MLB Playoff Fever

The countdown to the MLB playoffs is on and there are still lots to be determined.  The American League seems to be the more exciting league in terms of the playoff races.  As we sit here on September 10th I'm making my predictions for the playoff teams. 

AL East:  I can't see the Rays missing the playoffs with their pitching staff.  They are just too good.  Plus their offense always seems to score just enough runs to win games.  I also can't imagine a playoffs without the Yankees.  Their schedule lightens up a little bit with only 3 games vs Tampa Bay and 3 vs Oakland as the only games the rest of the season against teams above .500.  Sorry Orioles fans.  I'm actually rooting for Baltimore to get in the playoffs.  Seeing mostly Orioles fans this past weekend pack Camden Yards against the Yankees was awesome.  However, Markakis is out for the year, and I still don't trust their starting pitching.  Plus I don't think guys like Mark Reynolds will stay as hot at the plate as they are now.  The bullpen is lights out, but its only a matter of time before the only team that has a negative run differential on the season (-29) begins to lose some ground.

AL Central:  It seems like its going to come down to whatever team plays .500 the rest of the way.  Every time the Tigers win 3 or 4 in a row, they seem to lose 3 or 4 in a row.  The White Sox are not doing themselves any favors either by losing games to Kansas City and Minnesota.  Chicago is actually 5-10 against Kansas City this year.  This week's 4 game series vs Detroit (their final meeting of the year) may decide who takes this division.  My guess, the White Sox hold on and make it.  The Tigers have the better offensive hitters, but the White Sox have a much deeper lineup.  Plus, I've waited too long for Detroit to put together a run.  I'm giving up on them.

AL West:  I can't see the Rangers blowing the division lead.  Who wins the other wild card is a tough call for me.  My heart says Oakland, but with the way the Angels have been playing lately, it's hard to see them not getting in.  They have won 11 of their past 12, and the bullpen has really stepped up after early season struggles.  It's hard to believe Mike Trout is only 21 years old, but he will lead this team into the playoffs.  If it weren't for the terrible injury to Brandon McCarthy, I would have said Oakland wins the 2nd wild card.  Having 4 rookie starting pitchers will hurt this team's chances.  The innings are starting to catch up on rookie Jarrod Parker as his ERA is north of 4.50 in the 2nd half.  The playoff pressures will hurt this team down the stretch due to the inexperience.  This could all be decided this week as Oakland and the Angels play a 4 game series in LA.

Recap:  AL East Champ - Tampa Bay, AL Central Champ - Chicago, AL West Champ - Texas, 1st Wild Card - Angels, 2nd Wild Card - Yankees.

NL East:  Even with the Strasburg shutdown the Nationals will win the East.  The Braves will also coast into the 1st wild card.  My surprise team is the Phillies.  Yes the Phillies.  They have quietly gotten themselves right back in it.  They are 6 games back of the 2nd wild card and have won 8 of their last 10 games.  With this pitching staff, you really can't count them out.  I'm going out on a limb here.  That's right.  The Phillies are getting in the playoffs.

NL Central:  The Reds clinched this division in July.  The Cardinals are struggling and the Pirates are hanging around, but only because of the struggles of the Cardinals.  I can't see the Pirates getting in due to the inconsistent pitching and the offense also struggling.  I want to say the Cardinals get in, but they haven't pitched well lately and they used up all of the mojo the baseball gods give during last year's playoff run. 

NL West:  The Giants are going to win this division by 7 or 8 games.  They are that good.  Buster Posey has played himself into MVP consideration.  The Dodgers are struggling.  The loss of Chad Billingsly is going to hurt them a lot.  He was lights out before he got hurt.  Josh Beckett has been decent, but for whatever reason, this team is not coming together the way everyone thought they would once Boston game them half their roster.  They have lost 8 of their past 11.  Sorry Dodgers fans.   At least you know your new owners will spend millions of dollars this off-season.

Recap:  NL East Champ - Washington, NL Central Champ - Reds, NL West Champ - Giants, 1st Wild Card - Braves, 2nd Wild Card - Phillies.

With tomorrow being the 11th anniversary of 9/11, I thought I would end today's blog with a video.  I hate that nobody invites this guy to sing anymore due to some "issues" he had, but this guy sings the best rendition of God Bless America that I have ever heard.

Problems with ESPN

It’s been a while since my last post, but after a busy summer I’m back to hopefully posting a couple times a week.  It’s mid-August, the MLB regular season is starting to get exciting as the race for the playoffs begin and Buffalo Bills fans are already panicking over how bad they looked in their 1^st pre-season game.

