You never know --

Originally posted on TheBigOz.com--

You never know --

[1] Arizona and Colorado swept their way into the NLCS on Saturday night in convincing fashion.

The D'Backs put a pounding on the Chicago Cubs, winning 5-1, sending them into their 99th straight year since winning the title.

The Cubs were outscored 16-6 in this series, and were held to a paltry .194 team batting average.

Even when Chicago was able to get on the bases, they couldn't produce, scoring just 6 for their 37 total baserunners in 3 games.

The D'Backs however were sizzling.

Despite having the worst batting average in the league, despite ending the season by scoring less total runs than their opponents, and despite not leading the league in any statistical category, Arizona looked like a team that belonged.

"Let me tell you something," Arizona left fielder Eric Byrnes said "We won this series. The Cubs didn't lose it."

Meanwhile, the Rockies continued their historic run by ending the Phillies season 2-1.

[2] Saturday night's win gives the Rockies 17 out of their last 18, after never winning more than 9 in a row in their entire history.

How improbable has the Rockies run been? Just ask Jason Stark.

"To get where they are now, the Rockies had to win 14 of their final 15 regular-season games -- and they had only 14 games on the schedule at the time. And remember, this is a team that was in last place and nine games under .500 as late as May 21."

Which brings me to my point.

Take a look at these names:

Jim Caple, Jerry Crasnick, Peter Gammons, Bob Klapish, Tim Kurkjian, Keith Law, Rob Neyer, Buster Olney, Jason Stark, John Shea...Ozzie Rodriguez?

See the pattern here? That's right. All of these columnist, myself included, picked the NLDS perfectly...only the exact opposite.

In fact, of the 20 ESPN 'experts' who had predictions, only ONE of them, Pedro Gomez, picked both the Rockies and D'Backs to make it to the NLCS.

1 out of 20.

Which just further proves my point that, even with statistics, match ups, pitching rotations, winning streaks, coaching moves, injuries, the weather, a crystal ball, and the psychic friends hot line...nobody knows what the heck they're talking about.

"I mean, I don't blame the number-crunchers, the computer geeks, for not being able to come up with a formula for how we got here," continues Byrnes, "but there's a lot more that goes into sports than numbers."

"We're not trying to figure it out," Rockies Manager Clint Hurdle said, "we're just enjoying the ride."

That's the beauty of sports.

For as much as everyone thinks they know, they really don't.

Except for Pedro Gomez.

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