Postseason Predictions

by Dfarth on Oct 2, 2007 11:54 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

Well it's that time of year again. Here's my predictions:

LAA vs. BOS - Gotta pick the BoSox here. Despite having similar pitching, the BoSox have the homefield advantage and a lineup that is significantly stronger.

NYY vs. CLE - This one is a bit closer but I'm going to give it to Cleveland. If they are able to run CC and Fausto out there 4 times in a 5 game series, they will be tough to beat. I think the Yankees have a better lineup and a better bullpen, however, so this could go either way.

CHC vs. ARZ - I'm picking the Cubs here. They have a better lineup, and I think the pitching is better as well. I'm impressed by the season the D-Backs have had but I just don't trust any pitcher on the team other than Brandon Webb.

COL vs. PHI - They have similar lineups with the slight advantage to Philadelphia. However, I think I like the Colorado bullpen better. The SP is pretty even - with Hamels being the best on either team - but I like Jimenez and Morales better than Moyer and Kendrick (?not sure about which pitchers PHI will use). I'm going to pick the Rocks based on the fact that they have been on fire lately - I think the emotion of the young guys will keep them going.

BOS vs. CLE (not sure who is home in this situation since they had the same record) - I'm picking Cleveland again on the strength of their big 2. I like Beckett but I'm not sure that I trust Matsuzaka and Schilling right now. Carmona and CC have been great, especially down the stretch. I expect the dominance to continue.

COL vs. CHC - I'll take the Cubs here. I think the Cubs lefties (Hill and Lilly) will be particularly effective against the many lefties in the Rocks lineup and the magical run will end just short of the WS.

CHC vs. CLE - I'm going to make the nicest guy on this website very happy and pick the Cleveland Indians to win the WS this year. Cleveland has a nice lineup, dominant starting pitching, and a decent bullpen. I would be more comfortable with Betancourt closing games - but I'm not sure Dempster is any better. Indians in 5. WS MVP - Victor Martinez....

Let's hear your picks

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CC i can definitely

see throwing a strong game in the post season, but I am less convinced with fausto, fantastic regular season but i want to see how he handles the pressure of the post season and against the yankees.

Babe Ruth and Travis Snider back to back!!!

by realityconquest on Oct 2, 2007 11:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

im sticking with the DBacks...from the earlier

threads....

DBacks over Phils

LAA over CLE

Dbacks over LAA....and i still think conor jackson and eric byrnes catch cholera...and valverde slices off somebody's right foot

by daveh33 on Oct 3, 2007 12:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

CoJack

needs to see the field first. Clark was out there almost every day in September and is getting the start tonight. He's been hot, but so has CoJack. IMO a terrible move by Melvin.

by bl on Oct 3, 2007 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There was a call in my fantasy league

this April, to put the pot (or at least a portion of it) into a bet of 25:1 odds for the D-Backs to win the World Series.

At $200+ a head, and those odds, this would have been a pretty damn nice payday.

by Curtis Pride on Oct 4, 2007 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

My Predictions

Angels vs. Red Sox: I gotta go with the Angels. Vlad will finally produce and the young players will come through.

Yankees vs. Indians: I hate to say it, but I am going with the Yankees. This series will probably be determined by who wins game one. Both bullpens have major weaknesses. If Sabathia wins game one, the Indians will get comfortable and the pressure will be off Carmona.

Cubs vs. D'Backs: Most people are going with the Cubs, but I expect to see this young D'Backs team pull the upset (but wouldn't be surprised if the young players choked either).

Rockies vs. Phillis: This one is a toss-up, but I am going with the Phillies. Cole Hamels should earn the Phils two wins and Rollins will lead the charge.

Yankees vs. Angels: I firmly believe the Angels would win. They have beat up on the Yankees all year and have the starting pitching to shut down the Yankees best weapon: offense.

Phillies vs. D'Backs: After Webb, the Arizona starters would get massacred. I think the Phillies would win, but it would be a tough series.

Phillies vs. Angels: As with the Yankees, the Angels pitching would shut down the Phillies lineup. I could see the Angels winning in five.

by Bib12 on Oct 3, 2007 12:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i'll stick with my guns

mets over red sox in the series.

wait, what?

by jpahk on Oct 3, 2007 12:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hmm . . .

Right now, I'm wondering if this year is the Cubs' year.

Then again, I'd be disappointed if the acronym Completely Useless By September went away.

