diamondacks vs. Cubs
Does Bartman still have season tickets? No? Ok, then it should be safe to pick the Cubbies here. Aside from when Brandon Webb is pitching for the Snakes, I think Chicago is clearly the better team. Webb vs. Zambrano will be a good matchup to watch, and I'll give the first game to the D-Backs and Webb, but after that the Cubs take 3 straight. I mean, Doug Davis, Livan Hernandez, and Micah Owings? Sheesh, that doesn't sound like a winning playoff rotation. Arizona's lineup is equally unimpressive - after looking into this I don't know how they ended up ahead of the Rockies and Padres this season. Cubs, 3-1.