2010 MLB Playoff Predictions

Well, once again I'm not going to be posting these until after some of the Game 1s have already begun in this year's postseason baseball season, but as with my preseason NFL picks, most of this post was written prior to Wednesday's kickoff to the 2010 postseason games.

1. Rays vs Rangers. I'm going with the Rays in this one. They've got home field advantage, they had the most wins in the American League this season, and unlike when they had their unlikely postseason run back in 2008, now this is a team with plenty of experienced players with postseason and even World Series games under their belt. Cliff Lee did not surprise me much in winning Game 1 today or really any time he steps on the mound, but I still have a feeling that the Rays will quickly turn this back into a series again and will likely prevail in the end over what is a very good Texas Rangers team.

2. Yankees vs. Twins. I have turned this one over and over and over in my head, and try as I might I just cannot shake this nagging feeling that the Twins are finally going to break through this year. Secretly I have thought the Twins have been the best team in the AL for the past several months, and all this with star Justin Morneau -- who hit .345 with 18 home runs this year in 82 total games -- missing fully half the season to injury, and with the closer Joe Nathan missing the entire season with Tommy John surgery earlier this year. And the main thing I just can't get past is that the Yankees' rotation is simply not close to what it used to be. Yeah AJ Burnett has kinda sucked balls late this year, but at least with him last year you knew he might bust out with a great start, every once in a while. Now this year, the Yankees are looking at CC Sabathia, who of course is a horse, but after that it's an injured Andy Pettite who has posted an ERA of nearly 7 since returning from something like 6 weeks on the disabled list, and then it's Phil Hughes who didn't really pitch well for the past two months of the season in his own right. And that's it, that's the whole rotation, just those three pitchers for Joe Girardi in the postseason. And I worry that, after losing the division to the Rays on the final day of the regular season and thus having to go on the road to play Minnesota in their brand new stadium in Games 1 and 2, if CC can't get it done early then this could be a quick series for the defending World Champions.

Giants vs. Braves. I'm going to go with the chalk here and take the Giants, whose pitching staff I just see dominating the Braves' faltering lineup, especially with homefield advantage also leaning their way. The Braves really cooled off in the final month or two of the season, and meanwhile the Giants did nothing short of posting the best team ERA in September in the last 40 years since the days when Tom Seaver graced the mound. I was a big Braves guy earlier in the season, but this Giants rotation is going to be very difficult for them to beat in a 5-game series without homefield advantage.

Phillies vs. Reds. Of course this one is very close to home for me, but this Phillies team is going to be a huge task for anyone in the National League. Not only were the Fightin Phils 2010's best team, but they had 54 wins at home and will have homefield advantage all throughout the entire postseason. And when it comes to a starting rotation, this is the best staff that comes to mind since those steroid-fueled Yankees teams of the early 2000s at least. You've got Roy Halladay, the lock NL Cy Young winner, and you've got Roy Oswalt, who led the NL in WHIP with a stunning 1.02, and then there's Cole Hamels, who might have been the NL's best pitcher in the final two months of the season. In a short series like this, this Reds team -- whose whole "World Series" was just returning to the postseason this year after a long absence -- should be no match for the best team in the sport in 2010.

Oh, and Roy Halladay just pitched a mutha fuckin no hitter against them too. What a fucking stallion.