With the Championship Series just beginning, predicting the two teams that will face off in the World Series has never been easier. Still, the teams playing in the ALCS and NLCS right now are pretty evenly matched so it’s still difficult to see which two will advance.
Due to their momentum and great ability to come back, I think the St. Louis Cardinals will prevail over the San Francisco Giants in the NL. Due to their outstanding pitching staff and Miguel Cabrera being on his current tear, I think the Detroit Tigers have a slight advantage over the New York Yankees in the American League.
Even if these predictions go horribly wrong, the one thing we can be certain of is that these two series are going to include some thrilling games played between some of the best teams in baseball.
First of all, the Cardinals are taking on San Francisco in the National League Championship series. St. Louis was expected to struggle more than usual this season due to their loss of Albert Pujols to free agency and Chris Carpenter for the majority of the year due to thoraric outlet syndrome.
Nonetheless, St. Louis pieced together eighty-eight wins and stole the second wild card spot. After winning a disputed 6-3 game against the Atlanta Braves, the Cardinals managed to take Washington to a game five, where they pulled off a 9-7 win thanks to a four-run ninth inning.
St. Louis and San Francisco have both proven in the last few years that they thrive in October. San Francisco, led by twenty-five year old catcher Buster Posey, has reached the postseason two of the last three years, winning the World Series in 2010.
The Cardinals have made it to the postseason two of the last three years, winning it all in 2011. However, the similarities don’t stop there. Both teams have catchers that might be the most important player on their roster and both teams have had problems finding a consistent first baseman and closer.
St. Louis has the better bullpen and offense than San Francisco. Jason Motte has finally excelled at a role with the Cardinals after they spent years figuring out how to use him. He has become one of the best closers in the game, which is good for the Cardinals because they will definitely need to rely on him in at least one of these close games.
The St. Louis lineup shouldn't have too many problems with the Giants pitching staff, if anything because they don’t have many weak spots from top to bottom. For these reasons, I predict St. Louis will win the NLCS in six. They won Game one last night by a score of 6-4. Only 3 more wins to go.
The Tigers and Yankees have already played one game but it’s far too early to tell which team will be successful in reaching the World Series. The huge news coming out of New York is that Derek Jeter will miss the rest of the postseason with a fractured ankle.
Obviously, this has to be heartbreaking news to the Yankees’ clubhouse which Jeter has led for more than a decade now. This injury won’t hurt the Yankees too much in terms of value because of the strength of the rest of their lineup and bench.
Detroit probably has the two best players in this matchup, Cabrera and Justin Verlander. Cabrera had the best offensive regular season of anyone in the majors and he benefits greatly from hitting in front of a presence like Prince Fielder.
Verlander, on the other hand, is unquestionably one of the five best pitchers in the game. He’s already been essential to the Tigers’ success in the ALDS, and he’s scheduled to take the mound in game three and possibly game seven. How amazing would a game seven that featured C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander be?
Because of Cabrera and Verlander, I see Detroit heading to the World Series after seven exciting games against New York. With Detroit already up 2-0 in the series and Verlander going in Game three, the Tigers may advance to the World Series even sooner.
The AL and NL Championship Series are going to be tremendously exciting. Postseason baseball feels like it’s already moving by too fast, but at least there are still a minimum of eleven total games left to be played.
St. Louis has the better offense and perhaps a chip on their shoulder after everyone counting them out after Pujols left. Detroit has a few superstars that love the big stage and should step up to the occasion in a big way in the ALCS. These next couple weeks are going to be some of most gripping weeks of baseball in a long time.
