Forget the Brewers, Cubs, Rays and all the others except the Angles and Phils in the Series with the Phils winning!

I think the Chi Sox, Angels, Dodgers and Philly will all move on. I am going with the Dodgers over the Angels in the WS.

I really think the Cubs peaked too soon plus that Dodger BP, SP and bench are all impressive to me now that they have Kent and Furcal back.

I would like to see the Rays make it out of the 1st round since they are such a feel good story, but I don't see it happening. I think the White Sox have the power to match up in a short series.

Should be a fun October.

Why not let the feel good story continue.... Rays over the Cubs in 6.

i don't see the brewers making it past round 1. cubs for the NL hard to pick for the AL guess i'll go with the red sox.sox. to me i feel the angels and red sox are just about even so cubs and red sox in ws

Phillies over the Rays in 5 games. Traffic along Broad street will come to a halt as drivers marvel at the ghostly image of the Vet rising in the night to celebrate the win. Or maybe that's just rush hour.

Also:
1) Cats and dogs living together
2) Black is white, white is black
3) Up is down and vice versa

How many more years must O's fans wait before we have a playoff team?

With that said, lets not have another season of "pretending" to pursue top free agents...lets draft well AND pick up a couple of star players...and get back into the competition!!!!! Baltimore deserves much better.

This feels like the Cubbie's year to me. I hope the Rays can do it, but the latest trend says that the Cubs are going to win it all. It makes sense if you ask me. Boston ended their WS drought, Chicago ended theirs, and all within a few years of each other. Here come the Cubbies.

Rays over the Phils in 7. Pena wins the
Series MVP.

Pete, I rooted for the Red Sox BEFORE they won because they were beating the hated Yankees and they had that underdog loser appeal. Look what happened to them after they won! They are now as unbearable as Yankee fans. As a result I am rooting against the Cubs. I don't want their fans to become like the Sox fans.

Personally I am rooting for a Rays-Brewers 7 game series because that would probably be a FOX nightmare and what's bad for Fox is good for Baseball.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: The problem with that is, I wouldn't even watch that series.

As much as I can't stand Ozzie Guillen, I think the White Sox are a real darkhorse to go the World Series and face the Cubs. They have pretty steady starting pitching, lots of power and veterans who have been there before. They have to be pretty pumped up to after getting in by the skin of their teeth and sometimes teams get on a roll after that.
The Rays have played way over their heads all year and the bubble will burst. Hats off to a great season but enough is enough.
The White Sox will meet Boston and that should be a good series.
The NL teams are pretty average except for the Cubs who are solid in most areas. They should roll over the Dodgers and get by the Phillies in about 6 games.

I was thinking maybe the Angels had more fun with that monkey in 2002. Just one local girl's opinion. Listen for me from the third tier tonight.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Now I'm getting nostalgic. I can remember at the old Anaheim Stadium, I had a girlfriend who was so nice she would buy a bag of peanuts and give me all the best ones.

Pete -

Last I checked, the Angels last won the World Series in 2002.

Also, you say this: "Don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I was this interested in the baseball playoffs."

And this: "My history with the Angels is well-known, but my loyalty will be sorely tested if the Angels advance to play the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS."

And then shoot back with this: "The problem with that is, I wouldn't even watch that series." (In response to poster "Jerry" rooting for a Brewers-Rays World Series.)

So you're interested now and you'd be interested in an Angels-Rays ALCS, but if those same Rays face the Brewers in the World Series, it would be too boring to watch? What's going on here, Pete?

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Well, you're not the first person to call me on the 2003 instead of 2002. My bad. I've corrected that. But that response to the Brewers and Rays was a joke because Jerry said he wanted that series because the networks would take ratings bath. I would watch the World Series regardless. I think you're looking at it from the wrong angle. I'm just being consistently inconsistent.

TerryP -

I'd like to see you name one player on the Rays, aside from Grant Balfour (who came out of nowhere) who played over his head this year.

