Postseason Primer

So I wanted to get back here and get some writing done, but the overwhelming event that was the Phillies postseason drive and collapse made me nervous to approach writing about the playoffs. Having only experienced the playoffs when I was nine years old, I thought it better to avoid this site altogther. Now that my worries are no longer an issue, I want to see what I can get done.

We are now in the Championship Series for each league. It is the Colorado Rockies vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians. For me, neither matchup is really spectacular. Not that the teams themselves aren't good, but more that there isn't a story that would hold me like some of the teams who were eliminated. The Phillies remaining in the playoffs would have been best for me. Take that out and you still have the Cubs and Yankees with intriguing storylines. Unfortunately, they are both out as well.

So, in an attempt to find some connection to the teams who are remaining, I have decided to write a Postseason Primer (alliteration is pretty catchy) to sort out the remaining teams. I'll cover a pro and a con for supporting each team. This won't be an official prediction. Maybe I'll get to that later. This will be more of an introduction to the teams that we'll be spending the rest of the postseason with.

The National League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Players to watch: Chris Young, Brandon Webb, Eric Byrnes

Pro:

• They are a young team. 3/4ths of their infield are under 25 and their outfield has 24 year old Chris Young and 20 year old Justin Upton. Maybe that's just more interesting to me because they are my age, but so be it. These are guys who have never seen the postseason before. We could be looking back in a couple of years and see this Diamondback team as the start of a long run of success. Much like Miguel Cabrera and Josh Beckett in 2003 and more recently Justin Verlander, there's bound to be at least one future star on this team

Con:

• This is Arizona's tenth year in the league. In this time, they have already won a World Series. Meanwhile teams like the Cubs and Indians have been waiting a combined 148 years for a World Series victory. The Phillies have 1 World Series win in more than 120 seasons. It's sort of tough supporting a team who could end up with a second W.S. victory in 10 years

Colorado Rockies

Players to watch: Matt Holliday, Manny Corpas, Troy Tulowitzki

Pro:

• The Rockies have won 17 of their last 18 games. To do that at any point in the regular season is ridiculous. To do that in September and the postseason is insane. In the process they beat Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego (in a three game series and the one game playoff), and took two of three from the Diamondbacks (the one loss coming from Brandon Webb on September 28). Even if the Rockies take this series to 7 games and win, they will have won 21 of their last 25 games. 21-4 in 25 games. An .840 winning percentage. A run like that might be the best ever in September and the postseason.

Con:

• Matt Holliday never touched the plate. While it's possible that the Rockies could have gone on to win that play-in game, nothing is guaranteed. If Holliday is called out, the Padres have two outs with their closer on the mound. I think people are forgetting about this, and that's great, but it's still there. And yes, I'm probably bitter that they beat the Phillies. I'm allowed to be

The American League
Boston Red Sox

Players to not watch (snack break?): Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek

Pro:

• They have a seriously good team. Josh Beckett made the Angels look like they didn't belong while pitching a complete game shutout. The rest of their pitching is just as good with Curt Schilling (best postseason ERA all time), Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jonathan Papelbon. They have two great hitters in Ortiz and Ramirez. This team is full of recognizable star players, which makes them very easy to follow.

Con:

• After the 2004 World Series, it seemed like the Red Sox fans were all over the place. In a lot of ways, they became the new Yankees. If the Sox win again this year, this will only add to their numbers. While it's not possible to reverse the season they've had this year, a loss in the ALCS coupled with a few down years could thin out the ranks of the new Red Sox fans (Note: this is impossible....the Red Sox have too many good players to all of the sudden stop being great....nothing against the Red Sox themselves either, but I feel you should be following your regional team unless you have good reasons not to be)

Cleveland Indians

Players to watch: C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Travis Hafner's defensive shift

Pro:

• They haven't won a World Series since 1948. I'm not willing to do the research, but I'm pretty sure that makes them the Cubs of the American League since the White Sox won two years ago. Any time a team has a chance to win their first championship in over 50 years, that makes for an interesting story. Again, a team who has been around since 1901, but only has two World Series victories (the other coming in 1920). It'll be interesting to see if they can win a third

Con:

• I've got nothing. The Indians play well. They have great young pitchers in Sabathia and Fausto Carmona (which still surprises me because he was horrible last year). I even thought they had chance to play well last year (they didn't). I'm not saying this is the team that I will be following, but I don't have anything negative to say about them.

Alright. So that's the Postseason Primer. For people such as myself who are stuck without a team to follow, maybe this will aid in finding a reason to watch the games. I'm pretty sure it will help if the games aren't as one sided as the division series, but that's something that remains to be seen. At least I won't have the stress of watching the Phils forget how to hit. That's a story noone wants to follow