f13.net

The MLB Playoffs are starting today, so I figured in the spirit of our normal trash-talking sports talk, we'd do a playoff pick 'em. Post your 4 playoff picks in this thread. We'll see who's right.

My Picks:

Astros vs. Braves - Astros
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Twins - Twins
Red Sox vs. Angels - Red Sox

Let the games begin!

Astros vs. Braves - Astros
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Twins - Yankees
Red Sox vs. Angels - Angels

Astros vs. Cardinals - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Angels - Yankees

Cardinals vs. Yankees - Yankees in 6

Braves
   Cards
   Yankees
   Red Sox

Astros vs. Braves - Astros
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Twins - Twins
Red Sox vs. Angels - Red Sox

Astros vs. Cardinals - Cardinals
Red Sox vs. Twins - Twins

Cardinals vs. Twins: Twins in 6

Astros vs. Braves - Astros
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Twins - Twins
Red Sox vs. Angels - Angels

Astros vs. Cardinals - Cardinals
Angels vs. Twins - Twins

Cardinals vs. Twins: Cardinals in 6

Astros vs. Braves - Astros
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cardinals
Yankees vs. Twins - Twins
Red Sox vs. Angels - Red Sox

The last one is the toughest- Vlad has been unconscious the past two weeks, but I think Boston has the better overall team.

Next round-

Cards over the 'Stros
Sox over the Twins

Series- Cards over the Sox. The curse continues.

I pick the NFL.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

Bravos (phuck the naysayers)
Cards
Yanks
Angels

RALLY MONKEY! MONKEYMONKEYMONKEYMONKEYMONKEY!

NLDS:
Astros over Braves in 4
Cardinals over Dodgers in 5

ALDS:
Red Sox over Angels in 3
Twins over Yankees in 4


NLCS:
Astros over Cardinals in 6

ALCS:
Red Sox over Twins in 6


World Series:
Astros over Red Sox in 7

:) I can dream right?

Fanboy. =P

I am just jealous that my team went from 116 wins to 99 losses in 3 fucking years.

They'll be back.  Don't worry.  Seattle's a classy organization with heart.  Unlike *coughsosacough* some.

Cardinals - Dodgers:  Cardinals
Astros - Braves:  Either could win, but I'll pick Astros.
Yankees - Twins:  Either could win, but I'll pick Yankees.
Red Sox - Agenls: Red Sox

Cardinals - Astros (or Braves): Cardinals
Red Sox - Yankees (or Twins): Yankees (or Twins)

Cardinals - Yankees (or Twins): Cardinals

Bruce

Red Sox
Yankees
Astros
Cardinals


Red Sox
Astros


Red Sox

(Clemens loses Game 6 @ Fenway...haha)

Astros vs. Braves - Braves
Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Cards
Yankees vs. Twins - Yanks
Red Sox vs. Angels - Sox

Braves vs. Cardinals - Braves
Red Sox vs. Yanks - Yanks

Braves vs. Yanks: Yanks in 5

Gimongous yawn.

I'm surprised more people aren't picking the Cards.  THEY'RE ONLY THE BEST TEAM IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE.

Yes, their starting pitching isn't awesome, but the only NL team with theoretically better pitching is the Astros, and they didn't do so well during the regular season.

Bruce

Actually, the starting pitching in both leagues is pretty much mediocre at best. The best 1-2 tandems are Santana-Radke and Clemens-Oswalt. There are no good #3's anywhere out there, and the #4's are frightful. Offense could play a big part, and the Cards certainly have the best lineup, and best defense, which makes their mediocre starters better.

I still don't think they have enough to win it all.

Yes. Shoot me if it ends up being a yanks braves series.

3 reasons why the Cards may not win.
1. Chris Carpenter is out and may not pitch again this season.
2. Their bullpen iirc is missing one player and is not the strength of this team (Isringhausen? please)
3. Good pitching beats good hitting.

If I see Pedro go 6-7 strong innings tonight (and as long as Grady Little doesnt start managing the Sox again) then Im feeling very good about the Sox chances. They have a prolific offence, Timlin looked superb yesterday and some decent defence (Cabrera made two excellent plays yesterday for example).

