Baseball Postseason, Volume II

Well, I went 3-1 in predicting the division series, and probably would have been perfect if the Twins' bullpen could keep a lead, but that I'm wrong sets up what is always a classic--Red Sox and Yankees.

My preseason World Series pick of Houston and Boston still can happen. I actually picked two series to happen before the season, and their winners. I picked the Red Sox over the Angels and I picked the Astros over the Braves. Kind of spooky until you consider that I also picked the Diamondbacks, Phillies, and White Sox to make the playoffs. I also picked the Red Sox to play the Yankees in the ALCS. Do I stick with my original pick? Read further.

ALCS: Red Sox vs. Yankees

A rematch of last year's absolutely classic ALCS, ending with Aaron Boone's HR off Tim Wakefield in Game 7. Also a rematch of a lesser ALCS in 1999. A rematch for history! The Red Sox and Yankees have had an enormous amount of history between them and it always comes up even during preseason baseball.

The Red Sox now have Curt Schilling. Schilling and Pedro, and I wouldn't be surprised if Tim Wakefield comes in to start a game or two. The Red Sox offense is devastating, and I think they will easily score runs in this series. It all comes down to whether Schilling pitches like Schilling, and Pedro rebounds from his troubles down the stretch. Figuring them to win automatically hands this series to the Red Sox. It won't be that easy, but I think that they are a much better team than the one last year that lost, and that should be enough to topple the Yanks.

Season series: Red Sox, 11-8. Home team was 12-7. Both teams had difficult series at different points in the year (Yankees swept one series at home and they also got swept at home, Red Sox took 3 of 4 in one home series).

Prediction: Red Sox, 4-2

NLCS: Astros vs. Cardinals

Yes, it's awful tempting to pick a rematch of the 1967 World Series here, but we've got to do some analysis. First off, Clemens and Oswalt will not be able to pitch until Games 3 and 4, and that severely limits their availability in later games--I'd say Clemens could pitch Game 7 but that gives one of your aces (Oswalt) only one game.

That fact certainly hurts the Astros' chances here. They will have to go with Pete Munro and Brandon Backe for most of this series. Or if not them, someone else who isn't nearly as good as Clemens or Oswalt. In a series in which they will be playing an offense as potent as the Cardinals, this will certainly hurt. And I'm not going to forget that if the Braves had someone like Pujols or Edmonds in the NLDS, the Braves would have swept the Astros. They could not buy a hit with runners in scoring position because they were outmatched, even as Houston continually gave the Braves opportunities.

The Cardinals pitching is better than we give it credit for, but they will be facing a different test with the Astros here as opposed to the weak-hitting Dodgers. A truly high-scoring affair, this will be. Down the stretch, granting that the Cards had sewn up many things by the time they played the Astros at this time, the Astros were 5-1 against them in September.

A truly difficult series to pick here. I may have to go against my preseason prediction. But does that negate it? I think with an active Andy Pettitte and/or more Clemens and Oswalt than they'll be able to offer, they'd win. The circumstances by which the Astros beat the Braves truly hurts them here.

Regular season: Astros, 10-8. Home team was 11-7.

Prediction: Cardinals, 4-2

And that does set up the "rematch" of the Cardinals-Red Sox World Series of '67. Like last time, I will wait until these series are over until more predictions are made. I hope these series go 7 games, down to the last at-bat, and are filled with tremendous drama.