Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's... 1906?

Yeah, yeah, so the Dodgers and Angels are both in the playoffs, getting everybody out here in SoCal all stoked about the prospect of a Subway Series. Me, I'm more excited about the fact that — for the first time since the names of Frank "Wildfire" Schulte, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and "Big Ed" Walsh were commonly dropped in Windy City taverns — both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox have made it into the same post-season. Congrats to both teams and their fans; hopefully this October ride has just begun for all of us. I really don't miss Chi-town much these days ('cept for the eye-tralian beef, of course), but I really wish I was back there this week, just to observe and feel and join in the hysteria.

Now that the playoff matchups have finally been sorted, let's take a look at my pre-season predictions, and see how they panned out:

AL East: New York Yankees
AL Central: Cleveland Indians (w/ Detroit Tigers as the Wild Card)
AL West: California Angels

Well, my AL picks were pretty much "whiff city"; I can't even give myself a pat on the back for picking the Halos, since the Special Olympics West has been such an egregiously shitty and uncompetitive division these last couple of years. It remains to be seen, however, if — having basically phoned it in since August — the Angels can rev their wings back up enough for the playoffs.

NL East: New York Mets (with Phillies as Wild Card)
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: Colorado Rockies

A wee bit better here; I just didn't think it was possible that the Mets could blow it two years in a row, much less in the exact same, pull-up-lame-at-the-end-of-the-year fashion. And I guess the Colorado organization's strategy of packing their roster with "quality individuals" — i.e., white Christians — didn't pay off like it was supposed to. (Bet they had some rockin' prayer circles goin' on this year, though!) As for the Cubs, I said "they should take the Central in a sprint," which is pretty much what happened.

They Cubs are definitely a better team than the one that sucked male ass against the D-Backs last October, though I'm worried about the tenuous current state of Zambrano's arm/mind; I also don't know how much ESPN/Fox "100 Years of Misery" hype I can handle before I wind up putting my foot through the TV. Best to watch the Cubs-Dodgers series with the sound turned off, methinks — unless of course Vin Scully is calling the game. I loves me some Vin; even when he goes off on a tangent of semi-relevant minutiae (like about five or six years ago, when he wouldn't stop talking about Adrian Beltre's "botched appendectomy" and subsequent date with a colostomy bag), he's a million times more fun and edifying to listen to than Joe Buck, Tim McCarver or Joe Morgan...

Anyway, no post-season predictions here — just the fond hope that it'll be a Nort' Side-Sout' Side Series. Go Cubs, Go Sox...

Comments

[stu]

I used to dislike Vin Scully when he'd do national broadcasts. Over the last few years, I've been watching Dodgers telecasts on mlb.tv and have really enjoyed hearing the guy.

Like most announcers, he's much better covering a team that he sees every day. He's a treasure, and I can't even imagine what the Dodgers would do without him. Charley Steiner? Gag me.

[Chris Perry]

My preseason picks were equally as bad (I got 50% across the two leagues: Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox and Angels, although I had the Red Sox winning the division). Everything else was completely wrong.

I am not deterred and I offer the following playoff predictions:

NLDS:

Phillies over Brewers
Cubs over Dodgers

ALDS:

Angels over Red Sox (Yes, I am picking against my home town team. They are just too banged up right now. If healthy, I would have picked the Red Sox)

Rays over White Sox (sorry)

NLCS:

Cubs over Phillies

ALCS:

Rays over Angels

World Series:

Cubs in 7

Let's hope I didn;t just jinx the whole thing for your Cubbies.