MLB: As I said before the playoffs: Tigers over Yanks in 4. That was easy. I was completely wrong when I said the Twins would demolish the A's, but it wasn't difficult to pick the Cards and Mets to the NLCS. Now, I stand by what I've been saying all along: Tigers-Cards in the World Series, with the Tigers winning easily with pitching and the Mets getting killed because they have none.
Note to New Yorkers: Pitching wins championships. Lack of pitching will cause your team to lose, no matter how good the hitting is. Sure, it's much more fun to watch Jeter, ARod, Sheffield, and Giambi or Beltran, Reyes, and Wright in the same lineup, but that means less money to spend on important things like - oh, say, starting pitching. So, I hope you enjoy watching the Yankees and Mets continue to be heavy favorites to win something, easily win a lot of regular season games, then stumble against an average-hitting, good-pitching playoff team. Meanwhile, teams like the Tigers, Twins, and (next year!) Indians will fight for supremacy because they have great starting pitching. Who honestly doesn't think that everyone but the Royals in the AL Central would beat any team in the NL in a World Series? I mean, seriously.
NFL: This is what this week's Aikman ratings (which I use to determine my weekly picks) came up with. It's a bit scary, but it proves itself time and time again, so...
The top team is the road team, the bottom team the home team. My picks are underneath, with the number in () the weight I'm placing on the game.SEA
STL | PHI
NO | TEN
WAS | CAR
BAL | BUF
DET | NYG
ATL | HOU
DAL | CIN
TB | MIA
NYJ | SD
SF | KC
PIT | OAK
DEN | CHI
ARI |
STL
(6) | PHI
(2) | WAS
(8) | BAL
(9) | DET
(4) | ATL
(7) | DAL
(12) | CIN
(3) | MIA
(1) | SD
(11) | KC
(5) | DEN
(13) | CHI
(10) |
Personally, I'm surprised that Chicago is such a heavy favorite against Arizona, and that Baltimore is so heavy against Carolina. On the other hand, that might be my intense hatred of both teams blinding me, which is one reason I use a system. I'm
not surprised by the medium weights on St. Louis (vs. Seattle) and Atlanta (vs. the Giants), seeing as how the Giants really aren't that great and Atlanta's defense and running game are; while the Rams actually play defense this year and Seattle (quite simply) can't seem to score without Shaun Alexander. It's a bit scary to see Denver as the top favorite (and as my survivor pick in the only survivor pool I'm still alive in), if only because they really can't score. Then again, it's the Raiders... and they're so bad, 51% of the people polled on ESPN think they
will go 0-16. That's just pathetic. Half the people don't believe they're even good enough to get
lucky once. Heck, the Browns beat them - in Oakland - despite giving them an early TD on a questionable fumble call and another on one 65-yard run where they seemed to all just stand there. The Browns!
I think this will be an upset week, with a few favorites getting surprised... but I can't figure out which ones yet. I just feel it, ya know?
"Pitching wins championships."
ReplyDeleteTrue dat. I thought Wang, Moose, and Johnson would hold up though. Whoopsie.
Ha. You're kidding, right? :)
ReplyDeleteyou're wasting space on your own blog! you could be giving mussar, or writing cute anecdotes about your nephew, or just giving some observations of the world.
ReplyDeletebut no... you have to go and talk about spoooorts.
sigh. men.
Waste?! :::sigh::: Women.
ReplyDeleteMussina and Wang were as good a one-two as there was in the playoffs. The Yankees problem was their 3 and 4 with Johnson being old and their horrible bullpen with the exception of the best in the business in Rivera. They need to fix up that bullpen next year and get a serious number 2.
ReplyDeleteIf they can sign Mussina for less, get Barry Zito and fix the bullpen, they should be the favorites next year (especially if Philip Hughes is half as good as they make him out to be).