October is here, and so are the playoffs. Before they officially start this afternoon, let’s take a look at the MLB Power Poll through the end of the regular season.
AL EAST:
Tampa Bay: (1) Divine intervention? Tampa drops “Devil” from team name, ends up in playoffs for first time.
Boston: (4) Red Sox are beat up, but the defending champs won’t be an easy out in October.
NY Yankees: (9) The tearing down of Yankee Stadium by this franchise is an absolute disgrace. I’m thrilled they missed the playoffs.
Toronto: (13) Cito Gaston quietly did a really nice job with Toronto in the 2nd half.
Baltimore: (25) For some reason, Orioles decided they were a plunger, and went in the toilet in September.
AL CENTRAL:
Chicago WS: (8) The Pale Hose join the Cubs in the postseason. Question is…will anyone care about the Sox?
Minnesota: (12) Twins will have nightmares of the Kansas City series all offseason.
Cleveland: (17) Looking back, if Cleveland hadn’t traded Sabathia, would they have won this division?
Kansas City: (20) Not finishing in last place for once may have KC fans dancing in the fountains of Kauffman Stadium.
Detroit: (27) You can come up with whatever excuse you want. The Tigers were a joke in 2008. Period.
AL WEST:
LA Angels: (3) The deepest rotation of anyone still playing, and a closer who had more saves (62) than the Mariners and Nationals had wins.
Texas: (18) He slowed down in the 2nd half, but it was a tremendous year (304-32-130) for Josh Hamilton.
Oakland: (19) Good News: Jack Cust hit 33 HR’s for the A’s. Bad News: Cust struck out 197x, an AL record. Bizarre News: The 197 K’s were only the third most in baseball this year!!!
Seattle: (29) Like Detroit, M’s had no business being as bad as they were. 101 losses? Pathetic and inexcusable.
NL EAST:
Philadelphia: (5) Jamie Moyer won 16 gms this year. Not bad for a guy who’s 76 yrs old and throws about half that fast.
NY Mets: (14) You know Britney’s song “Oops, I Did It Again”? A perfect fit for the Mets, chokers in both of the past 2 seasons.
Florida: (16) Marlins were one Jorge Cantu HR away from having all four infielders hit over 30 jacks.
Atlanta: (21) Did anyone think Mike Hampton would be pitching at the end of the year, but Glavine, Smoltz, and Hudson wouldn’t?
Washington: (30) The only thing worse than the leadership in Washington is the Nationals. Total disaster.
NL CENTRAL:
Chi Cubs: (2) Is a century of disappointment and torment coming to an end? Cubs are the favorites in the NL.
Milwaukee: (6) I still think firing Ned Yost was a lousy move, but nothing has stopped CC Sabathia.
Houston: (10) Don’t expect any Astros players to name their kids “Ike” anytime soon. The hurricane blew away any playoff hopes.
St Louis: (11) The Cardinals, 4th in the Central, would have won the NL West by 2 games.
Cincinnati: (22) Dusty Baker has 5 former Cubs from his time in Chicago. They weren’t any good back then. They still aren’t any good now.
Pittsburgh: (26) Pirates just finished their 16th straight losing season. One more, and they’ll hold the record in all of professional sports.
NL WEST:
Los Angeles: (7) Manny Ramirez’s Dodger numbers, averaged over a full year, would have read .396-51-159.
Arizona: (15) Mark Reynolds hit 28 HR’s. That’s great, but D’Backs could have done without the 204 K’s, a new MLB record.
Colorado: (23) Another disappointment. The NL Champs never got it going in a division there for the taking.
San Francisco: (24) Giants hit a measly 94 homers as a team, a number 8 less than the number of walks Barry Zito issued.
San Diego: (28) Someone needed to put out an APB for the Padres offense. It totally disappeared.
KB’S PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS: (i was actually right last year for a change)
Division Series:
Tampa over White Sox in 3
Boston over Anaheim in 5
Cubs over Los Angeles in 5
Philadelphia over Milwaukee in 4
Championship Series:
Tampa over Boston in 6
Cubs over Philadelphia in 7
WORLD SERIES:
Chicago Cubs over Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games.
