A Wild Weekend in Baseball, and Oh Yea, Playoffs begin Tuesday.

By Dave Wiley

What an end to Baseballs’ 2006 Regular season campaign. Going into the last day, no one knew who was playing whom. Two teams did not know if they were division champs or wild cards. One other did not know if they were in or out, and one might have to play Monday to determine their playoff life. That is some compelling sports!! Remember, this is just to GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS!!

Starting in the American League, both the Twins and the Tigers knew they were in, but went into the last day in a virtual deadlock. A win by the Tigers all but assures them the division crown, and a chance to avoid the Yankees first round. First though, the Twins played last years World Series Champs, the White Sox, with only a win and a Tiger loss giving them the division crown. The Twins win as Chicago benched a number of starters, and have to sit around two hours to find out if they are champs or not because the Tigers are still playing. Meanwhile, the Tigers are up 7-4 in the Eighth against the lowly Royals, and looking at a virtual lock on the division, until….. they inexplicably lose in 12 inning by a score of 10-8 and go home with only the wild card and the Yankees to look forward to… I-CHI-WOW-A!! Talk about a defining moment!! Will the Tigers be able to bounce back from this crushing blow and take down the Yankees? Did the Twins luck out by getting the Oakland A’s instead; a team built roughly the same as themselves on small ball and manufacturing runs the hard way, by earning them? Only time will tell.

Anyhow this sets up the American League first round. Yanks vs. Tigers – Twins vs. A’s. More on the American league and picks later. Let’s move on to the National League fireworks.

The St. Louis Cardinals enter August 19 th with an 8 ½ game lead in their respective division. Some Godlike being, insistent upon watching Roger Clemens in October must have shaken some sort of fairy dust over the Houston Astros, and they go on an incredible, only explained by said fairy dust run and creep to within a game and a half of overtaking the collapsing Cardinals. Somewhere the trumpet played “Taps”, and we all waved fair well to St. Louis…. EXCEPT…. Houston loses 3-1 to Atlanta in their final game, the team they’d knocked out of the playoffs the last two years, and BOOM, they are gone. The Cardinals heave a huge sigh of relief and go into the playoffs with one of the worst records in baseball over the past two months. There’s a confidence builder for you. Nothing like smearing a bunch of Vaseline all over your season just so you can slide into the playoffs.

Even with Detroit and St. Louis vying for worst collapse ever, or maybe not, they are both in the playoffs. Detroit showcases one of the best pitching staffs in MLB. As we all know, come playoff time, it’s all about pitching. If their offense catches fire, or even maybe a little ember they could move on. They will have to get past a Yankee organization that is firing on all cylinders and overtook them for best record in the AL. Personally I don’t give the Tigers a chance. Yankees in three. Twins / A’s looks like an epic battle of maximum proportions. While I am not really sure what that last sentence means, it certainly appears to be fantastic sports journalism. This is the series to watch. Its probably going five, and the Twins get the edge because of home field advantage. Each team wins at home, Twins come out on top in a squeaker. Twins in five.

The Cardinals take on the Padres. Both had opposite rides into the playoffs. The Padres have been in a fight for their playoff lives since August, stepped up to the challenge, and got it done. The Cards on the other hand, they don’t want it – or at least it seemed that way. Will the Cardinals snap out of their slump and show some post season spunk? Me thinks not. Padres in four. Finally, the Dodgers take on the Mets. The Mets put up the best record of any team in the national league. They should be a lock to move on right? WRONG!! In an upset, the Dodgers will take out the Mets in four and move on.

Games start Tuesday at 1:00 P.M. EST and go through 11:00 P.M. Seems like a great week to be sick!! “Cough”. “Hello Boss?” I have baseball fever. Probably won’t be in until next week.

 

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