Playoff Predictions

[HiddenIdentity]

WORLD SERIES
New York Yankees over Houston Astros; 7 games- In a 7 game thriller that pits aces Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte against their former team, the New York Yankees, the Yankees will overcome and win for the 27th time in franchise history. The incredible Houston pitching will push this series to the brink of the 7th game, but 3 incredible pitching performances from Randy Johnson, coupled with the gritty Yankee lineup, will be enough to overcome the 'Stros.

Who would have thought that.

And you aren't going to say Boston

Actually, I'm not. I say the Astro's beat the Angels.

[dyuen87]

If there is a god, The Angels will pummel the Yanks. I am so sick and tired of the store bought pennants the Yankees continue to purchase! Angels in 4 PLEASE!

another whiner. it's business man. you spend money you earn money. if you were steinbrenner what would you do? it's simple economic rules man. attract customers, make money. you're funny. keep praying.

[RocketsDWM]

So... with the regular season pretty much wrapped up and the playoffs set, what are peoples playoff predictions? Here are mine:

DIVISION SERIES

AL
BoSox over ChiSox in 5 - The Red Sox just have too much experience for the White Sox to match, and once they get to Fenway the Sox should step it up big time. It will be a close series, but I don't think that the White Sox have the weapons to pull it out.

Yanks over Angels in 3 - The Yanks won't give Vlad a pitch the whole series and the Yanks will just overpower the Angels offensively. RJ will step up come pressure time and this Yankees will cruise.

NL
Cards over Padres in 4 - I think that Peavy will win a game for the Padres, and this series will be closer than people think but I believe that the Padres are vastly overmatched here. Carp, Mulder, and Morris will be a solid 5 game rotation and with Pujols in the lineup and healthy the Cards ought to win this series.

Astros over Braves in 4 - The Astros 5 game series rotation of Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt is just dirty. I think that the Braves lack the experience and the bullpen to go far in the playoffs. They should win at least one game but Houston's SP and Lidge on the back end is a great playoff setup.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

AL
Yankees over Red Sox in 6 - The Red Sox just don't have the pitching - starting or bullpen - to pull it out, and the one team that they aren't better than offensively is the Yankees. I don't believe that Schilling will be able to duplicate in any way his past playoff success and the Sox bullpen is just not there. The Yanks will come away after an intense series.

NL
Cards over Astros in 7 - The best series of the playoffs pits divison foes against each other for a spot in the world series. The Astros pitching is great as I have said before, but the Cards isn't too shabby either. The Astros won't be able to survive on pitching alone when playing the Cards. Pujols and Co. will pull it off in a very close series.

WORLD SERIES
Cards over Yanks in 6 - Both teams will be playing with something to prove - the Yankees with a lot of personell on the fence, and the Cardinals not to lose the World Series 2 years in a row, but the Yankees won't have faced tough pitching pretty much all playoffs and they won't be able to just beat up on the Cards pitching like they could to the others. That means that someone in the rotation behind RJ (Chacon?Mussina?Small?Wang?) will have to step it up big time against a tough Cardinals team, and I just don't see that happening. Hence, the Cardinals win it.

AL

Red Sox vs White Sox - Who do you think I am going for here? The depth of the Sox staff and bullpen worries me and they do have some big bats in that lineup. Lack of experience will hurt them though. Schill, Clement and the rest of the rotation has to step up (especially Schill). I say it goes 4 with the Sox winning.

Key player: Schill (Sox) Konerko (White Sox)
Matchup: Clement vs White Sox lineup

Yanks vs Angels - I'm going with the Angels on this one. Not because I HATE the Yanks but the Angels have depth everywhere. They arguably have the best bullpen of any AL playoff team and have a pretty deep rotation. Hopefully Colon and the rest of the staff can pull out the victory and eliminate the Yanks again. Not going to be a sweep either way though. Angels in 5.

Key player: Garret Anderson (Angels) A-Rod (Yanks)
Matchup: K-Rod vs Mariano

NL
Padres vs Cardinals - Peavy has to win both of his games in this series. If he falters at all in his first start, the Cards are going to run with this series. The offense lacks some fire power in my view in comparison to the Cards. Unless the Cards fall completely apart, I dont see them losing. Cards in 4.

Key player - Peavy (Padres) Morris (St Louis)
Matchup - Peavy vs Carpenter

Atlanta vs Houston - Rematch of last season. Should be another great matchup. The Atlanta bullpen would worry me though, with no depth and a lack of experience for some of those pitchers, it could be a rough road. Houston needs some timely hitting to back up their great rotation. Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt. Probably the best 1-2-3 punch in the playoffs. Houston in 4.

Key player - The Bullpen (Atlanta) Berkman (Houston)
Matchup - Pettite vs Smoltz (not sure if this is the game 1 matchup)

ALCS
Red Sox vs Angels - Not the series you were looking for but it will save a lot of heart attacks. Loyalty towards the Sox. I cant predict against them. Too much of a biased opinion to really dissect this possible matchup. Hopefully Sox in 7.

