Several divisions were not decided until today. Pretty exciting. From MLB, here are the Division Series opening matchups: Tigers at Yankees, 7 p.m. CT Tuesday Only a matter of feet separated a Brandon Inge grand slam from a foul ball on Sunday, and as a result the Tigers are not the American League Central champs but instead will head for the Bronx as the AL Wild Card. The Yankees are the AL East winners for the ninth straight year, and begin pursuit of a record 27th world championship by opening against a club they beat five of seven times this season. Athletics at Twins, 12 p.m. CT Tuesday That Detroit loss at KC marked a colossal turnaround for a Twins team that mastered the turnaround in 2006, giving Minnesota the division title and a chance to open in the Metrodome with AL Cy Young favorite Johan Santana. It marks the fifth postseason trip in seven years for an Oakland club that easily won the AL West. Cardinals at Padres, 3 p.m. CT Tuesday Both clubs won division titles at the last moment. St. Louis lost at home against Milwaukee but claims its third consecutive National League Central title by virtue of Houston's loss in Atlanta. San Diego and Los Angeles finished with victories and identical records, but the Padres win the West by virtue of the better head-to-head record against the Dodgers this season. Amazingly, it all came down to Trevor Hoffman surviving back-to-back homers in the ninth at Arizona and then a disputed play at second base, ending the regular season in stunning fashion. Dodgers at Mets, 3 p.m. CT Wednesday The Mets ran away with the NL East, ending the historic run of division titles by Atlanta. Now the boys from Queens' quest for a 20th-anniversary title celebration begins with an NLDS against the Dodgers, who had to watch the wild final scene at Arizona with bewilderment and now return to the postseason as a Wild Card. Maybe fans are in store for a Tigers-Padres 1984 World Series rematch. Maybe it will be another Subway Series, the way this decade began. Maybe the Cardinals will end their longest drought of titles by avenging their 1987 loss to the Twins. Or maybe we will be reminded of 1988, when Oakland went down to see Kirk Gibson and the Dodgers. It is time to start deciding this stuff, because those are the eight clubs that are in the 2006 Major League postseason. Who do you like for the ALCS & NLCS? World Series? WS Champion?
nice job, i was about to start this thread so we could get predictions down now, so i can go back later and show you how right i was. mets over dodgers in 4 padres over cards in 4 yankees over tigers in 3 twinkies over A's in 4 league championships: mets destroy padres, piazza and cameron play well, otherwise padres get hammered. twinkies burn yanks, santana dominates, mauer becomes superstar. WS mets in 6 over twinkies. reyes is series MVP. i cant wait.
mets over dodgers in 4 padres over cards in 3 yankees over tigers in 3 twinkies over A's in 5 Jim Leyland is obviously too old to be managing a baseball team. Dude kept saying he didn't care if he lost home field advantage, that it didnt mean that much. What a stooge. Your team feels like shyt losing to the hapless Royals 3 straight times. You are now going 3 and out to the Yanks. Verlander should have started Saturday and put an end to the charades. Oh well, you made your bed, now you get to lose 3 in a row in it. Dodgers starters will not fare well against the potent Mets offense, which has become rejuventated after those 2 back to back spankings in the middle of this past week. The Mets starters will pitch just well enough to get by and leave it up to the deepest bullpen in all of baseball to finish the job. Brad Penny suffered a back injury in his last start and that may also come into play (the fact that he isn't starting til game 3 must mean something). The Mets rotation has been severly lessened without Pedro. Their fortunes past the first round remain in question. Padres look for revenge against the Cardinals, who limped into the playoffs. Their #3 projected starter Anthony Reyes couldn't get out of the first inning today in his last start of the season. This does not bode well for the redbirds. LaRussa's bullpen is horrible and games will be lost late against the Padres, who probably sport the 2nd best bullpen, 2nd only to the Mets. Padres must get timely hits, as they do not rely on the long ball for much of their offense. Padres key to winning is keeping it close going into the 7th and they're golden. Carpenter must pitch the opening game of the series on the road, where his ERA is a less than mediocre 4.70. The Cardinals are fortunate the schedule allows for Carpenter to pitch game 4 at home, but they won't make it that far. Can the A's get out of the first round? It appears as though it won't happen again this season. I know they were begging the Tigers to win the game today, so they didn't have to face Johan Santana in games 1 and 5, both at the Metrodome. Just book those as wins, and the Twins can stumble threw the 3 middle games, winning only 1 of them, and still manage to survive. Twins don't have much to offer, starting wise, beyond Santana. But this is definitely the best offensive club they have brought to the playoffs recently, with Cudduyer being a central part to their success in the cleanup spot. Their bullpen is the best the AL has to offer.
