The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: The LDS Previews

In trying to (once again) return to a regular writing schedule, the MLB Playoffs seems to be the right time to give it another shot. My conditions for this stretch: 1. I’m gonna try to pull off daily updates. As my regular readers have likely already seen before, though, there is absolutely no guarantee that this will work. I’ll try my best, though. 2. No more than 500 words a day (officially broken for the first time in this writing). I won’t stick to this rule forever, but it’s a good way to help with daily updates. 500 words is pretty easy provided that you even have a semblance of what you’re talking about. 3. I can guarantee right now that I won’t be watching all the games, but I’ll try to catch all the highlights in order to best provide my thoughts on the games. That said, I’ll put off as much of my regular t.v. viewing as I can for the purpose of the playoffs. By the way, “as much as I can” does mean that I’m watching my top tv show of the past two seasons, Lost, as it airs. Game two of Yankees/Tigers can go on without me. 4. If I have enough time and space, I’ll try to fill it with some non-baseball thoughts. I’ve already formed some solid opinions on this tv season, and I’ve learned many lessons about picking the NFL already this year (#1: Stay away from Miami and Tennessee under ALL circumstances).

This means that it’s time for me to handicap each LDS series. I’ll try to parse on the words, as I’ll have plenty of time to elaborate if writing daily. Let’s start with the AL, then move on to the NL.

Oakland/Minnesota – When fans underestimate a team, that team quickly becomes dangerous. The attention around them is nothing compared to what their opponents and all other teams are getting, and it gives them a boost. Look at the 2003 Marlins, 2004 Red Sox (post-game 3 of the ALCS), and the 2005 White Sox. These teams were all just written off, and all won the World Series. I still look at these match-ups and try to figure out why Oakland’s there in Anaheim’s spot. This is despite the fact that Oakland’s rotation is top-to-bottom as good as anybody’s in the playoffs. Forget winning the ALDS, right now, the A’s are my pick to win the World Series. Oakland wins 3-1

Detroit/Yankees – As much as I hate to say it, the Tigers are dead men walking against the Yankees. None of these pitching matchups work in their favour, and home field works even less so. I’ll be cheering for Detroit, but it’s way too big of a mismatch. Yankees win 3-0

St. Louis/San Diego – This becomes the biggest toss-up of a series because of the simple fact that both teams have rotations that, outside of their game one starters (Carpenter and Peavy), feature guys that could get shelled at any given time. I’ll take San Diego on their veteran presence in the rotation as well as the crucially underrated Chris Young. San Diego wins 3-2

Dodgers/Mets – I wouldn’t be too worried about a lack of Pedro Martinez in Queens. Even without him, the Mets were the only NL team capable of competing in the AL this year. Mets win 3-1

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports. 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

Mon 10/02/06, 10:11 pm EST

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