First off I'm excited because the Pirates will be at least in the hunt for a playoff game for the first time since I was 10. The last time the Pirates were this exciting, I had no fur on my pea bug, so to speak.
The NL playoffs will be great, because there are no clear cut dominate teams. Washington, Cincinnati, SF, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, LA; these are all solid teams with no clear cut powerhouse. I believe the Reds could be that team and Washington has shown glimpses. However, the Reds pitching staff is overrated in my opinion. Cueto is the real deal, but I'm not confident in the rest. Washington is still so young, and there are question marks surrounding Strasburg's innings, and Jason Werth's possible impact.
Sf, Pitt, Atlanta and the Dodgers just dont have what it takes to be clear cut favorites. They are all capable of winning any series against any of these teams....but I cant see any of them beating an AL powerhouse in a 7 game series, even with home field advantage.
The AL will be dynamite. The Angels acquisition of Greinke HAS to make them the front runner now. If Dan Haren can figure his woes out they will be unstoppable. The Yankees don't have the pitching to be the clear favorite, but let's be honest: who needs pitching with that lineup.
The Tigers can't ride Verlander alone, though no one will want them in a one game playoff if he can go in it (which he would). The Rangers are so hard to figure out right now....losing out on Greinke hurts and you know they feel like they needed him if they were willing to give up Andrus for a possible 3 month rental.
Unlike the NL, the AL is limited to those 4 teams that could possibly make it.
My predictions:
The Pirates play and win the play in game against the Braves, but fall to the Nats.
The Reds beat the Giants, then beat the Nats
The Angels defeat the Tigers and Verlander in the WC game, before defeating the Yanks
The Rangers defeat the White Sox but lose to the Angels
The Angels defeat the Reds in the WS in 6 games.
Anyone else wanna play?