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October 03, 2006

Playoff Watch 2006

It's that time of year again. I hate this time of year in one sense, since there's a lot less baseball available and we're a long ways from the good times of Spring Training and beyond, but there's always excitement in the playoffs. Already we see that Oakland has stunned Minnesota with a 3-2 victory over Twins ace and probably Cy Young winner Johan Santana to take a 1-0 lead in that series, so it promises to be an interesting postseason.

In the first round, I see things working out as follows:
I thought Minnesota would defeat Oakland, and while I may look bad for saying so after their ace goes down, I'm sticking with that. Minnesota in five.
Look for St. Louis' repreive on Sunday to be short-lived. The Padres should make short work of their fellow clergymen, winning in four games.
Dodgers-Mets should be a fun one. The Dodgers finished very strong, and it's always good to hit the playoffs playing your best ball of the year. Look for LA to knock the Mets out in five games.
And the Yankees will take out Detroit in four, as Detroit's magical five months in 2006 will turn to bitter ashes in the face of New York's assemblage of talent.

In the League Championship Series, things should get interesting.
The Padres and Dodgers finished the year tied, although the Padres won the season series and therefore get home field advantage. The Padres played hard through the last day of the season to get home field advantage, while the Dodgers chose to be happy with a playoff berth and rested a little more at the end. This series should show which manager was the wiser. Past history has me leaning strongly against any interpretation of Grady Little as wise, so I expect San Diego will take this series in six.
In the AL, meanwhile, I expect Oakland to see their hopes ended by the Yankees yet again, also in six games. New York's iffy pitching will still be enough when backed by their awesome hitting.

So the World Series will be a rematch of 1998. The good news for Padres fans is, they'll probably win a game or two this time. But, much as I hate to say it, I expect to see the Yankees on top at the end of this Series, therefore ending Boston's brief reign of having a shorter championship drought than New York.

Still, it was fun while it lasted.