Baseball playoffs. First round prediction thread.

[maveric]

Giants over Marlins in 4
Braves over Cubs in 6
Yankees over Twins in 6
Red Sox over A's in 7

Thats how I predict it will go. I'd rather see the Twins beat the Yanks, and the Cubbies beat the Braves, but for the money I'll have to stick with my original choices.

[Emboldened Chimp]

1. A different view...

Giants over Marlins in 5
Cubs over Braves in 6

Yanks over Twins in 5
A's over Sox in 6

Pennant:
Yanks over A's in 6
Giants over Cubs in 5

WS:
Yanks over Giants in 6

[Brucey]

2. Pretty good, but I think

Atlanta and the Yanks will have an easier time than you predict.

[diplomats]

3. I might take the Marlins

as a Phillies fan I saw them kill my team when the wild card was on the line. But the Giants are awfully good at home.

[gyopsy]

12. I'd take the Marlins myself any day...

to beat the Giants. The Phillies are a quality team though. I tip my cap to them. If both the Marlins and the Phillies could make it into the playoffs, that would be great. Anybody but the Braves--again!

[TSIAS]

4. My picks

First, remember that first round series are best-of-5.

I like Florida over San Francisco in 4.
Braves over Cubs in 3.
Yankees over Twins in 4.
Red Sox over A's in 5.

[proud patriot]

5. I must as an A's fan say

I dissagree about that :D

[dawgman]

6. Twins will win it all everything else is moot.

[Leftist78]

7. well let's get one thing right first

LDS's are best of 5 not 7, and with that in mind.

Cubs over Braves in 4
Giants over Marlins in 3
Yankees over Twins in 5
Sox over A's in 5

and just for fun we'll go for the next round

Giants over Cubs in 6 and that one makes me sad, but I'm being pragmatic :cry:
Yankees over Sox in 7

and the series

Yankees over Giants in 6

With that in mind, I hope the Cubs prove me wrong

[mac56]

8. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Giants over Marlins in 4
Cubs over Braves in 5

Twins over Yankees in 5
Sox over A's in 4

Pennant:
Sox over Twins in 6
Cubs over Giants in 7

WS:
Sox over Cubs in 7

[Leftist78]

9. I'd love a Sox-Cubs series

but it ain't gonna happen, and if it did the Cubs would kill em' :evilgrin:

[mac56]

10. Let's hope we have a chance to find out.

The cosmic implications would be staggering.

[Leftist78]

11. it HAS to be

one of the signs of the apocalypse. after that it's all over :nuke:

[sexybomber]

15. Uh, if the Red Sox win a World Series...

the Curse of the Bambino will be broken...

The Curse of the Bambino is one of the main things holding the universe together. If it's broken, the very fabric of reality will begin to unravel, and I honestly don't know what that would do to the world...

[WilliamPitt]

24. One might argue

that a universe which allows a Bush administration, 9/11 and this Iraq war could use a little shaking up.

Go Sox.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

32. If the Curse ends, so will the world!

Well, things are coming pretty close to it with Bush in office.

[regnaD kciN]

38. The Curse has merely been transferred...

Harry Frazee, the man who sold Babe Ruth to the Yanks, is long dead, but he has a grandson. Harry Frazee III.

Harry Frazee III lives in Gig Harbor, Washington. And is a Mariners fan.

Over the last two seasons, the Ms have had the best record in baseball at the midpoint, then suffered Fenway-worthy collapses in the second half to finish just out of the playoffs both times.

The most recent time, they were passed for the final playoff spot by...the Red Sox.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

:-(

[ProfessorGAC]

23. I'm Going With Mac, Almost

Full disclosure: I'm Chicago area born and bred, so i'm biased towards the Cubs.

The only thing i'll disagree with, Mac, is that the Cubs would beat the Red Sox if they meet. They won't be the Yanks or A's, but would be the BoSox or the Twins.

I think it's a matter of getting past the first round. If they do, their confidence will be high enough to beat Florida or San Fran.

Pitching beats all! (This all assumes no meltdown by the bullpen. And, that's a grand assumption, i know.)
The Professor

[gyopsy]

13. My picks

Marlins over Giants in 5
Cubs over Braves in 5
Yankees over Twins in 3
Red Sox over A's in 5

[TSIAS]

14. Why is everybody picking the Cubbies?

I know they're a sentimental pick and all, but Atlanta's clearly the better team.

Maybe people are thinking that in a short series Kerry Wood and Mark Prior can pull of some magic. Funny things is that the Braves have always had the best pitching. Now, the Cubs have the edge.

Say what you want about Atlanta, but they usually don't choke until the NLCS or World Series. They have a pretty good first round record. I believe they've lost only to St. Louis and San Francisco in the first round over the last 11 years. They swept the Cubs back in 1998, and it seemed like they were always getting Houston in the Wild Card round.

Maybe it's just my allegiance speaking, but I think Atlanta will sweap the North siders.

[gyopsy]

16. The Cubs deserve this...

Considering they haven't won a series for almost 100 years, I think I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they're due.

[TSIAS]

18. Understood

I was just reading through this thread and an espn.com column. Nobody here picked Atlanta, and only a few writers at ESPN picked Atlanta to get by Chicago.

Atlanta did win 101 games this year. Not too bad, considering they're in the same division with Philadelphia, Florida, and Montreal. I think people may be sleeping on them this postseason.

