After an exciting finish to the 2009 Major League Baseball regular season that saw the Minnesota Twins defeat the Detroit Tigers, 6-5 in 12 innings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis to capture the American League Central division title and a playoff spot, it is now time for the post-season.
The miracle Twins, which won 17 of 21 games down the stretch to take the division title from the Detroit Tigers, now face the New York Yankees, a team which won 103 games in the regular season and ran away with the American League East after going on an absolutely ridiculous tear after the All-Star Break.
No doubt, the Yankees will be favored heavily to beat Minnesota, however, the Bronx Bombers haven't done anything in the post-season since 2003, when they made the World Series before losing to the upstart Florida Marlins in six games. The following year, the Yankees pulled the BIGGEST choke ever in professional sports history when they became the first-ever major league team to blow a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games.
What made it even worse was they blew a 3-0 series lead to the hated Boston Red Sox, which then went on to capture their first World Series title since 1918.
The Yankees have been crumbling under the pressure since their last World Series title in 2000 and they know they are expected to win it all this year.
That being said, they should defeat the Twins, who are fast becoming America's darlings of baseball as they stormed back to knock out the Detroit Tigers and advance to the post-season under the under rated Ron Gardenhire, who is easily one of baseball's best managers.
In the other American League Divisional Series, it will once again be the Boston Red Sox facing the Los Angeles Angels, who have never defeated the Red Sox in the post-season in four previous meetings.
The National League features the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies facing the Colorado Rockies, another team that stormed back after a slow start this season. In fact, the Rockies sent former manager Clint Hurdle packing and replaced him with Jim Tracy and the team suddenly took off from there, capturing the National League Wild Card.
Perhaps the best match up will have the Los Angeles Dodgers playing the St. Louis Cardinals in what should be a great opening series.
Both teams feature great pitching and the Dodgers have a lights out bullpen with steady defense to boot while St. Louis has a potent lineup led by MVP candidate Albert Pujols.
When all the dust settles in November (sounds funny to say that), another season will be over and another world champion will be crowned. Here is the predictions of heftyinfo for the 2009 Major League Baseball post-season...
AMERICAN LEAGUE- New York Yankees over Minnesota Twins in four games; Boston Red Sox over Los Angeles Angels in five games.
NATIONAL LEAGUE- Philadelphia Phillies over Colorado Rockies in three games; St. Louis Cardinals over Los Angeles Dodgers in four games.
AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES- Boston Red Sox over New York Yankees in six games.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES- Philadelphia Phillies over St. Louis Cardinals in six games.
WORLD SERIES- Philadelphia Phillies over Boston Red Sox in five games.
No comments:
Post a Comment