The postseason is here!!! I am so excited. There is nothing quite like playoff baseball. You never know what miracle the baseball gods will concoct. Carlton Fisk waving the fly ball fair in 1975, Ozzie Smith's walk-off home run in 1985 ("Go Crazy Folks! Go Crazy!" - Jack Buck), Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in 1988 ("In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened." -Vin Scully), Sid sliding in 1992, David Freese in 2011, the list goes on and on. It truly is a magical time.
We'll just get this out of the way. My Braves didn't make it. They just didn't seem to have "it" all year long. There were some good times, but the dominance of years past just wasn't there. Losing Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy during Spring Training started everything off on the wrong foot and they never seemed to quite recover; just as I feared. Maybe next year...
Two of my three favorite teams made the playoffs this year. The Dodgers and the Cardinals. Unlike last year when they faced off in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), they are playing each other in the first round; the National League Divisional Series (NLDS). I don't think I can choose between the two; so once that series is over I will know who my playoff team is. I am so excited about seeing Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright pitch against each other Friday night. That is the match-up I was hoping for last year, but never got. We will see it in game one and then hopefully again in game five (because I hate seeing anyone get swept in any playoffs).
From there the winner of that series will play the Nationals and the National League Wild Card winner. This will be either the Pirates or the Giants and it will be decided tomorrow night. This is the third year that the Wild Card will be decided in a one game series between the top two remaining teams in each league. I still hate this. Don't get me wrong. It is very compelling and exciting. It gives the playoffs the feel of a Game Seven right out of the gate. As I write this I am watching the A's and the Royals in the top of the eleventh inning, knotted at seven, loser goes home. But it is just morally wrong. Anything can happen in baseball; which means any team, no matter how inferior, can win one game and any team, no matter how great, can loose one game. So one fluke play can determine a game and knock the second best team in the league out (because let's face it, if they were the best team they would have won their division). That being said, maybe I am opposed to the wild card all together; but it's been around since 1995, so I guess it's not going anywhere.
Admittedly, I am nowhere near as familiar with the American League, but their Wild Card game is now headed into the twelfth inning . The winner of this game will go on to play the Angels in one ALDS and the Tigers and Orioles will play in the other. The American League ended up interesting this year. Lots of smaller market teams that you cannot help but root for; unless you just absolutely refuse because they do not make their pitchers bat.
All in all I think this is going to be a great Postseason and I just cannot wait to see it all play out.
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