Observing October

It's October. All sports fans know what that means. It is time for the postseason of Major League Baseball, and while all the pros are out giving they're previews and predictions, I'm just going to point out a few things everyone should know. First off the playoffs kick off officially today, October 6th, with the Rangers and Rays and end with the Yankees and Twins with Reds and Phillies playing the filling role. For anyone who didn't get that, don't worry it wasn't that good a joke, the filling role means the middle game. The Giants and Braves will kick off their series tomorrow. Now that you know who is playing and when, it's time to focus in the teams. I'm gonna do it NL then AL. Why that way? NL finally won an All Star game, first time since the 1996, and so they deserve to go first.

Alright so we got the San Fransisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies as the National League playoff reps. All four teams had great seasons, and they certainly deserve to be here. The Phillies are the scariest team in this group with the Braves being the least scariest, what's the antonym to scary anyways? Well that doesn't matter, but what does matter is why I made the accusations that I just made. I'll tell you why. The Phillies have been two back to back World Series, and they won one of them. They also tout a 3-man rotation known as H20, Halloday, Oswalt, and Hamels, and a starting 9 that you could argue could play as an All Star team. The Braves haven't been to the playoffs in awhile and just barely squeaked into the playoffs this year. They were dominant the first half of the season, but then greatly faltered in the second only to be saved by Padres who faltered even more and missed out on the playoffs. The Braves pitching is not very dominant nor is their starting 9. This leaves the Giants and Reds left to give some info on. The Reds have not been to the playoffs in a long, long, longggggg time. Ok, so it wasn't that long, only about 20 years. They are a youthful team that have a live lineup, a decent pitching staff, and a knack for winning close games. They also have a guy named Joey Votto, NL MVP candidate if you weren't aware, and another guy named Aroldis Chapman, whose average heater is 102 mph that tops out at 105. The Reds have no expectations in my eyes. If they make it far, then people will say, 'Yea, they're just doing what they've been doing for the last 6 months.' If they make a quit exit, then people will say, 'Yea, look at how young they are. Regular season is one thing, but the postseason is a totally different beast to conquer.' The Giants are a very intriguing to me. They have a lot of great pitchers, but needed the bats to have put up the runs. So throughout the course of the season the Giants picked up some the good discarded bats, like Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Cody Ross. But will these pickups be enough? They were enough to get them this far, but, again, the postseason is a completely different time of the baseball year. Well that's it for the NL. What, it wasn't enough? Hey guys, I'm only an amateur here, go to the pros that are known around the country for the rest. Oh and by the way, please no death threats from die hard Braves fans, thanks.

Ready for the American League? You got the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Bays, and Texas Rangers as your reps. The Yankees are playoff mainstays, except for that time they didn't make it and the unthinkable happened and the team that never made it before not only made it but got to the show (and then lost). The Twins I'll call semi-regulars to the playoffs. Rays have only been once. Rangers haven't been since before the turn of the century (1999). The Yankees have the Twins number in the playoffs, well actually they just have it period. Is anyone gonna be shocked if the Yankees win this series? Yankees manager Joe Girardi has chosen wisely to leave Jekyll and Hyde starters A.J. Burnett and Javy Vasquez out of the playoff rotation and including Phil Hughes, who some had speculated would be moved to the bullpen as the 8th inning setup man, on it. The Twins rotation of pitchers is also solid, just with not as much household names. The big question for the Yankees offense is will Captain Derek Jeter recover from a mediocre regular and shine in the postseason like usual while the big question for Minnesota's offense is can the Twins continue their winning ways without Justin Morneau in the postseason. The Rays and Rangers will be the most exciting playoff series this whole postseason. Why? Both young, little to no playoff experience, and they are very similar. Who wins? I honestly have no idea. The pros were probably scratching their heads when doing this prediction. The Rays have more speed while the Rangers have more power. Their starters match up excellently, and both teams have shut down closers. Even their stadiums are similar in that they are similar sizes, both being smaller, hitter parks. The Trop is of course a dome though and so weather is not a factor, but I think the treacherous heat is over in Texas now and so the weather there might just be only a few degrees higher than the Trop. I think the advantage goes to the Rays though because they hold 1 more playoff run and World Series appearance than the Rangers do this decade. But this advantage is so small you can barely see it with a microscope. Man I hope this series is good after all the hyping I just did.

As you can see I wrote a more detailed piece about the American League. I apologize to NL fans, for I was raised a Yankees fan, and so my allegiance is to the AL. I said I'd let the pros do the predictions, but the thought of me not putting my nonexistent reputation on the line is just not cool. So on the NL side, I predict the Phillies over the Reds; the Giants over the Braves; and then the Phillies over the Giants. Yes that is right, I am picking the Phils to go to their third consecutive World Series. On the AL side, I predict the Yankees over the Twins; the Rays over the Rangers, and then the Rays over the Yankees. Yes, that's right, I picked against my favorite team. Yes, that's also right, I picked a 2008 World Series rematch. My prediction on who wins this rematch are the Phillies. According to my predictions, which were not educated at all and just based on the few facts I could remember in my head, the Philadelphia Phillies will reign as world champions of baseball again. Now I know you want to know my reasoning behind these picks, but since they are not educated picks, there therefore is no reasoning behind these picks. They are all gut picks. Will going with my gut be the right way to go? I don't know, hopefully not since I want the Yankees to win it all. Tune in to TBS and Fox throughout the month of October to find out. After all, the best way to see if "Observing October" was correct is by observing October. Wait..did I just plug the MLB postseason, Fox, TBS, and my article all at the same time? Wow, I'm good. Wait again..that observing October sentence was my closing sentence; note to self, all jokes go before the closing sentence next time because now you're just going to have to end it with an awkward goodbye even know you're not talking to anyone. See ya next time folks.