I GUESS I LOVE LA

First of all, I want to take this opportunity to officially throw the 200 Miles From The Citi endorsement behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not only are they my only hope for a non-wasted baseball year (read: no repeat matchup in the World Series), I really like them. Especially this year - they're my feel-good story. So go Angels!

That said, time for my predictions...it's kind of an L.A. story:

ALCS - Angels vs. Yankees

I don't have much solid evidence to back up my rooting for the Angels here...other than the fact that I'm still not 100% buying the Yankees this year.

If the Minnesota Twins could run the bases without looking like the New York Mets, they could have pushed the Yankees to four games...possibly even a fifth...but they just couldn't figure out New York this whole season.

The Angels, on the other hand, match up well against the Yankees.

What's to stop them from running all over Jorge Posada and taking extra bases? Certainly not Jorge Posada...maybe Jose Molina.

The Angels have the team of destiny thing going right now...and I'm not saying it will be easy....and I don't really love Brian Fuentes closing out games against the Yankees....but I'm going to take a flyer here and say Angels in seven.

NLCS - Phillies vs. Dodgers
Here's what's happening in the National League - things are settling back into a somewhat normal order.

The Dodgers played that first round series against St. Louis like the team they were early in the season - the best team in the National League.

The Phillies started to get the major contributions from the heart of their order that Phillies fans have been waiting for all season.

I think both of those things will continue in the NLCS.

The one thing that was more flukey in the NLDS was the thing that has plagued the Phillies all season long - closing out ballgames. That strength for that four-game series will disappear in this series - and that will be the difference.

It's going to be LA-LA in the World Series - Dodgers in six.

MIND WANDERINGS

A Sunday on which the Jets don't play allows my mind to wander. This is either a good thing for you because my mind touches on lots of topics and maybe one or two will catch your interest, or a bad thing for you because you have to read them all. Here we go:

*I didn't really think the Angels would sweep and when they trailed late I actually thought, "Here we go again with the Angels unable to close out the Sox." I hope they win it all.

*The bad thing about an Angels sweep is Don Orsillo is probably done calling games. I hope the nation got a taste of what New England has been able to hear for almost a decade now - just how good of a play-by-play man he is. He has also improved as the years have gone on to get to where he is now - he had a rough first year (replacing a local favorite in Sean McDonough), and I remember his second game in the bigs was a no-hitter (I can't remember if it was Nomo or Lowe...I think Nomo in Baltimore) and he was so nervous it affected his call of the game. I also need to make clear that my liking of Orsillo is heavily influenced by how nice he was to me when we met a couple of times in 2003, when I was working in TV news, and he was showing up for our morning show to be an analyst. He could have been a jerk like 90% of the TV people I know...and I wouldn't really have blamed him because things did not go his way that post-season...but he was awesome. I have a soft spot for him ever since.

*I also think Ron Darling has grown by leaps and bounds as an analyst. I thought he was very dry in his year with Washington (I think his first year in the booth), but he's come a long way since joining the Mets. The nation is getting a taste of him in the Yankees-Twins series (and in the one-game playoff, too - he must have wanted to slap Chip Caray in the head after his blown call of the lineout to left-double play which Caray called a base hit). Anyway, I can't say the same for Darling about him as a person as I did about Orsillo. I don't get the feeling he's as great a person. I read Darling's book, and he really comes off as not very nice, and unapologetic about it. If you're not coming across nicely in your own book, you're probably not very nice. Second time in recent years I've been entirely turned off of someone by their own book - Mike Greenberg was the other.

*I guess we have to start believing the Broncos are for real now, huh?

*I want Rex Ryan to celebrate on the field after wins like Josh McDaniels did on Sunday.

*Boy, did the Dodgers look like a different team this post-season. Well, not really a different team, but they looked like the team that started the season, not the one that ended it.

*I think the New York Giants are going to get a heavy dose of reality next week against the Saints - the first legit team they've played all season (and I'm including the Cowboys in that...what a joke they are). Should be a good game though.

*I know I've been talking a lot lately about Hall of Famer Gary Carter and his managing prospects, but I haven't mentioned a huge player in the upcoming managerial openings - Bobby Valentine. First of all, I don't really know who's looking for a manager at this point...but Bobby V.'ll bring some excitement to wherever that is.