Maybe in a short series, but in a 7 gamer, Yanks will prevail. Jeter will show Mauer that it's the postseason that brings out the MVP in a player.
Agreed. It's one thing to do great things during the regular season, quite different in the playoffs on a national stage. Santana would only get to pitch once at home. On the road, he is reduced to being human. The other starters will get killed by the Yankees juggernaut of an offense, the likes of which we have never witnessed before.
I like the Twins. Detroit is really not playing particularly well. They are 36-38 since the break. They have been on cruise controll and it cost them the division. In the national league I really do think that the Cards can beat the Pads. Thats not just a homer statement, I think if Carpenter can get them a good game 1 and steal homefield they have a shot. I also think the Dodgers could beat the Mets.
Athletics at Twins, 12 p.m. CT Tuesday Zito vs. Santana Zito's strength as a lefty is actually against right handed hitters (.228 vs. .250 BA lifetime). Thus Morneau and Mauer will need to come up with big hits as Cudduyer and Hunter will more than likely be kept at bay. Minnesota's record and current winning streak with Santana on the mound is to the point of being ridiculous. Joe Nathan must come up big with the save, helping erase the memories of his poor playoff performance against the Yankees a couple of years ago. Twins 4, A's 2 Cardinals at Padres, 3 p.m. CT Tuesday Carpenter vs. Peavy Jake Peavy would love nothing more than to make up for his poor outing in last year's playoffs agains these same Cardinals. Unfortunately he was injured then. This time, he will be ready. Carpenter is reduced to just an average or maybe even sub-par pitcher on the road (4.70 ERA), so it's critical the Padres take advantage in taking this first game. The formular is for Peavy to go 7 and hand it over to Linebrink and Hoffman to seal the deal. Look for Pujols to be pitched around in every scoring situation, putting the pressure on Rolen to come through. Padres 5, Cardinals 3 Tigers at Yankees, 7 p.m. CT Tuesday Robertson vs. Wang Wang pitched 8 shutout innings against the Tigers at home at the end of August. Wang pitches extremely well at home overall (3.03 ERA). The Tigers come in with egos bruised in giving away the division title by losing to the lowly Kansas City Royals the last 3 games of the regular season at home. Robertson actually fares better on the road, and pitched well at Yankee Stadium against Wang, but lost 2-0. Look for a few more runs scored this time around. If the Tigers are to have any chance in this series, they must steal game one. Yankees 6, Tigers 4 Dodgers at Mets, 3 p.m. CT Wednesday Lowe vs. Hernandez El Duque comes into this affair pitching much like the El Duque of old (7 ER in last 6 outings combined, with 42 Ks in 37 IP). Included in that span, was a dominating performance at home vs. these same Dodgers. Derrick Lowe has been solid and consistent all season long. He does pitch significantly better at home however (4.13 road ERA). Look for Shawn Green to come up with a big hit in this one (career .417 BA vs Lowe with 3 homers). Mets 5, Dodgers 1
he started his best pitcher in bonderman. verlander was shut down due to tired arm from throwing way many more innings than the year before. of course hes gonna try to spin it into a positive. can't manage? if you really believe that you're as clueless as scrappy. took a team with over 100 losses 3 years ago to where it is now is undoubtedly directly attributed to his skills. ill be back with predictions later.
These team has gone into the tank at the wrong point of the season. Don't tell me these players aren't thinking about how they could be playing in front of their fans vs. the A's as opposed to going into intimidating Yankee stadium. The weekend play was unacceptable, and that has to be put on the manager.
you're the eipitome of the monday morning qb. incorrect, **** happens. you just said he shoulda started verlander not knowing about his hurt/tired arm the last month and a half. then you failed to realize bonderman is their best pitcher in the second half. he started his best and lost. the biggest problem is kenny rogers realized he was kenny rogers when he was needed most. hes never beaten the yanks and never will. not facing the A's first dooms any hope they had. of course leyland knew it was a must win and played it as such. now he has to try and be positive about their total collapse to the phreaking royals. theres no way this team makes it out the first round from what ive seen. we can agree on that much.
