Tag: playoffs

MLB Playoffs

I made my divisional series picks yesterday. Both NL series played game one. Both teams I picked got beaten badly. Pittsburgh got trounced. Ah, can I pick ’em or can I pick ’em? The Cardinals and Pirates are just starting the second inning now. Incredibly, the Cardinals failed to score in the first.

Of course the big deal starts at 3:00. Tampa Bay at Boston in game one. The Rays scare me. Sure, they weren’t all that great down the stretch but they won when they needed to. They also have some awesome starting pitching. Yeah, I’m nervous.

Please, Red Sox, destroy them so that I can stop feeling nervous.

Thanks. Go Red Sox.

Division Series Match Ups

Well now that the wild card games are over, I am officially 1-1 on baseball post season predictions. Yippee. I really wanted Cleveland, but I knew Tampa Bay was going to win. Damn it.

Now for the Division Series picks.

Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays. Oh good, the team I didn’t want to see the Red Sox face in the first round is the team the Red Sox will face in the first round. It doesn’t matter though, the bearded Bostonians will rain down pain and suffering upon the Rays like Grant raining cannon fire into Vicksburg. (see what I did there? Long beards equals civil war references. Get used to it) As if there was any doubt, I am picking the Red Sox.

Detroit Tigers vs Oakland Athletics. Do I follow my brain or do I follow my gut? My brain tells me that the logical choice is the Tiggers (T-I-Double guh-Rrrrr). My gut, however, says to go with the A’s. I’m pretty sure I went with the A’s last year and got burned. This year… I think I am going with the A’s again.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates. Again, I’m going with my gut over my head. I am picking the Pirates. We are family and all that. I am on the wagon. Officially. That pretty much guarantees that the Cardinals will win in a sweep, but I am sticking with the Pirates.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves. There is no way on this Earth or any other that I will ever root for this Dodgers team. No offense to Nick Punto, but Hell No. I am picking the Braves. Do you think if the Sox and the Braves meet in the World Series we might see some sort of exhibition game at the site of the old Braves Feild? I didn’t think so either.

So I am on record as rooting for a Boston/Oakland ALCS, and a Pittsburgh/Atlanta NLCS. You heard it here first.

Home Field Advantage

Hello and welcome to the final day of the Major League Baseball regular season. As of yesterday, there is nothing left for the Red Sox to play for. Just as the Sox vs Orioles game was starting, the A’s lost their game. That guaranteed the Red Sox home field advantage through the American League playoffs. The AL’s win at the all star game guarantees the AL pennant winners home field in the World Series. So the Sox could potentially have home field all the way through the post season. That has a nice ring to it.

Boston has 97 wins with one game left to play. After the nightmare horror of last season, I was optimistic that they could win 81 games. Let’s look at the current standings and see where an 81 win season would have placed us. How does second to last in the AL East ahead of only Toronto sound? It sounds like a huge improvement over last year, that’s what it sounds like. It also looks really depressing to finish behind the Yankees yet again. Fortunately, we’re just cruising our way to the best record in the entire American League. I cannot overstate how happy I am with this team. What a great season, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

As for the Division Series match ups, they are set for the Division winners. Oakland plays Detroit and Boston plays the wild card winner. The wild card race is still up in the air. Neither spot in the AL has been clinched yet. With one game still to be played, Cleveland (91-70) has a one game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay (both at 90-71). Tampa Bay plays Toronto today at 1:00, Cleveland plays the Twins at 2:00, and Texas plays the Angels at 3:00 (all times are Eastern). If the race ends with two teams tied for the second wild card spot, there will be a one game playoff on Monday (to decide who gets to play in the one game playoff… confusing, eh? Just wait, it gets worse) with the team that won the season series hosting. If the race ends in a three way tie it gets really strange.

The league has a formula where they designate the three teams as Teams A, B, and C. I am not sure about this, but I think the slotting is based on winning percentage against the other two teams, with the team with the best record getting to chose which slot they want. Cleveland is team A, Tampa Bay is team B, and Texas is team C. What does that mean? On Monday, Cleveland would host Tampa Bay. The winner gets the first wild card slot. On Tuesday, Texas would host the team that lost on Monday with the winner getting the second wild card slot, and the loser getting the opportunity to start Christmas shopping a little early. Then of course, the two wild card teams play each other to determine who wins the chance to lose to the Red Sox in the Division Series.

