WEB-EXCLUSIVE!
By Rob Sheftic
Staff Writer
These pitchers will be looking to carry their teams to the promised land.
Photo courtesy of www.sportsline.com
By Rob Sheftic
Staff Writer
These pitchers will be looking to carry their teams to the promised land. Photo courtesy of www.sportsline.com
As the dog days of summer have come to an end ,and the cool crisp October nights begin to take place, the long awaited baseball postseason begins. From February to September baseball teams go through a daily grind just looking for one thing: to be able to play in October and obtain a World Series Championship. The American League and the National League will both be represented when the playoffs begin, with each team vying for that opportunity to pop the corks and toast the champagne when all is said and done.
The American league is all set with Boston, Cleveland and Anaheim winning their divisions. The wild card spot is filled by the dreaded New York Yankees, meaning, yes boys and girls, it will be yet another October where both the Red Sox and the Yankees will be heading for the ultimate prize: a chance to play in the World Series.
In December, Boston was declared the favorite to win it all this year. They made the biggest splash during the off-season when they signed free agent Daisuke Matsuzaka, a Japanese pitcher who joined a pitching staff that already featured starters Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. The Red Sox also have one of the youngest premier pitchers in the sport to pitch their ninth inning in Jonathan Papelbon.
With all their pitching as well as an offense that still has names like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Kevin Youkilis, it seemed as though Boston would have an easy trip through the season, into the playoffs, and to a second World Championship in four seasons. The Anaheim Angels, Cleveland Indians, and, especially their century-long rivals, the New York Yankees will all be looking to derail Boston’s chances of capturing another World Series title.
The Anaheim Angels in the post-season is becoming a nice tradition for all their fans, having won their third divisional title in four seasons. Led by slugger Vladimir Guerrero and his 27 home-runs and 125 runs batted in, he will continue to be counted on to be one of the most feared hitters going into the postseason. One aspect that Anaheim has that none of the other teams going in can compare to is their speed. Chone Figgins, Orlando Cabrera, and Reggie Willits all finished in the top 20 in stolen bases this year according to espn.com. These three will be looking to reach base and run havoc around the base paths causing problems for any opposing pitcher.
The Cleveland Indians are one the most surprising teams to be heading to the playoffs this year. This will be their first playoff appearance since 2001. The main reason Cleveland is heading into October is because they have the best one-two punch in starting pitching that baseball has to offer. C.C Sabathia and Fausto Carmona combined to win 37 games this season. Sabathia posted a career high in earned run average (ERA) with a 3.21 according to sportsline.com. Carmona also had an ERA of 3.06. Each pitcher has consistently shown the ability to dominate and will be tough to beat. Throw in the fact that a team could potentially see these feared starters two times each in a postseason series and that could make life hard for the opposing hitters.
What kind of October would it be if the New York Yankees weren’t apart of it, besides a pleasant one? All kidding aside, the Yankees are back yet again. They started out their season pathetic by fans’ standards as well as Yankee standards. After the all-star break, that was all forgotten. The Yankees were one of, if not the, hottest team in baseball during the second half of the season. They even came as close as one and a half games behind the Red Sox. Although they were unable to catch them, they easily won the wild card. One name carried their offense through all the struggling times and all the way to their postseason clincher: Alex Rodriguez or, what most people will be calling him when this season is over, MVP. A-Rod only led all of baseball in just about every category: home-runs (54) RBIs (156) and slugging percentage (.645). Nobody is discrediting the season that A-Rod put up, but in the back of every Yankees fan’s mind is the fact that since A-Rod has arrived in New York, his offense has disappeared in the playoffs. If he can’t produce in the playoffs like he did during the season he will undoubtedly face more public scrutiny. I know which way I’ll be rooting for.
The National League had what some people may think of a “below average” season of sorts. The Chicago Cubs tied for the best record in the league with 90 wins while each team to win a division in the American League won at least 94. One quote that everybody who has a mind for baseball repeats in their head once the playoffs start is, “Once you get to October, anything can happen.”
That’s the exact mindset that the Cubs are taking as they head to the playoffs chasing a World Series Championship, a championship that has eluded them since 1908. Chicago’s offense was exactly what was expected of them after bringing in prized free-agent outfielder Alfonso Soriano. He recently set a major league record for home-runs by a lead-off hitter in the month of September with 14 according to chicagocubs.com. After Soriano follows Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez both of whom had solid offensive seasons each hitting above .300 respectively.
