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