Don't become stupid, baseball

Okay, I'll preface this post by admitting I have a vendetta against the Cardinals. They have knocked out my favorite team, the Padres, from the playoffs each of the last two years. However, now that they are headed to the World Series, it's not just that they beat the Padres that is making me angry.

The Cardinals finished 83-78 during the regular season. That's five games above .500. Now, they are four wins away from being the "best team" in baseball for the year. How their bullpen magically became awesome in two weeks after being absolutely atrocious down the stretch is beyond me.

There were twelve teams that had better records than St. Louis in the regular season. That's 40% of baseball that was better than them during over a 162 (0r 161 game, maybe that's why they have been so good, they're less tired!) game schedule. They won the worst division in baseball by 1.5 games. The collective win percentage of the NL Central was .467. The next worst division, the AL East, was .495, so it wasn't really even that close.

Now, one might say that I am hypocritical b/c I did not complain when the Padres were 82-80 as division champs of maybe the worst division ever in the 2005 N.L. West. That's true, but they also got swept in the playoffs. Would I have been happy had they gone to the World Series? Of course, but it would have been cheap.

I know it is often popular to cheer for the underdog, but the Cardinals have had far superior teams in the last two years and at best, will do at least as well as the much more talented 2004 team that got swept by the Red Sox.

Now, the regular season of course shouldn't dictate who always wins. There are so many variables that make a long season tick. The team with the best record in the regular season doesn't always win and they shouldn't necessarily. They could feed off a terrible division all year long or have a slightly better record than another team who may have had key injuries for most of the year. However, the Cardinals didn't really deserve any of these accolades. In a normal season they wouldn't have even made the playoffs. They were terrible in the second half of the season and did not play in a difficult division.

That's why the baseball Gods must smile upon the Tigers come Saturday. They were good almost all year. They did falter down the stretch, but seemingly due to perhaps their best offensive player and catalyst, Placido Polanco, being hurt. They played in a division with two other teams who played above .550 ball, including the defending world champions.

The idea behind "that's why they play the game" is what makes sports so exciting. But sometimes playing the games brings injustice to the game as a whole. Or maybe this is the baseball Gods revenge for 1985.

J.H. Naners

October is upon us!

Hear that Bud? That sound is the Awesome Inc. train rolling back into town!

Alright people, the plan is to get this blog revived. It's been somewhat tough with Husker football starting (should just write about that) and other things in everybody's life, but I think it's mostly laziness. I've been blogging about my own personal stuff over on MySpace , but definitely been lacking here. Hell we're so lazy that we only managed to preview one conference of the NFL season!
To get things started, I'll give you all an old reliable: postseason predictions! The MLB playoffs are upon us starting today and they need some predicting. So here we go....

ALDS - Wild Card Detroit vs. AL East champ New York

The Tigers are the suprise team of the year, but were caught on the last day of the year by the redhot Twins. It is still an amazing story and Jim Leyland should be commended for his job with this team of mostly no-names. The Yankees on the other hand have all the stars with Jeter, Abreu, Giambi, Arod, Matsui, Sheffield, etc..., but their pitching is suspect after Wang and Mussina with the Big Unit questionable for the playoffs. The Tigers are a scrappy bunch, but I'm not sure those young arms can keep the Yanks offense down enough to win. And even if they do, I would not trust Todd Jones with a lead in the 9th despite his solid saves total this year.

Yankees in 3

ALDS - AL West champ Oakland vs. AL Central champ Minnesota

The A's have kind of flown under the radar out west as they have steadily rolled along and winning their division rather easily. They've got the very good pitching, probably the best in the playoffs if Harden is healthy, and will have to rely on that in this series. Zito, Harden, and Haren will need to keep the Twins down to allow the suspect A's offense a chance to get some runs on the board. Can Frank Thomas continue his torrid hitting into the postseason where he has disappeared many other times? The Twins have been on fire for months now after starting out terribly. They have the AL batting champ in Joe Mauer, AL MVP candidate Justin Morneau, and AL Cy Young lock Johan Santana, so things are looking mighty good in the Twin Cities. I question the offense some outside of Mauer and Morneau, but they seem to have about 20 guys who all hit over .300 sans power that score just enough to win. With Santana being able to start twice, the Twins will prevail in a tight one.

Twins in 5


NLDS - NL Central champs St. Louis vs. NL West champs San Diego

Only a handful of teams have had a worst record than STL and still made the playoffs (one being SD last year), so things do not look pretty on the surface for this team heading to Petco. The pitching staff is in shambles, the offense is Pujols only, and Tony LaRussa always seems to find a way to underachieve in the playoffs. The Padres will have a healthy Jake Peavy this year (although he's been worse than normal), a slightly better offense than last year's, and Cy Young candidate Trevor Hoffman in the bullpen. All signs point to SD taking this one with ease on paper, but I'm not so sure. I'm sure being a Cardinals fan is affecting this prediction, but having Carp available for two starts and the best hitter in baseball gives me a lot of hope.

Cardinals in 4 or 5 depending on when Carpenter makes his second start.

NLDS - NL Wild Card Los Angeles vs. NL East champs New York

The Dodgers have been wild this year. Solid early, Cardinal-like after the all-star break, and then extra hot down the stretch. They've got a good rotation, clutch hitting, and an excellent bullpen. The Mets have been the best team in the NL most of the season and come into the playoffs with that title, but without Pedro Martinez for the whole postseason it will not be a run away to the World Series. The offense is fantastic, the bullpen is solid with Billy Wagner, but I'm not sure how much you can depend on Glavine, Trachsel, and El Duque to carry you on the mound. I think they'll be just good enough thanks to Reyes, Delgado, Beltran, and Wright killing the ball.

Mets in 4

Then to finish off the predictions I'll go with the following:

ALCS

Twins over Yankees in 7 - Santana gets three starts and Morneau goes crazy on the righty dominated NY pitching staff.

NLCS

Mets over Cardinals in 5 - Carp will be spent from the NLDS and Jeff Weaver and others will be torched by the Mets vast array of lefties in their lineup. If the NL was any better, the Mets would have more trouble than I'm predicting.

World Series
Twins over Mets in 6 - The Metrodome will be rocking a la 1987 and 1991 and the Twins will win it all for Kirby Puckett as Torii Hunter robs David Wright of a homer in Game 6 to secure the title. Jack Morris, Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Gary Gaetti and others will all be on hand to celebrate.
Side prediction - Prince sings the National Anthem in Game 1.

It should be exciting!!
BBL