The Major League Baseball wild card series start today, and they offer some interesting story lines. None of the four teams that made the League Championship Series last year made it back this year, so we're guaranteed new champions in both leagues and in the World Series. All four American League teams have better records than the four teams from the National League, and the AL will have the home field advantage in the World Series. However, my hunch is that the winner of the Colorado-Philadelphia series may just run the table. The Rockies have won 14 of their last 15 games; you can't get much hotter than that. The Phillies made up a 7-game deficit as of September 12th and stunned the choking New York Mets by winning the NL East on the last day of the season. Whichever team wins that matchup will have a whole lot of momentum.
My picks: Philadelphia and the Chicago Cubs in the NL, the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians in the AL, the Phillies and the Indians winning their respective League Championship Series, and then the Phillies beating the Indians in the World Series.
Note that the only team that is returning to the postseason field this year is the New York Yankees, the AL wild card team. No other team has as much postseason experience, but not all of that experience has been good in recent years. The key player is Alex Rodriguez, who has not played well in the playoffs. If A-Rod has a good series against Cleveland, the Yankees could be the team to beat.