Key- Boston 'pen and rotation Angels rotation
Matchup - Ortiz and Manny vs Anderson and Vlad

NLCS
Houston vs Cards - Can the Astros revenge their loss? I think Houston has the necessary players to overtake them this time. Finally Pettite is healthy and all three starters are cruising right now. Houston in 7 in another thriller.

Key: Pettite, Clemens, Oswalt Pujols, Walker, Edmonds
Matchup: Carpenter vs Clemens

World Series - Guess who I am picking....

[mweir145]

AL:

Yankees beat Angels 3-2

Red Sox beat White Sox 3-2


NL:

Cardinals beat Padres 3-1

Astros beat Braves 3-1

Next Round

AL:

Yankees beat Red Sox 4-2

NL:

Astros beat Cardinals 4-2


World Series

Astros beat Yankees 4-1

[JTWood]

What does everyone think of the distinct possibility that this year's LCS's could be exact replica's of last year's in terms of teams playing?

[Pogotheostrich]

AL
LAA over NYY in 5
ChiSox over Sox in 4

LAA over ChiSox in 5

NL
Cards over Pads in 4.
Stros over Braves in 3.

Cards over Stros in 6

Cards sweep the Angels in the Series

[raiders_umpire]

i will stay with my prediction of earlier in the year except that the angels are in instead of the A's

Boston verse Chicago--- Boston in 4
New York verse Oakland--- New York in 5

Boston verse New York--- Boston in 7, as RJ and rivera blow game 7 at New York


St. Louis verse San Diego--- St. Louis in 3
Atlanta verse Houston--- Houston in 5,,, but the first game of clemens verse smoltz will go down as one of the greatest games in playoff history

St. Louis verse Houston--- Houston in 7,,,, Clemens wins game 7 in dominating fashion


Houston verse Boston--- Houston and the Rocket and oswalt whoop up on the Red Sox.... Houston in 6.....

only 2 things wrong with this,,,, the angels beat out the A's for the AL West and smoltz and clemens will not be matching up in game 1........ but I still stick with the Astros and Sox in the World Series

[blankman]

We all know that pitching wins championships and when you look at the Astros, they have just that. I really think they are the most dangerous team in this whole thing.

[nsulham]

I dunno, I just don't see any standout teams this season that you can point to and say "That's the team to beat" and feel supremely confident about it.

Boston- Obviously have the bats but unless Schill miraculously becomes the Schill of old, forget about it with that pitching. ALCS probably and that's it (and I'm even hesitant to pick them that far).

Chicago- Solid lineup and pitching but which White Sox team shows up? The one that dominated the AL through July or the one that almost blew a 16-game lead? I wouldn't trust an inexperienced Jenks at the end of a ballgame either.

Anaheim- If they had any sort of offense other than Vlad they'd be my pick to come out of the AL. The pitching is there, particularly the bullpen, but if Torre/Francona/Guillen are smart, they'll pitch around Vlad and take their chances with the other guys.

New York- Like Boston, obviously the lineup is there. The question to me is the pitching. Randy, ok sure, but seriously, someone explain Chacon and Small to me. How in the hell did that happen? I know Small's not in the playoff rotation but still. Anyway, Moose isn't the same and I'm not sure I'd trust Chacon/Wang in the postseason, plus the bridge to get Gordon/Mo is basically non-existent.

Atlanta- Just too many youngsters to have faith in on the big stage. Plus Smoltz is dinged up and the closing situation isn't exactly rock solid.

Houston- Almost a mirror image of Anaheim. Clemens/Petitte/Oswalt can be dominate and with Lidge at the end they're about as dangerous as it gets. I just question the offense and the bridge to Lidge. Obviously if they got the WC they can score and with those pitchers you don't need to score a lot (although Roger might question that) but still, I'd feel a lot better about picking them if I saw more from the offense.

St. Louis- At first thought they'd be the chic pick but Carp hasn't been the same guy lately and Mulder you just never know about. After that, who knows? The offense is capable of carrying them but it's the pitching that concerns me.

San Diego- Almost no one outside of the Padre homers are giving them a shot but with Peavy starting 2 games they at least have a fighter's chance.....but probably not.

Truthfully I have no idea. That's what makes October so special. You can't predict this stuff. If I trusted any of the Yankee starters other than Randy, sadly, they'd probably be my pick. But as is, I'd probably say Houston or St. Louis with a slight lean to Houston. Either way I think an NL king is being crowned this year.

[jzfran]

ALDS

Sox over Chicago in 4
Yanks over Angels in 5

ALCS
Sox vs. Yanks--I'm not gonna jinx my team...too close to call

NLDS
Cards over Padres in 5-Peavy wins the 2 for SD
Houston over Braves in 5-Will Andruw Jones heat up or will he go back to his [re-2005 form?

WS
Cards over Sox/Yanks in 6-Both AL teams are in my opinion weaker than they were last year. The Cards are hot, with good pitching and a sick offense.