*Just like I feel tonight's game with Miami is a game the Jets can't lose...there are others coming up on the 2009 schedule. Among them is the Raiders. The Giants made the Raiders look silly, but the Jets have had their struggles against Oakland...and they have to play out west. The old Jets would lose that game, or win by a field goal. I'm curious how these Jets will play.

*I'm ready for some football.

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen this post-season. Perhaps you picked up on that when I predicted so surely that Minnesota would easily dispatch of the Tigers in the AL Central playoff. No such luck there. (Obviously, I got the team right, but not the route to victory.)

Ask me an hour ago who was the best team in the National League and I would have said hands-down Saint Louis. Then I had myself a look at the standings and realized the Cardinals finished with the worst record of all of the National League playoff teams. I don't know when that happened...I would have thought the Dodgers' recent slide easily put them ahead of only Colorado...but no. So now I'm not sure I even like the Cardinals.

In the American League I may be trying to convince myself the Yankees will lose, but I'm just not feeling as confident about the Yankees as everyone else is. Perhaps they run away with everything...but I feel like there are teams that can beat them.

So I have no idea going into this write-up who's going to win what. But I'll have it worked out in the next few paragraphs.

Boston versus Los Angeles
This much I feel good about. The Angels will not sweep the Red Sox, and if it goes to a fifth game, the Angels' psyches will not be able to handle it. So the Red Sox would win a game 5. To prevent either scenario from happening, I'm picking the Angels in four.

Do I have any rationale other than the law of averages? No. But the Angels have been playing very good baseball all season, they have to have figured out the Red Sox over the years, and I want them to win. I really do. It makes me so sad to think about the Nick Adenhart situation, and how that could have just ripped apart their season. Instead, they're here. And I'd like to see them continue the run all the way to the World Series.

Minnesota versus New York
Any other team and I'd make a case for whoever was going up against the Yankees. I don't think the Yankees are going to win the World Series, but I don't think they'll bow out in the first round.

I think there's an interesting little internal situation going on with Jorge Posada coming out so vocally about the fact that he wasn't chosen as A.J. Burnett's personal catcher...but here's a news flash - Jorge, you're a terrible catcher. OK, I guess that's not relevant, but I had to take that shot at Posada.

Anyways, Yankees in three.


Colorado versus Philadelphia
I want to think the Rockies can go on a run similar to the one that resulted in their only World Series appearance, in 2007, but I don't think it happens this year. First of all, quite possibly their best pitcher, Jorge De La Rosa, won't pitch in the series. Secondly, I feel like the Phillies won't abandon their title defense so soon.

It seems like the big guys on the Phillies - Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard - have all had subpar seasons. And still the Phillies finished ahead of almost everyone in the league. You have to think they'll start hitting in the post-season...and that's bad news for the Rockies.

Phillies in three.

Cardinals versus Dodgers
This is a very interesting matchup - really, a month ago it could have been the matchup to decide who represented the National League in the World Series. Now I think it's a matchup of two teams who are fading.

The question is, who's fading faster? I think it's the Dodgers - they don't seem to be getting anything from their key players...at least the Cardinals have Albert Pujols and a whole lotta arms, both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

That'll keep St. Louis fighting...for at least another round. Cardinals in four.

PLAYOFF MATCHUPS

Long-time readers of my work know that when I watch the World Series or the Super Bowl, I don't like seeing re-matches.

Super Bowl XXVII between Buffalo and Dallas was fine...Super Bowl XXVIII between the same two teams was a waste of a year.

And I'm not just talking back-to-back rematches. 2004 Red Sox-Cardinals? Happened in 1946. Again, wasting my time.

Needless to say, it's time for me to start working out some scenarios.
The Yankees have played nearly everyone. The only thing that would make a 2009 World Series appearance by them worthwhile would be a matchup with the Colorado Rockies.

Those Rockies could play anyone except the Red Sox...and while many want to see the Sox play Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers, Red Sox-Dodgers has already happened. A long time ago...but it's been done. Same with Sox-Phillies.

Both the Twins and Tigers would be OK to come out of the Central, as long as they didn't play their NL Central counterparts, the Cardinals. I really would like the Cardinals to get upset, because they've played a lot of teams over the years.

The best bet to come out of the AL? The Angels. Their only World Series appearance came against the Giants, who are not playoff-bound. Even if the NL-favorite Cardinals come out of that League, it would be a new matchup.

And that would give my busy mind one less thing to worry about.