This Year's MLB Playoffs

You might see the title of this post and think, why is there a post about the MLB playoffs in the middle of a series. Not at the end or the beginning of the playoffs or even at the end or beginning of a series. Well the reason I am writing this right now is because I feel that now is the best time to predict who will win each series and to talk about a lot of things that have happened so far and what I think will happen later on in this year's playoffs. The other reason is because I really didn't have anything else to write about. So lets get started.
Giants vs. Phillies
Coming into this series I liked both teams. I would have rather saw Atlanta be here, but I liked the Giants. I thought the Giants weren't good enough to stand up to this Philly team, but they proved me wrong. Throughout the whole series I had the Phillies as favorites and still do. I doubt whether or not that will actually happen, but the Phillies still have a chance and the next two games are at home. Both these teams are very good and will put up a strong fight whether they are playing the yankees or the Rangers. I'm still sticking with my guns and picking the Phillies, but the Giants might come along and ruin my whole day. And if they do, I think I would be fine with it.
Yankees vs. Rangers
First thing I'm going to say about this is that I am a Yankee hater. Just because I don't like the Yankees doesn't mean I don't think they are a good team and they will compete every single game, but I think the Rangers have the right weapons that will hurt the Yankees. They have the one pitcher that can actually handle the very strong Yankees line up. If the Rangers want to win they will need to have him go more than he did the last time in which he only went 6 innings. The Rangers don't have a great bullpen. But, if they can score off the Yankees pretty good in the first few innings and they won't have to face rivera in a win or not situation they will win tonight. No disrespect to the Yankees and how good of a team they are, but this year isn't the year, last year was. This year they won't win it all.

One final thought. I think the National League this year is very strong. Both the teams left in the American League just don't match up to the teams in the NL. So I think no matter what American team and no matter what National team. The National team will win series.

Baseball 2nd half predictions

This blog is going to tell what I think each division will do. And maybe at the end some predictions on personal awards, like triple crown, cy young, and mvp. So lets start with the National League.
NL East
This division is going to be a close one. First you have the Braves who are a great team with Bobby Cox in his last year they want him to win it with them. They have a great core of hitters and they are mostly unknown lately until this year. Then the Phillies are always dangerous. Right now they are down, but they can come back up at any point and start playing the way they should be playing. But then you add in the Mets who are having a good year for the first time in a few years. And the Marlins who won the division last year, which surprised everyone, still have a chance to win it lead by the great pitching of Josh Johnson. In the end my prediction is: the braves.
NL Central
Right now the Reds are in first place by a slightly small margin. The Cardinals are in second and I think they can take first place if all the members of their team play as well as they should and can they might be able to pass the Reds. They may need a good 6 game winning streak at some point to put them over the top and give them a comfortable lead. Just because the Cardinals can win first place doesn't mean that the Reds can't keep it. They have Joey Votto and good pitching. They can keep this lead, but in the end my prediction is the Cardinals, because the Reds just haven't had to be good in the second half for years.
NL West
This is the most hectic division. Right now lead by the Padres. The dodgers are always a threat. The Rockies have Ubaldo Jimenez. The Giants are having a good year. That is all just making this race so much more exciting. This is the division in the NL you are going to want to watch and pay attention to. Any one of these teams can win it. San Diego has not been in this situation for years. The Rockies are a usually underated team. The Dodgers are always expected to win. The Giants are having their first really good year in a while. This is the hardest division to predict. I'm going to go out on a whim and say that the Padres will keep their lead and win this division.
Now the American League
AL East
This division is always an interesting one. Probably because it is the division you see the most on TV. Ever since 2008 when the Rays became a contender this division has become more than just the Yankees and the Red Sox rivalry. Now three teams have a chance. The Yankees are in the lead right now. The Rays can win this but I don't think they will. The Red Sox are behind, but so many of their big stars and good players are injured. When all those players come back the Red Sox are a force to be reckoned with. I can tell you who I want to win this division, but I'm not so sure that they will win it. But, I'm going to go with them. I thin the Red Sox will win.
AL Cenral
The division my team is in. Right now the leader is the White sox. The Tigers are only a half game behind and the twins are only 2.5 games behind. This division is going to be down to the wire. The last two years the AL Central has had to be decided by a playoff game. This year might continue that streak. The White Sox were blazing hot coming into the All-star break, if they can continue that Detroit and Minnisota won't be able to keep up. The White Sox have a ton of games against both those teams at the end of the year. If they win many of those series' they will win. But Detroit is a great team with a lot of good players. They can win anytime, too. So this will be a close one. But I will go with my team, the White Sox.
AL West
This is the race that is the least close. The Rangers have dominated. Not many of the other teams have played well, so this division seems easy to me. The Rangers were already hot and then they picked up Cliff Lee to add to their pitching. Now they are going to win this divsion a lot easier. so I pick the Rangers.
Personal Awards
triple crown-right now Miguel Cabrera has a chance to win the triple crown. I don't think he will. There is a reason why not many people have done it and nobody recently has done it. so I think that Cabrera is a great player and a really good hitter, but he won't win this.
cy young- it looks like its obviously going to be Ubaldo Jimenez in the NL. But the AL could change. Right now a lot of people are saying David Price, but now that Cliff Lee is on a good team, he might pick up a lot of wins and just be a better pitcher. So for the AL I just can't say right now.
MVP- this is so hard to pick at the All-star break, because what makes an MVP is the second half, but I think that so far the AL mvp has been Miguel Cabrera and I think the NL should go to Joey Votto. He has the best stats and it would be great to see a guy from a team not really known until this year.

All-Star Game

Tonight is the all-star game. In about 30 minutes it will start. Right now I'm still at work. I will be watching the game here. I have a few predictions on how this all-star game might go. But don't hate if I'm wrong.
First, the National League has not won for 13 years. This could be good or bad for the NL. It depends on how they handle the pressure and whether or not they think about ending the streak. If the NL just plays their game and each player plays his best they can win. The NL has better pitching and they have a good starting lineup for hitting both home-runs and base-hits.
Second, the American League has either won or tied the last 13 years. This could be good or bad for the AL. If they go into the game thinking that they are automatically going to win just because they have not lost in the last 13 years. There is a fine line between confidence and cockiness. If the American League goes past that line they may be in for their first lost in 13 years. They have a pretty good pitching staff with actual relievers, not just a bunch of starting pitchers that are put in every one or two innings. They also have a good hitting corps. If the American League can stay under the line between confidence and cockiness they will win.
The American League is my pick to win, but if they don't watch out they will lose for the first time in 13 years. The National League can easily win this game, but they can also easily lose. I think that the latter will happen, but I could be wrong.
Now its 20 minutes until the game and I think I will go see what is going on with it. So adios and bye bye.