This year's World Series will be won...
 

http://i55.tinypic.com/2z68s29.jpg


Yeah, that's right, the Philadelphia Phillies will be taking home the commisioner's trophy this year!

With arguably the best rotation in the history of baseball with the four aces, not to mention this years breakout star Vance Worley who's a part of the lockdown bullpen going into the postseason along with Blanton, Lidge, Madson and Bastardo, they have by far the best pitching staff in baseball, NOBODY is gonna be hitting them. Granted, their bats haven't exactly been on fire and they've been in a horrible tailspin losing the last eight out of ten games but i'd attribute that more to trying to rest for the playoffs(I refuse to jump on the bashing bandwagon like the rest of the negative fucking Philly fans.) As long as their declining but still above average offense wakes up for the postseason this year is a lock.

I got em over the Cardinals in four, and I think we'll be up against the Brewers in the NLCS which will be like a repeat of the 08' season. No idea how the AL will end up but if I had to guess i'd say the same as last year with the Rangers beating out the Yankees to go to the World Series. So i'd say this year will be Phillies vs. Rangers in the World Series with the Phils coming out on top.


Apparently the handicappers agree:

St Louis- +195 Arizona- +117 Detroit- +115 Tampa Bay- +150
Philadelphia- -215 Milwaukee- -127 N.Y. Yankees- -122 Texas- -160 loss


Any playoff predictions?

my prediction: it will take all 7 games

the ducks??

I agree the World Series will be won by somebody. I'd put cash money on that.

Now I'm a Rays fan so I'm rooting for them. That doesn't mean I think they will win. Who knows. But just because the Phillies have the best regular season record doesn't mean they will win.

Here are some facts

Since the wild card round was introduced in 1995 just 3 of 16 WS champs had the best regular season record.

Between 1969 and 1993 when the AL and NL championship series were added just 7 of 25 WS champions had the best regular season record.

So overall since 1969 only 10 of 41 WS champions had the best regular season record.

I called the Phillies last year. I might have been ahead of my time.

I have expressed my love and respect for Doc at least a couple of times here:
https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=962533
https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=991849

There might be a couple of others floating around, as well. Doc needs his pennant!

He ain't doing so well tonight, though...

i will pick phillies since i love the doc he used to be a jay

He certainly was, Fris. One of the best ever.

Looks like Doc has hit his stride now. He's shut the Cards down after that shitty first inning.

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/

I so very hope so. I now live in the San Fran area and I keep telling them they are just keeping it warm.

I'd like to see the Rays win it, especially given what they had to do to get in. In fact, Rays win over Cardinals in the WS would be hilarious. Red Sox and Braves would never want to play baseball again.

Wow, did you watch that game? The Phils absolutely lit Kyle Lohse up. That shot that Howard hit off of him in the sixth was classic, he just stepped back and watched it like Babe Ruth. Another stellar performance from Halladay, he struggled to find his location the first two innings but once he warmed up it was lights out, 21 straight down! He pitched around Pujols to face Berkman and got burned on that first inning homer, which has happened before, but Doc keeps his composure like none other, nothing phazes him. I still don't know why Charlie Manuel put Michael Stutes in over Blanton or Herndon though, he's not ready for the postseason. Today the Cardinals gotta face Cliff Lee, haha.

http://i55.tinypic.com/wufi94.jpg

Overall, this last week in baseball has been one of the best in the last ten years



I would've thought you would say Joe Carter was the best Blue Jay of all time. I'll never forget that walk-off homerun.

Game was awesome. Was a little worried after the 1st inning Berkman shot and our bats looking sleepy through 5 innings. But man....that 6th inning. Just epic. Lost my voice screaming.

Thing with the Cardinals, once you get their starter out, they fall apart. They're butchers in the field also.

Let's see how Lee does vs. Carpenter tonight. They win this one and that'll pretty much be a wrap for the redbirds. Carpenter being pushed out there on 3 days rest for the first time in his entire career too. Hmmm, LaRussa thinks he's the most ingenious babeball mind alive. We shall see. Last night's strategy didn't work out so well for him.

Go Fightins!

Go Cubs! :1orglaugh

Ugghh......That was fucking painful to watch. Between the rain, the home plate ump being half blind and plain bad luck, that was terrible. The exact opposite of what should have happened, happened. Chris Carpenter pitched like shit and the bullpen only allowed one hit in six innings. Cliff Lee didn't pitch bad either, it just seemed like every hit off of him fell in play. Oh well, a nice, long day off tomorrow to stew, and then on to St. Louis for Game Three on Tuesday.

I'm really starting to have doubts regarding the Phil's offense. They had their shot in the top of the eight tonight to turn the game around after Chase Utley's grounder up the first base line bounced off first base and they had runners on first and third. I don't want to get down on Ryan Howard because he's got six R.B.I's so far in the series but he cannot hit in the fucking clutch, he did the same shit last year against the Giants. I could forgive it last year because the Giants had a good bullpen but this sub-par Cardinals bullpen is making the Phils look like amateurs, and that shit is unacceptable.

