Mere hours before the Yankees and Rangers open the Championship Series round of the MLB Playoffs, I've decided to give you the why. Why the Yankees, Rangers, Phillies, and Giants? Well I'll tell you, and no it's not going to be, 'well because they won the most games.' This is article is the second of three MLB Playoff articles. First one was called "Observing October," and was an overview of the eight teams in playoffs this year. The third will be a follow up to this article and will talk about the two teams in the World Series. But going back to the present article, I'll analyze, this probably is too strong a word, the AL teams first because they will appear first in the Championship Series.
As everyone should know. The Yankees played the Twins and the Rangers played the Rays in the ALDS. My predictions went Yankees over Twins and Rays over Rangers. I was half right. In a repeat of last year, the Yankees swept the Twins. The Twins quite honestly just looked like they had no heart in that series. In Game 1, they were hitting and scoring off CC early, but couldn't hold the lead. I think the Twins gave up after that game. I think they just started to think, 'Wow if we can put up 4 runs against their ace and still not win, then maybe it's just not our time.' Games 2 and 3 the Twins just looked stale. Now of course the pitching match ups were in favor of the Yankees those two games, but the Twins did win their division with their starting rotation. What it came down too was that the Yankees were just too much. They had the starters, the bullpen, the starting 9, and the bench. The Yankees were a complete team for the first time in a month or so during that series. With everything coming together and the Twins trying to fight off the notion of being 2-7 against the Yankees in the playoffs, there was no way the Yankees could lose. The Rays might not have beat the Rangers like I said they would, but the two teams did fulfill something else I said. I said the Rays/Rangers would be the most exciting series of the ALDS or NLDS, and it was the only series that went all five games. It was also the first series in which the away team won all games. The Rangers won this series because their main starters got the job done. If either Cliff Lee or CJ Wilson had a bad game, then I'd be talking about how the Rangers pitching blew it. These two really set the tone for the rest of the series. Of course the Rangers offense did not have too many problems either. When it's all said and done, the deciding factor in this series was Cliff Lee. Without Lee, the Rangers would have never advanced on, great pick up for the Rangers.
If you like dominant pitching combined with costly errors, then I'm sure you loved this years NLDS. It was the Reds facing the Phils and the Giants facing the Braves. The Phillies swept the Reds. Why? Pitching and costly Red errors. Halladay throws a no-no in his first ever playoff game against a Reds offense that isn't exactly a pushover. Hamels follows suit with a shutout of his own in Game 3. Only Oswalt of the H20 combination had trouble, but the Reds defense also had trouble that game. Phillies won Game 2 based on those costly errors. So when I say the Reds lost due to pitching and errors, I literally mean that's why they lost. Phillies also made some errors throughout the series, but they had the where-with-all to always recover from them. The Reds also just did not have any playoff experience other than Scott Rolen, and he had a terrible series anyways. The Phillies team is basically the same team that won the 08 World Series and lost last year's World Series, and so the playoffs have become sort of a second nature to them.
Speaking of the playoffs being second nature, the Braves of the 90s and early 00s were literally always in the playoffs. Then they went on a five year drought. Then this year Bobby Cox announced he was retiring, and so they decide to get into the playoffs. What did they do in the playoffs? Well they ran into the Giants extremely dominant starting pitching. The ones who posted a 0.38 combined ERA after Games 1-3. I said the Giants pitching was amazing, and I said the Braves starting nine were not too powerful, but I did not expect the result would be a 0.38 ERA. This year's Braves were mediocre at best, and I think they would have matched up better against the Reds. The Giants pitching staff has handled mediocre offenses all year, so in a way their dominance should have been expected. Their makeshift offense was able to get past the veteran pitching of Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson as well. Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad made some vital errors that also didn't exactly help the Braves. I think this series would have been better if the Giants pitching wasn't so good, but the pitching really just gave away this series.
Looking forward to the future, the Yankees, Rangers, Phillies, and Giants are all competing for a spot in the World Series. The Yankees/Rangers series will be a good series. Both teams are rather complete in that they have powerhouses offenses and great pitching. Yankees have the early advantage because they don't have to face Cliff Lee until Game 3, and when they do they will have the Andy Pettite on the mound, who has the most wins in playoff history. CJ Wilson did excellent against the Rays the last time he pitched, but he has also allowed 11 runs in 3 starts he made against the Yankees this season. On the other hand, the Yankees have done terrible at Texas this year. The positives and negatives are pretty much even in this series. Which is something you cannot really say about the other series, the Phillies/Giants series. Yes, they both have excellent starting pitching and great bullpens, but the Phillies have way more offense to throw at the Giants pitching. They also have the experience factor I talked about earlier. Their starters are more mature than the Giants as well. Halladay and Oswalt are both a few years over 30 and Hamels is almost 30 while Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez of the Giants are all either 26 or 27. Now of course the Giants proved they win under pressure by matching up against two veterans while playing the Braves. But Halladay and Oswalt are much better pitchers that Lowe and Hudson. It'll be interesting to see if this series will result in one pitching duel after another or if the offenses will beat the pitching odds.
Conclusion time is prediction time. My predictions are not educated. I will pick the Yankees over the Rangers and Phillies over the Giants. Nobody will like it, except Yankees and Phillies fans, but I honestly think it will be a Yankees/Phillies rematch. Stay tuned to see if that actually happens by watching both the AL and NLCS on TBS. Also stay tuned for my final MLB Playoff installment coming up in the next few weeks after the two series have ended.
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