MLB Playoff Preview.

After a delay I plan to be back here regularly now that the baseball playoffs have started. I managed to get half the post-season teams right from my season preview and the Rays making it didn't shock me. The only team I was surprised about was the White Sox. But they are getting bounced anyway.

So who wins it all? After 100 years the Cubs are due. The world will likely explode when the Cubs beat Boston to win this year's World Series in just under a months time. Crazy but true.

ALDS

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago White Sox

I wasn't surprised by Tampa's great pitching or offensive ability this year. What really surprised me, and the reason they won their division, was how great their defense has been. Up the middle they are the best team in the league. Combine that with Kazmir, Shields and Garza as their top three and they are awfully tough to beat in a short series.

The White Sox on the other hand overachieved during the first half of the year and were pretty average the second half. I really don't their pitching holding up or them scoring enough runs to win more than one game in this series.

Rays in 4

Anaheim Angels vs. Boston Red Sox

Skeptics have said all year that the Angels have run up a great record in a lousy division. I say part of the reason the rest of the division looked so bad was because they had to play the Angels so often. The Angels are the Majors best team over a 162 games season or a seven game series. Unfortunately for them they don't stack up well against the Red Sox in a five game series. All year long the thing that I was worried about with the Angels is that they have 3 No. 2 starters and 2 No. 3's. They don't have a true ace that you need in a short series. Compare that to the Sox with Josh Beckett (though he will only start Game 3) and Dice K. Throw in John Lester who was great in the playoffs last year and you have No. 1's.

If this was a seven game series I'd be going with the Angels. But it's a five game series.

Red Sox in 5

NLDS

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers

What a roller coaster the Brewers have been on. It's easy to think that momentum can carry them through a first round 5 game series but their momentum is CC Sabathia and Sabathia alone. The had to ride him so hard down the stretch that he can't go until Game 2 in this series. I think the Phils are a lot better than people think they are and I think Cole Hamels is ready for a few huge playoff starts. If the Ben Sheets was there for the Brew Crew this one might be different. As it stands CC just isn't enough.

Phils in 4

Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

What the Red Sox lost most when they traded Manny was the intimidation he brings to a lineup. When he is hot, like he has been since the day he showed up in SoCal, pitching staffs are terrified to face him. That alone could carry the Dodgers through this series. The other thing the Dodgers have on their side is their good right handed pitching in Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley, which happens to be the Cubs one weakness.

What the Cubs have going for them is the scariest 1-2 punch in the playoffs in Zambrano and Harden, a pretty damn good number three in Ryan Dempster and an offense that can ride any one of Lee, Soriano, Ramirez or Soto. Hell, even Zambrano hit .337 with 4 dingers. They also have confidence and a belief that this really is their year. Which it is.

Cubs in 4