Part of me is rooting for that three way tie! Imagine having to play three one game playoffs on three consecutive days (I think, the wild card game might be Thursday, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be Wednesday), talk about stress, huh? I don’t really care who wins what, just as long as Tampa Bay doesn’t advance to the Division Series. As far as a Red Sox opponent goes, all three teams scare me, but Tampa Bay’s pitching scares me the most. I would much rather facing the Indians or the Rangers.

We’ll have to hang on and see how it all turns out over the next few days. It definitely looks to be a fun finish to the regular season in the American League, and I haven’t even looked at what’s happening in the National League yet.

Another Celebration

Did you celebrate last night? Did you party into the wee hours? Did you join in the love fest felt all across Red Sox Nation?

We Sox fans have had a lot to celebrate this month. First we clinched a post season spot. While we had our eyes on a bigger prize, we did not get too out of control for that one. Rightfully so. We clinched the American League East. That was the bigger prize. The bubbly flowed free in the Sox clubhouse that night, and many a fan let their glee free as well. Then came the most recent excuse to go crazy in celebration. It happened last night.

The New York Yankees were eliminated from post season contention.

Yeah, baby! Send those damn Yankees home! Give them their little three inch tall participation trophy and wish them a happy off season. I hope you all go on great vacations as you spend your Yankee fortunes. Don’t let the playoff door hit you on the ass on the way out!

It’s only the second time in the last 19 years that the Yankees failed to make the post season.

And it feels so very good.

Go Red Sox

American League East Champions

They did it! The Boston Red Sox avoided the cliche! They made it through the month of September without a horrifying, miserable, historic collapse! They clinched a playoff spot on Thursday, but that wasn’t enough for this group of civil war re enacting misfits. They followed up Thursday by clinching the American League East Division championship with a win over the Blue Jays last night! There was no repeat of 2011 this year. Success! We are in the playoffs and we don’t have to worry about that ridiculous one game wild card play-in.

Bring on the post season! World Champs or bust! Fear the Beards!

Go Red Sox!

The Red Sox are Playoff Bound

I missed the game last night and do I regret it or what! Lackey took a no hitter into the seventh, and then ended up winning 3-1 in a complete game that clinched a wild card spot for the Sox. We are now officially playoff bound.

The magic number for the AL East is now one game, thanks to the combination of the Red Sox winning and the Rays losing last night. Our team could be celebrating a division win tonight if they beat the Blue Jays. Either way, one Red Sox win or Rays loss and we are the AL East champs.

After last season’s schmucko the clown nightmare coming on the heels of the chicken and beer flavored collapse in 2011, none of us thought this team had a chance. I was optimistic that they might finish the season at about .500. I would have been satisfied with that.

Now? It’s World Series or bust at this point. They have become an elite team in major league baseball. They have four pitchers who can match up with almost anyone in the game. They have an offense that can hit off anyone. They have turned into one hell of a baseball team. There is no reason they cannot win it all this year. Detroit will probably still end up being the favorite to win the American League, but it’s got to be a close call. I believe these Red Sox are up to the challenge.

Just wrap up the division tonight and get on with the playoffs!

What is Almost as Good as Clinching the Division?

Want to know what makes a Red Sox fan feel almost as good as clinching the division?

Eliminating the Yankees.

The magic number for the American League East division is down to four, and the win over the Yankees last night mathematically eliminated New York from the division race. They are still in the wild card race, but losing six out of seven games to Boston over just the last 11 days has gone a long way toward putting a fork into them.

A few weeks ago I wrote a bit about which teams in the wild card race I wanted to see get into the playoffs. I have to tweak that a little now. I had said I wanted to see Oakland get in, but they have since taken over their division and built up a happy lead. As of now, the Rangers and the Rays are tied in the wild card race with Cleveland only half a game behind. Next comes Baltimore, 2.5 games out, and the Yankees are three games out. The last team with any prayer of getting in is the Royals, 3.5 games back.

