Red Birds, Brew Crew, Tigers, Rangers

Got to say, I did not see this coming. Maybe I could of seen the Brewers in the NLCS but as for the rest of these teams, I'm baffled. I had predicted a Yankee, Red Sox ALCS and a Phillies, Padres NLCS. Way off. The Sox didn't even make it to post season play and the Yankees were busy choking to the Tigers. As for the Phillies, they just showed their true colors. When you play teams like the Marlins, Nationals and Mets each 18 times a year, you're obviously going to have a quality record. The minute they face a hot team like the Cards, it was game over. The Tigers are there simply because of two men: their manager Jim Leyland and the freak of nature, Justin Verlander. It's that simple. Verlander gave them 24 wins this year and Leyland just knows how to rally the troops.

I'll admit I'm still bitter about the Sox not making it and really have had no interest in watching the playoffs. But now that those stinkin' Yanks and "Fightin" Phils are done, I can now watch the games in an unbiased frame of mind.