Oh and if anyone mentions the five letter word beginning with C and ending with e I think tehy should be banned, kthkbye!

And how did they do against the Cardinals, bruce?

It is awakened.

(http://www.astrosdaily.com/images/BigAstroGorilla.jpg)

The Twins have to be happy with their performance in Yankee Stadium. They made Rivera blow a save for only the 3rd time in the postseason, and in two games, either won or almost won against a really strong lineup. Not only that, they kept that lineup close. Even Radke did well; 5 runs in 6.1 innings isn't great, but he didn't get blown out. If I were the Yanks, I'd be worried.

The Dodgers and Angels both just seem like they don't have a prayer right now.

The Yankees aren't worried because they know they got a big break last night, thats probably all they'll need.

If Koskie's line drive off Rivera doesnt bounce over the wall there ahead 1 run and Nathan comes in to close out the 9th.

Gardenhire takes Nathan out in the bottom of the 12th for ...crap..anyone and closes out the game (Lohse , Romero were available).

Dear god whats with f'ing managers going Grady Little in Yankee Stadium?

That being said the Yankees are pitching Kevin Brown in game 3 ...hahahahahahahahah. Good luck! Then Javier Vazquez in Game 4..even better! I like the Twins chances.

Oh and Pedro was touching 94mph in the 7th inning last night....watch out...

It's a bit late but ...

St. Louis
Houston
Minneapolis
Boston

Houston
Boston

Boston

Bobby Cox is a fucking communist.

AHAHAHAHA, Take that you Houston loving pansies! Our leadoff man cracks a homer.

And by the way that stalling tactic with the bullpen phones was one of the stupidest and cheapest things I've seen all year. This is the major leagues, act like it.

Hey I think we found the one Atlanta fan that was at the game.:)

I wish, can't get to a game that starts at 4, the boss won't have that. I had on the stream radio and caught the finish on TV, but that was the most important part as it turned out. Plus, I think I'm the only one on the boards actually from Atlanta, so go figure on where I stand.

Well you shouldn't have any problems getting tickets, they cant even sell out for a PLAYOFF game. Thats sad.

Need I reiterate FOUR O' CLOCK ON A THURSDAY. You'd basically have to have the luxery of being able to take the afternoon off. Most work-a-day baseball fans don't have that.

1) There's no way Garner was lying about the phones or "stalling" on purpose.  Period.  End of discussion.



2) There is DOCUMENTED PROOF that the visting team's bullpen phones at The Terd are dodgy.

3) You think that fucktwat manager of yours will continue his "protest" now that his drunk-ass team won the game in question? Right...

4) Don't act so happy. You just barely were able to split the first two games IN YOUR OWN STADIUM.

Now that's some good smack-talk. :)

Apparently, Furcal needs to face jail time more often. Motherfucker is usually a dinky hitter.

Is that in regards to your own situation? In which case perfectly understandable.

If its an excuse as to why Atlanta cant sell out a home playoff game give me a break. Every OTHER team in the playoffs let alone the majors would sell out home playoff games if the game was played at 3am in the morning..(except for Miami and Tampa Bay, they should have their franchises taken away).

Don't worry, I'm sure Minute Maid Stadium will be packed to the fucking gills.

We both know that the time is only half the reason, the other is fairly fucking obvious. The Braves are not exactly known for going far in the playoffs, why skip work to see that?

EDIT: Oh and btw Kenrick, if your closer tried throwing more than a fucking slider the entire time, perhaps we wouldn't have teed off on him. What a chump.

Just speakin' the gospel truth. ;)

And yeah, if you were faced with going to jail and getting gangraped after your playoffs end (what kind of doublestandard bullshit is that?), you'd wanna amp up your play a notch too.

I think Houston and Atlanta are both just trying to draw the series out as long as possible to put off being humiliated and crushed by St. Louis. :)

Bruce

You're mostly right about St. Louis, but the Astros certainly aren't trying to lose.  They have a major long-term axe to grind with these Braves, and I think you could see some serious fireworks in MMP this weekend.  God help the Braves if they have to face Clemens again and he gets a large enough lead to play vengeance.

