The NEW "Stretch Run/Postseason" Baseball Thread

[Drew_Kingsley]

The baseball thread, like the Red Sox, seemed to die somewhere around midseason.  But now, again like the BoSox themselves, it\'s August and it\'s time for this thread to make a comeback.

Postseason picks, anyone?  Freddie?

My picks coming very soon (probably by the time you read this).

[Drew_Kingsley]

A few prefacing statements

1. I am a Red Sox fan.  I am bias.  Sorry...
2. I believe that, if there is a deserving player, the Cy Young and MVP Award should go to a player whose team made the postseason.
3. My picks have been wrong every year except for once (I picked the Braves and Yankees every year for about 5 years.  It worked once.).

The King\'s American League Predictions

Postseason
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Athletics
AL Wild Card: Red Sox

So without trying, I ended up picking the same postseason as last year.  My bad...
- Boston defeats Oakland in 5.
- New York defeats Minnesota in 4.
- Boston defeats New York in 6.

AL MVP: Gary Sheffield, Yankees

If A-Rod\'s subpar season does one positive thing for the Yankees, it\'s making Gary Sheffield the MVP.  I think that Manny Ramirez deserves it, but the votes that David Ortiz (rightfully) gets will detract from Manny\'s push.  Unless the Red Sox overtakes the Yankees in the East on Manny\'s shoulders, it\'ll be Sheffield.

AL Cy Young: Mariano Rivera, Yankees

Boston has Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling.  Oakland has Mark Mulder, Rich Harden, and Tim Hudson.  Minnesota has Johan Santana and Brad Radke.  All of whom are there to split the local votes with each other while Mariano takes the Cy Young.  He\'s been the only consistent (consistently great, for that matter) pitcher on a Yankees staff that is usually full of dominant starters.


National League coming soon... hopefully somebody cares.

[Stephengencs]

Originally posted by Drew_Kingsley
A


National League coming soon... hopefully somebody cares.

It\'s hard to care about baseball when you\'re a Mets fan....

[Drew_Kingsley]

The King\'s National League Predictions

Postseason
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Astros

- Houston defeats Atlanta in 5.
- St. Louis defeats Los Angeles in 4.
- St. Louis defeats Houston in 5.

NL MVP: Lance Berkman, Astros

If I could give the MVP to Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds, I would.  But if I\'m correct and the Astros make the playoffs, it\'s going to be on Lance Berkman\'s shoulders.  In which case, he deserves the MVP Award (Don\'t be shocked if it\'s Barry Bonds, though.  Sportswriters love Barry Bonds... because they don\'t have to pitch to him).

NL Cy Young: Jason Schmidt, Giants OR Carl Pavano, Marlins

Whatever happened to 20-game winners?  I have no freaking clue who is going to win this award.  Oswalt has 9 losses, Clemens doesn\'t have enough decisions (14-4), and they\'re both on the same team.  It\'s Schmidt (15-6) or Pavano (16-5) by default.  Their ERAs are about the same, so I say it\'s whomever has the better record come the season\'s end.


World Series: St. Louis defeats Boston in 6.  Sorry, the Cardinals hit EVERYBODY...

[Mark]

Well I have to throw in my $0.02 here. I\'ve been a Cardinal fan ever since 1967 when they beat the Bosox in 7 exciting games.  They are a thing of beauty to watch this year.  How does a pitcher go through Walker, Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds without getting slammed hard? The answer is not very often, these guys are devastating!

As for the pitching staff that no one (including me) gave any chance to at the beginning of this year, they now have 5 starters with 10+ wins, and lead the NL in ERA!

So bottom line Drew, I agree with your World Series pick!

[freddiewaht]

hey mark,were you around when shoeless joe jackson did all that shady buisness???

[Drew_Kingsley]

Originally posted by Mark
I\'ve been a Cardinal fan ever since 1967

What\'s 1967?  I think I read about that in history class once.

[FrankZappa]

found him!

[ChrisPitch]

AL MVP: Sheffield
Cy Young: Santana
NL MVP: Bonds
Cy Young: Schmidt

ALCS: Yanks over Sox in 7
NLCS: Cubs over Cards in 7
World Series: Cubs over Yanks in 4

Pitch

[Wolfman]

I\'m making myself sick today by listening to WFAN and all these idiot Yankee fans who are demanding that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays forfeit both of today\'s games against the Yankees because the Rays chose to stay with their families and homes in Florida during a hurricane.  Ugh.  They could just play a doubleheader Tuesday and Thursday.   And as a Yankee fan, wouldn\'t you rather win on the field than forever hear about how you cheaply won the division by one game?  Fortunately host Richard Gear has some sense in him.  The only reason I am still listening is because MLB is supposed to announce a decision any minute.

[Wolfman]

ESPN.com reports that the Yankees are demanding a forfeit.  I can\'t believe they would even want that considering the tarnishing potential it carries.  Cashman is clearly scared shitless of losing the AL East race right now.  Well, I\'m sure if the hurricane were in New York and the Yankees couldn\'t get to Florida, they would graciously forfeit the games :rolleyes:

[ChrisPitch]

YUCK THE FANKEES

[Mark]

Originally posted by FrankZappa
found him!

Ah, the good old days!

[origen]

Count me among the Yankee haters - I hope the Red Sox win that division - but this will finally be the Brave\'s year - if the current Boston team can\'t win the series at least a former Boston team will win the series!

[jocelyn]

One more night, and then....
DA DA DA DUMMMMMMMM......