Monkeys Leaving Backs

I feel a little silly writing about baseball when about 600 people were shot by a lunatic some ten miles from where I live, when Puerto Rico has been blown back into the stone age, and when we don't know whether Tom Petty is dead or not. But, the playoffs are starting tomorrow, my favorite sports time of year. Ten teams, and all of them, as we have seen from past years, have a decent shot. Except Minnesota.

The Red Sox in '04, the White Sox in '05, the Giants in '10, the Cubs last year. Slowly but surely the monkeys on the backs of the original sixteen Major League clubs have left and gone back to the jungle. All, that is, except for the Cleveland Indians, who have not won a World Series since 1948. They came tantalizingly close last year, and they are my pick to win it all this year, mostly for the reason that it makes sense dramatically. They also had an all-world September, setting an American League record for consecutive wins at 22. Of course, none of this guarantees anything.

I have the premonition that the Indians and Cubs will have a rematch. The Cubs are the third seed in the National League, but should take care of the Washington Nationals, because Dusty Baker is a terrible short-series manager and Max Scherzer is hurt. The Dodgers, who at one point were threatening to set the all-time record for wins in a season, ended up with 102, a worthy number, but in the post-LaSorda era have also found numerous ways to lose in the post-season. I think they'll beat the Arizona Diamondbacks (but just barely) but lose to the Cubs.

In the American League, the Twins have never beaten the Yankees in a playoff game, and aren't about to now, so the Yankees will play the Indians, a good series, and the Red Sox will play the Astros, a better series. The Indians will handle the Yankees, maybe in the full five games, and the Astros, with a rejuvenated Justin Verlander, will edge the Bosox. The Indians will then beat the Astros.

If the Indians do win the World Series, the onus will be on two of the first expansion teams. The Astros, once the Colt .45s, have never won a World Series, and neither have the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers. The Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals have never been in a World Series, the only team in MLB that hasn't.

I'm psyched. I'm going to root for the Indians, with the Astros as a back up. And since I live in the Pacific Time Zone I get to watch the games in their entirety. Play ball!