World Series Champions

When I saw that St. Louis snuck in the playoffs on the very last day, I knew they would be a tough "out". I honestly thought they had a legit chance versus the Phillies, and they beat'em. I don't see the Brew-Crew giving them much of a challenge, and I predict the Cards in 5. I see the Tigers over the Rangers in 6, and the Cards over the Tigers in 6.

 

I have just sealed the Tigers to lose. My original favorites were the Rays (loss), then the Yankees (loss) and finally the Phillies (loss).

Good thing I'm not a betting man!

 

I don't know, but I would love to see the Tigers and Cards play. I am one of those old fogie purists who thinks their 68 series was the last pure (pre-divisional) championship.

 

Watched the last two innings of the Brewers/D-backs game and all of the Cardinals/Phillies game. Had you asked me two weeks ago who would be in the League Championship Series I would have gotten one team correct--the Brewers. The last team I suspected would advance was the Cardinals.

After watching the games last night, I'm going to go with the Cardinals and the Rangers in the World Series. The ending to both NL games and subsequent celebration was quite a contrast. The Brewers and fans at Miller Park reacted as if everybody in the ballpark had just won the lottery. Like a heavy weight had been removed. Prince Fielder couldn't find words for an interviewer, he just walked away speechless. Nyjer Morgan dropped a couple of F-bombs on live TV. Brewers players were hugging each other and dancing around. The players stayed on the field for far too long and the celebration was quite over-the-top and bordered on being pathetic. I guess that's what you do when you hardly win anything. In contrast the Phillies didn't even have a celebration when they clinched the division a few weeks ago.

The Cardinals were whooping it up in their locker room while a few players calmly conducted interviews after the game. Players in the locker room were laughing--I saw a couple of players goofing around with fake squirrels (ala the Rally Squirrel, the unofficial mascot of the Cardinals this post season.) These guys have been there before and are loose. I figure the loosey-goosey Cards can beat the uptight and awed Brewers.

In the AL, I think the Rangers offense is just going to be too much for the Tigers. While the Tigers have Verlander, who is awesome, their starting pitching is unremarkable after him. If Leyland is planning on using Verlander in Game 4, that could be a problem. Not only did pitch over 250 innings this year, but he routinely threw 110 or 120 pitches in those starts. I've got to believe he is running out of gas. The Rangers have solid starting pitching and the best bullpen in the playoffs.

I'm going to say Cards vs. Rangers in the WS, with the Rangers winning it all.

 

Rangers over Brewers in the World Series.

 

'68 was a great one! Classic.

 

Actually, so far in the first 2 games, it's the Tigers inopportune offense that has been too much for the Tigers. The Rangers offense has been pretty unremarkable, save for Cruz's GS, which really didn't mean much since they only needed 1 run for the win anyway.

If the Tigers could just hit with RISP, this series could easily be 1-1 or 2-0 for the Tigers.

He only threw 82 pitches on Saturday - if there is ever a time he could throw on short rest, this would be the time. I'm only in favor of it if they are down 3-0. If the Tigers win tonight, then I'd stick with Porcello-Verlander in games 4 and 5.

I agree with this, and it is something I started worrying about in mid-Sept (after it was apparent the Tigers would clinch). Verlander wasn't very sharp the last month of the season. I disagree with your statement about the other SP's for the Tigers - Fister and Scherzer are pretty good.

 

Also, Ordonez being out and Delmon Young at probably 60% doesn't help, either. And they are also missing Brennan Boesch. If the Tigers somehow pull through this and even make it to the W.S., it would be a remarkable accomplishment. Even making it to the Final Four is something to be proud of.

 

I think of all the playoffs in sports, baseball might have the most disparity on whether the "best" team wins or not.

Think about this. The vast majority (probably 95%) of the playoff teams in baseball finish somewhere between 85 and 105 wins. Sure, you have a few outliers like the '06 Cardinals with 83 wins and the '98 Yankees with 114 wins, but most of the time teams finish within that range. If you translate those records to the NFL, that means teams finishing 9-7, 10-6 and 11-5 make the playoffs. Therefore, there is very little difference between an 85 win team and 105 win team in baseball. That's like comparing a 9-7 team to an 11-5 team in football. If a 9-7 beats an 11-5 in the playoffs, we might call that a mild upset, but no one would be that surprised. But if an 85 win team beats a 105 win team, we think it's a huge upset. Why?

If you boil down the difference between the two teams, it comes down to about one extra win a week (if that) during the season. Therefore, over the course of any random 7 games, the 105 win team would go 4-3 and the 85 win team would go 3-4, on average. In a 7 game series, the swing of one game is pretty common, so an 85 beating a 105 should not surprise us, just like a 9-7 beating a 11-5 doesn't surprise us.

Think of it this way - even the worst teams each year (60 win teams) go through stretches where they beat other teams, even good teams, over 3, 4 or 5 games. If the Houston Astros were in the playoffs this year, there is a decent chance they could've won a series, especially a 5 game series.

Therefore, I think baseball has the widest disparity in its champion each year - it has the lowest guarantee that the W.S. champion was truly the "best" team that year. NFL is probably next, since they have a one-and-done format. NBA and NHL probably have the best shot of crowning a legit champ due to the inherent disparity in their regular seasons, especially the NBA (e.g., you commonly 700%-750% winning teams in the NBA, but you rarely see such teams in MLB).

 

Well, Brethern, I am part of the way correct, huh? I did have the Cards in the Series, and if game 1 was any sign, I may have picked the right team to win it all. I know that there are more games to be played, but the Cards have a legit chance of taking the whole sheee-bang!!!

 

From October 8th:

Sticking to my earlier prediction.

 

Ahhh yes!!! I told you fellers and no one wanted to listen. I am in no way a Cards fan, but I did want them to win. I just call'em as I see'em!!