October Baseball...and the Winner is...

We obviously won’t have a repeat champion as the White Sox couldn’t get out of the AL Central this year. Of the four teams vying for the title it is certainly worth noting that only St. Louis was in the mix last year. Post season experience can not be underestimated as every pitch is a big pitch and younger players tend to try and do more than they can in tight situations.

The great Earl Weaver claimed pitching and defense wins games in the big leagues. If that holds true we might as well hand the World Series title to Oakland or Detroit. Those two teams have had the most consistent rotations this season and they also have solid bullpens as well. The New York Mets have been hit hard by the injury bug and St. Louis doesn’t have anyone (except maybe Carpenter) that teams look at and feel is unhittable. Advantage: Detroit

If the strength of the bullpen becomes a factor every team other than St. Louis has a top flight closer. Oakland and New York might have the most depth but Detroit’s pen can be simply dominant. Again, the St. Louis closer is untested and the bull pen does not bring anyone in throwing 100 miles per hour. Although it was impressive what the Cards bullpen did against the Padres that may have had much more to do with San Diego’s inability to hit in the clutch. Advantage: Detroit

Offensively you have to start in the Big Apple with the Mets. They have experienced players and have had a great year putting runs on the board. They have no real hole in the line-up and have both power and speed. You don’t see many slugfests in the post season so teams that can manufacture a run or two will have an edge. You would think this would favor National League teams but the Oakland line-up is filled with players that know their roles very well. Many of the A’s hitters do a great job of making sure they put the ball in play. Nobody has an Albert Pujols but St. Louis, and he sometimes dictates the game all by himself. Although the Tigers put up runs on the Yankees in the ALDS, Oakland’s staff is much stronger and will make runs tougher to come by than the fading Yankees arms did. Advantage: NY Mets

All the teams have managers with some type of post season experience so you won’t have anyone having a leg up there. Tony LaRussa has the most post season managerial experience. However, the Tigers are led by Jim Leyland who has a World Series ring from his tenure with Florida. The Tigers seemed to have found their groove again and you can find more than a few similarities between his Marlins and this year’s Tigers. Willie Randolph has also been in a number of post season games but this will be his first calling all the shots. Advantage: Tigers

Back in June, everybody was ready to hand the rings to the Mets but they have major problems with their starting pitching situation. That said, no matter how many runs you score you still have to get the other team out and with that being the case this years post season might be the most wide-open in some time. This could we one of those rare years where any of the teams could get hot and win it, although we are leaning the Tigers way as you can see from the advantages we pointed out above.

It all must still unfold in front of us as they play the games on the field (not on paper…or in this case…not on the computer screen). Best of luck to the Final Four participants and we hope some of the “news and notes” pointed out above help you some with how you invest your bankroll this October. Best of luck in all your gaming…Rickenbach’s Players Advantage.

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