If anything, a few key Rays had disappointing seasons:

Carl Crawford: Injuries limited him to 109 games. Hit under .300 for the first time since '04.

B.J. Upton: Power numbers WAY down from last year.

Carlos Pena: Broke out in a big way last year. A horrible start and injury limited his power numbers.

Scott Kazmir: Limited to just 152 innings due to injury.

Face the facts buddy. This Rays team is going to be around the top of the AL East for a long time.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: You didn't even mention the Longoria injury.

I don't know how anyone can predict the Cubs to win. It doesn't seem to matter who the players are and what generation we're talking about - if you wear a Cubs uniform you lose in the playoffs. I have been disappointed my whole life trying to root for the Cubs to make it to the World Series. It's been going on since 1969.

Therefore, I think it will be the Dodgers vs. Phillies. The Phillies have something to prove from last year and will somehow make it to the World Series.

In the AL, I think that the Angels and the Red Sox are the two best so the winner here will beat the White Sox and play the Phillies. I'm going to predict the Angels will win - I don't think the Rays will do anything and go down quietly to the White Sox in the ALDS.

In conclusion, I predict that the Angels will beat the Phillies.

b. DId you expect Erik Hinske to hit 20 hrs or Edwin Jackson(their version of DanCabera) to win 14 games? Even the most optimistic Rays fans and players didn't expect a 90 plus win season and like I stated, hats off. I think the '08 Orioles had a better offense,even if Crawford was healthy so their success has to be attributed to solid pitching and team play/fundamentals-areas we were lacking in this year.

TerryP -

I don't think anyone was expecting Hinske to hit 20 homers, but I'm sure most people expected at least 15 based on his career numbers. Another five homers isn't that much of a difference. And no one expected this one either, but Jackson finally put together the kind of season people have been expecting from him.

But are you really going to take an slightly better than average season from Hinske and a breakout year from Jackson and say that the entire Rays team played over their heads this year, especially after all the injuries and off years by key players that I mentioned? And as Peter added, I totally forgot about Evan Longoria's injury, which cut more than a month out of his spectacular rookie season.

And it's insanely obvious that the Rays have much better pitching, defense and play much better fundamental baseball than the O's, but just for fun, let's go position by position on offense:

c - Rays: Dioner Navarro / O's: Ramon Hernandez - Advantage: Rays

1b - Rays: Carlos Pena / O's: Kevin Millar - Advantage: Rays

2b - Rays: Akinori Iwamura / O's: Brian Roberts - Advantage: O's

3b - Rays: Evan Longoria / O's: Melvin Mora - Advantage: O's, but only because Longoria got hurt

ss - Rays: Jason Bartlett / O's: No one - Advantage: Rays

lf - Rays: Carl Crawford / O's: Luke Scott - Advantage: Even. Tough call here because they're such different players that hit in different parts of the lineup. Scott hit 15 more homers but didn't even have 10 more rbi. Crawford scored more runs in fewer at bats and also stole 25 bags. If Crawford didn't get hurt, it would be in the Rays favor all the way.

cf - Rays: B.J. Upton / O's: Adam Jones - Advantage: Rays. But it could be even in a year or two.

rf - Rays: Gabe Gross and Eric Hinske / O's: Nick Markakis - Advantage: O's

dh - Rays: Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske / O's: Aubrey Huff - Advantage: O's

By my count, it's Rays 4, O's 4, with one even. What do you think?

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I still take Crawford and call 3B a draw (though not for long), so for me it's 5-3 Rays.

Terry -

Here are some team offense stats for both clubs:

Tampa Bay: 774 runs, 180 home runs, 284 doubles, 37 triples, 142 stolen bases

Baltimore: 782 runs, 172 home runs, 322 doubles, 30 triples, 81 stolen bases

Pretty similar offenses there. Though I have to say, if Longoria and Crawford didn't get hurt and Pena and Upton were on the top of their game all year, it would have been a different story.