I’m still rooting for the Royals to steal their way in, but it’s seeming less likely. I’d really like to see both Texas and Tampa Bay get knocked out. Obviously I want the Yankees eliminated both for Boston reasons, and for Alex Rodriguez reasons (although he left last night’s game with an injury). Baltimore is another AL East team, and if it’s possible I’d like to see the Red Sox be the only eastern team to get into the post season. That pretty much makes me a fan of Cleveland and Kansas City down the stretch.

Honestly though it doesn’t really matter to me who makes it into the playoffs, so long as they all lose to the Red Sox. That’s all I really care about.

Thoughts on the Wild Card

Well it’s September 1st and the Red Sox are still in first place. I took a look at the wild card standings in the AL today, just to see how far we had to fall this month to be out of it completely. As of this morning, Oakland gets the first slot, and Tampa Bay gets the second. The Yankees are next in line, followed by Cleveland and Kansas City.

Could we have a post season featuring three teams from the AL East? I certainly hope not!

My hopes for the playoff picture are this: the Sox win the East, and Oakland gets the first wild card. As for the second? I’m going back to an old, old baseball allegiance from the early 1980’s. for the first time in about 30 years, I’m rooting for the Royals! I want the Yankees and the Rays to both get eliminated, and I’m not a Cleveland fan at all (too many post season match ups with Boston in the recent past). During the George Brett days I was a big Royals fan. Those days have returned! Lets go Royals and A’s. Lets squeeze New York and Tampa Bay out of the post season picture!

Most important of all though, is…

Go Red Sox!

Stanley Cup Finals Game Six – Please Don’t Let it End This Way

Hey Bruins.  One more game.  That’s all we want.  Just one more game after tonight.  This playoff run has been a blast.  Please don’t let it end tonight.  The schedule allows for one more game after tonight, so why not just win tonight and make use of it?  That would be pretty cool, right?  Extend this magical little run you guys are on for a couple of days and play that game seven.  All you need to do to keep the fun alive is win tonight.  That’s not a big deal, is it?  You’ve already beaten these Chicago pukes twice in this series, what’s one (two) more win?  Nothing, right?  So why not win tonight?  Then you get to go back to Chicago (where I’m sure it’s really nice to visit, despite the bandwagon and all) and play game seven on Wednesday.  I don’t want to look ahead to the ramifications of a game seven, I just want there to be a game seven.  Don’t you guys want that too?  I bet you do.  You’re so close, why not keep it alive for a few more days?

So go out there on the Garden ice tonight with your die hard fans backing you up and win the game.  No biggie, just win the game.  We all know you can do it.  Chicago is a good team, but so are the Bruins.  Go ahead, win game six.  We all know you wanna.

Go Bruins!

Stanley Cup Finals Game Four – Oh Crap!

It’s just one game.  Keep telling myself that it’s just one game.  Don’t panic.  Don’t throw yourself off of the Tobin Bridge.  It’s just one game.  Just one game.

Last night the Blackhawks offense showed up, and the Bruins defense didn’t.  Fortunately, the Bruins offense showed up, and Cory Crawford’s glove hand didn’t. 

Once again we went to overtime, and this time it was the Blackhawks winning by a score of six to five.  It may have been the single most exciting game of the playoffs for the Bruins thus far, with apologies to game seven of the Toronto series which was just painful until the third period and then became awesome.

Both teams put on goal scoring shows, and just when you thought one team was pulling away… BAM the other team comes back and gains all the momentum.  It was an absolute blast to watch, and listen to on the radio, which I did for the third and the OT.  In overtime both teams had their chances but it seemed the Bruins were carrying the play a little bit more.  That might be because I was listening to the Boston radio broadcast, but it is definitely how it felt. 

So now what.  Instead of being up 3-1 we are tied 2-2.  There are three games remaining and two of them are in Chicago.  It’s down to a best of three.

I have to believe that the Bruins will play better in game five on Saturday.  I can’t imagine our defense being that weak for two games.  I still have confidence that the Bruins will win the series, but I am not as confident as I was.  For some reason, given the way the two teams played, being up 2-1 felt like being up 3.5-1.  It just wasn’t real.  I kept trying to tell myself not to underestimate Chicago, but I also kept finding myself underestimating Chicago.  I was actually talking about making plans to see the victory parade.  Can you believe that?  Me!  Mister Cautious Optimism was looking past potentially four games!

No more.

I believe the Bruins will win the series.  You might say I am cautiously optimistic.

Go Bruins!