Hell I'd love Clemens to throw at somebody. That guy's a posterchild for a suspension with his track record. You think that would fly in the postseason?

I'll raise a glass tonight for the Braves dashing your wildcard comeback in your house.

Shows how much you know about baseball.  No, a hit batsman would not get him suspended, unless 1) there had been previous scuffles in the game, 2) the benches had been warned, and/or 3) the HBP was obviously intentional.  Nothing wrong with a little breaking ball that doesn't break and *oops* hits Andruw on his smug little ass.  Please, become learned.

We plunked Beltran already Mr. Learned, it doesn't just have to be in the same game and you know it.

Keep digging your hole, mate. :)

Pretty sure I've never seen a game where someone got ejected immediately for retaliating for a previous game's incident.  If that were allowed, the Red Sox and Yankees would play with a permanently enforced warning.  Now what fun would that be?

When it is convenient for Houston, someone will avenge Beltran.

Mr Ortiz says 'Ardent, Nebu and Paelos...you're out!'

Bring on the yankees

Damn good thing I didn't quit my day job to become a sport's book in Vegas.  

Good luck to the rest of you!

You thought the Angels would win?

In my mind, the Angels were the one AL team with no shot. Their starting pitching is nothing like it was a couple years ago, when both Washburn and Ortiz had career years. Now Ortiz is in the pen and Washburn is responsible for losing the final game with one pitch. (Or was it two?)

Their roster was ugly, about a third of the guys in their lineup appeared to be minor leaguers. The game is on the line and the Angels have 3 guys coming up that I've never even heard of before...

I gave the Twins a shot to win the first round because of Santana, and had they left him in it still might have worked.

Round 2 should favor the Sox, with Schilling/Pedro topping any 1/2 punch the Yankees have. Still, I'm a New Yorker so I'm going with the Yankees...A-Rod with the series winning walk-off home run, that would be nice.

The beautiful thing about baseball is that winning a shade more than half of your games can get you into the playoffs.  I didn't think the Angels were all that great, but it's a lot more fun to root for the longshot.   I picked and missed.  

You're correct in your assessment of their talent. I can't argue with you at all.

But the same is true of the NFL and the NBA.

The NFL is the most fun, really, because there is true parity thanks to the salary cap, and since their are so few games, injuries and luck play a much larger role in a team's success than in, say, baseball, where the sheer length of the 162-game season has rendered almost everything a matter of pure statistics.  With the NFL, it's a lot easier for a "weak" team to get to the playoffs... but because of parity they aren't that much weaker, and because even the playoffs are one-game contests, they have a decent shot at winning it all.

Bruce

I hope furcal gets raped so hard in prison.

Well, I called 3 out of the 4 series so far, and the one that hasn't been decided yet was oneof the others I said would be close.

I kinda hope the Braves win, because the Cards arguably have a better chance of beating them than the Astros.  But the Astros are the better team.

Bruce

Or if your team is called the Patriots.:)

God help us if we are inflicted with the Braves for another series.

Oh and if Arod hits the game winning HR in the ALCS I'll gouge my eyes out with a spoon. A rusty spoon.

Awww, so much Braves hate, and we're such a nice team :)

Anyway, we all realize Houston's manager was the reason for the loss, so if you lose the series, feel free to run him out on a rail.

Okay, I just hope the Astros give the Cards a good series.  I'm not expecting to get past them, but hopefully it'll at least be exciting.

By the way, where's that braves guy?

Sigh, it's such a burden when you're right almost all the time. :)

Bruce

Indeed.

Wow, that was bad, and in typical Braves form to give us hope only to be dashed at the end. Ah well, have fun playing the Cards, I'm sure that's not the only 12-3 you'll see again.

Now its time to retreat back to my Yankee-hating.

Sox in 5.
Cardinals in 6.

3 for 4 isn't bad for someone like me who is usually full of shit.

I'll stick with my original Series prediction, Yankees vs. Cards.

I've unstickied this one, and made a new sticky topic for Championship Series picks (http://forums.f13.net/viewtopic.php?t=1208).