MLB Playoffs

Everyone and their sister is dying to find out my predictions for the playoffs in Major League Baseball. Kidding. But really, I am going to tell you what I think will happen, and then you can laugh at me.

The Yankees and Angels provide baseball fans with a reason to stay up late for baseball on the West Coast. This is a fantastic matchup featuring two very good ball clubs. The Angels pitching and fielding outweighs the Yankees, with Cy Young front-runner Bartolo Colon heading up a staff featuring strikeout-happy starters like Jarrod Washburn and John Lackey. There is no doubt the Angels will get good starts from Colon and Washburn, but can John Lackey avoid control problems against a patient and very potent Yankees offense? Kelvim Escobar, Scot Shields, K-Rod, and Brendan Donnelly are four names that generate fear inside of opposing managers. Hit early, Yankees, because after the 7th or even the 6th, it will get really hard to do much with your bats.

That being said, the Yankees feature a confident and surging Randy Johnson backed by three or four very competent supporting cast members. Questions hover around Aaron Small, Chien-Mien Wang, and Shawn Chacon as to whether or not they can perform as well as they did during the regular season. If any of these three put in a solid start in this short series, the Yankees can rely on Randy for two starts, then turn things over to always trusted Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera. Hopefully for the Bronx Bombers, Mike Mussina will be healthy and effective, but much like Boston's Curt Schilling, this seasoned postseason veteran will be up to the task regardless of his health. I look at the Angels lineup and fear that it lacks the punch needed to beat the Yanks. The winner of this series will be the team that can get to its bullpen the earliest with a lead. I am going to fight against the grain of ESPN expert picks and say the Yankees will beat the Angels in five games.

The White Sox have worked so hard all season to get to this point, and they were rewarded by drawing the defending World Champs in the first round. I think this matchup favors the Red Sox for two reasons: 1) Jose Contreras is notoriously bad against the Sox and he has the ball in Game One and maybe Game Five if things get that far; and 2) The White Sox will need to win a game in Boston, which isn't going to happen easily in that environment. I would love to see Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland pitch well in Boston in October in front of those fans. The White Sox will need their home run power, which returned the final week of the season, combined with shutdown pitching. The Red Sox lineup boasts the most runs, best batting average, and the best on-base percentage in the Major Leagues. An interesting stat to throw around is walks: the Red Sox led all teams in walks, which can directly attribute to their highest OBP honor. That will challenge White Sox pitchers to attack the zone, and if they aren't careful, Red Sox hitters will find pitches up in the zone to drive, and score plenty of runs. I think the experience and the overwhelming home-field advantage in games three and four will push the Red Sox over the top against a very good White Sox team. Red Sox in four.

In the National League, it seems, to the naked eye, that there is no real competition to the Cardinals. The closest team, record-wise, to the Birds is Atlanta, a team that won ten fewer games than the Cardinals. The Astros, however, possess the kind of rotation that creates playoff memories. I cannot wait to see the Astros Big Three against the Cardinals and Pujols in the NLCS. Oh no, I gave away my picks.

The Cardinals will beat the Padres. The Padres are tougher than most think. Jake Peavy, Brian Lawrence, Woody Williams, and Pedro Astacio are all very good starters, plus Trevor Hoffman, Scott Linebrink, and Rudy Seanez out of the bullpen make the Padres a tough team to hit against in the later innings. If they are able to control the bats of Pujols, Edmonds, Eckstein, and the rest of the gang, the Cardinals might be in trouble. I don't think that will happen, the Cardinals are a tough, playoff-tested club with the drive to win. I like Tony LaRussa in most big game managerial situations. Albert Pujols is the best hitter in the National League and definitely has the supporting cast to make a run at the World Series. Chris Carpenter needs to be dynamite for his team this postseason and if he isn't, the Cards might be in trouble. If their battered staff can stay healthy throughout the playoffs and remain effective, they will be the team to beat. The Cardinals are too much for the Padres in terms of experience and hitting, and will win this series. The Padres will give up a fight, but I like the Cardinals in four.

