Baseball Playoffs

So within a couple days the baseball playoffs will begin and so will my churning stomach. All the 8 teams have qualified with many familiar faces including the World champs from last year the Philadelphia Phillies which is a good place to start my preview.

The Phillies (93-69)
Fueled by a line up that includes 4 hitters with over 30 Home Runs and one of those guys (Ryan Howard) has over 40 the batting order can go up against any in the National League. They also have Jimmy Rollins with his 20+ round trippers to boot which is above his average production.
Their Pitching is interesting seeing as they have a rejuvenated Pedro Martinez who has gone 5-1 in 9 starts and the mid season acquisition and last year's American Cy Young winner Cliff Lee who was all but untouchable for the first month with the team. I don't know if this staff has a real ace but it does have a bevy of numbers 2 and 3 guys with 10 to 12 wins each. Their closer however has been a complete mess which can easily cause a team to go nowhere fast in October.

The St. Lewis Cardinal (91-71)
With their mid season trade for Matt Holliday they became a solid offensive team that is as always led by Albert (next player to be outed for steroids)Pujols. Without Pujols this line up is pretty anemic however and wouldn't win 70 games.
St. Louis has some damn good pitching with Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter both having splendid season. Carpenter missed a month of ball and has 17 wins, that's very impressive. Their bullpen is outstanding as well with a solid closer in Ryan Franklyn

The Los Angeles Dogers (94-68)
The team that found out it didn't need it's super star Manny Ramirez to win big as he was suspended 50 games this season for using banned substances. The uninvolved members of the team went on to be productive Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp who both knocked in over 100 Runs.
The dodgers are another team like the Phillies that don't have one standout guy to be the center of their starting rotation but they do have a really excellent core of relief guys to help out

The Colorado Rockies (92-70)
They are a hot team with a lot of different guys helping out, Short Stop Troy Tulowitzky with 31 home runs and the perennial Rockie Todd Helton with a .323 Batting Average. They don't have the best line up but they get things done.
In Denver pitching is never easy to get done but this team has a few guys with some wins, De La Rosa has 16, Jason Marquis has 15 and Jimenex also has 15. Their closer Houston Street is back from injuries and has a good year for the team in the mountains.

So what do I think?

I see the the Rockies beating the reigning world champion Phillies and I see the Dodgers getting beat by the Cardinals.
If I'm still right I think the Rockies will beat the Cardinals to go on to the world series!