There’s one key for a team to be successful in the postseason and that’s successful pitching. Chicago will feature a one-two combo of Carlos Zambrano (18 wins during the season) and Ted Lilly (15 wins). Those two pitchers coupled with Chicago’s potentially powerful offense lineup could be the reason the Cubs win a Championship for the first time in nearly 100 years.
Arizona is also a team that caught many by surprise. The Diamondbacks really don’t stand out to many people, but they do one thing that’s essential: they win ball games. They have an ace pitcher in Brandon Webb who, during a span between July and August, went 49 innings without allowing a run, which lasted five consecutive starts. They don’t have a flashy offense like some of the other teams, but they do enough to win the games they need to. They don’t make many errors, they run the bases well and they know how to finish out the games led by closer Jose Valverde and his 47 saves.
In one of the most memorable “collapses” in baseball memory, nobody will ever forget what happened on the final weekend of the baseball season. The New York Mets had a seven game lead in their division with 17 games left to play on September 12. The Mets had seemingly punched their ticket to October since there was no way any team could let that lead slip away.
WRONG! The Mets went 5-12 during their last 17 games only to see the Philadelphia Phillies catch them leaving each team with identical records heading into the final game of the season. The Mets never showed up to play and were bludgeoned by the Florida Marlins 8-1 while the Phillies took care of the Nationals, easily winning 6-1. Since the beginning of the season the Mets were assumed a shoo-in to be playing when the postseason began, proving once more to everybody out there that no lead and no team is a guarantee to make the playoffs. The Phillies never stopped playing out their season, and due to an embarrassing collapse on one team’s part, they will be one of the eight teams left playing in October.
The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres took a different approach then the other teams did in making the post-season. For only the seventh time in baseball history the playoffs were not set in stone after the 162 game season. With Colorado and San Diego tied with the same record, a one-game playoff had to be played after the season concluded with the winner getting the final spot in the National League. In one of the most entertaining games that I’ve watched in a long time, these two teams weren’t ready to go home after the traditional nine innings. Both teams were tied heading into the 13th inning when San Diego scored two runs to go ahead in the top-half of the inning. Colorado was down to their last breath and it wasn’t getting any easier when San Diego’s prime time future hall-of-fame closer Trevor Hoffman coming into the game to do what he does best: finish the game and send the opponents home packing.
Colorado had a different idea. Backed by a home crowd that never stopped cheering since the beginning of the game, the Rockies ran off a string of three hits and a sacrifice fly to surprise everyone and punch the final ticket to the 2007 Major League Baseball Playoffs.
The American league is all set with Boston, Cleveland and Anaheim winning their divisions. The wild card spot is filled by the dreaded New York Yankees, meaning, yes boys and girls, it will be yet another October where both the Red Sox and the Yankees will be heading for the ultimate prize: a chance to play in the World Series.
In December, Boston was declared the favorite to win it all this year. They made the biggest splash during the off-season when they signed free agent Daisuke Matsuzaka, a Japanese pitcher who joined a pitching staff that already featured starters Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. The Red Sox also have one of the youngest premier pitchers in the sport to pitch their ninth inning in Jonathan Papelbon.
With all their pitching as well as an offense that still has names like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Kevin Youkilis, it seemed as though Boston would have an easy trip through the season, into the playoffs, and to a second World Championship in four seasons. The Anaheim Angels, Cleveland Indians, and, especially their century-long rivals, the New York Yankees will all be looking to derail Boston’s chances of capturing another World Series title.
The Anaheim Angels in the post-season is becoming a nice tradition for all their fans, having won their third divisional title in four seasons. Led by slugger Vladimir Guerrero and his 27 home-runs and 125 runs batted in, he will continue to be counted on to be one of the most feared hitters going into the postseason. One aspect that Anaheim has that none of the other teams going in can compare to is their speed. Chone Figgins, Orlando Cabrera, and Reggie Willits all finished in the top 20 in stolen bases this year according to espn.com. These three will be looking to reach base and run havoc around the base paths causing problems for any opposing pitcher.
The Cleveland Indians are one the most surprising teams to be heading to the playoffs this year. This will be their first playoff appearance since 2001. The main reason Cleveland is heading into October is because they have the best one-two punch in starting pitching that baseball has to offer. C.C Sabathia and Fausto Carmona combined to win 37 games this season. Sabathia posted a career high in earned run average (ERA) with a 3.21 according to sportsline.com. Carmona also had an ERA of 3.06. Each pitcher has consistently shown the ability to dominate and will be tough to beat. Throw in the fact that a team could potentially see these feared starters two times each in a postseason series and that could make life hard for the opposing hitters.
