Playoff Baseball Update

Friday night may have ended the best round of divisional series baseball has ever seen. The least exciting series was the Rangers and Rays. The Rays had all the momentum coming into this series, due their remarkable regular season finish, and it showed in the first game as they blew out the Rangers 9-0. The teams luck abruptly ended after that game as Texas went on to win the remaining three games to win the series 3-1. Texas have some very talented hitters, especially Adrian Beltre who hit 3 home runs in Game 4. It will be interesting to see how their big bats face up against the strong pitching of Detroit.

Detroit sports fans are loving life right now as their football team (Detroit Lions) are 4-0 and their baseball team knocked out the all-mighty New York Yankees Thursday night. After splitting the first four games in the series 2-2, it all came down to the final game in New York. The Yankees were obviously the favorite to win playing at home but the Tigers managed to squeak out a 3-2 victory sending them to the next round to face Texas. Everyone knows the Tigers have Justin Verlander leading the rotation, but I believe the x-factor in this upcoming series will be the other starting pitchers on the Tigers. Max Scherzer and Doug Fister both need to step up and pitch well  against a very loaded Texas lineup. This will be an exciting series for sure as game 1 kicks off tomorrow in Texas.

The Milwaukee Brewers hadn't won a playoffs series since 1982. Most of the players on the team now weren't even alive at that time. Well things changed Friday night when the Brewers defeated the DBacks 3-2 in 10 innings. Both teams had won their two games at home so the final game went back to Wisconsin. It was a very well pitched game, as the score was 2-1 entering the 9th inning. Brewers closer John Axeford had completed his last 43 saves so the Brewers felt confident putting him in to close it out. Surprisingly, he gave up a run that sent the game to extras. The fans didn't have to wait long as Nyjer Morgan hit the game winning RBI single up the middle. The players then rushed onto the field and the fans were going nuts! It was quite the party in Milwaukee Friday night but they have to quickly regroup as they face their NL central rivals St. Louis Cardinals in the next round. The two teams split the season series 9-9 with each other so expect a close series.

Day One of spring training, the Phillies were projected to win the world series. After being the only team to win over 100 games in the regular season, the Phillies were still projected to win the world series. Friday night that all changed when the St. Louis Cardinals marched into Philly and won game five 1-0. Everyone knew it would be a pitchers match up coming in as both aces, Roy Holladay and Chris Carpenter, were scheduled to start. In the end, Carpenter was just able to out duel Holladay as he pitched a complete game giving up only 3 hits and no walks. The Phillies weakness in this series was their hitting as they only managed 10 runs in the last 4 games. The Phillies now enter a very long, cold, puzzling winter as the Cardinals move on to face the Brew Crew. A team they have already faced 18 times this season.

It was not MVP candidates Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder who came through for the Brewers Friday Night. It was hyper center fielder Nyjer Morgan who's RBI single in the bottom of the 10th send the DBacks packing and the Brewers onto the next round.