The Astros snuck into the playoffs on the last day for the second time in two years. Andruw Jones carried the entire Braves club into the postseason with his big flies. The NL MVP (in my opinion) will need to keep hitting for his team to compete with a tough Astros rotation. The Astros can throw out three of the game's top pitchers continuously over the next month, and that makes them the most dangerous team in the playoffs. Clemens, Pettitte, and Oswalt will dominate the Braves lineup. Tim Hudson and John Smoltz are certainly worthy opponents for the new Big Three, and might be able to steal a win or two from them. The Astros really need to hit, and if they can put four or five runs on the board every night, they will be in good shape. The Braves can only hope that their young stars will keep playing hard and maybe smack around the Astros pitching. If they are patient, avoid mental mistakes, and stay focused in the batter's box, they have a legitimate shot at beating the Houston Astros. Nonetheless, I think the combination of Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt, and Lidge will be enough to beat the Braves in five games.


ALCS
Based on my predictions, each LCS will feature the same matchups that we saw last year: Red Sox-Yankees and Cardinals-Astros. I won't lie, this year is even more appealing. The Red Sox will be defending World Champs, playing with that title for the first time since 1919. The Yankees will be eager to end the tragic memories from last season's finish. I really think the Red Sox starters will be up to the task. I like Jon Papelbon out of the 'pen, Timlin as a closer, and Francona has become adept at using Mike Myers and Chad Bradford in tough situations. The Yankees will be tough in any Randy Johnson start, but the Red Sox staff has so much more valuable playoff experience that may outlast the young Yankees staff behind Johnson and Mussina. This will be another high drama series, but I like the Red Sox because of the David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combination. The Red Sox win another great series in seven games.

NLCS
The Cardinals need Chris Carpenter to be lights out every time he pitches. The Astros need four good starts out of seven tries from Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Roy Oswalt. And no, this is not the National League All-Stars' pitching versus the Cardinals. The Astros hitting might cost them some key opportunities to win games, but I think the experience from last year will help them overcome their hitting woes. The pitching of the Astros is just too much for any lineup other than the Yankees and the Red Sox. Something about Chris Carpenter's last few outings makes me wonder if he is ready for the playoffs. Matt Morris and Mark Mulder need to be dominant, but they are really banged up. Mulder has not been overly impressive in his last five starts and Morris has to continue his recent form. If the Cardinals can neutralize the Astros pitching, which will not be easy, they will win this series. But you cannot neutralize the kind of pitching that the Astros have, and for that reason, the Astros beat the Cardinals in six games.

WORLD SERIES
The 2005 World Series will feature two incredibly different teams: The pitching-dependent Astros versus the bat-relying Red Sox. The Red Sox have a little pitching to counter the Astros hitting woes. The Red Sox feature nine very difficult outs. The Astros are the only team in the Major Leagues capable of producing three guys that legitimately have a shot at shutting down this Red Sox offense. The matchups would feature classics, just imagine:

Clemens-Wells
Oswalt-Wakefield
Pettitte-Schilling

What? Schilling's not up to it? Are you kidding me? Curt Schilling will be in a different state when he is on this level. His health, his mental stability, his location, all that is tossed out the door when you put a guy like Schilling on the mound in a big game. In two huge games against the Yankees this September, Schilling tossed 14 innings, yielding just three earned runs. As long as he can be crafty against a lesser hitting team like the Astros, he will be effective in this setting.

I think it will come down to the Astros pitching and their effectiveness. If they can shut down this incredibly tough Red Sox offense, then they will be able to win the World Series. I think they can shut the Red Sox hitters down enough to win. The Houston Astros will win the 2005 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox.

note--I finished very close to a lot of the final season records. My predictions at the All-Star Break were not too far off after all, except a few big misses like Minnesota and Florida.