What kind of October would it be if the New York Yankees weren’t apart of it, besides a pleasant one? All kidding aside, the Yankees are back yet again. They started out their season pathetic by fans’ standards as well as Yankee standards. After the all-star break, that was all forgotten. The Yankees were one of, if not the, hottest team in baseball during the second half of the season. They even came as close as one and a half games behind the Red Sox. Although they were unable to catch them, they easily won the wild card. One name carried their offense through all the struggling times and all the way to their postseason clincher: Alex Rodriguez or, what most people will be calling him when this season is over, MVP. A-Rod only led all of baseball in just about every category: home-runs (54) RBIs (156) and slugging percentage (.645). Nobody is discrediting the season that A-Rod put up, but in the back of every Yankees fan’s mind is the fact that since A-Rod has arrived in New York, his offense has disappeared in the playoffs. If he can’t produce in the playoffs like he did during the season he will undoubtedly face more public scrutiny. I know which way I’ll be rooting for.
The National League had what some people may think of a “below average” season of sorts. The Chicago Cubs tied for the best record in the league with 90 wins while each team to win a division in the American League won at least 94. One quote that everybody who has a mind for baseball repeats in their head once the playoffs start is, “Once you get to October, anything can happen.”
That’s the exact mindset that the Cubs are taking as they head to the playoffs chasing a World Series Championship, a championship that has eluded them since 1908. Chicago’s offense was exactly what was expected of them after bringing in prized free-agent outfielder Alfonso Soriano. He recently set a major league record for home-runs by a lead-off hitter in the month of September with 14 according to chicagocubs.com. After Soriano follows Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez both of whom had solid offensive seasons each hitting above .300 respectively.
There’s one key for a team to be successful in the postseason and that’s successful pitching. Chicago will feature a one-two combo of Carlos Zambrano (18 wins during the season) and Ted Lilly (15 wins). Those two pitchers coupled with Chicago’s potentially powerful offense lineup could be the reason the Cubs win a Championship for the first time in nearly 100 years.
Arizona is also a team that caught many by surprise. The Diamondbacks really don’t stand out to many people, but they do one thing that’s essential: they win ball games. They have an ace pitcher in Brandon Webb who, during a span between July and August, went 49 innings without allowing a run, which lasted five consecutive starts. They don’t have a flashy offense like some of the other teams, but they do enough to win the games they need to. They don’t make many errors, they run the bases well and they know how to finish out the games led by closer Jose Valverde and his 47 saves.
In one of the most memorable “collapses” in baseball memory, nobody will ever forget what happened on the final weekend of the baseball season. The New York Mets had a seven game lead in their division with 17 games left to play on September 12. The Mets had seemingly punched their ticket to October since there was no way any team could let that lead slip away.
WRONG! The Mets went 5-12 during their last 17 games only to see the Philadelphia Phillies catch them leaving each team with identical records heading into the final game of the season. The Mets never showed up to play and were bludgeoned by the Florida Marlins 8-1 while the Phillies took care of the Nationals, easily winning 6-1. Since the beginning of the season the Mets were assumed a shoo-in to be playing when the postseason began, proving once more to everybody out there that no lead and no team is a guarantee to make the playoffs. The Phillies never stopped playing out their season, and due to an embarrassing collapse on one team’s part, they will be one of the eight teams left playing in October.
The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres took a different approach then the other teams did in making the post-season. For only the seventh time in baseball history the playoffs were not set in stone after the 162 game season. With Colorado and San Diego tied with the same record, a one-game playoff had to be played after the season concluded with the winner getting the final spot in the National League. In one of the most entertaining games that I’ve watched in a long time, these two teams weren’t ready to go home after the traditional nine innings. Both teams were tied heading into the 13th inning when San Diego scored two runs to go ahead in the top-half of the inning. Colorado was down to their last breath and it wasn’t getting any easier when San Diego’s prime time future hall-of-fame closer Trevor Hoffman coming into the game to do what he does best: finish the game and send the opponents home packing.
Colorado had a different idea. Backed by a home crowd that never stopped cheering since the beginning of the game, the Rockies ran off a string of three hits and a sacrifice fly to surprise everyone and punch the final ticket to the 2007 Major League Baseball Playoffs.
One month...Eight teams....One trophy...Enjoy the ride
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