Postseason Power Poll: Yanks Team to Beat
Ryan Fagan - SportingNews.com
Oct 06, 2009
New York, obviously, is the clear favorite to win the World Series. Here's how the Yankees and the rest of the teams rank entering the postseason.
1. Yankees. The team's only real flaw during the regular season -- the lack of an established fifth starter -- gets thrown out the window in the postseason. The offense is dynamic -- seven guys with at least 22 homers and the other two regulars (Derek Jeter and Melky Cabrera) combining for another 31 dingers -- and the pitching is outstanding. Anything less than a title will be a massive disappointment, and not just because of the typical outrageous expectation levels in New York. No, the disappointment would be in the best team in baseball failing to achieve its objective.
2. Red Sox. The Sox could clinch the title as the franchise of the decade with another trip to the World Series. Won't be easy, though, and not just because they'll have to get past the Angels and Yankees (unless, somehow, the Twins/Tigers pull off a miracle). The biggest question in Boston right now is the health of Josh Beckett. His postseason resume is stellar, and he's coming off an excellent season (17-6, 3.86 ERA) but the three cortisone shots he needed to help his back spasms were a little disconcerting, to say the least. He wasn't fully healthy last year during the playoffs, and that probably cost the Red Sox a spot in the World Series. Boston is hoping history doesn't repeat itself.
3. Angels. Forget, for a moment, everything the Angels have had to overcome to get into the playoffs for the sixth time in eight seasons. Just look at how good this team is right now. They have, arguably, the deepest rotation of any playoff team (which helps in case of injuries) and they have a lineup of guys who are very good at getting on base. "They don't hit quite as many home runs, but they go from first to third better than anybody else. They manufacture runs and they put pressure on you all the time," says Hall of Famer and TBS analyst Cal Ripken.
4. Phillies. Baseball hasn't had a back-to-back World Series champ since the Yankees won three consecutive from 1998-2000, but the Phillies have a legitimate shot at repeating this season. The core of their 2008 championship team is back, and they've added Cliff Lee, the 2008 A.L. Cy Young winner, to the rotation. The big question, as everyone knows, is who will close games for the Phillies? Does Charlie Manuel stick with Brad Lidge, who has been awful, or does he turn to Ryan Madson or Brett Myers?
5. Cardinals. Dual aces and dual MVP candidates are good building blocks for a contender, eh? The team's postseason hopes rest of the broad shoulders of Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. OK, so Holliday isn't a true MVP candidate, but he was the best midseason trade acquisition this year. His final numbers with the Cardinals were impressive: a .353 batting average with 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 63 games.
6. Dodgers. How is it that the Dodgers, who won more games than any other team in the N.L., are ranked sixth in this power poll? Good question. For one thing, they struggled this season against the Cardinals, their first-round opponent, winning just two of seven games. And there's too much uncertainty with the rotation behind Randy Wolf; Chad Billingsley has been very inconsistent and Hiroki Kuroda won't be available for the opening round. Still, the Dodgers have plenty of talent and a manager, Joe Torre, who knows a thing or two about winning in the postseason.
7. Rockies. There hasn't been a more entertaining team in baseball over the past few months than the Rockies. Every night, it seems they're winning with a walk-off hit in extra innings, or getting a dominating pitching performance from Ubaldo Jimenez or closer Huston Street. They went from afterthoughts in May to a team that had a legitimate shot of claiming the N.L.'s best record on the final weekend of games. Their reward? A first-round date with the defending World Series champs.
8a. Twins. What's really impressive about the Twins' push toward the playoffs is that they've done all this winning without Justin Morneau, the 2006 A.L. MVP and runner-up last year, who is out with a stress fracture in his back.
8b. Tigers. Stumbling into the playoffs isn't always a kiss of death. In 2006, the Tigers lost their final five games of the regular season, but made it all the way to the World Series before losing to the Cardinals.
Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com..
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