We will win game five with Halladay on the mound and homefield advantage though, i'm confident of that. Let's go Phillies!!





How about the Diamondbacks? They've been fun to watch so far in the postseason. Kirk Gibson's done a great job with them this year.


Game five of the Yankees vs. Tigers tonight, i'm guessing the Yankees will close out the series tonight and head to the ALCS.

I hope you never give up your day job to become a sports handicapper :winkwink:

congrats to the winners... :thumbsup

Snot happenin'.

My only problem with Doc is that he spent so much of his career with a built to lose organization (*cough* THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS *cough*) that he has no idea what is needed to actually win.

Losing 1-0 is irrelevant - If the Phillies could find it in their over-paid hearts to manage two fucking runs, then the team would have actually given Doc the support he deserves.

1-0? Hit the fucking ball! Do NOT blame this loss on Doc. Fucking heartbreaking...

Son of a bitch, you had to rub it in didn't you? You couldn't just let this thread fade into oblivion. :1orglaugh That was absolutely the most depressing end to a season I could imagine, more than I could imagine. The scene at the end of the game with Ryan Howard curled up in a ball on the first base line injured while the Cardinals huddle to celebrate their advancement.....you really couldn't write a more tragic ending.


To be fair, half of my predictions worked out, the Brewers are headed to the NLCS and the Rangers are going to the ALCS. I'm a Phillies fan, of course i'm going to be overly optimistic about their chances at winning it. I knew after they lost game four that even if they made it to the NLCS they still wouldn't have won that AND the World Series, their offense just wasn't there at all. They just can't hit in the clutch, all that sabermetrics goes out the window in the postseason, it's anybodys to win. But I wanted to believe, damnit! The majority of the handicappers didn't even see the Tigers coming and NOBODY saw the Cardinals coming.


Now I guess you want my predictions on the championship series'? I still like the Rangers to take the ALCS, they're versatile. They can beat you by the longball or they can beat you playing hit and run ball. They're 3-9 against the Tigers this season though, and their offense has been slumping so we'll see. As far as the NL, I really can't even call it. I want to say the Cardinals take it with the momentum they have going.

Bottom line, never bet on postseason baseball, it's a crapshoot.

Doc pitched absolutely perfect games, so did the Phillies bullpen. You really couldn't ask for a better performance from the pitching staff, especially when Doc got out of the eight inning when the bases were loaded with one out. Truly pathetic that a team who won five straight pennants in a row couldn't even put one run on the board. Their postseason offensive stats were abysmal.

Absolutely pathetic. Unbelievable. Inconceivable. Unforgivable.

How do you lose 1-0 at home in game 5 of the playoffs? (one commentator last night mentioned it had never been done until now)

I mean seriously, 1-0???

Fuck, lose 6-2 or 11-1 at least, not fucking 1-fucking-nothing!!!!!!!!!!

I drank myself into bolivia last night watching that. Thank for you letting me follow 162 games this season for absolutely nothing.

I say, it's time to now clean house (much like the Flyers did). Aging "core" players who have been declining for years now and are way over-paid and over-rated. (Howard, Utley, Rollins)

Maybe a new coach too? Why leave Polanco in the entire time when you know he's hurt and is an instant ground-out every time he's up? Why not let Valdez or Martinez play to give a different look. Those guys contributed greatly over the season to get us a lot of those 102 wins when "core" players were out injured. Why not give one a chance last night? Why didn't we see more John Mayberry in this series? Why did we change the line-up heading into the playoffs? Putting Pence in the #3 hole, when the entire friggin reason we got him was to bat 5th behind Howard??? Why? Why? Why?

Can't hate a manager who got us a W-fucking-S in '08, but damn. He's a "clubhouse" manager they say. Maybe we need a game-day, dugout manager ala LaRussa (whom I loathe though).

Amazing how the seasons change. A month or so ago, Philly was the best place to be for a sports fans. Phils wrapping up amazing season, Flyers making all kinds of big changes, new #1 goalie, Jagr, etc, Eagles getting all those "dream team" free agents......

.....now look us.

Fucking pathetic.

Well, maybe the Flyers can be great this year, but I don't get exited about hockey until March or later. Long fucking season.

/rant

I don't understand Charlie's undying support for the veterans either. You could see their bats weren't there, why not switch up the roster for a game or two? It couldn't hurt. So many what ifs.....

Was just messing with ya about the handicapping, I had the same thoughts as you. I stay very far from betting on baseball, usually doesn't work out for me! :upsidedow

You want to talk about depressing sports seasons? I am a Twins and Vikings fan :helpme:helpme.

Living in Arizona, I was really hoping for the Dbacks to keep going as nothing beats being in the stadium during playoff baseball, even as a non diehard fan. They had a great run though and was fun watching some of those young guys step up big.

Yeah, baseball is probably one of the best sports to bet on. very predictable.