My favorite team in the Playoffs are the Angels. Not that I really expect them to win it all, I just like them a lot.

by Anticon23 on Oct 3, 2007 12:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Predictions:

My first three picks I'm pretty comfortable with, but the fourth is a tough one. I'm a lifelong Yankees fan, and this is the most exciting team since 1996, but is it the best team since then? Probably not. This comes down to how Wang pitches in the first inning and how fast the Yankees can get Sabathia out of the ballgame. If Wang gets through the first ok, and the Yanks knock Sabathia out in the sixth, I think they can win the series, if not, I expect the series to go Cleveland's way. I do like Pettitte vs. Carmona strongly in favor of the Yankees. Pettitte has been great in the second half and is proven in the playoffs (game 6 of 2001 notwithstanding). Clemens is a shaky start at best, but the bullpen depth with the young guys certainly can help the Yankees. I'll take the Yankees, noting that my bias may influence the pick. I think that the Yanks do win in the second round if they get out of the first.

Red Sox over the Angels
Cubs over the Diamondbacks
Phillies over the Rockies
Yankees over the Indians

Phillies over the Cubs
Yankees over the Red Sox

Yankees over the Phillies

This can just as easily read Indians over the Phillies or Red Sox over the Phillies, but hey, you have to pick someone to win. Right?

by coochorama on Oct 3, 2007 10:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Alright

The Cubbies aren't making it out of round one. Webb will win two of the games, with Micah Owings getting the win (and his first postseason home run) in game three over Rich Hill.

Phils-Rox is a tough one for me, because I like both teams and I think they're evenly matched. Honestly though, I'm going to go with the Phillies. I think the Rockies will be fatigued and emotionally burnt out, and I think the Phillies are a little bit better as a team regardless.

That makes it Phillies-D-Backs in the NLCS. I'll take the Phillies, thank you very much. No reason why, just a hunch.

In the AL, I'll take the Angels over the Red Sox...I don't trust Dice-K or Gagne.

I'll take the Indians over the Yanks. As others have hinted at, CC and Fausto are a really tough 1-2 punch in a long series. Also, the Indians' bullpen is much better than people are giving it credit for. Except for Borowski, it's a very solid unit. And even Borowski should be steady as long as he isn't called in any one-run games.

In the ALCS, I will pick the Indians over the Angels.

World Series Indians over Phillies in seven games.

by ajohnst1 on Oct 3, 2007 11:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I knew Micah Owings was talented

but winning a game he's not even scheduled to start? WOW! The Cubs should really just lay down their bats right now.

by FanBall on Oct 3, 2007 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how about

Boston over LAA
Cleveland over NYY

Aizona over the Cubbies (only because Brandon Webb wins two games on his own)
Colorado over the Phils

Boston beats Cleveland and then sweeps the Rockies to win it all.

by kaisertown on Oct 3, 2007 11:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Predictions

Angels over Red Sox - The Red Sox is a good team but in a short series, it is gonna be awfully tough beating Lackey, Escobar, and Weaver. Aside from Beckett, the rest of the rotation is iffy.

Indians over Yankees - As much firepower as the Yankees have, they are not going to score too many runs off of Sabathia and Carmona, who can potentially pitch 4 of the 5 games in the series. Big question marks in the Yankees pitching staff.

Rockies over Phillies - This is a close one. I may have been persuaded by the Rockie's heroics on monday. This series will be a slugfest, with the way the Rockies are hitting these days, I'll go with them. But I think this will be the closest series of the 4.

Cubs over Diamondbacks - I hate to bet against Brandon Webb in a short series, but the Cubs have better depth all around and should prevail against the still growing Diamondbacks.

Indians over Angels - Expect a low scoring series. However, this series will be determined by whether the Indians top 2 pitchers can outpitch the Angels top 2. I will give the edge to the Indians.

Cubs over Rockies - I can't believe I am picking the Cubs to go to the WS, but the NL field is pretty weak, they might actually have the best team going into the playoffs. However, it doesn't really matter who wins the NL Pennant cause they are going to lose anyways.

