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October 1, 2008
At the risk of sounding like one of those overwhelmingly annoying Fox Octoberfest commercials, playoff baseball really is high drama. The storylines, characters and history are among the most compelling in any sport's post season and the fact that so few teams get to take part only reinforces as much. Here are a few things to look out for while eight teams inch closer to baseball's biggest prize over the month to come. 1) The Philadelphia Phillies They got steamrolled by those fateful Rockies last fall after a dramatic playoff entrance of their own and now the Phils are just happy they don’t have to play the White Sox in the LDS. Interesting side note: While the Cubs are celebrating (let’s face it, fans are kind of proud of all the failure) 100 years without a title, Philly remains the only city with a club in each of the four major North American sports leagues that hasn’t had any championships in more than 25 years. You do the math. Should they meet in the NLCS it’ll really be a war of attrition. 2) Rays Clouding Over? Since the Tampa Bay Rays are the only one in four American League entries that hasn’t won a World Series in the 2000s (yes I know, they’ve never even been in the playoffs) it’ll be all too interesting to see how they fare in this seminal test, especially considering the way Joe Maddon’s team played (not well) down the stretch. 3. Torre’s Revenge
The New York Yankees aren’t in the playoffs this year, baseball-less in October for the first time since 1994. But former manager Joe Torre’s there, even if his Dodgers did play in the game's worst division. Still, if the veteran and Brooklyn native Torre can guide the Beach Bums all the way to baseball’s biggest stage, something tells me Hank Steinbrenner’s going to sucker punch Joe Girardi. Another side note: Two Chicago teams and two L.A. teams made the playoffs, but not a single one from New York. Still think you can buy pennants? 4. Battering Ram Let’s just say the Red Sox make it back to the Series and the Dodgers are there to meet them. That would make the trade that sent Manny Ramirez out to the left coast all the more significant as Jason Bay and the former Boston slugger take turns standing in the shadows of the Green Monster (though something tells me Manny might do some DHing.) 5. Nothing Brewing On paper the Brewers are arguably one of the most well-rounded teams to sneak into the post-season in years. Unfortunately they may have sapped every ounce of juice from the Big Tomato, C.C. Sabathia, just getting there. Watching the player who’s all but guaranteed to get one of the biggest free agent deals in baseball history pitch (even if it’s only once) is sure to be something to behold. There aren’t too many people that can say one bad day could cost them a couple of million. Actually these days, maybe there are... Somewhere Ned Yost is snickering into a big bowl of popcorn.
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