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“Road to the Post Season”
By: Tyler Courtney
So far in the first season of the FPBL, things have been up and
down, but for the most part pretty good over all. Now that we
are over halfway through the season it is time to look ahead to
the post season and what it is going to bring for those lucky
8 teams. As of 11/14 some divisions look like they might be wrapped
up while some others might go down to the wire. What I am here
to do is to tell in my opinion who are the contender’s and
who the pretender’s are. Lets start off with the NL East:
Right now Atlanta has a 9 game lead over the Phil’s, which
does not bold to well for the Phil’s with the pitching staff
that Atlanta has. But it is just not pitching anymore winning
games for the Braves, just recently they went out and got 2 very
big bats, and somehow they did that without giving up anything
major from there major league team. Right now it is going to take
a miracle for the Phil’s to get back into this race, they
have the bats to do it, but they have to hope that Atlanta gets
really cold for awhile, and I just don’t see that happening.
Atlanta is going to win this division running away.
Now lets move onto the NL Central where things are a little bit
more interesting there. The Cubs, yes that is right, the Cubs
are leading this division right now by 7 games over the Pirates.
The question is, do they have enough to hold off the Pirates for
the rest of the year? I think they will, mainly because the Pirates
have close to the worse offense in the NL Central, and no matter
how good your pitching, if you don’t have a offense you are
not going to win games, and right now they are allowing 10 more
runs than they have a scored on the year, and that does not bold
well for the Pirates. Hate to say it, but the Cubs may actually
win something for once.
Now in the NL West it looks like Colorado and there high scoring
offense is going to walk into the playoffs, but the question then
will be, do they have enough pitching to do anything in the playoffs.
San Fran tried to make a run at the Rockies by adding a lot of
pitching, but it looks like they have falling off going just 4-6
in there last 10 games. Looks like this division is not going
to be won by the team with the best pitching, but maybe the worst
pitching outside of Pedro. In fact the Rockies have allowed more
runs scored than any other contender to this point, but on the
other hand they have also scored more than any other team. That
is what you call the Coor’s effect folks!
Now the WC in the NL looks like it is going to go to the city
of brotherly love. Right now they have a 6.5 game lead over the
Pirates, and I just don’t see the Pirates having enough hitting
to do anything, let alone make the play offs.
Now quickly lets take a look at the MVP and Cy young races in
the NL:
Cy Young:
Pedro Martinez – take a look where he is pitching and the
numbers he is putting up. There is no question that he should
walk away with this award.
Randy Johnson – Another great year for another great pitcher,
probably going to come in second in this race though.
Shawn Sedlacek – Putting up unreal numbers for a kid his
age and will probably be in many more Cy Young races, but not
this one, will finish distant third.
MVP:
Eric Chavez – Putting up huge numbers, yes they are in Coors
field, but he is still putting them up and leading his team into
the playoffs.
Jason Lane – Putting up huge numbers in Phily, going to
be a good one for a long time for them.
Jeff Nettles – Having a big year for a team that is depending
a lot on there pitching staff.
Now lets move onto the AL East where the Yankees are once again
just walking away with the division and doing it without any problems
at all. There is no question who is going to win this division,
heck the Yankees right now have the best record in the entire
league, and are looking forward to once again holding that WS
Trophy.
In the AL Central it looks like KC is going to pull away from
the rest of the pack. It looked like for awhile the WS were going
to try to put up a fight, but have fallen near 10 games out of
first place with not a lot of time left to go in the season. Looks
like KC is going to be making the play offs for the first time
in a very long time.
Now in by far the best division in baseball, the AL West, where
all 4 teams are still all playing over .500 ball the Texas Rangers
took back over first place going 13-2 in there last 15 games and
you would think that would put them up a lot in the division,
but right now they are only 1.5 games up mainly because Seattle
has gone 10-5 in there last 15 games. This division right here
is going to be the one to be watching, as both of these teams
have been going back and forth leading this division all year
long and it does not look like they are going to be stopping anytime
soon. They will meet 8 more times before the year is out so this
race is far from over. So close nobody can even tell who is going
to walk away with this division.
Now lets go to the WC, which is also over with Seattle leading
it right now by over 10 games. Who ever does not win the AL West
is going to flat out walk away with the WC.
Now lets take a look at the AL CY Young and MVL awards candidates:
Cy Young:
Carlos Hernandez – Having a outstanding season even for
pitching in a huge pitchers park. He is leading his team in wins
with 15.
Greg Maddux – Yes another outstanding year for Greg, he
is leading the Central division leaders to what looks like a first
post-season appearance in a long time
MVP:
Alex Rodriguez – Having an amazing year, and what is more
amazing he is doing it in a pitchers park. This man should walk
away with the MVP with no troubles at all.
Jason Giambi – What do you expect from this guy, he can
do it all, and he is trying to get the Yankees back to the WS
and doing a good job of it so far.
Brian Giles – Having another great year, with over 30 HRs
100 runs and 100 Rbi already with 20+ games left
Chipper Jones – Doing it all for TB, but it was not enough
with the Yankees in the same division.
Now if the season ended today here is what I would see happening
in the post season.
Atlanta vs. Colorado – Pitching would win out and Atlanta
would take it in 4 games
Cubs vs. Phily – NL east best NL division and it is going
to show with Phil’s taking it in 5
NYY vs. Seattle – This would be most interesting series.
Yankees got the experience, Yanks in 5.
Texas vs. KC – KC playing in the weak AL Central is way
over its head here. Texas in 4.
Atlanta vs. Phil’s – Have had some very good series
this year so far. But I just see the Atlanta pitching staff being
to much for the Phil’s to handle. Atlanta moving onto the
WS in 7 games.
NYY vs. Texas – Going to be a lot of high scoring contest
here, but so far this year Texas has handled the Yankees without
much trouble so would take Texas in 6.
Atlanta vs. Texas – First ever FPBL WS, and it is going
to be a good one, pitching vs. hitting, who would win, well as
much as I hate to say it I really think Atlanta is the team to
beat this year and Atlanta’s pitching would hold onto beat
the Ranger’s in 7 games.
WS Champions Atlanta Braves……now lets see how it all
pans out!
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