Playoff Preview

It has been a while. It has also been a while since the Yankees were in the playoffs. Oh the symmetry. But to prove I'm not a Northeastern Elitist Jackanapes, the Sports Maunderer will give a playoff preview covering the whole league. More or less. Maybe. Well. We'll see how much AAAA I can take.

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first:

The National League

Dodgers surprise everyone and get to the World Series.

Okay. National League dealt with.

American League

I would take any American League team over any National League team, with the possible exception of the Twins, who just don't seem to match up well with anyone. But then, they went 17-4 to finish the season, so who knows? Regardless, there are two teams here that are worldbeaters, and then there are the two teams who aren't. The NL's only hope is that these two teams match up for a seven game classic, exhaust themselves, injure themselves, and get to the World Series with a "we already practically won our World Series" syndrome a la the 2003 Yankees. Onto the Matchups:

Red Sox/Angels:

The Red Sox have a terrifying starting rotation. Beckett, Lester, Bucholz, even Matzusaka isn't bad. Well, okay, he is, but he's better than the other fourth starters (Some teams don't even seem to have fourth starters, but we'll leave Joba and Chad Gaudin alone for the moment). The Angels have John Lackey. He's good, but he isn't BeckettLesterBucholz good.

For crying out loud, though, Jon Lester is starting game 1? Seriously? I mean, I understand the notion that you have to reward success and he had quite the season, but seriously. Who would you rather be facing in the postseason? Lester or Beckett? Lester is terrific, but Beckett is, and I hate saying this... Josh Beckett. In the postseason.

The Angels have a good lineup. Actually, they have the best lineup this side of the Bronx. That won't be enough. The Red Sox kill the Angels like the Yankees kill the Twins. Speaking of which.

Yankees/Twins:

If there is any justice in the world, the Yankees will handily win this series. They have a better rotation, a better bullpen, a way better lineup, and more rest. The Twins have a better catcher. Now, granted, the difference between Joe Mauer and Jorge Posada is roughly equivalent to the difference between the Empire State Building and a Lego brick, but still. The Yankees should destroy the Twins, emphasis on should. And you should root for them to do so, also, because the Twins would get killed in the next series even if they managed to win this one, and the postseason would be another cakewalk for the Red Sox. Unless you are actually a Red Sox fan, you can't want that. At the very least, you want the seven-game-epic-series-aiding-the-NL-winner scenario laid out earlier.

Yankees/Red Sox:

I don't know if I can take another of these, but it does seem a bit inevitable. And weirdly enough, I might actually be rooting for the Red Sox to get here. The Yankees have won 9 of 10 from the Red Sox. The Angels have beaten the Yankees about 2,230,730,828 times in the past few years. The Yankees actually match up well against the Red Sox. Sabathia and Burnett and Petitte are more than capable of shutting down their surprisingly mediocre line-up, and for all their balleyhooed success this year, the Red Sox starters have done surprisingly not well against the Yankees, all things considered. So the Yankees, again, should win. Should.

World Series:

Yankees/Dodgers

You should root for this to happen if you have a pulse. If, sans a horse in the race, you root against this scenario, you irrationally hate big cities. Yankees. Dodgers. Manny. A-Rod. Torre. TORRE! The most storied franchise in sports history and another franchise with quite a story of its own. The Yankees should (should) crush the Dodgers, but who cares? The intrigue alone makes it worth rooting for this. My mouth is watering. And not because I'm hungry and waiting to get a bagel at Einstein's. Well, that might have something to do with it. But mostly, I just can't wait for postseaon baseball.

It's been a while.

~The Sports Maunderer~