Let's Get It On!...LCS Previews

Well...now the playoffs can officially start in a sense. Not to take anything away from all four division series, but the ALCS and NLCS should prove to be a lot better baseball in terms of going more than the minimum four games. The Twins seemed over matched by the Yankees while the Angels finally found a way to take it to the Red Sox and raided their past demons. Both of the ALDS ended in sweeps and set up a really good matchup for the ALCS. Things weren't too much more exciting with the two NLDS. The Dodgers seemed to be struggling to end the regular season, yet they swept away the Cardinals while the Phillies dropped one game against the Rockies before winning in four. The NLCS should provide a good series now that the Dodgers look to be on track and the Phillies are as hot as ever. Overall, I was 3-1 with my picks.

Now to turn to the two series:

NLCS: Dodgers vs Phillies: The Dodgers looked to be head and shoulders above the rest of the National League and maybe the whole league for much of the first half of the year. They lost their big slugger, Manny Ramirez, for 50 games and continued pretty much at the same pace. The last two months, the Dodgers had to constantly watch off their shoulder for the surging Colorado Rockies and barely won the division the last week of the year. They have a young core of players in Andre Either, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, and James Loney. On the other side, the Phillies were in a similar position as the Dodgers for the whole year and played better down the stretch to easily win the National League East for a third straight year. They have sluggers up and down their lineup in Ryan Howard, Jason Werth, and Raul Ibanez. Chase Utley can hit for power and for average. And Jimmy Rollins is always consistent at the top of the lineup and sets the table for all that power behind him. Joe Torre is a proven postseason master and manager while Charlie Manuel is quickly showing that he can handle the pressure of the postseason and make the right moves. Philadelphia is going for repeat defense while the Dodgers are trying to win it all for the first time two decades. The pitching edge goes to Philly, the manager edge goes to LA, and the hitting edge is close to a push with a slight advantage to the Phillies because of all their power.

Pick: Phillies in 6

ALCS: Yankees vs Angels: During the postseason and regular season, the Angels have given the Yankees several headaches. The Yankees this year, however, have looked a little different than some of those recent teams that struggled to win that elusive 27th ring. The Yankees have been sononimous with big offseason spending sprees. Each year it seems that those big names they bring in don't get it done when it counts most. It looks thus far that the big pitcher and big hitter have paid great dividends this year and so far in the postseason. C.C. Sabathia is a AL Cy Young candidate and Mark Teixera can easily be talked about in the AL MVP discussion. The addition of A.J. Burnett to the pitching lineup has given them three strong starters along with Sabathia and Andy Petitte. Nick Swisher has been an addition that has gone under the radar and both Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera have developed into very good every day players. Alex Rodriguez seems to be breaking out of the horrible postseason slump and could start to become unstoppable. Plus this team still has that great shortshop, Derek Jeter, and the BEST postseason closer ever, Mariano Rivera. Quite possibly two of the top players at their positions if not overall. And Joe Girardi is slowly emerging into a very good manager. The Angels, on the other hand, have one of the most potent hitting lineups in all of baseball as they all were batting around .300. They have a big hitter in Vladimir Guerrero and a veteran hitter in Torii Hunter. Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick are big game hitters against Yankees' pitching. John Lackey has the ability to go toe to toe with C.C. Sabathia and Brian Fuentes is one of the best closers in baseball. Mike Sciosa has proven to be a very good manager and always has his teams cover the little things in any given baseball game. The team and organization are playing with the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart in mind and has given them extra motivation. The hitting edge goes to the Yankees, the pitching edge slightly goes to the Yankees, and the manager edge is in the Angels' corner with a veteran skipper.

Pick: Yankees in 6

Both series should feature some really good baseball and setup a great World Series.