Postseason baseball is when the countdown to the World Series begins and this, of course, means plenty of speculation on which teams will make it. Two things made this season a little harder to predict; first you have the two additional wild card teams and secondly, there was no real clear cut “front runner” in either of the leagues.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 24: Angel Pagan #16 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates with Manager Bruce Bochy #15 of the San Francisco Giants after scoring a run hit by Marco Scutaro #19 of the San Francisco Giants against Justin Verlander #35 of the Detroit Tigers in the third inning during Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series at AT&T Park on October 24, 2012 in San Francisco, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The American League had several teams that were separated by only 2 games and even the Detroit Tigers who had not done the best percentage wise are now the ones in the big dance. In the National League you had several times that had won at least ninety-four baseball games; and the Cardinals entered as a wild card just like last season, where they won. This year, that momentum only carried them to an NLCS loss to the San Francisco Giants.Most of the pre-season predictions included the Angels winning over the Reds, however, with the Angels out of the running around mid-season (minus their little run at it towards the end there) they have had to come up with new predictions. Many had replaced the Angels with the Texas Rangers; however, they maintained that the Rangers would win over Cincinnati. (The Rangers got blown out of the wild card game by a surging Baltimore after late-season weakness. The Reds left surprisingly early in their NLDS.) Still others claimed that no way will the Yankees bats be silenced and they would reign supreme. (Oops…that’s exactly what happened to the Yankees, as their offense joined the off-season almost 2 weeks before the actual team did (despite excellent pitching).
So now, with the Giants up 1-0 over the Tigers, we have (up to) 6 games left to decided who will hoist the World Series Championship banner in their stadium next season. Whatever the outcome, it is sure to be great baseball.
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