The main reason for this post is for me to vent over ESPN Sunday Night baseball.  This weekend we all get to watch the nationally televised game of the week between the Atlanta Braves and NY Mets.  That’s right, the late season playoff push is on and ESPN is still deciding to show the NY Mets in its feature game of the week.  What’s even worse is that the commercials on ESPN radio promoting this game says something along the lines of “The Atlanta Braves are hoping to gain ground on the Washington Nationals for 1^st place in the NL East (which is true) and the NY Mets are still in the hunt for the NL Wild Card.”  Really?  Still in the hunt for the NL wild card? They are currently 10 ½ games out of the 2^nd wild card spot and haven’t done anything over the past month to resemble a team capable of making a playoff push.  You might as well consider the Astros as still in the hunt for the wild card.  Yet, we all get to watch this team play again on national television in what is considered the highlight MLB game of the week.  These games are MLB’s version of Monday Night Football.  It's primetime, it’s the only game on, and ESPN decides to showcase a team that is terrible.

After I finally stopped laughing over the scheduling of this game, I decided to look back at the teams ESPN has shown on Sunday Night baseball this year and the results are hilarious:

                Team              

                Yankees       5

                St, Louis        5

                Boston          4

                Texas            4

                NY Mets        4

                Angels           3

                Braves           2

                Nationals      2

                Reds              2

                Dodgers        2

                Rays              1

                Tigers            1

                White Sox      1

                Phillies          1

                Brewers         1

                Cubs              1

                Marlins          1

Most of these teams I agree with.  The Yankees, Cardinals, Angels and Rangers deserve it.  The only reason the Red Sox have 4 appearances is because all of their appearances have been against the Yankees.  That’s right, every series played so far between the Yankees and Red Sox has been on Sunday night baseball.  Get ready, next week (8/19), Yankees play the Red Sox on Sunday Night baseball again.  The Mets at 4 games is laughable, and the fact that the Cubs and Brewers had a game is flat out terrible.  Some teams like the Nationals, White Sox, and Reds should get more appearances.  I included the Marlins on here even though they played on a Wednesday night, however it was the Opening Night game of the season, and I considered that a marque game. 

You may not be able to tell by looking at it, but 8 of the 10 Eastern Division teams are included on this list including EVERY NL East team.  Only THREE Western Division teams have been on (east coast bias?).  Three of the best team stories in baseball this year (Baltimore, Oakland, and Pittsburgh) have combined for ZERO appearances.  There have also been ZERO San Francisco Giants games on.  Apparently the Sunday Night baseball crew is on a travel budget as well because they have only traveled to the Western time zone a total of 2 times this year (both in LA for Dodgers games) against the Cardinals and of course, the Mets. 

The games through May 27^th are all scheduled at the beginning of the season, the games June 3^rd – July 1^st are all scheduled three weeks in advance.  The July 8^th Yankees/Boston and July 15^th Cardinals/Reds games were also set at the beginning of the season.  The games from July 22^nd through the end of the season are scheduled two weeks in advance, in order to get the best series in primetime on Sunday Night.  So somebody at ESPN two weeks ago thought the Mets would be a perfect fit for this night.  Not the series between two playoff teams in the AL (Athletics vs White Sox or Texas vs Detroit), or the series in Arizona between the 1^st place Nationals and the Diamondbacks, who at 57-55 are 3 games ahead of the Mets and in much better position to make a run at the 2^nd wild card spot.  What a joke this is. 

Last week’s Brewers/Cardinals game and this week’s Braves/Mets game proves to me that ESPN just doesn’t really care about any good “stories” in baseball.  Nobody in America can name more than 3 people on the Orioles, Athletics, and Pirates rosters, yet MLB and ESPN does nothing to help that.  No sport does a worse job at promoting their stars like MLB (the NBA is the best at it in my opinion).  The Pirates have a rising all-star in Andrew McCutchen (potential NL MVP this year), yet ESPN doesn’t want to showcase him.  The Athletics, with their stud young pitching, Cuban sensation Yoenis Cespedes, and current standing as 1^st place in the AL Wild Card don’t even get considered for the prime time game.  Nobody believes in the Orioles, but they are still hanging around in the so-called “best division in baseball” (it’s the AL West this year in my opinion).  Why not showcase them ONE time!  These teams are all great stories and should get the respect they deserve.  I don’t really know why it bothers me as much as it does.  It’s annoying seeing the same teams every week play in the feature game of the week.   Mix it up for once.  Give the fans the stories that are making this season special.

Hopefully going forward ESPN will do a better job at scheduling this game, I know I’ll be paying attention.