October baseball sets the table

 

The baseball season has come to a close for the regular season. The Tigers finished at .500 at 81 and 81. Oh well, spring training will be here in no time for your Detroit Tigers.

October baseball playoff style starts on Wednesday. The National League teams rolled out onto the craps table like this: The Philadelphia Phillies will take on the Cincinnati Reds. Those two teams have been locked and loaded for a few weeks. The Atlanta Braves snuck in on the last day of the season as a wildcard entry. The San Francisco Giants also snuck in on the last day of the season by defeating the San Diego Padres. That made the Giants the winners of the West Division. The poor Padres lost out on the last day of a division win and a wildcard spot. What that means, is the Braves and Giants will meet in the first round.

The American League East Division title was decided on the last day of the season. The Tampa Bay Rays won it and the Yankees became the wildcard team. The Rangers and Twins sewed up playoff spots weeks ago. The American League match ups look like this: The Texas Rangers draw the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yanks hook up with the Minny sota Twins, once again.

Let’s get my predictions on the winners of these baseball series. The National League winners first.

Series number one features the Giants and the Braves. San Fran has great pitching and little offensively at the plate. The Braves are trying to win one for Bobby Cox, as this is his last season as manager. I like the Braves in this series on a hunch. Hotlanta in five games.

The Phillies should dominate the Reds due to their starting pitching. I mean Halladay, Oswalt, and Cole Hamels are a tough threesome to beat. I really want to watch Joey Votto of the Reds. He is a tremendous player and will need to carry the Reds offensively for them to pull off the upset. I don’t see a Reds upset in this series, so Phillies in four games.

The American League should

have some awesome October baseball. The Yankees are primed up to be upset by the Twinkies. I realize the Yanks have owned the Twinkies in October. However, home-field advantage belongs to Minnysota for a change. I like the Twins starting pitching over New York’s. Twins upset special in five games. The Rays and Rangers is the best series of all

four. How about Cliff Lee and David Price in game one?! What a pitching match-up we have there. Texas hasn’t

ever won a playoff series, ever, I don’t believe. That will end here in 2010. The Rangers will no longer be strangers to round two of October baseball. Texas in four.

Battle of the undefeateds

MSU and Michigan come into a Big Ten battle undefeated at 5-0 each. This will be a huge game in Ann Arbor with MSU looking for their third straight win over Big Blue. Can the Sparty Party crash the Wolverines’ undefeated season? Can Michigan end the two-game MSU win streak? Michigan 44 and MSU 40.

Clutch playing

Ryder Cup goes to the Europeans. Ricky Fowler, you are the man! Clutch play by Fowler almost won it for the USA.

NFL Picks red hot so are my lock picks!

thefatguy@mihomepaper.com