It's Here! Playoff Preview: ALDS

Rays vs. Rangers:

Head-to-Head: Both teams won their respective divisions, the Rays nudging the Yankees in the East with a 96-66 record and the Rangers finishing nine games up in the West with 90 wins and 72 losses. In the regular season, Tampa Bay took four out of six games versus Texas.

On the Mound: Tampa Bay starts the series sending their ace, the Cy Young-hopeful David Price. He finished the regular season 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA, second and third, respectively, in the AL. Behind Price is Shields, Garza and Davis, all with 12 or more wins. Out of the bullpen, the Rays call on Rafael Soriano to close things out, as he has done a league leading 45 times in the regular season. The Rangers have Cliff Lee, CJ Wilson, Colby Lewis and Tommy Hunter in their playoff rotation, which boast the lowest combined ERA for a playoff team. When it comes to a closer, Texas has a tough one of their own in Neftali Feliz whose 40 saves was third best in the AL.

My pick: Rays: The pitching is going to be close in this series, with great arms on both sides. So, looking at offense, the Rays get the slight edge. Texas’s slugger Josh Hamilton finished with the best average with .359, but missed most of September with a rib injury that is still does not have him at 100%. On the other side, Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford is looking to continue on the same note into the postseason. Crawford batted .360 in the month of September. Also taken into consideration is the fact that the Rays were the best team in baseball and won a division were only on team finished under .500. On the other hand, beside themselves, the Rangers were the only team to finish about .500 in the AL West.


Twins vs. Yankees:

Head-to-Head: Back in May, the Yankees took 5 out of seven against the Twins. New York heads into the post season as the Wild Card winner, finishing 95-97 in the East. Minnesota won the Central by six games with a 94-68 record, although they head into the playoffs losing eight of their last ten.

On-the-Mound: The Yankees are starting AL win leader C.C. Sabathia in game 1. Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes will follow him in the starting roles and C.C. will again take the mound on three-days rest in Game 4 if necessary. Out of the bullpen, Kerry Wood has been dominating in pinstripes and Mariano Rivera is the epitome of big-time closers. The Rangers rotation begins with Francisco Liriano and continues on with Brian Duensing and Carl Pavano. The Twins are without their star closer Joe Nathan, who has sat out the whole season with an injury.

My pick: Yankees Both teams have been struggling a bit of late, but I believe the Yankees will come out the victor. I do not worry about the starting rotation; C.C. pitched on little rest last year in the postseason and I like him any day over a struggling A.J. Burnett. Also, Pettitte’s postseason play is always phenomenal and Hughes is one of the brightest young starters out there. Let’s remember, the Yanks won it all a year ago using just three starters in the rotation. Plaguing Minnesota is the loss of Justin Morneau who is out of the playoffs because of injury. Hometown hero Joe Mauer has posted impressive numbers since the All-Star break, but he cannot do it alone against the Yankees lineup that includes A-Rod, Jeter and a MVP probable Cano.