[HuckleB]

40. Pitching.

The Cubs have it.

And Atlanta has a long history of playoff failures.

It's no longshot to pick the Cubs.

[JackDragna]

41. What ridiculous logic

"History" has no effect on current playoffs. You might as well talk about how the Braves played in the 50's.

[HuckleB]

47. History has repeated itself in the playoffs for a long, long time.

It's not ridiculous to point that out. Power pitching dominates in the playoffs. There are few exceptions in history. But, hey, if you want to ignore that history, be my guest.

[sexybomber]

17. my picks

Marlins over Giants in 4
Cubs over Braves in 5

Yankees over Twins in 4
Sox over A's in 5

Pennants:
Yankees over Sox in 7; this series will be EPIC
Cubs over Marlins in 6

World Series:
Yankees over Cubs in 6

[DrGonzoLives]

19. OK

Giants over Marlins
Cubs over Braves (better pitching)
Twins over Yankees
Boston over Oakland

[ulysses]

22. um, Gonzo,

have you spent all the money you made betting on the Braves' superior pitching all these years? :evilgrin:

[DrGonzoLives]

44. Younger arms = more innings

More innings = stay away from bullpens, and neither teams' bullpen has been that good (except for the closers, who are useless when a lead gets blown.

[pmbryant]

20. Ok, since the Cubs are in, I'm going to have to try my hand at this

And I can't bet against the Cubs since I've been a fan since 1977.

First round:

Cubs over Braves in 5
Giants over Marlins in 4

Yankees over Twins in 4
Oakland over Boston in 5

NLCS/ALCS:

Cubs over Giants in 7
Oakland over Yankees in 6

World Series:

Cubs over Oakland in 6


:bounce:

:D

--Peter

[ArkDem]

21. I'll have to go through the rosters

to get data for my "ex-cub factor" calculation first.

[SmileyBoy]

25. No one's giving the Twins a chance, huh???

HMMMMM... we'll see....

[WilliamPitt]

26. Um...these are FIVE GAME SERIES', RIGHT?

[ulysses]

27. as I recall, yeah

:shrug:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

30. First rounds are best of 5

ALCS and NLCS are best of 7

[WilliamPitt]

33. Right-o

So the predictions are a wee bit off.

[Loyal]

28. Yankees in 6?

:shrug: Isn't the first round only 5 games?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

29. Toughest is Sox and A's

Sox have the best hitting in the league and the As the best pitching. Should be interesting. First game is Pedro vs. Hudson. I pick the Sox.

The Yankees will beat the Twins, but it will go down to the wire. The Yankees hitting isn't as good as it used to be, but they have three strong starters in Mussina, Clemens and Pettite.

Atlanta will kill the Cubs, though I hope otherwise (I HATE Atlanta).

Giants will take the Marlins also.

-----------------------------
Sox & Yankees? The Sox won 9 from the Yanks this season, and the Yanks won 10, so you're talking a pretty evenly-matched team. The Yankees have better starting pitchers, but their bullpen has been struggling. The Sox have hit very well against all Yankee pitchers.

Atlanta vs. Giants? I choose the Giants.

a Giants-Sox World Series? I hope so-I'd rather to fly to San Francisco for a World Series game than Atlanta!

[Loyal]

31. Here's how it will be, I think:

Yankees over Twins in 3; 4 at the most.

Braves over Cubs in 4.

Giants over Marlins in 5.

A's over Red Sox in 5. Sorry Will Pitt :hi:. If I'm wrong I'll eat my words.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

34. The Sox will Massacre A's Pitching!

They have the best slugging percentage in history. They broke the 1927 Yankees record. Here's the article:

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2003/09/29/sox_fall_but_so_do_records/

<snip>
Murderers Row never looked so meek. In one of the most stunning achievements in their record-setting display of power and depth, the Red Sox yesterday capped a memorable regular season by breaking the major league record for slugging percentage set by the legendary 1927 Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

[Leftist78]

35. in an era

where the ball flys farther for everybody than it did in the past, that's not that hard to believe.

[regnaD kciN]

39. If that's the case...

...shouldn't several teams in this era already have broken it?

[Loyal]

36. Yea,

their slugging pct is pretty good, but I still think the A's can take them. We'll just wait and see I guess. :)

[JackDragna]

42. One little problem..

..3 of the 5 games will be played in Oakland, a pitcher's park. The quality of hitting always suffers more in the playoffs than the quality of pitching. Oakland should win this series.

[HuckleB]

43. Yes.

And one could argue that the A's are just as due for a postseason series win as the Sox. The A's history of three straight five game divisional series losses, with every series going to a fifth game gives the odds a swing toward the A's.

[HuckleB]

37. And The Divisional Series Winners Are:

Cubs.
Giants.
Yankees.
Athletics.

[Emboldened Chimp]

45. Oops! Correction needed...

Forgot the opening round is only five games...

Giants over Marlins in 4
Cubs over Braves in 5
Yanks over Twins in 4
A's over Sox in 5

[THUNDER HANDS]

46. mine

Giants over Marlins in 6
Cubs over Braves in 5
Yankees over Twins in 4
Red Sox over A's in 7

[ikojo]

48. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This is the year my Cubbies do it!

I am the Dorothy of Cubs fans...

I believe they can
I believe my Cubbies CAN win the division playoffs!!

C'mon Cubbies! No one expected you to get this far!