As we head into the baseball postseason, I think it's necessary to educate some of the "newer" fans to the game of baseball. I'm talking about the ones that like to show up in October and feign that they've been reading Peter Gammons or glued to NESN all summer. You know, the pink shirt-wearing, wrong moment-yelling, mispronouncing bandwagon fans.
Consider this column a slightly delayed debriefing. It won't tell you how to correctly say "Pujols" or "Mueller," and it won't tell you who the "Big Unit" is. It will let you know which teams are playing and what the stakes are. At the very least you'll understand why your baseball fan of a roommate takes on signs of bipolar disorder in October.
Let's start with the National League, which is often forgotten in the heart of Red Sox Nation. The Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres all won their respective divisions to put them into the playoffs.
It used to be that the there were only two divisions in each league and the winners of each would face off for the league championship. Now, thanks to the wild-card spot, which goes to the team with the best record after the three division winners in each league, the league champion is now decided in two five-game series and a final seven-game series. The Houston Astros were the wild-card winners out of the National League, eking it out over the Philadelphia Phillies by a single game.
The Astros have started off strong and are armed with some of the best starting pitching in baseball. They feature Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, all of whom had ERAs under 3.00 in the regular season. The 'Stros got off on the right foot in their series with Atlanta, picking up an easy 10-5 win over the Braves thanks to Pettitte's pitching and Morgan Ensberg's five RBIs.
The 10-run outburst came as a relative surprise from a team that ranked 11th in runs scored in the regular season. Don't count the Braves out just yet, though, as they have had their share of success against Astros pitching in the past, particularly stalwarts Marcus Giles (.458 in last year's Divisional Series with Houston) and Chipper Jones (.300).
If the 'Stros can force the Braves to prominently feature their weak bullpen, then they have a great shot at winning this series. I'll give this series to the Astros in five.
Next up are the San Diego Padres and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are strong again this year, with manager Tony LaRussa having his team playing good, consistent baseball despite being hobbled by injuries. St. Louis' pitching is solid and well-rested, and its offense was second in the National League in runs scored.
It's easy to write off the Padres, who just don't seem to be as consistent or smooth of a team as the Cards. To make matters worse, they might be without ace starting pitcher Jake Peavy after he reaggravated a previous rib injury in an 8-5 loss in Game 1.
All in all, LaRussa has himself a pretty solid team, one that has not quite forgotten the sting of last season's World Series sweep. Cards over Padres, 3-1.
The American League has had quite a season. The Los Angeles Angels head into a match-up with the New York Yankees that should play out closer than most people are anticipating. The Yankee rotation has been inconsistent and banged up all year (although very respectable recently) and the Angels hold home field advantage, eliminating some of the intimidation factor of Yankee Stadium.
That said, the Yankees' lineup is dynamite. They're scary, steady and rarely intimidated by postseason pressure. Vladimir Guerrero is the linchpin of the Angels' offense, which is strong but seems like a popgun attack compared to the Bronx Bombers'. Bartolo Colon, the Angels' best pitcher, failed to deliver enough steam to give them a win out of the gate, and the edge goes to the more explosive, more experienced Yankees. I call it a close series with the Bombers taking it in five.
And here come the champions ... barely. Boston more or less fell into the postseason with the help of the Cleveland Indians' end-of-season collapse. The Bo-Sox face the Chi-Sox, and so far it has not been so good. Chicago hammered Matt Clement into the fifth inning, and with their poor middle relief and sagging offense, the Red Sox couldn't stave them off or mount a recovery in a 14-2 demolition. Mix in Boston's 5-4 loss last night, when they held a 4-0 advantage as late as the fifth inning, and things look bleak for the Olde Towne Team.
That being said, if we know one thing about the Red Sox, it's that they like to surprise us, especially when their backs are against the wall. David Ortiz is without a doubt one of the most valuable players in baseball, and his bat has saved this team on more than one (okay, maybe A LOT more than one) occasion. Chicago's slow decline over the second half of the season might be indicative of some larger problems as well, but they seem to have gotten a second wind in their season-ending sweep of Cleveland.
It's going to be a tight one, folks, but as the last three World Series Champions have been wild-card teams, I'm going to go with Boston, 3-2. The Red Sox have come back from multi-game deficits in the past two postseasons, and here's to thinking that the third time is also a charm.
If you've made it to the end of this column, consider yourself briefed on baseball in October, and try to keep some of this in mind as you're yelling at the television.
Kate Klonick '06 knows exactly when to yell and how to pronounce "Pujols."
