2010 MLB Playoff Predictions

Blog Dylan and I each wanted to submit our 2010 MLB playoff predictions. I know we are two days in but that doesn't change what I wrote down a few days ago. Here are my predictions (Blog Dylan will hopefully post his later today):

Rays vs. Rangers - Rangers in 4
The Rangers offense is just too dominant top to bottom for the Rays to have a chance. Neither pitching staff is very good but the Rangers do have Cliff Lee and his absurd 185:16 K:BB ratio. If you don't know much about baseball, that is pure nastiness. This series is already 2-0 Rangers and they played both games in Tampa.

Twins vs. Yankees - Yankees in 4
The Twins offense doesn't scare anyone, let alone the Yankees. The Twins were boring to watch last year in the playoffs and are again this year. The Yankees already won the 1st 2 games on the road and are too stacked to lose 3 straight to a team that can barely score.

Phillies vs. Reds - Phillies in 3
Ummmm, did you watch Game 1? Yeah, that happened. Even though Halladay's no-hitter was just the 2nd in Postseason history, I would not be surprised if both Oswalt and Hamels threw no-nos on Friday and Sunday. I'm still not sure how the Reds made the playoffs and this series is just a warm-up for the NLCS.

Giants vs. Braves - Giants in 5
Good thing the NHL season started last night because I need something else to watch besides this series. I don't feel like devoting 3 hours of my time to watching Brooks Conrad, Matt Diaz, RICK Ankiel, Juan Uribe, Freddy Sanchez, Cody Ross or any of the other guys that can't hit on these teams. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry. Their pitching staffs are both solid which should keep this series even but I'm going with the Giants because they have home-field advantage and Buster Posey.


Rangers vs. Yankees - Rangers in 6
The Yankees pitching hasn't been good recently and the Rangers have home-field advantage in this series which means there will be tons of runs scored in this one. I'm calling CC and Cliff Lee a wash and then it's anyone's guess who pitches better out of Pettitte, C.J. Wilson, Phil Hughes, Colby Lewis A.J. Burnett, Tommy Hunter. My guess is that those games come down to who can score 10 runs first and I like the Rangers lineup better right now.

Phillies vs. Giants - Phillies in 5
The only way this series isn't a sweep is if Lincecum can turn in a performance like he did last night and steal a game against one of the "Big 3". The Giants offense is pretty shitty and I just don't see them scoring runs against Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels.

Phillies vs. Rangers - Rangers in 6
This series might actually be fun to watch because the Rangers should be able to score against the Phillies "Big 3" and it will be interesting to see if Cliff Lee can get revenge against his former team. Both ballparks are notoriously hitter friendly and both teams have plenty of slugging power which all adds up to a more entertaining series. After dominating the first two rounds, I think the Rangers offense will be too much for the Phillies hitters to cover for their pitchers decent, but not stellar performances.