What About All Those Dodgers Playoff Predictions?

The Wall Street Journal had their annual baseball contest, and the chances of picking this year's playoff teams was really small:

This year's playoff field confounded the 177 readers, nine guests and two Fixers who entered our seasonlong baseball contest. Just 11 entrants got five out of eight of the playoff positions right (no credit if you chose a wild-card team to win a division, and vice versa). And everyone else was no better than 50% right. Three NL teams -- the Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies -- were especially surprising.

What is interesting though is the how so many picked the Dodgers (the NL West votes were as follows: Los Angeles 109; San Diego 34; Arizona 19; San Francisco 11; Colorado 3), and how their freefall flummoxed everyone (my bold emphasis added):

Paul Steiger focused on the fourth-place finish of the Los Angeles Dodgers, last year's NL West champion; he had predicted they'd win the wild card. "OK, so it wasn't an epic, last-minute horror like the one in Flushing," Steiger writes. "Still, the LA Dodgers did a pretty impressive nosedive -- 54 wins and 41 losses and the best record in the National League in mid July, followed by 28-39 the rest of the way. The reasons: In late September they ran into the hottest team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies, whom they ordinarily dominate but who beat them seven in a row during a depressing two-week period. Before that final, 3-11 dive, they had pulled to within 3.5 games of the NL West lead with a 19-10 run. There was also the loss of Randy Wolf for the season in June, with a shoulder injury. But most important are the moves that general manager Ned Colletti and Manager Grady Little made and didn't make over the winter and in the first half of the season. The previous year, they were geniuses. Not this time. The worst of the bad moves: acquiring Juan Pierre and Luis Gonzalez; letting Nomar Garciaparra clog first base and third base; and hiring journeyman outfielder Brady Clark. They need to do better this offseason, starting with the starting rotation and the offensive black hole at third base."

Playoffs Day 2 Recap: 80's Music Explains It All

Recapping yesterday's games reminded me of the power that is the Oracle of 1980's Music.

Dare to question the predictive powers of the Oracle of 1980's Music? Witness (in chronological order of completion yesterday):

Today's Game #1: Rockies 10, Phillies 5.

Oh sure, it was Kaz Matsui's grand slam that blew the game open. But Matt Holliday's second home run in the series, in the second inning, was the harbinger of blasts to come for the Rockies, who now lead the series 2-0 going to Coors Field.

Today's Game #2: Indians 12, Yankees 3.

And here, grasshopper, is where the Oracle of 1980's Music shows it does not discriminate. For Cleveland fans, C.C. Sabathia's 114-pitch, five-inning outing was certainly gonna make you sweat, hence the C+C Music Factory reference. For Yankee fans, everybody [saw] Wang choke tonight, giving up 9 H and 8 ER over 4.2 innings--not an outing that reflected his mastery this year. Indians lead 1-0 with Game 2 again at Jacobs Field.

Today's Game #3: Diamondbacks 8, Cubs 4

The Diamondbacks, fresh from shedding their teal and green skin for a blood-red shade, again beat up on the Cubs to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Chris Young hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the second, but with contributions up and down the Arizona lineup, it was clear that the union of the snake is indeed on the climb. The series heads to Wrigley Field.

The Oracle of 1980's Music has spoken. Do not question its powers! Now go grow a mullet and pull that shirt collar off your shoulder.

Technically, C=C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat" was released in 1990. The Oracle knows this, and has accounted for this, but its judgment is final. Kinda makes you go hmmmmm, huh?

Playoffs Day 1 Recap: Alphabetically-Last Teams Win!

I missed all but the final innings of the Cubs-Snakes game. The rest of the time I was stuck with Gameday, which is sufficient only in that I'm stuck at work. As per my picks, I was psyched for the Rockies, bummed for the Angels, and didn't care either way for the late game winner so it was fine.

I did notice, however, that team whose name comes last alphabetically won in each matchup last night. If this holds true for all the Game 1s, then the Yankees should win this afternoon. You heard it here first.

2007 NL West: Where Conventional Wisdom Goes to Die

team	record	payroll (MLB rank)	average age (MLB rank)	playoffs?
Diamondbacks	90-72	$52.1M (26)	27.5 (5)	yes
Rockies	90-73	$54.4M (25)	29.1 (19)	yes
Padres	89-74	$58.2M (24)	29.5 (21)	no
Dodgers	82-80	$108.7 (6)	30.5 (28)	no
Giants	71-91	$90.5M (11)	29.8 (22)	no

MLB Playoffs: Random First-Round Pre-Game Thoughts

I wouldn't call these "playoff predictions," but rather "thoughts about the first round." I wasn't going to post anything like this in the first place, and then I saw the format Tony Gwynn of Yahoo Sports is using for playoff previews, and I got thoroughly confused. Angels get three check marks to the Red Sox' two, and the Sox are picked to win? Yankees get two check marks to the Indians' three, and neither are picked to win? And the best one, Rockies get three check marks and the Phillies get four marks (suddenly, the checks are not mutually exclusive to one team), and neither team is picked to win? I don't know what Gwynn is smoking here, but if he's going to give random musings pell-mell, then so the heck will I.

And I encourage the other Sons to post about their thoughts. But since Game 1 of the Colorado/Philadelphia series starts in two hours' time, here's my thoughts on the four series (in order of start times):

Phillies/Rockies: Both teams ended the season furiously so they both are coming in "hot." I'm pulling for the Rockies, though, given their rags-to-riches story and limited expansion era history. The Astros had the "Killer Bs", so I suppose the Rockies have "Preparation H" (Hawpe, Helton, Holliday). And as we've seen from Monday's game, they don't even need to touch home plate to win. Edge to the Rockies, though the Phillies are a nice story as well.

Angels/Red Sox: I am rooting for the Angels, despite the ribbing that frequent commenter Forever Blue is giving me in the threads. I like Mike Scioscia and I think he should have been the Dodgers' manager rather than the revolving door of lessers that we've seen. I enjoyed rooting for the Angels in their 2002 title run, about which I posted here. And above all, the whole "Red Sox nation" thing grates on me like fingernails on a chalkboard. One title in 86 years, and suddenly they're a nation--when in 2003, they could barely even be considered a leper colony. The fact that JD Drew and Julio Lugo sit on their roster only makes it worse (not that I want either back, but still). Having said all that, Boston does look pretty unstoppable, and the Angels will be hard-pressed to pull this off...but I'm pulling for the Halos.

Cubs/Diamondbacks: I suppose I should root for the Cubs, right? A strong second half in a weak division, coupled with a bloated payroll and incredibly loyal fans...sounds a lot like the Dodgers, except for that "strong second half" part. Snakes have the arms, but watching them choke down the stretch doesn't give me a lot of confidence that the youngsters can pull of a first-round win. I can go either way on this series, but am leaning Cubs.

Indians/Yankees: Like my disdain for the other AL East team in the playoffs, I am not fond of the Yankees and their omnipresent media coverage. Plus, an early exit would give even more rationale for the city to want to jettison ARod from pinstripes...and I can think of no better signing for the Dodgers (should Ned Colletti get up the nerve to talk with Boras again). Let's go, Tribe--bring the Dodgers Alex Rodriguez.

As an aside, I want to note that I've seen games in all eight of these teams' stadiums, but none of them were visited in this season.

All right, other Sons, whatchoo got?