MLB Playoff Preview 2010

Last night was the thrilling end to a great regular season. The Braves and Giants both clinched playoff spots, the Rays won the east and the playoff matchups have been set. Now for your reading pleasure I present to you my officialy unofficial MLB playoff preview. So is everyone out there ready for some playoff baseball with the greatest sports announcer of all time, yes all time Joe Buck.

Let's start with the AL East Champions against the AL West Champions. The first item that should be discussed about this series is the fact that they have to play both games 1 and games 2 of this series during the day. The reason that this is important is that it shows what MLB cares about, money. Yes I know baseball is a business and that this is purely a business decision, but come on, how can you say that you care about fairness and equality when you don't even care enough about the Rays and Rangers to give them one night game during the week. I believe that Rays fans and Ranger fans want to support their respective teams but it's really hard for them to do that while they are at work in a struggling economy. Baseball should have cared about fairness here and given one day game each to each series, but hey that's just my opinion.

Now onto the actual baseball playing side of the playoffs. My prediction for this series is the Rays in 4. The reason for this is that no other team seems to be quite as good at stealing wins. The Rays have an uncanny ability to win games that they shouldn't and games where they are actually outplayed. First let's take a look at the pitching matchup between these two teams. For the Rangers it will be Cliff Lee, Mr. October who has been unbelievable in the postseason the last two years, followed by CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis in game 2 and 3 (they are not sure what order they will pitch in) and Tommy Hunter in game 4 if necessary. For the Rays it will be David Price game 1 and then James Shields, Wade Davis and Matt Garza in games 2,3 and 4 (the order has not yet been decided). For me the Rangers have a better starting rotation. The Rays however have the greater bullpen. Their bullpen looks alot like it did in 2008 when they made their World Series run. They have a young starter who they like a lot in the bullpen have solid setup guys but this year they have a great closer in Rafael Soriano. Overall I will give the pitching advantage to the Rays, the reason being that a lot of funky things can happen in the beginning of a game and so I think the Rays great bullpen and their pretty good starters overall are btter than the Rangers starter and bullpen combination.

Offensively in this series I think that from top to bottom the Rays have a better offense. Everyone in the lineup knows how to handle the bat well and make productive plays happen. For both the Rays and the Rangers their best hitters are coming off injuries. Evan Longoria for the Rays hurt his hamstring but seems to be fine and Josh Hamilton for the Rangers has been sidelined for basically all of September and is still not at 100%. OUt of these two lineups I think that the Rays offense is stronger.

Now onto what I believe is the more intriguing series. My prediction for this series, the Twins against the Yankees, is Minnesota in 5. New York's starting rotation is in shambles right now. Sabathia has pitched great this year but after that the entire rotation is a question mark. Pettitte struggled on Saturday throwing 4 innnings but needing 88 pitches to do so. After that wow! Hughes has not been pitching that well and is over his pitch limit, Ivan Nova has struggled after the fourth or fifth inning, and AJ Burnett is just terrible (the Yankees should not even consider starting him in the playoffs unless they absolutely have to). Minnesota's rotation is much stronger Liriano and Pavano have pitched very well this year. (Number 1 reason for Pavano's resurgence, Pavano's moustache, 100% the reason.) Duensing has been pitching very well also. I will give a slight edge to the Yankees bullpen because of Mr. Mariano Rivera but that advantage is not enough to make up for the Yankees abyssmal starting rotation.

Offensively the Yankees have a slight advantage overall, except for one little fact they can't hit left handed pitching right now. Considering games 1 & 3 and probably 4 they will be facing lefties I think that their offense is going to struggle mightily. On the flip side the Twins do not have a weakness in their lineup. They are solid from top to bottom and have. The Yankees lineup is struggling so I believe the three games against the lefties will be enough for them to be eliminated.

So overall for the two AL Division Series' I have the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins advancing. Tonight or tomorrow I will preview and predict the NL Division Series' and predict how the rest of the playoffs will turn out.

So until next time everyone,

Goodnight and sleep tight and get ready for some postseason baseball!