Indians over Cubs - The Cubs or whatever NL team that made it this far have no chance, at least on paper. Stranger things have happened in real life.

by slitheringslider on Oct 3, 2007 12:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Taking a stab at this:

LAA vs. BOS - BOS in 4

NYY vs. CLE - NYY in 5

CHC vs. ARZ - ARZ in 4

COL vs. PHI - COL in 3

BOS vs. NYY - NYY in 4

ARZ vs. COL - COL in 6

NYY vs. COL - COL in 6

by colinadam on Oct 3, 2007 1:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Raux

CLE over BOS
COL over ARZ

COL over CLE

Take THAT, playoff ratings!

by mraver on Oct 3, 2007 3:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks Dfarth! :-)

Hello everyone,

Dfarth - thanks! I hope it comes true! :-)

Interesting picks by everyone; of course, I'm rooting for the Indians, and I think they certainly have a decent shot, especially with Sabathia and Carmona, the type of pitchers the Indians never really had with those 1990s teams, outside of Colon for a few years and the great year Jaret Wright had in 1997, but they never had two frontline starters in the same year, which is why I feel this Indians' team might be better suited for the postseason than those 1990s teams were, since good pitching will USUALLY beat good hitting in the postseason.

As for the bullpen, Borowski DOES scare me, as well as whether Wedge will loyally stay with him too often instead of going to one of Betancourt or Perez if the matchups would be more favorable for either of those two over Borowski. I think those two, along with Jensen Lewis, help to make the Indians' bullpen a better one than some might be giving it credit for. I'm not saying it's the top bullpen, maybe not even Top 3, but it's a capable enough bullpen to keep most leads, as evidenced by how those three did over the past few months.

And certainly, Betancourt/Perez/Lewis are better than the three that we started the year with in those spots - Hernandez/Cabrera/Davis, mostly because the 3 prior are able to throw strikes more often than the 3 latter. And no matter how good your stuff is, if you can't throw quality strikes with it, how much good will that good stuff do for your team? Probably not much.

So, overall, Borowski concerns me a bit, but I think the other 3 main relievers in that bullpen are good enough to do a solid job. Hopefully, Borowski will deliver when called upon.

At any rate, I'm rooting for the Indians, but as mentioned, the postseason is a crapshoot and a lot of things can happen, so it should certainly be very interesting to watch.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck to all the teams and their fans!

Go Tribe! :-)

Take care and have a great day!

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Oct 3, 2007 7:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Perez, Lewis, Betancourt

Why did Wedge use these three guys for the 4 innings last night. It seemed insane to do so with a 6+ run lead at all times...this could hurt them down the road.

by coochorama on Oct 5, 2007 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Two main reasons why Wedge did that!

Hello coochorama,

In my opinion, there were two main reasons why Wedge did this:

He wanted to try to get the "jitters" out of the way for the three of them, since none had pitched in a postseason game before, and he figured he might as well do it in a relatively non-pressure situation since he had the chance to do it.
The Indians have an off-day on Saturday, so they will have time to rest in the near future.

Two other points:

Both Perez and Lewis were starters in the Minors up until at least the midway point in the 2006 season (for Perez; Lewis actually was a starter throughout the entire 2006 season,) so those guys can go multiple innings if need be, even on back-to-back nights if necessary, as Perez did in Game 2 on Friday.
Sabathia only went 5 IP, so you were going to need a combined 4 IP out of a few of your relievers. The other options in the Indians' bullpen were RHP Tom Mastny, LHP Aaron Fultz, LHP Aaron Laffey, and RHP Joe Borowski.

Mastny and Fultz haven't been used all that much, and probably those two would be more likely used in extra-inning games, especially if we reach the 11th+ innings. Laffey is essentially the long-man, so unless a starter gets knocked out of there early (like 4th inning or earlier,) it's possible Laffey won't be used, since his bullpen experience in the Minors is limited and he's really not a matchup guy. As for Borowski, being the Indians' closer, he likely wouldn't come in unless it was between the 8th-10th innings, either in a tie game, a save situation, or maybe perhaps being down 1 run in the 9th inning, trying to keep the deficit at just one.

So, overall, I don't have a problem with Wedge using those three guys in Game 1; as it turned out, Carmona went 9 IP in Game 2, leaving Perez with just 2 IP in Game 2, and now, the Indians have an off-day on Saturday, essentially meaning that Betancourt and Lewis will be at full strength, and Perez could probably go another 2 IP if need be.

Therefore, the Indians' bullpen is probably in pretty good shape for Game 3, and they have the initial playoff appearance and the associated jitters out of the way (hopefully.)

Just my 2 cents. :-)

Take care and have a great day!

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Oct 6, 2007 1:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs