Oh, how I love October.....

Hello everybody.

I'm pretty bored in class right now, so I'm going to take the liberty of not paying attention and talk about how great these playoffs have been.

I guess we can start with my Rays pick. I'm not upset in the least that they Rays lost to the Rangers. My justification for that pick was that I was completely unsure of both how healthy Josh Hamilton was, and the shakiness of the Texas bullpen. When we read about how Jacoby Ellsbury struggled with his ribs all season, in the back of my mind I thought the same thing would happen with Hamilton.

I had a sneaking suspicion that the Yankees just didn't have the pitching to compete with whichever potent AL offense they'd face in the Championship Series. The Rangers absolutely embarrassed the Yankees bullpen in New York. I like the Rangers chances, especially when Cliff Lee is pitching against the Yankees in game 7 if the fantastic arm of Phil Hughes takes the Yankees there (note the facetiousness of that comment). Obviously the injury to Teixeira doesn't help matters for the Yankees. The Rangers ballpark has benefited other teams better then the namesakes in this post-season, but I think they will get the 1 game they need to make it to the fall classic.

I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but I will elaborate on why I made my 'controversial' pick of the Giants. I have said many times on this fantastic website the importance of four man rotations in this post-season. Major League Baseball eliminated three extra off-days that teams had in previous years. It's because of this that having a stronger 4 is exponentially more important than having a stronger 3. Couple this with the fact that the Giants have a much stronger bullpen and the Phillies have never played well at AT&T Park, and this pick was a no-brainer for me. It's also the reason I still thought the Giants were capable of making the playoffs even when they were down 6 games to the Padres in early September.

I kept telling people that the winner of game 4 was going to win this series because of that fourth starter. I by no means want to say I'm completely writing off the Phillies at this point. I am saying that I cannot see the Phillies taking three games off of the Giants top three, I thought two was plausible and obviously one game was too. But the fact that Baumgarner outpitched Blanton makes me feel that the Phillies cannot beat Lincecum, Sanchez, and Cain consecutively. Again, they could prove me wrong, and as an objective baseball fan I would love for them to prove me wrong.

Keep your eyes peeled for a complete World Series preview after the Championship Series reach their exciting conclusions.

Happy October!