Playoff Predictions- NLCS and ALCS

What a, uhm, Not so exciting Round 1 of playoff baseball. 3 sweeps and a 4 game series. Not my idea of drama but hey, We weeded out the Yankees, Cubs, Angels, and Phillies, which equates to about 500 million dollars in payroll, leaving 3 teams with the top 10 lowest payrolls in baseball. These recent failures on high salary teams has changed my views on an MLB salary cap. There shouldnt be one!! I finally agree with Shane on this matter. Good scouting and good management are the key ingredient to a successful team. Money creates ego's hence, bad mojo. Maybe my Giants can follow this strategy for next year.

Oh, side note- Loving the fact that Georgie-Boy called out Torre, Not only did the Yankees lose, they lost their longest tenured manger ever under Steiny. WTG George.

But I digress, I was 2-2 in my round 1 predictions. My apologies go out to Arizona. Why oh Why would I ever doubt a team playing the Cubs. We all knew they would lose, I guess I was looking at the experience of the Cubs rather than the fun-loving, got nothing to lose, attitude the Dbacks had.

Rockies vs Diamondbacks- This is a tough one for me. I have followed the NL West like I follow the scent of a freshly backed apple pie. Both teams have such similarities in pitching. Both have that 1 really good ace, followed by some decent but not great starters. Both have a solid bullpen and very consistant closers. So that being said, this game will be decided by offense. Rockies have plenty of pop in their swings where the Dbacks have very little. The Dbacks have a knack for getting on base where the Rockies dont need to. They can hit for power from 2-7 in the batting order. Bob Melvin, being a SF Giant alum has some experience here from 1989, but as a catcher, not a manager. And of course we got swept in the WS. But he has some and that is more than I can say about Clint Hurdle. Like Dubya, im goin with my gut. Diamondbacks in 5

Redsox vs Indians- This is the marque matchup we have been waiting for. Both teams had identical records playing in VERY tough divisions, well, I guess any division with the Devil Rays and Orioles is not quite tough, but they had the Yankees. Nuff said. The Redsox have 2 factors going for them. Papi and Manny. Did anyone see them over the weekend?? They wrecking balls that desimated a good Angels pitching staff. Second, solid aces 1-3. They were good in the regular season and damn near phenominal over the Angels. The Indians have youth and some pop in thier bats, but C.C cant pitch every game and Borowski will not survive if the Indians manage a 1 run lead in the 9th. Redsox in 4