The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 1

by user TMyst Those trying to find a better way to take this year’s playoffs seriously should take a look back at the latest completed European soccer season. In Europe, there’s two major continental club tournaments: The Champions League (For the teams at the top of each national league) and the UEFA Cup (For the teams just below them). At the end, both Cup winners play each other in the “Super Cup”, which is more or less an exhibition game. For example, last year Barcelona won the Champions League, and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. When they played in the Super Cup, Sevilla (winners of the NIT to Barcelona’s NCAA) came out on top. Regardless, nobody went as far as calling Sevilla the champions. Barcelona were still the recognized champs, Sevilla quite simply just beat them when they played. The champs were worn down from a much tougher prior schedule, and slipped against a decent team in a game that is well-known throughout Europe to be taken lightly by all significantly involved as preparations are made for the upcoming season.

That’s why I’m gonna propose that we treat the World Series as the Super Cup this year, the American League playoffs as the Champions League, and the National League playoffs as the UEFA Cup. After watching only three games of these playoffs, I can tell you all that the National League cannot be taken seriously this year. We might as well crown the winner of the A’s/Yankees ALCS to be baseball’s champion this year. Sure, the winner’s still gonna play the World Series, and maybe the Mets or Dodgers will win for all I know, but there’s no way, after watching game one of the Padres and Cardinals today, that the National League playoffs can be treated as any true test of talent when only three players on the combined rosters of the NL West and Central champions (Rolen, Edmonds, and Pujols) could be taken seriously in the AL today. St. Louis’ star pitcher was having trouble with a lineup that bats Mike Piazza at cleanup, and San Diego’s star pitcher imploded once Pujols connected. Unbelievably, St. Louis’ superior batting lineup just might be negated by their rotation, which consists fully of AL rejects and NL-average pitchers. It pales in comparison to a rotation that’s proud of having Chris Young and Boomer Wells in their midst. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen much of the Mets or Dodgers this year, but I really hope that one of them is good enough to run through the NLCS, and at least create a competitive World Series just by being more rested.

As for the AL, all of these teams (except for possibly the Tigers, whose faces indicate that there’s no way they could win three-out-of-ten against the Yankees) could positively destroy the NL in the World Series. Oakland and Minnesota provided a showcase today. Hopefully they don’t wear each other out for the winner’s trip to New York.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time (KingTravis.blogspot.com). Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports (mopsquad.com) and Armchair GM (armchairgm.com). Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

Date

Tue 10/03/06, 7:58 pm EST