The Major League Baseball playoffs start officially tomorrow. The brand new wild card, one game playoff games are set up to start tomorrow for both the AL and NL. In the AL you have the Baltimore Orioles at the Texas Rangers and in the NL you have the St. Louis Cardinals at the Atlanta Braves. The only team that knew they would be playing on this day for sure was the Atlanta Braves who locked up a playoff spot earlier than the rest of the pack and knew they would also be getting a home game. The Cardinals were fighting off the Reds to close out the season trying to hold of the Dodgers from taking the final spot in the NL. In the American League, Baltimore was fighting for division down to the last game of the season with the New York Yankees. As for the Athletics, they also were fighting for division which they earned by beating the Texas Rangers to put the Rangers right into the one game playoff which sets up an interesting match up with Baltimore.
National League
St. Louis Cardinals – Starting Pitcher: Kyle Lohse
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Atlanta Braves – Starting Pitcher: Kris Medlen
Time: 5:07pm EST / 2:07pm PST TBS
Analysis: I’m a little bias when it comes to this game or the Braves in general because I have money on the Braves to win the World Series. The winner of this game will play the Washington Nationals in the next series. Kris Medlen will be starting the game for the Braves and he has pitched outstanding in the second half of this season. If he can get a solid 6 or 7 innings in, the middle to closing relief for the Braves can be dominating. They were essentially knocked out by the Cardinals last year during their collapse and I’m sure they would love to knock out the defending champions out. With the Cardinals, Kyle Lohse has been ace material all year for St. Louis and may give the best opportunity to win a one game playoff. The Cardinals turned on their offensive fire power once they made the playoffs last year and that’s what they have to rely on here. If they don’t jump on Medlen early, it might not end well for St. Louis if they have to climb back in it.
Prediction: Atlanta Braves
American League
Baltimore Orioles – Starting Pitcher: Joe Saunders
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Texas Rangers – Starting Pitcher: Yu Darvish
Time: 8:37pm EST / 5:37pm PST TBS
Analysis: The winner of this game will play the New York Yankees. Everybody thought the Orioles would die off their hot start and they never did. They had a chance to win division until the very last game of the season. On the other side, the Texas Rangers led the AL West for the majority of the season and lost it at the end to Oakland. Darvish has been hot in his last 5 or 6 starts and is probably the best option for them to win in a win or go home scenario. Although, with the Orioles playing as well as they have been, I see that being a lot of the momentum they need to overcome a high powered offense in Texas. I’m going with the sleeper and upset.
Prediction: Baltimore Orioles
As for the other two series’ that will get underway on Saturday involve the Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, and the Cincinnati Reds. I believe that most people expected the Reds and the Tigers to be playing into October, but how they made it here I’m not quite sure anyone expected. The Tigers didn’t run away with their division and really took control once the White Sox struggled in the last two weeks of the season. The Reds did lead their division for most of the second half, but not after the Pirates, Cardinals, and even the Brewers were fighting for their spot when eventually the Reds ran away with it. Oakland was a surprise team all year and they have a lot of young pitchers who have played very well who eventually overtook Texas. The Giants battled with the Dodgers for the division for most of the season, but really conquered them in the second half, even with the suspension to Melky Cabrera.
Oakland Athletics – Starting Pitcher: Jarrod Parker
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Detroit Tigers – Starting Pitcher: Justin Verlander
Game 1: October 6th 6:07pm EST / 3:07pm PST TBS
Analysis: The benefit starting this season of winning your division gets you to set up your pitchers the way you would like and just jump into the best of five game series. The obvious game 1 starter for Detroit is Justin Verlander and in the playoffs he is lights out. On top of Verlander making it difficult for Oakland, they also have a triple crown winner in Miguel Cabrera that will torment the pitching staff. Oakland has the momentum and may win a game in this series. If they win game 1, I think they’ll win the series. But having game 1 in Detroit with arguably one of the best pitchers in the American League, and a great offense that is just starting to get hot might be too much to overcome.
Prediction: Detroit Tigers in 4 Games
Cincinnati Reds – Starting Pitcher: Johnny Cueto
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San Francisco Giants – Starting Pitcher: Matt Cain
Game 1: October 6th 9:37pm EST / 6:37pm PST
Analysis: This is a great series and it’s a shame a team has to lose. This series has a little bit of everything. Both offenses are powerful, both starting pitching staffs are powerful, and the closers have been sharp for both teams all season. The Reds has had good teams entering the playoffs before and they always seem to get a tough match up. Cueto will be in the running for the NL Cy Young this season by going 19-9 with a 2.78 ERA and the obvious ace for Cincinnati. Matt Cain had a solid season as well and the advantage the Giants have is they play the first 2 games at home. Look for some exciting pitching match ups as well as some power surges. This series should be a must watch for any baseball fan.
Prediction: Cincinnati Reds in 5 Games
Two teams that I did not talk about in this post is the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals. Both teams match up with the winners of the one game wild card games on Friday. Both teams had excellent seasons and both teams are stacked in pitching and in hitting. The one down side which has been previously discussed by many is Stephen Strasburg being unavailable in the playoffs. If the Nationals get the Braves, they have a tough series to worry about. If they get the Cardinals, I feel they can get past them a lot easier as they match up better against them in a short series. If the Yankees play Texas, I think this could be the year the Yankees slide by Texas, only because Texas has been on a slight slide themselves. This is where the advantage of winning division comes into play where the Yankees will have CC Sabathia in game 1 where Texas won’t be able to use Yu Darvish. If the Yankees play Baltimore, I worry that the Yankees won’t be able to get by. It’s a tougher match up where the Yankees struggled against the birds and they have played them in more games.
It shapes out to be a great post season with hopefully some great endings!
therubbergame 